Malaysia Boleh!

Joy here…Let me be clear right at the start:  I'm not Malaysian; I'm not a Malaysian scholar, and I'm not even all that up on the ins and outs of Malaysian socio-political history or culture; I don't speak Malay; I'm not even lain lain ("other") in the parlance of Malaysian ethno-cultural groupings, but merely an ex-pat, a Mat Salleh, someone forever marked as an outsider.

That said, I love this place.  I love the culture; I love the food; I love the climate; I love the craziness of it all, and I love the sense that this chaotic city gives me that anything and everything is possible.

But most of all I love the people.

Now I spent a good part of my adult life in universities theorizing the complicated hybridized identities emerging out of the liminal sites where the divisions, fractions, and fissures of nomenclature fail to capture the multiplicities that we all possess and embody, so I'm not about to make some grand generalization about how all Malaysians are nice or all Malaysians are friendly, but dammit, it sure does feel that way!

So I'm a bit dismayed at the current row over whether or not the Catholic Church in West Malaysia will be allowed to use the word "Allah" in its Malay language bibles and materials to refer to the Christian God rather than the Muslim one.  The government's stance is that it can't use the word, and the other side says that it can.  Emerging out of the two sides of this controversy has been some harsh words and the potential for ugly behaviours.

To be clear, I don't want to wade into this bruhahaha at all.  I'm not going to pick a side, and I'm not going to make an argument one way or the other.  Heck, I haven't been in a church for a long time, probably since my sister was married in one (and that was back in 2006, and I had a big, black eye and was juiced up on some pretty serious pain meds, so I don't even think I should count that one since my memories are pretty hazy).  But what I will say is that all of these hard-line stances that some politicians are too happy to spout don't seem to tally with the everyday Malaysians (Malay or otherwise) who I come in contact with in my day-to-day life.  The Malaysians I come across are super friendly, people who love a good joke and a belly laugh, and people who are only too happy to sit down for makan.  In fact, I'm starting to be convinced that Teh Tarik may just be the route to world peace.

Cycling cures the world's ills!

Every weekend as I kit up in my cycling gear and head out for my bike ride, I enter into a world where smiles, waves, and cheering seem to be the order of the day.  And I don't just mean out there with other cyclists.  Sure we cyclists wave to each other as we pass each other (or get passed), and we're quick to stop at the side of the road to check on a fellow cyclist who may have had an accident or mechanical incident on the bike.  But it's not just people out there pedalling who are friendly.  The guys and gals riding by on their motorcycles make sure to give me a wide berth; sometimes I get a friendly honk and/or wave.  When the big lorries are stuck behind my slow-moving cycling self and can't pass because the road is winding, they wait patiently, and as I wave them by when the road is clear, I often get a little toot of their horn and a wave.  This weekend, as two separate cars at two different points in my ride drove past me, children waved and smiled out of windows that they had rolled down expressly for that purpose.  The smiles on their faces were beautiful, and maybe they'll be inspired to ride a bike!

Malaysia Boleh!

So when I read the news headlines and get discouraged, I just need to head out there on my bike and have interactions with the everyday folk to remind me of all the great things about people here, no matter what their "race," category, religion, political beliefs, or gender may be.

And maybe if some of those who have nasty things to say would ride their bikes they might have fewer nasty things to say (or at least they just might be too out of breath to say them!).

Over and out,
Joy

2013's Failures...

Joy here…At the end of each year I write a holiday newsletter for family and friends that sums up our year for those we love but don't get to see as often as we'd like.  One of my friends/colleagues (a hilarious and talented author) suggests that instead of these cheery, sun-filled letters (like my last blog post, full of optimism), we, instead, catalogue our year's failures.

And, well, to be fair, I didn't actually take my sporting to a new level in 2013.  I didn't compete in any bike races, sneaking in my one and only running race in December, just before the year ran out, and well, I guess I could say that I took my sport to a new LOW level in 2013, but I don't think that counts.  So failures in 2013 won't be all that hard for me to find.

Thus, in the perverse spirit of Daria Salamon (author of the too-funny novel The Prairie Bridesmaid), here is my summary not of what I achieved in 2013, but rather what I didn't achieve, my top 5 failures:

1.)  I failed to make a million dollars.  Or, to be precise, I didn't earn $7.9million, which is the average compensation for Canada's top 100 CEOs in 2013.  To be fair, that's 171 times the average industrial wage, so while it outstrips my income for 2013, at least I've got company down where I languish with the rest of the plebs.

Here's what they got:

Henley Mansion in England, a $218million house that
I failed to buy in 2013.

Total compensation on average: $7.9 million

Base salary: $1 million

Cash bonuses: $1.73 million

Grants of company shares: $2.24 million

Stocks options: $1.69 million

Other compensation (“perks”): $754,000

Pension value increase: $533,000

Source: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

Heck, I might be okay with the "perks" in the "Other compensation" category, but that's just me.  Chalk income up as a big, 2013 FAIL for me.

A kid I failed to have in 2013.

2.)  I failed to have a kid.  Granted, I didn't try, but as anyone from family to random strangers on the street will tell me, I *should* have a kid (my own ambivalence about it all expressed in this blog post from early in 2013 seems to be of no concern to these many *well-wishers*).

Now I could take this as optimistic evidence of the efficacy of condoms as prophylactics. Even without trying to have a kid, there will be more than enough  people to get in line to tell me that in not having one, I am failing, actually, rather that I'm just a failure.  Full stop.  So on this score, in 2013, I failed.

One of the many awards I failed to
receive in 2013.

3.)  I failed to win Canada's top 40 under 40 Award.  Granted, the award is on hold indefinitely at the moment, but still I failed to win it (or any other awards in 2013).  Heck, I didn't win an Oscar in 2013 either, or an Emmy.  I didn't win a Juno or a Grammy either.  Shit.  This list is adding up.

What am I without external validation?  How can I go on living unless a jury of my peers rises up to congratulate me on something?  What is the point of going forward if I can't add a meaningless accolade to my CV?  These and many other soul-searching questions are those I will have to face as I deal with my dearth of awards in 2013.

I failed to keep my anger under wraps in the face
of crazy.

4.)  I failed to keep my temper in check.  More than once.  In the face of crazy.

I mean, I was raised in a whole "turn the other cheek" ethos, and most of the time I try to let crazy roll off me like water off a duck's back, but sometimes I feel like you need to respond to crazy with crazy in a kind of ever-rising stakes game of crazy-ass poker.  "I see your crazy, and I raise you a shouting, swearing insult."  So when I say that I failed to keep my temper in check a few times in 2013, I'm not apologizing, just stating a fact.

Oh, darn, I failed to look like
this in 2013!!!

5.)  I failed to get rid of "thigh gap."  Granted I didn't know that "thigh gap" was a thing, let alone a thing I'm supposed to want to get rid of until nearly the end of 2013, but ignorance of something doesn't make failing it any less so.  Why would I want my legs not to touch each other?  I don't know.  Why would I want an eating disorder?  I don't know.  Why would I want a giant poonanie that's so big it keeps my upper thighs from touching?  I really can't answer that.  But society tells me that I should want thigh gap; I don't have thigh gap, ergo, failing to get thigh gap is one of my many failings in 2013.

As the first week of 2014 where I hit nearly all my workouts nears its close, I hope you like this retrospective of my 2013 failures…

Over and out,
Joy

Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014!

Joy here…I've started to come up with a theory that my good years are the even ones, and my bad years are the odd ones.  I mean, I was born on an even year; I was married on an even year; I finished my PhD on an even year; I started running races on an even year; I started cycling races on an even year…so really, even years are the ones that work for me.

Alternatively, on odd years I've found myself taking a job in a different city from my husband; I learned the fine art of whinging and complaining during odd years; I quit my job and had to "find myself" during an odd year; and I seem to use odd years as the years to transition from one sport to another:  2011 saw me transition from running to cycling, and 2013 saw me transition back to running.

What all this means is that I've decided 2014 has just gotta be one of my good years.  After all, it's an even year, so, I have every reason to have high hopes.

The pool at my gym where I've been doing a little
water running and a few laps this week.

Add to that superstitious little belief in even years the fact that my professional and personal lives are on a roll and that I happen to be living in an ideal setting, and I really think that 2014 is gonna be a game changing year for me.

And, well, I think everyone should start off every year with that kind of optimism.  I mean who cares what happens throughout the rest of the year, whether or not that optimism ends up being squashed or bogged down as the year progresses?  It's my belief that with each turning of the new year we get the chance to press a giant "reset" button on life so that we can tweak, refine, hone, improve, and increase the quality of our lives in every way possible.  We can be better, fitter, nicer, smarter, richer, healthier, funnier, happier, and all around more special in every way possible.

So as I've hit my workouts for this first week of 2014 - lifting weights at the gym, going for a swim, completing my run workouts - I'm feeling like I'm ready to tackle the world and be the best me that I can be in 2014!

See ya later, 2013!  Helloooooo 2014!

Over and out,

Joy