Written by lainie at 02:10 PM on June 12, 2008 in Rants, Daily Life.

Moment of pause, in the midst of a job rush - I'm doing okay. Really. It's nice to be aware of it.

I have great friends, jobs I like writing and designing (pay could be better), a cool social life at my convenience,  involvement in an arts scene I sayang, and I have a hell lot of fun at night and over weekends.There isn't much I want to do here that I can't or haven't.

I work at Bernice's place and even at the peak of our stress over looming deadlines, it's a good vibe. I have plans for my near future, involving travel projects. Overall, I'm doing more than okay. I'm doing great. I'm happy where I am. And this is me in PMS mode.

Then again, sometimes things happen that I find are so wrong, and they leave me feeling helpless. So I contact people, because my way of dealing isn't to spearhead anything, it's to collect concerned or informed people - but my resources are limited. I feel like a kid in the very adult, yet childish, world of bureaucracy.

You know, I pretty much lived two roads away from Pudu Jail. I can't say I like that place, it creeps me out.

But what I like isn't about what is right and wrong, and tearing down one of our historic buildings to build another shopping mall and condo, that speaks volumes about our lack of regard for our own history, built or otherwise.

I have here an excerpt from Yahoo's Uproar over looming demolition of historic WWII jail

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Plans to demolish Malaysia's historic Pudu jail, where allied prisoners were imprisoned and executed during the brutal Japanese occupation, have Second World War veterans up in arms.

The site of prisoner-of-war tortures, interrogations and modern-day infamous hangings is set to be torn down later this year, to be replaced by a commercial centre and condominium complex on the prime downtown location.

"Pudu jail should be preserved," said Charles Edwards, 89, who was a private in the Australian 8th Division, part of Commonwealth forces that defended Malaya, as it was then known, at the outset of the 1939-1945 war.

"So many Australians and allied soldiers died in places like Pudu, defending democracy and the lives of the people of Malaya," Edwards said from his home outside Melbourne.

"They made the ultimate sacrifice and Pudu is a reminder of that sacrifice which led to the freedom we enjoy now," he told AFP.

I'm working on a travel guidebook (for Insight Guides). Trust me, when I say we have ENOUGH SHOPPING MALLS. What we need to preserve, for ourselves and for our guests, are precisely buildings like Pudu Jail, our nature reserves, our historical landmarks.

I don't want to eventually write or read this about KL: "We look like the faceless land of shopping malls, but with some time and effort from you because we don't make our goodies easily available, here's a guide to what's hidden, out of the way, and would have been really awesome if anyone bothered to conserve / restore / provide accessible public transport to them. By the way, try not to skip anyof the entrance fees, they're nominal and about the only things keeping the employees there. And visit them before we put a mall over it".

I don't feel optimistic, in the face of what happened to Bok house and BBGS. But I don't want to give up either. Like I said, I'm doing okay, I'm not the easiest person to spiritually flatten.

And, as Sarchan succinctly put it: Who wants to live where Pudu Jail used to be?

It's working time now, so I have no business updating my blog. I'm on the nature reserves, parks and gardens section now. I never thought all those treks, nature walks and whatnots I used to get dragged for would one day come in handy for...work. Hah. I've not had to navigate the polite linguistic terrain of guano and spelunking yet (ie: batshit + caves = BAHAHAHAHA!).

Gotta go, y'all have a good day.