The first thing that caught my eyes on the front page of Daily Express yesterday was the headline about how a certain organisation in Sabah is going to set up a Kadazandusun University. No further comments were given on the nature of the uni, apart from the fact it is going to be set up in Kaingaran, Tambunan.

At the risk of offending many people, I have to say I cannot see the merits of having a Kadazandusun Uni in Sabah. Of course this reaction is merely based on assumptions, as there are no other known facts on the plan yet. I am imagining a scenario where there is a university that functions like any other univeristy, tucked somewhere in Tambunan, attended by 60% Kadazandusuns. These kids would mostly be from the rural areas whose parents cannot afford to send them elsewhere to study. They would have had attended schools in the localities of Kadazandusun ethnic groups for about 12 years before going to the Kadazandusun Uni. After they have finished their tertiary education, they would come out without much new perspective since all they have been exposed to in their lives were the Kadazandusun things. Would they, I wonder, ever get good employments with such limited experience? If I were an employer, I think one of the things I'd look for would be one's ability to be a team player in a multicultural setting.

I have this nagging doubt about the plan to have this KD Uni. I would even be more sceptical if somebody tries to set up a Kadazandusun Studies programme in the uni. I supposed the people with the big idea wouldn't have much ideas of how difficult it is to come up with grammar books, or any books that describe any of the KD languages. A research takes years to do, even on one dialect of KD. Textbook writings do not happen overnight, that is, if you want quality. Perhaps we shouldn't leap before we look?

It's quite handy to have an IT expert in the family :). In ours, Tata Jane is one of them. And she enjoys designing things, hence the company Kastumized Kreations. Being a family member, yours truly gets freebies from time to time, like today. Tata redesigned my blog, and I say "yay, I like!". It's too bad Tata was born 10 years later than me, or else I would have hired her to customize my wedding stuffs. But perhaps it's not too late. In this era where everyone celebrates wedding anniversaries, I might just celebrate my Silver Jubilee in 9 years time and get her to design me something sweet.

By the by, this year in December, I'd be celebrating my 16th year of matrimony. Hubby and I are thinking of doing a special family photography session with all the frills. That way the kids will get to wear the bridesmaid dresses and a bridegroom suit. Then they can joke that they are in the pic on my wedding day. (I remember when Sandra, the eldest girl was about 4, she was looking at the family photo taken on my wedding day and puzzling over why she wasn't in the photo :)!)

Anyway,thanks Tata and Kastumized. People out there, if you are looking for something sweet for any celebration, look for Tata. She delivers what she promises!

I must be one of the eldest wisdom-tooth problem sufferers in the world. 38 going 39 years old and still having the problem :(. Those who have experienced the pain before would know how unpleasant it is.

As I looked around for domestic cure, I suddenly remembered my late grandmother. She would have had come up with a solution for any ailments. When I was a little kid, her toothache remedy was the the bark of a mango tree (I still remember that particular mango tree). Pounded till the bark turned into a gooey green paste. Then she would rub it on my gum and filled up the hole on my tooth with it. I'd go to sleep and for some reason, after waking up the pain was always gone. Either that thing was really medicinal, or it was just psychological, it worked anyway.

I have a mango tree outside the house, but I just dare not try doing it 'without the supervision of an expert'. Who knows I might end up poisoning myself? So, *sigh*, I have to make do with gurgling with salt water, and rubbing lots of bonjella gel on my gum. I wish I was a child again, being tended to by grandmother...

As the Dusun tradition goes, a person who makes the community proud is a celebrity in his own right. We like to fondly talk about the person, even if in actual fact we may never have met him. We'd try very hard to establish some kind of relationship with him, and we'd dig very hard till our mission is accomplished. It's quite amazing what one always discovers- he'd turn out to be a distance relative, a cousin twice removed, a neighbour, a friend of one of the family members, or even somebody that one of one's acquintances knows.

Today I'm basking in this tradition, for I am proud of the person who sings this song 'Id pagandadan' (While Waiting). Fabian William hails from my humble hometown, Ranau. He also happens to be a close friend of one of my brothers (see, I have unearthed one type of relationship :)) and his family is known to my family (another relationship). But best of all, his music is beautiful. I hope he'll produce more such beautiful music in the future. Way to go Fabian!