This was already posted in DeviantART 2 days ago, but... might as well post it here, too, considering that not all of my friends have DeviantART accounts or they have left DeviantART already.

Where's Smokey Bear when we need him the most? =(

I don't want to post anything about the current situation with my country -- the continued plummeting of our ringgit currency, for example -- since I don't want my friends to worry too much about me, and besides, I want to continue living my life as if nothing happened.

Recently, starting from probably as early as September, the air here in Malaysia started to become... unhealthy. Turns out that some dudes in our neighboring country, Indonesia, decided to start some illegal forest fires, again. This keeps happening every year, and it happened so often that it's something I usually ignore about when it comes to blogging about stuff about my life here in Malaysia.

This year, however, the air pollution level has gotten worse, even worse than last year. Probably even considered the worst ever since many years. Today, our newspaper headlines stated that it is predicted that the air pollution level will not recede to a healthy level until around March next year. The last thing I want is to have to wear a facial mask every day every time we walk out in the open. >_< We did get to enjoy a brief moment of fresh air for a few days last week, but then, thanks to the monsoon winds, the haze quickly returned. x_o

Malaysia uses its own air quality rating system, known as the Air Pollutant Index (API, or IPU, Indeks Pencemaran Udara). More info here. An API value of 0-50 is good, and 51-100 is moderate, but still not entirely too bad. 101-200 is considered "unhealthy". At present, the average air quality for Malaysia -- both halves of Malaysia, including Sabah and Sarawak -- is around 150. At one point, on October 4th, the city of Shah Alam, Selangor, where I live, managed to reach an API value of 308, which is considered "hazardous" according to the API rating. (My parents and I stayed indoors on that time, so we're fine.)

The haze has gotten so bad, weeks ago, our government ordered schools to temporarily close down, much to the delight of schoolkids, and to the horror of their parents. Visibility is quite bad, too. View distance is limited to around 1-2 kilometers (around 1 mile). We can't even see the stars at night! x_x

I don't blame Indonesia for all these. Why should I blame the entire country, when only a few rogue Indonesians started this whole mess? Those dudes have been arrested now, but the damage has been done, and several Southeast Asian countries -- Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and yes of course, Indonesia -- suffer the consequence. Plus, I don't want this incident to affect relations between countries. I have a few Indonesian friends, and frankly, I'm even more worried for them, considering that they live near the source of the fires. =( This picture drawn by Kampidh sums up the situation nicely: http://kampidh.deviantart.com/art/Pray-for-Sumatra-560534780

Anyway, a little change of topic for the better, my birthday is on this 27th next week, followed by my father's three days later. =) Also, at the end of this month, my parents and I will be away because my mother's side of my extended family -- more specifically, the siblings of my late grandparents -- decided to have a social gathering together. We won't be home until November 1st... I admit, I'm a little upset about this because I've been looking forward to do some more Halloween-themed pics this year and post them just in time for Halloween. =_= Oh well, I think I'll just draw and post them much earlier than usual, hopefully.