KL Freeze in Unison, 13th April 2008!

The instructions we got from waiting around Lot 10. I synchronized my phone with true Malaysian time as instructed by RandomAlphabets.

I went to pee, knowing it was about 3:28pm, and when I came back, I saw this!!!

The HORROR!

Everyone had frozen!

At 3:31pm!

I went around searching for (identity withheld) because I was supposed to freeze with her.

I couldn’t find her, but I found a lot of prematurely frozen people. Hello, did you not synchronize your watches? They were also too packed tightly in the center. DAMN FAIL!

Nevertheless, I went around taking pictures although my plan was to freeze.

I found familiar dudes, but not my freezemate.

Her fingers must’ve been numb. Serves everybody right for freezing early.

…at least some people read the note to bring umbrellas.

This was much much better – further out, as people were supposed to span the area. At least their poses were distinct and people walking past could make out what they were doing.

Orchestrated, cute.

It was around then that the reminder I set on my phone vibrated (it was on silent mode). It was time to freeze! But I had not found my freezemate and neither did she find me! So I frantically went around the crowd looking.

Davina! We used to freeze in the fishtank remember?

Have a KLue.

After the freeze, Su Ann finds herself the victim of her icecream.

I finally found my freezemate after it was over, who apparently did not make any effort to look for me and froze when everybody else did even though she was on the phone with her sister who went, “Hey why is everybody freezing? It’s not time yet!” Well, that made my effort to look around for her kind of dumb, maybe I should’ve froze instead when it was time.

No wait, all these Malaysians who followed somebody with the wrong time, are dumb. If you know it’s early, don’t freeze lah!

Reminds me of cars who go down the wrong way in a parking lot because they’re following other cars… and then they all have to reverse because the fella ended up at an entry lane. Or people who just queue up (and shift lanes) without knowing what they’re queuing up for.

Oh, and of course, the other category would be Malaysians who cannot follow instructions to set their watches or phones to international-standards Malaysian time.

So what ran through my head? Anger! Sadness! Feeling left out because I thought I was good at freezing but I didn’t get to do it!

Oh, and frustration at how Malaysians can be very blind followers. Also frustration because my friends were included in that category. I like to think I have smart friends, y’know. Or at least that I rub off on them somewhat.

…and some complained of cramps from holding a position too long. Of course lah they did 9 minutes instead of 4. I just wish I was there to see the cascade happen.

I was very tak puas.

A post-freeze pose for her own camera. (Not in picture.)

Anyway, there was another one, this time it was for Freeze for World Earth Day 20th April 2008. Freeze time was 8:00pm to 8:04pm but they froze until 8:05pm! They even had a countdown (which killed the sudden freeze effect… but at least you don’t get early/late people.)

I don’t have any pictures of this freeze when it happened because… yes, I froze! Yay!

So the rest are post-freeze pictures, or defrosted shots, if you may:

Waifon the champion of non-plastic bags and holding them up for 5 minutes!

We found the bag useful on KJ, too.

We know now what ad Shaz will be in, next, from where everybody is looking…

A true tree-hugger.

I also spotted some proper activism going around, in some green-colored signs, but I didn’t get to snap those.

I like this post that Ziyan Chong posted on the Freeze for World Earth Day’s Facebook wall:

“Imagine if we could Freeze the daily activities of as many people as we can for 5 minutes. That’s a looooottt of power we’re saving for the future generations.”

Imagine the number of people who purposely drove all the way to Sunway Pyramid to participate in this event. imaagine the amount of petrol/resources spent. That’s a looott of power we’re wasting, you hypocrites.

Take part in the freeze for fun, but if you say you’re doing it for the future of the earth etc., instead stop using plastic, use public transport/carpool/walk, stop leaving your computer on the whole night downloading, don’t turn your aircon to 16 degrees then buy a comforter cos it’s now too cold. All better ways to save power.

Do all this before going for a freeze to “save power”.

Gotta love the air-con bit. Not just because I don’t have one and can’t sleep with air-con, but hey, 23 degrees (or a ceiling fan and an airy cotton blanket) is enough for everybody! Comforters are inventions from countries with colder climates which really don’t apply here.

Wow, I’m feeling so worked up being all activist. By just refusing to buy a car (which is one of the biggest ways one human can waste a lot of stored energy) I already feel like I’m protesting against 90% of people who drive in Malaysia (in some places, 50% drive and 50% take public transport.)

My office has an open air car park and every employee gets his/her own space. That’s a big overhead per employee, when our cubicles are about the same surface area, just square. At least my old office was always lacking parking, which I hope encouraged car pooling somewhat.

I’d hate to have a car and then get accustomed to the idea of moving a large body of personal space (and personal music) around. I find it far, far too selfish.