I went into the search engine of my blog typing in Changes in Attitude, Changes in Attitude. There were 34 entries – yes indeed there were. It is amazing to read some of them in light of my current situation – and there are about to be more.
My less than faithful readers will not know of my current situation. I am living in a studio apartment in Scoiete, a building in KL in the Mt Kiara district. I have signed a lease and paid ahead for six months receiving 48 Common Man breakfast vouchers. Common Man, a restaurant serving absolutely delicious and varied food is located on the grounds of Societe. If it rains, which it does in KL quite frequently, there is an overland that protects me.
I have recently received the truth about Societe – this provided not by ChatGTP but my new Artificial Genius – Gemini. That is yet another example of the changes I am constantly experiencing. Perhaps we shall define the noun change:
. the act or instance of making or becoming different.
• the substitution of one thing for another:
• an alteration or modification:
- a new or refreshingly different experience.
Of course, I prefer a new and different experience over substitution or substitution. I am always, it seems, becoming different. Hahaha
Amusingly I tapped into a Changes in Attitude blog written on October 19, 2017. To say the very least it was highly amusing. This was my life back then, over eight years ago.
“For various and complicated reasons the Trump International Hotel is no longer my mecca, my oasis, my anything. But employing my ‘phoenix rising from the ashes’ stance I have already found a replacement. Quite conveniently it is just down the street a few doors and also, quite conveniently, Hottie is there. He works there, the new mecca, the new oasis is the Equinox gym conveniently located on West Georgia Street. This blog will include three treasures already gleaned from there. Steven, an employee, drew a picture of me which I will scan and attach. There will be a gem of wisdom from a man whose nickname will be Member Man and then there will be a photo of five gorgeous men and yours truly. The picture was taken yesterday and then put on Instagram. The caption read: “All the trainers at the Equinox want ME!!! The guys are even tagged, Hottie helped me with that. Sean is touching my face, with its red glasses and red hat. I am proud of that picture and proud of myself.”
The Trump International Hotel was ‘transformed’ – bankruptcy was declared so that all workers did not receive the money they were entitled to receive. Then the same owners, headed by Joo Kim Tia changed the name to Paradox – magic. It is amazing what you can do if you are a multibillionaire. Now the chain of hotels that Tony, Alicia and Joo Kim Tia own are all called Paradox. What is paradoxical is that I visited the Singapore Paradox in November of 2025. To be perfectly clear, it was ‘beneath me’. I did not stay there. Ann and I lunched thee. The Paradox staff were most entertained by me – particularly when I told them that t Joo Kin Tia was once a friend of mine.
What is paradox? It is downright bizarre that this is the name chosen for the ‘revamped’ hotel and the chain. Add up the definitions and you have a mess. 1) a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true 2) a statement or proposition that, despite sound (or apparently sound) reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory:situation 3) person, or thing that combines contradictory features or qualities
This is what Wikipedia has to say about paradox.
A paradox is a logically self-contradictory statement or a statement that runs contrary to one’s expectation.[1][2] It is a statement that, despite apparently valid reasoning from true or apparently true premises, leads to a seemingly self-contradictory or a logically unacceptable conclusion.[3][4] A paradox usually involves contradictory-yet-interrelated elements that exist simultaneously and persist over time.[5][6][7] They result in “persistent contradiction between interdependent elements” leading to a lasting “unity of opposites”.[8] In logic, many paradoxes exist that are invalid arguments, yet are nevertheless valuable in promoting critical thinking,[9] while other paradoxes have revealed errors in definitions that were assumed to be rigorous, and have caused axioms of mathematics and logic to be re-examined.
So you get an idea of what the word really means I shall give you some synonyms. contradiction incongruity, anomaly, absurdity, oddity, enigma, puzzle, mystery, conundrum. Do you know find it a little unusual that a hotel would be named the Oddity, The Conundrum, The Absurdity, The Anomaly? I rest my case as we lawyers say.
But you see sometimes the Tias do not know what to call their hotels residences and other holdings. They assign a name, which could come out of a hat (it seems) and then seek to justify or explain it. Here is another example. Interestingly, existing in Mt. Kiara, the district in which I live there is a twin towered, 507 million dollar condominium complex called Alix Residences.
Its construction was announced by Joo Kim and his mother, a photograph of that announcement shall follow this blog. The publicity that heralded this massive development explained where Alix came from. It came from the word Elixir the publicist claimed. Of course I looked up the meaning of elixir. This is what I found elixir: a magical or medicinal potion, The synonyms add to the absurdity of it all: concoction, brew, philter, tincture tonic., potion. Why would you name a 507 million dollar exquisitely designed home designed for both families and people of all ages Concoction Residences, Potion Residences, Philter Residences??? Why did I care? Why was it of concern? I met Joo Kim Tia in 2017 in Vancouver when I was the first term resident of the Trump International Hotel and Tower. We became friends, exchanging over 500 emails (I think) over a five month period of time. During that time I had emailed, from Edmonton saying all of the skyscrapers which had been build during my 50 absence from the city, were ugly. But his building was amazing. Her wrote back: ‘You inspire me to do more.”
Back to me and a more believable reason why the 507 million edifice is called Alix Residences. As a child, saddled with a complicated name, people would ask me: “What should I call you” c I would says simply: Alexis. However, my parents (and only my parents) called me a diminutive of Alexis. A diminutive (of a word, name, or suffix) implies smallness, either actual or imputed in token of affection. My parents called me Alix. I looked through the emails sent and received – I had told Jo Kim Tiah of my diminutive Alix in an email.
Difficult to explain the effect this had on me. I was living in San Francisco when the announcement was made, in Hayes Valley. Planning to remain the Sn Francisco Bay Area. It was to say the least mind boggling. But who cared??? Most people did not even know where Malaysia was – much less realize the richness of the Mt. Karia – once a rubber plantation I later learned. I did, of course right about it on the blog. The ‘slogan’ for some strange reason was Brazenly Authentic. I remember doing a contest with the folks I knew. All agreed that I was the poster child for Brazenly Authentic. Here goes for definitions of those two words.
Brazen:: Bold, without shame. Antonyms are timid and shy – lets put it that way. There are many synonyms, the ones I prefer are: cheeky, pert and saucy.
Now onto authentic. This my favorite definition: • (in existentialist philosophy) relating to or denoting an emotionally appropriate, significant, purposive, and responsible mode of human life. Its antonyms are unreliable, inaccurate. Synonyms: honest, faithful; truthful, veracious, true to life.
Back then, at the time, a learned man said it was impossible to be both brazen and authentic. I do beg to differ. It is possible to be cheeky, pert, saucy AND honest, faithful, and true to life at the same time.
It is possible for me to go back in time, retrieve the blogs written at the time of my discovery – but not at this moment. I prefer to go forth, living in the present and the future. Will later, perhaps create a video for WhatsApp discussing what all of this means to me now, at this moment in my life, living almost within walking distance of the edifice. Certainly not purposefully – totally accidentally. I used the word edifice. My goodness, properly. It is the perfect word: a building, especially a large, imposing one. Wikipedia tells us:
Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, and have been adapted throughout history for numerous factors, from building materials available, to weather conditions, land prices, ground conditions, specific uses, prestige, and aesthetic reasons. Alix Residences was build for prestige, a specific use and land price and perhaps for aesthetic reasons. We may never know. Perhaps it was built to make more money for the Tias. Multi-billionaires tend to be greedy.
But how incongruous: my name on an edifice. A woman born to a poor family, given no help or assistance. Educated herself, went to law school at night while working all day for the County of Marin. Her 30 years of service entitled her to a defined benefit retirement program – the proceeds of which upon her death will be to fund scholarship programs, benefiting poor but achieving women (and men).
Now that IS incongruity at its finest. Easy definition of that word: out of keeping. But some fun definitions are: strange, odd, absurd, bizarre.
On that note I shall close including the photo of Joo Kin and his mother Alicia making the announcement. A learned man looked at the photograph back then and put these words in Joo Kin’s mouth: “I will call this place what I like, mother.” She does not look too happy. Also a photo of the ‘boys’ and I at the Vancouver Equinox Gym
