Primary School

Everyday I passed by my old school on my way to work shuffling and balancing myself on a crowded STAR LRT. I will normally take a 1.5 litre Tupperware plus my lunch box and together with my 1.73 meter and 165 lbs body frame I will balance myself on a crowded LRT. As the train approach a station my muscle will tense up ready for the sudden brake. With one hand on the rail and the others holding on my little black bag which contains my things, my feet will do a balancing act. The reason I do this is that I afraid that I will bump into some girls and I will be labelled as “Wolf”. Normally as I was doing this the train will reached the back of my school.

There are a lot of memories in the few buildings that is still on top of the hills. During primary school I was in the top class. During those days, all I have is a single bag which carries my text and exercise book for the day. I think the best time during school is recess whereby I could savour my delicious Chicken Rice and Yee Mee. I love these foods. The chicken rice is not those type of chicken rice that we eat now, the rice is black in colour due to the gravy, and it’s like a hybrid of the normal chicken rice and clay pot chicken rice. After eating lunch, I will normally carry along my little marble and goes behind the school yard. That’s where the marble warlords gathered around and have their quick game before going back to the

I could not remember the rules of the game but what I do remember is that there is a hole. That hole is like home. The winner could get some free marble or the winner could actually use their marble to knock the loser marble in an agreed number of times. This is with the thinking that it will cause some damage to the loser marble. I am not sure why but now I think it will cost the same damage for both. At that time it was fun. There is even a ranking system whereby the lower rank will always fight with the lower rank. There are also cases whereby the higher rank will gives some kind of handicap to the lower rank to entice them to battle. Actually who create all these rules?

I also remember clearly the wooden chair that we sat on. There are cravings and words being written on it. Some with SS love AA message and some with very strong F**k and whatever possible bad words you know of. I just scanned an old school photo of mine, this one is when I was in Standard Six and when I am still quite thin(?), just guess who is me, click on it for a bigger picture. If I could recall some old tales from this period, I will blog about it. Just let me dig.....

My catch from my last trip to BKK

My last trip to BKK was a shopathon, I am not sure such word exist but anyway I spend almost an average of 5 hours outside the house window shopping, buying items that was categorise as “shock price” and items that is with the “in look”. My wife and I love item that looks “high tech”, in regardless whether its IT related or household items.

There is a corner in our BKK house which we intend to have as a study corner whereby all the books will be store in a book shelf. We have bought the book shelf but what is left is some chairs for the eager mind who wish to read and would love to enjoy a sip of water or tea or coffee. We went out searching trying to create a corner which is comfortable enough for anyone to just sit down and enjoy themselves reading. So this is what we manage to “reel in”.

Of course on a hot day, you will need something to cool down yourself while you wonder around the world that the writers created. What is best way to cool down besides having an air cond (too expensive)? A fan just right opposite of you blowing and changing the warm still air into cool summer breeze. So below is our next catch.

Of course after spending hours deep inside the thoughts of the writers, the best way to comes back to reality is doing some household work. The best way is to suck up all the dirt, hairs, dust and etc which is small enough for this little beauty mouth. Our next catch.

While the vaccum is sucking away, the best way to enjoy and soak yourself in household bliss is to have some soothing sound accompany you. Plug in your Kenny G, 12 girls band, Kitaro.....Our next catch.

After some bone cracking activities the best way to enjoy yourself is to sit in the sofa. The side of the sofa looks empty hence our next catch is as below.

After a long day, there is a need to goes back to the cave and rest. The best way is to have greenery decorated along the way.

I hope you guys enjoy my catch....

Tim Son

My wife got this photo of a new born, belongs to my thai colleague, Tim . She just give birth to a boy on 20th September 2005. His nick name is "Gun". This photo is taken on 21st September 2005. Welcome to this world "Gun".

Cup or Water?

I got this piece from a friend.

A group of working adults got together to visit their University lecturer.
The Lecturer was happy to see them.

Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.
The Lecturer just smiled and went to the kitchen to get an assortment of cups - some porcelain, some in plastic, some in glass, some plain looking and some looked rather expensive and exquisite.

The Lecturer offered his former students the cups to get drinks for themselves.
When all the students had a cup in hand with water, the Lecturer spoke:

"If you noticed, all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones.

While it is normal that you only want the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

What all you wanted was water, not the cup, but we unconsciously went for the better cups."

"Just like in life, if Life is Water, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups.

They are just tools to hold/maintain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change."

"If we only concentrate on the cup, we won't have time to enjoy the water in it."

Finances

I am not sure if I am the only one. Every year I pay taxes and every year when it comes to budget, I could see that there are xx amount goes to this and that but I am not sure how it is actually spend. A lot of us are interested only in the increase of cigarette price, alcohol price, tax deductions and etc but how many of us actually spend the time to read and find out how is our hard earned money being planned and use. How will it benefit us in return and not just how much more or less tax to pay.

I am not sure do the government actually declared what they have spent and earned the previous year. Maybe I do not read in details as every year the budget contains pages of pages of text and graph. I am not sure is it our right to know how this money of ours is being spend by the government in details, how many goes to the improvement of the “public” infrastructure, salary of the government servant, extra curriculum activities like organising parties, overseas “learning” trips, building more amenities for the “public” to enjoy and etc.

Recently somebody told me that the government might declare a 2 months bonus for the government servant. I felt a bit jealous as I have not received any bonuses for almost 6 years. If you have been to any government offices to renew your passport or to get your mykad or to conduct any kind of business with the government, do you see any improvement in their services to justify the 2 months bonuses? My dad flat have yet to be transferred to my sister name after so long. My sister went to have her passport renew and according to her the services is a bit slow.

I am not good in finances, my philosophy is to save and save, that all. I do not know how to grow it and previously I do not even know how to spend it either. Now I think I have managed to learn the way of spending but it’s in a wise way and not “throwing” away the money. I can’t wait for the next budget….

Joke

I got this joke from a friend, I think some of us might have read this, anyway here is it..

Three men: a project manager, a software engineer, and a hardware engineer are in Ft. Lauderdale for a two-week period helping out on a project.

About midweek they decide to walk up and down the beach during their lunch hour. Halfway up the beach, they stumbled upon a lamp. As they rub the lamp a genie appears and says "Normally I would grant you 3 wishes, but since there are 3 of you, I will grant you each one wish."

The hardware engineer went first. "I would like to spend the rest of my life living in a huge house in St. Thomas, with no money worries and surrounded by beautiful women who worship me." The genie granted him his wish and sent him on off to St. Thomas.

The software engineer went next. "I would like to spend the rest of my life living on a huge yacht cruising the Mediterranean, with no money worries and surrounded by beautiful women who worship me." The genie granted him his wish and sent him off to the Mediterranean.

Last, but not least, it was the project manager's turn. "And what would your wish be?" asked the genie. "I want them both back after lunch" replied the project manager.

Update Responsibility - Who is this handsome?

I took a photo of my colleague son when he is just a month old, refer to my previous post, who is this handsome? . I actually took a few photos of him in my last trip but it’s a bit blur as it was quite dark and he was moving a lot. I did not use the flash as I am afraid it will spoil his eyes. I managed to take a few good one of him yesterday.

I am still undecided whether its “wise” to become a parent. I am not sure if I up to it. If I am ready to take up another responsibility, one that require a life time commitment. One that will later on will make life confusing. A lot of us are brought up to be a responsible son, brother, husband, father, grandfather, employee, employer, debtor and etc. We always have multiple “hats” to wear. There are times you will need to be a good father and when you step into the office you will need to be a responsible employee. Sometimes this responsibilities cross each other path and one got to decide which one has higher priority.

How does one decide which “hat” is more important? Some might argue if I could not become a good employee, hence I could not become a good husband, father and etc as I might not be able to bring in the needed $$$ to become one. Does that means we have decided that $$$ is more important? This basically comes back to the basic argument that we always had, is money capable of buying and substituting things like love, health, time and etc. Money definitely could buy us a big house but can it fill the house with laughter, warmth, lively chatter and etc. Money could provide our children with a better head start likes a better education, experience and etc. Nowadays this thing is not cheap.

Sounds confusing? What should we do? I am not sure but one thing I am sure, nothing can beat to hear the laughter, to touch, to feel, to experience, to see one son and daughter grows up. To friends and colleague, this is my gift to you; do not miss this experience as money could not turn back the clock. One could not press the reverse button to see the first smile from your child, the first step, the first time they say daddy, poh, mum, mea, their first cut, their first tooth and etc. Try this, after reading this go and pick up your children and tickle them, make them laugh, that laughter, that smile, the warmth of your child in your embrace. Or go over and touch your wife, embrace her, touch her cheek, her hand, what do you get? Can the coldness of the computer keyboard replace that? Can the heartless boss of yours do that? I salute those who manage to juggle all these responsibilities and for those who have yet to, I support you all the way...

Manual Vs Auto

I have been driving for a long long time. Well I guess it’s all started since my male hormones starts to grow uncontrollably. Since then I have been on wheel, hoping that some pretty girls will spot me on my Flintstone powered Mobil. This means practically for almost 20 plus years I have been toying with the stick as though it was stuck to my body. As we grew older, our body reacts differently and there is certain body function which starts to decrease its efficiency. Now we prefer to have much clever stick, one that with a press of a button it will react immediately unlike the old stick which needs leg and hand coordination. Well I am not talking about Pxxxs but I am talking about Manual Vs Auto gear cars.

One of my objectives for this trip to BKK is to drive the car that we have just bought. It’s no Ferrari or Lamborghini nor its Porsche, it’s just a big piece of metal. In my days it was rumored that Japanese made car was made of recycle coke and seven ups cans that have four wheels and a round shape thing known as steering attached to it. Nowadays Japan made cars is the most sought after car for medium income families in Malaysia. Of course now it comes with additional comfort of contour seats, air condition, bag that filled with air, alphabets that is not in the correct sequence called ABS and of course nowadays seat belts is also throw in as part of the package.

I have never driven an automatic car before until just a day before yesterday. It actually came as a surprise when my wife told me that I gotta be careful as once the gear is at “D” it will move by itself. Just a like 2 highly well built muscle men pushing it. On a cloudy Thursday morning, I have my first taste of automatic fun. I click on to the ignition, pressed the brake and touch the little button on the gear shift and slowly move from “P” to “R” and press the accelerator. Zoom and Eeeehhhhh I almost knock the gate off. Kanasai! Nobody told me that all gears will have the same effect. After a while it was smooth driving….


Blessing by Monk. Rear Sensor with distance in Meter.

Winnie the pooh......

What has the flood dragged in?

Ah! I am back in cyber space again (for now). I was having a bad backache for the pass few days. I have yet to fully recover. I still do not know the cause yet hence I do not want to make it worse by sitting in the dinning table blogging myself away especially with my butt on the marble chair. I used to have some kind of backache before my operation but I thought it was due to my tumor in my kidney but now I am not sure why? It might be “old” age or it might be something else. Anyway I am now in Bangkok, I took 2 days off and initially I planned to be in Hua Hin. I have even booked Sofitel Hotel but due to my back problem I have decided to cancel it as it’s a 3 hours drive. I do not want to become known as the man walking weirdly in Hua Hin beach.

When the plane landed in BKK airport I could see the rain bashing it ferociously. My first thought is thank god we did not go to Hua Hin. As usual my wife was waiting for me in the airport and as we wait for the taxis; the Tik Tik sound of the rain pounding away heavily at the cement floor accompany us . My wife told me it has been raining since 9 pm yesterday and now its 8 pm the next day. Along the way my wife colleague, a neighbor of ours also has been calling my wife frequently updating her on the traffic situation. She is also stuck somewhere near the airport on her way to pick up her daughter. She also told us one bad news; it seems the surrounding area near my house has started to flood. The water is hovering dangerously at the foot of the gate.

When we reached the guard house, we could see water was every where, at more than a foot high. When we reached our house, true enough the water was edging towards the house. My father in law watching anxiously outside the house. After eating our dinner the rain has finally stopped after 24 hours and this morning when I went out this is what I saw, the thing that the flood has dragged into my house.

The kids is having a good time....

New Additions to my blog roll

I have added the following blogs to my blog roll and they belong to the "well known bloggers" in Malaysia.

**Chanlilian, with her blog called "5xmom" and her profile is quite long so just click on it.

**Yvonne Fong, is a freelance writer & patient of Neurofibromatosis, click on to her site and find out more.

**Suanie, with her blog called "As Suanie Sees It" and her short profile "Life and Times of a Malaysian Agnostic Hopeful in KL".

**Minishorts, with her blog called "Rejuvenated".

**Kenny Sia, with his blog called "When routine isn't exactly Normal".

**Peter Tan, with his blog called "The Digital Awakening, living one day at a time" and his short profile. "I am a Roman Catholic Christian Malaysian, born and bred in Penang, late-thirties, suffered spinal cord injury at eighteen, paralysed from chest down and afflicted with chronic kidney failure. This blog chronicles my life, thoughts and opinions."

The "Seven" Tag

The "7" tag was passed to me by Lynne. Here are my answers to it.

7 Things that Scare Me

1. Could not enjoy the “fruits of my labor”. Although I do not really have a million or millions in my savings but I am afraid that one day I look back to my life all I could see is that I save and save but I do not have the chance to spend it hence I am actually spending a lot nowadays.

2. My IQ drop, again? although I am no Einstein but it’s all I really have. As I grew older it seems my intelligence has decline. I hope it will not drop until I am too dumb to blog.

3. To suffer for a long time before I finally called it a day in this world. I guess this is same as Lynne and a lot of people. The difference is that mine could be reality as I once had cancer and now under remission.

4. Recurring Cancer. I hope I will never hear or see this sentence.

5. No money in my pocket. I will have normally at least Rm200 in my pocket at any one time. Some of my friends they normally have less than Rm50. I guess I am the type that always prepare for “rainy days”.

6. To lose my remaining kidney.

7. To lose my loved one or have a loved one that is sick

7 Things I Like The Most

1. My Family, beside me, sucking in the moment together.

2. With my Think Pad blogging and surfing away.

3. My comfy Bed that allows my tired back to rest and sleep in.

4. My monthly trip to Bangkok, whereby I could enjoy a bit of fun although it is some sort like balik kampung trip to me.

5. My weekend window shopping with my Wife and Sister.

6. Eating a satisfying meal, you know those that after eating although you are full but you feel like wah sei man take another bite would not hurt kind.

7. When I know that I am top of things controlling its path and ending.

7 Important Things In My Room

1. My bolster but I can sleep without it.

2. My Air filter, clean air is not free nowadays.

3. My TV which is actually my “sleeping pill”

4. A glass of water beside my bed just in case I woke up and feel thirsty after nights of saliva dripping.

5. My magazine, like Times and Newsweek.

6. My DVD player, radio and CD player to churn movies and songs to keep my brain busy.

7. My comforter to keep me warm when my wife is not around.

7 Random Facts About Me

1. I am just a middle age man with a beautiful wife, have a medium IQ & EQ, middle level income & live styles.

2. I dislike human who lies to me, human who nags, human who brags and disrespectful to me and my family.

3. I am quite an OK guy who does not mind to follow and also does not mind to lead but I dislike doing presentation to a group of strangers.

4. If I like something that is within my mean and it’s necessary, I will actually try to gets it.

5. I do not mind giving some small amount of money to charity but I am bit lazy and reluctant to spend time in doing some charity work like for example, to walk/run to get some money, to blog for charity, and etc.

6. I could not really sleep soundly at night. This is something that I have been trying to control since when I was 30 years old.

7. I am the type of person who will play with a “new toy or gadgets” non stop for the first month and subsequent month it might be nicely packed and left in the cupboard.

7 Things I Plan To Do Before I Die

1. Own an expensive car.

2. Travel around the world with my family.

3. Own a duplex condominium, whereby I could enjoy the space equivalent of a terrace house and the “security” of a condominium.

4. Transfer all my assets i.e money, house, car and etc to my family, i.e wife and sister by having a will.

5. Become a millionaire (liquid only).

6. To stop working and retired with a million dollars (liquid only).

7. To eat the things I really love to.

7 Things I Can Do
1. I look soft but I can “bite”. I could yell at someone in the public if they deserve it. I remember once I almost whack an adult for being rude to my wife. I punched a boy (blog about it before when I was also a boy) for being dishonest, I once scold the person in the check in counter, I once…..

2. I could write a long email or letter if I want to. (my record during my pen pal days is 40 pages).

3. Window shop for 4 hours in a shopping complex.

4. Drive like M.Schumacher, the difference is my car is a 1,600 Cc.

5. Take pictures non stop, especially scenery.

6. I can play badminton quite well. I remember when I was in a badminton tournament and while I was playing a lot of audience were surprise seeing a fat kid playing OK.

7. I could cook for myself. I could not say it will be a good meal but I could actually fry a luncheon meat better than a lot of people.

7 Things I Can't Do

1. Eat my favorite food like KFC, Hokkien Mee, Nasi Lemak and etc.

2. Play contact sports.

3. To donate my kidney.

4. To nag non-stop and repeat the same thing all over again like someone I knew.

5. To stop defending my innocent.

6. To sing. I have never really sung before not even in a Karaoke. I just mumble, if that counts that I owe you guys one. But I actually could dance, I used to break dance in the open area of my flat with a group of my friends.

7. To stare non stop at a topless or naked women, a glance maybe but not staring.

7 Things I Say The Most

1. “Kanasai” not sure the exact meaning but I think it means, get thrown with shit, hahaha.

2. "Shit".

3. "Tui pui Tui” mandarin word which means correct or not?

4. "Wa lau", same as lynne.

5. "laew" a word I always use at the end of a sentence when I speak thai.

6. “Aiyah” when someone makes a mistake.

7. “I love you” to my wife.

7 Celeb Crushes

1. Vince Clark. The keyboardist, main songs writers of defunct group Yazoo and now he is part of the duo erasure. If those who has seen his days in Yazoo, try imagining me having the same hair style, the difference is that I did an improvise version as I guess Malaysian still could not accept that kind of hairstyle at that time.

2. Dave Gahan. The lead singer of Depeche Mode for his coolness.

3. Chan Pak Keong. The Hong Kong Singer for his tender, soulful rendition of love songs, soft look who suddenly passed away, many years back. I had most of his albums but most is spoilt as it is in tapes.

4. Angelina Jolie. The total package look.

5. Brooke Shields. The naïve and innocent look. I used to write fan mails to her. Her movies Blue lagoon is a classic to me.

6. Nicole Kidman. The classy look that attracts me.

7. Jackie Chan, for his macho image.

7 People Who Will Have To Do This

Nobody to pass to as most blogger has already gotten this tag but anyway..
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