Humbling Dinner.....

Today, I wanted to write something about my afternoon experience but somehow God would have His turn of teaching my heart on something else this evening. Many times, I have heard and seen people lament about their lack of finance or lack of this & that while I must also admit that I am guilty of this at times. ( God , forgive my lack of faith and trust! ) I am often reminded in these difficult times, life is hard and we all must make do with what we have. This evening God opened my eyes to see the things He wanted me to see and to feel what He wanted me to feel.

My family and I together with our family friends from Penang ( Vive, Sathy, BA and Jessy ) were looking for a spot to huddle together for a meal at a food court when we came across a servant of God together with his family of 4 young children having a table and an evening meal. We acknowledged this servant of God while BA & Jessy readily got our meals order in place. We weresoon enjoying our hawker fare meals and our good family friends decided to bless this servant of God family by paying for their meals. This is their speciality - the blessings, the warmth - hearted and the compassionate qualities that are constantly shown by these friends of ours. In all honesty, I have been so richly blessed because whatever I have learnt, I learnt it from the very best in Vive, Sathy, BA and Jessy! They are the ones that have shown me what it meant to shower a little love, care and concern which in turn would just flourished and be a blessing.

Anyway, they decided to pay the dinner meal of this servant of God and his family. When BA & Vive called for the bill, the total bill for our meals cost almost RM 40.00 ( food consisting fried ying yong, Singapore bee hoon , fried rice and vegetables for 8 of us! ) while the meals for this servant of God and his family costed RM 14.40. We were stumped and we really felt ...............I just can't describe that feeling. All this while, we really wished we had known and we would have ordered more food for the family or even get a better meal for this family. I guess, that was humbling.

This family had taufu dish ( RM 6.00) , fried eggs ( RM 6.00) and 4 plates of rice ( RM 2.40 ) amounting to RM 14.40 for a family of 6 persons ( 2 adults, 3 teenager and 1 young child ). It was a humbling encounter for all of us, actually. A mere RM 14.40 to feed the family while we continue to complain daily in our lives of "money not enough" and complain through our nose about everything that surrounds our life.What a contrast indeed! It was really a very humbling moment for me and my friends. What a lesson we learnt today and one that I would keep very close to my heart. I have often felt I have done the best I could to help wherever possible but I guess, there is more to be done and more love to be showered to the people. I have learnt a great lesson today and one that will keep me firmly on my feet as always!

Amazing dance moves...

I just love watching creative dancing competition and "Got to Dance UK 2 " is the right tonic when you want to unwind and enjoy watching some fun dance moves. Of course-lar , I can't do the dance moves coz' if I do it, I might have to replace the floor tiles and what not,man. Moreover, the creaks and tweaks in the bones tell me that it's about time I swallow drizzle in more Anlene milk and twiddle more olive oil into my blood system or else the arteries may just go crazy! Anyway, I had great fun watching Akai, incidentally, he is 10 years old when he won "Got to Dance UK 2009" strut his hip hop bustling moves on the dance floor to the groovy & funky music. I tell you, it is such a delight and the finalists during that year were equally solid in performance but nothing beat this little fella. This time, 2011, it was no different in terms of talents and artistry ( though Astro is still showing the preliminary stage ! ). The talents were so amazing, my friends. It is no wonder that the judges - Adam Garcia, Kimberley Wyatt and Ashley Banjo were having a hard time picking out the talented people out there to go through to the next round and so on. There were so many types of dancing styles out there and I must tell you, the dances are really unique and fun. Of course, there are some "not-so-nice" ones, as usual, but the most important, everyone tried out and did their best. I guess, as I sat down , sipping my Green tea and enjoying the show, I realised that there is just so much hard work, heart , passion and effort put in by the contestants to win a slot and make the final cut
As always, I took the short cut and thanks to YouTube, I was able to watch my favourite act by Chris Donnerly and Wes Clack or simply known as Chris & Wes who mesmerised me with their dance performances during the semi-finals and finale. I must honestly tell you that my jaw dropped and was wide open when I watched their performance. I tell you, these two young people bring humour, good coordination, discipline, teamwork and pure hardwork into their dance moves. I am really amazed by their mix-match songs and dance moves for their performance. This is one classy act to follow, folks! What I am more amazed is that these young teenagers belted out some of the funkiest dance moves, classy humour and sharp routine. They didn't 'lepak', turn into a bunch of terror on the street and name themselves Mat Rempit or Mat Sikal or busy themselves with 'U Siah" or 'Boh Siah" or "Bakul Siah" or whatever with their free time. Yup, these young people got serious talent, trained hard and turned their talent into success rather than landing is a 6'X4' plot and casket!

Anyway, Chris & Wes dance moves during the semi & finale were so impressive and amazing that for once, I could actually enjoy a great evening without having to go out. Obviously, they won the competition-lar! Ooops! I have let the cat out of the bag, didn't I ? Well, just enjoy it as much I have enjoyed watching this over and over again. Have a great weekend ahead!~

My 'kuda' won.....

I have been an ardent fan of the singing talent show "American Idol" for some time now and seeing the last two finalist for Season 1o - Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina belting out their hearts to win this season's crown was truly fantastic and wonderful. Two wonderfully talented teenagers doing things and singing beyond their years shows great maturity and hope for the music industry. Afterall, there is simply just to much junk, loud, inaudible words, incoherent words and even thrashy words in music nowadays that will just turn you off and when good and meaningful country songs are belted out on that stage, you just have to sit up and take notice. I guess, I must say that it was a good change or some will say I am getting older. No matter what, country songs - the fast ones or the slow ones are a delight to the ears!
Though I have not seen the finale show ( will see it tonight definitely! ) that was beamed live this morning, I am delighted to know that Scotty Mc Creery, the teenager from Garner, North Carolina has WON the coveted title of American Idol Season 10 Winner! Yay! For the first time, our ( SLing & I plus Dave & Caleb ) "kuda" won this time. Yeah, we all have our favourites but to see this young man winning the competition was just great. He really belted out some really good songs and he stuck with his country roots. But you know what, I really like Lauren Alaina's last song which was so meaningful and a great tribute to mothers out there. I also liked Jacob Lusk's rendition of Luther Vandross hits. Will probably get it downloaded onto my pendrive when the dust had settled down!

Yes, SCOTTY McCREERY is the winner, folks! Yee-hah!

Bread experience....

Clearly, making your own bread is a whole new experience and I like it! Here is the end product ( thanks to Jade brand new Kenwood breadmaker ! ) Don't drool now....just feast your eyes!

It all starts with this machine......... to get the ones below

Heavenly bread peace~

Hainanese chat....

The other day while I was at my cardiologist clinic, I met up with an interesting elderly couple. I was at the clinic by 8.30am while the couple came in at 8.45am. As the clinic only opens at 9.00am, we ( the patients) had to sit at the long cushioned benches readied at the corridor. Yeah, there was a long queue that day but I was undeterred nor unfazed by the crowd. After all, I was there for my post medical condition checkup and I was ready for it. The surprise of the day which could have killed me ( not my medical condition! ) was probably the medical bill that comes afterwards (Sigh! These doctors think we print money off our printers! )

Anyway, what was interesting was that this elderly couple was talking in the Hainanese dialect and I am always intrigued by my own Hainanese speaking clan. Somehow, I am always proud to hear people speaking in the Hainanese language though my children did not speak Hainanese. ( Boo on me, actually! ) They speak so fluently and I kept smiling as the wife kept reminding her husband to check on his food intake and so on while the husband was telling his wife that he is alright. It was a poignant moment, actually. You could see that they are a loving and gentle couple. ( Yay for Hainanese couple! ). Anyway, while we registered for our doctor appointments after the clinic open its door for big business, I offered my seat in the clinic to the wife of this elderly couple and I spoke in Hainanese. They were shocked and asked me if I am Hainanese. I told them that I am a true blue in the flesh 100% authentic-blooded Hainanese covered and attached with the winds too! They laughed and so did I. It was a heart-lighted moment and a time of fun too. Uncle Lim shared with me of his experiences of heart attack and so on while he advised me to eat wisely. Aunty told me that it wasn't easy taking care of uncle while he can be head strong at times. I told her that it is the normal characteristics of a full blooded Hainanese man! Uncle Lim gave me a look and then his facial bones structure relaxed and exploded into a smile followed by a chuckle. We laughed and laughed over some matters and it was a fun morning indeed. Our conversation ranges from foods, daily lives to family. I guess, in many ways, it was a good time of connecting with fellow Hainanese. Yeah, I am proud to be a Hainanese. We spoke on quite a number of things and Uncle Lim continually reminded me to get my children to speak the Hainanese language as the number of people speaking the Hainanese dialect had dwindled over the years through marriages and interest. I couldn't agree more and I will make an effort to teach my children to speak our dialect. We chatted for while before the doctor's bulky nurse called me in for my check-up. Don't want to wrestle with the nurse or else, I'll probably lose a limb! I've almost lost one artery ; don't want to have another block, man!

As I left the clinic, I told Uncle Lim that I am going back to work. Both of them bade me farewell and hope to meet again. I smiled and said that we would meet somehow. As I left the clinic, I felt sad that only these two folks were at the clinic by themselves. Where were their children? Why none has taken the time to send them to the clinic? The Chinese saying is right - loosely, it is translated ( my version!) : "One mother & father can take care of 10 children but 10 children cannot take care of one mother & one father!" Sad,huh? That's reality of life,right? Let's make a change and start treating our parents right. A visit, a hug or even a call would be great! Have a great day ahead!~

Yah! Teacher's Day!

Everytime 16th May turned up at the corner, I will always have tears welling up because it is such a significant day for me. It is a day of memories, great times and thankful day. It is a day I will cherish the most because not only it will remain a truly remarkable day but it will be a truly everlasting historical day. How could I describe such a day? (sniff* sniff* sniff* ) I had tears in my eyes because of ........................the medical bill I had to pay for my post medical checkup after my recently concluded angioplasty!!!! That's the only reason why I am crying in my heart out and big teardrops welled up under my eyelid and falling off like swollen pears in their ripening season!!!! Hahahahahahahaaaaaa.............
OK!OK! Seriously, I was just joking. Of course, I do have heartache over the medical bill I had to pay for the post medical checkup but this is definiely overshadowed by the special day of the year which is Teacher's Day. As a former teacher, I am still very much a teacher in my heart. I may be doing something different today but I will always be a teacher at heart. For me, I am like that. I have not gotten over the fact that I had left the noble teaching profession some 15 years ago but those special memories especially the events that unfolded during Teacher's Day are truly memorable. Sometimes, slouching down on the sofa set sipping Jasmine infused Green tea kinda flooded my mind with those wonderful teaching days memories. But what I am most honored is how much my former students had grown in their lives. I am glad that in some tiny ways, I have managed to inspire them to lead a good life. I am so thankful for that but at that time, I felt my role as a teacher all seemed so insignificantly small. I never knew the impact I had made in the lives of these young ones when they were in my class. It took many years later that I am able to chat with students and get their perspective of me when I was their teacher. My comments ranged from "truly bad ass", "humorous" , "serious", " caring" , "gruesome" to "inspiring" teacher. No matter what those comments were; good or bad , I took it all in good spirit because I have done whatever I can to be the best of what I can be. I have no regrets in whatever I did ( never have, anyway! ). In my heart, every student I had was an opportunity to share whatever experience, expertise and even a big chunk of my heart.

Even today as I am serving the Royal Rangers Ministry, which is a ministry for reaching, teaching and keeping children for Christ, my conviction is crystal clear. I am still very much a teacher at heart and I will impart whatever expertise I have to these children so that they could grow up to be effective and God-loving individuals in our society which desperately needed a great dosage of such injections of life. Come think of it, each and everyone is a "teacher" in his or her special way in whatever work we do or in whatever circumstances we are in.

So, to all dedicated, honest and truly loving teachers out there, Happy Teacher's Day and continue to be a blessings to lives out there. Be inspirational and always lend an ear to the needy, the neglected or even the hardcore disobedient ones. No matter how hard it may be, you may never know how much joy and encouragement you bring to the lives of these children who will one day grow up to thank you for what you have been in their lives. I went through that experience and no money in the world can buy that sort of joy you feel in your heart!

Have a blessed day and inspire students, teachers/sigu..........

My Statement...

This is my humble life statement and I am NOT ashamed!
Are YOU?

Destination : Heaven NOT earth kingdom....Got it!

I am appalled and virtually sick to my stomach when I read about the most absurd and notoriously racialistic piece of news from one of our Malay dailies. I have made it a point never to hit out at these medias uptill now. I find journalism in one of our Malay daily to be the most racial newspaper in print in our country today and they are still being supported by our government as no action was taken against such blatant stoking of racial and religious slur. I put it as plainly as I can , I call that pure rubbish and gutter journalism. When I was a young boy, Malay dailies supposedly helped me in my mastering of the Bahasa Melayu language and it was good factual reporting those days while articles were clear , concise and precise plus factual. But of late, I have nothing but heaps of disappointment and disgust for such murky/gutter journalism and the newspaper itself. If selling more copies of newspapers just to fill the coffers of the executives are the main purposes without fearing to stab to the hearts of the communities in this beloved country of ours, then, I call them the real traitors of this country. Sure, you will say that I am bias because I am a Christian or my views of a Christian but I want to say to you that I have never seen any violent uprising in our Christian community when something happens to our community in this country of ours. That, my friends, is teh REAL FACT! Take for example, the journalists who acted out and spat our the Holy Communion bread during the journalist's so-called "under cover ops" or even the burning of our churches or the stamping of our Holy Bibles. What do we do? We got together as a Christian community and churches to pray and forgave our perpetrators. We also got together as united Christians to pray for leaders in our nation including our PM and his cabinet ministers in our yearly 40 days fasting and prayer nationwide activity. We did not burn effigies or makes threats here and there. The most probable protest we made as a community that probably irked our editors and political heads is that we made changes in our ballot papers and it scares the hell out of our political leaders, right? Gosh, how could anyone conceived such blatant lies and scare tactics towards our fellow Malaysians of all race and religion? To me, that is irresponsible journalism of the highest level. If praying for leaders of our nation is considered a step towards building a Christian government in our land then I am afraid the editors of our Malay daily is sadly mistaken. Why? Simply because our government has always been a government of the kingdom of heaven. Meaning, each and every one of us wants to be accounted for when we go to heaven and that's far more important than anything else. The promise of ours is a promise of life in Heaven which is far more important than establishing an earthly kingdom here on earth. So, shame on you for coming out with incorrect facts, you nitwit editors! Yes, we will always have Christian politician and leaders in our country and community just like any other communities but they also have a responsibility to be good, fair, balanced and trustworthy Christian leaders in authority for the judgement of God on them is much harsher than the lame person. Afterall, they are called on to be just, trustworthy and honest. Don't you think that God will deal with them in the elections when they have gone wayward? Yes, I believe that corrupt leaders in our community will be weeded out by God in His time. Afterall, God is a JUST God!
BTW, Wesak Day is just round the corner. So, there will be a lot of meetings in Buddhist temples, chantings and specials prayers. So, to the Malay dailies editors and journalists, if they get together to have meetings, chantings and all night prayers , will they too be accused of plotting against the government to built a Buddhist nation? Will they not pray for our nation too? Ah Yes, Deepavali will be coming around the corner soon too. So, will the Indians be accused of trying to build a Hindu nation too? At the end of the day, all of us will end up in our country jail except the Malay dailies editors, jounalists and racist leaders because we are trying to establish a Christian, Buddhist, Hindu nation! Think about it! Just how silly some people can get and get away with murder, some more! Tsk!Tsk!Tsk! I smell a skunk in an office full of irresponsible editors and journalist!

The other question I would like to ask the so-call intellectual editors is simply this :- What benefits or satisfaction can our community achieved by having a racial and religious upheaval? What? Have you, as editors and journalist ever have the brains in the skull of yours to think of this? Does innocent blood have to flow from the bodies of our father, mother, sister,brother, children is what the editors and ultra racialistic so-called NGO wants? I really don't understand why such publications have to do this type of things just to sell papers! Just print honest, factual and community/nation building article rather than stoking racialism day after day in the print media and promote hatred and racialism of the highest point! Today, I want to vent and explicitly expressed my deepest disgust to our PM and our so-called useless Home Minister for allowing such undesirable elements and corrupt plus bankrupt political leaders who heads such NGOs to stoke racial tensions. If ever the country is ever to go down in history for another decade of chaos and bloodshed, the innocent blood flow is in the hand of our irresponsible PM and his cabinet of minister including the Home Minister himself. Mind you, these are people who had helmed the country for so long and yet do nothing to stop such racial abuse. What makes it worst is that the racial abuse starts from the very rot at the top of our government food chain.

As a Malaysian, I am ashamed that my country is held at ransom by such editors, journalists and leaders who are so blinded by racial slur and religious fanaticism. I want to further puke when a former PM whom I used to admire had totally missed the plot in our nation building today by following the same route of shameful racialism traits and supporting an equally racist NGO leader who spew nothing good but scorn, racial darts and poison in our country today. Where is our nation heading today? God knows and hopefully, the ballot papers will tell soon!

95% Blocked...

It is funny sometimes how life would take a turn and just how much God trust you with your life. I will not pull punches and say that I could have died of a massive heart attack on 1st May,2011. It is never easy to describe how blessed I am to know how God had really preserved this life of mine. It all started out at about 3.45am on Sunday, I was awake and I felt discomfort plus slight pain near the chest area. Earlier in the afternoon before this, I went to the hospital to tell them of this discomfort but they could not find anything wrong with me but gave me 3 small looking tablets to be put under my tongue should this pain occur again. I never knew that that would save my life and I am so thankful to the Malay ER woman doctor who prescribed these tablets to me. Thinking nothing of it, I took it home and slept thru until that fateful morning. Quickly rushed down and put that tablet under my tongue and felt relieved but at 4.00am, I could not bear the pain and it was not stabbing pain or out of breath but just general same discomfort. I had no profuse sweating nor collapsed, short of breath or even the general signs of a heart attack. At the hospital, the attending doctor at the emergency room could not find what was wrong with me and for precautionary measures, I was asked to be admitted so that the cardiologist could take a good look at what is wrong with me. As it was Labour Day holidays, there wasn't much to do except to slumber on my bed and greet visitors that came that day. I wasn't tired or any of that sort - still in my usual self of laughing and having a ball of laughter with friends and visitors. The following day, I was to do the angiogram test to check once and for all what was wrong with me. Before that, I was stripped naked, put a flimsy white cloth while a male attendant shaved me at the groin like some Arabic kebab vendor. It was in a giff that the shaving was done and I joked with friends that I had been molested thru and thru....hahahaahhaahahaaa.... After the shaving was done, I hopped onto the bed with half my back bunny exposed onto the bed to be wheeled into the OT Room. Before this, I gave the nurse a hard time as she goes through the customary checking on name ( I told her wrong as I gave her another name! ), age, allergy ( I told her I am allergic to "wife"! No! No! SLing had been wonderful and poor woman had to go thru so much for me! Blessed her! ) and so on. When she gave me a blue pill to swallow, I asked the nurse if that is going to transport me to another world. She laughed and said " Uncle ni, macam-macam! " Throughout my ordeal, I joked, laughed and stayed positive as I just am going to go through whatever that is coming with a positive attitude and moved on.

As I was wheeled into the OT Room which was very cold, I told myself as I looked at my wife and friends , " This is it,folks. You need to get some flowers from the Krubong BBG house and prepare a nice large photo of me now. Make sure I am smiling, ok?". I wasn't nervous at all as I am resigned to the fact that whatever is going to happen is in His hands as I was prepped up for the test. My doctor, Dr.Ong PK did a wonderful job and I could see the entire procedure as I was conscious and awake. ( Don't know if that's good or bad! ) Then came the exclamation, " My God! Mr. Foo, you should have died with a 95% block at your artery. You have another damaged small one but with medication , this can be rectified. So, I need to do the ballooning. Is it ok, Mr.Foo?" I looked at him and said, "Wait-lar for it to go 100% first-lar, doctor. Then only balloon can or not!" No! No! I was just joking. That wasn't what I said. I told him to go ahead and he insisted to get my wife over and explained the situation to her. I could see from where I was lying , the horror on SLing's face ( Poor wife had been so stressed out! ). Luckily, Errol, Jason and Lih Gin was there to calm SLing down and gave the go ahead for a ballooning procedure. So, the procedure was effortlessly carried out with the stent in place and within an hour, it was done and I was wheeled out of OT into the ICU unit. I felt like I just had an engine overhaul and I was tired a little bit. Dr.Ong came over to see me and told me how lucky I was to be alive. I thanked him for the successful operation and he looked at me, shook his head and said " Many would have died with such damage, my friend." I looked at him and said, " I know, doc. Thank you so much" while I lift my heart to my Maker Above for He has preserved this life of mine! I give all honour, glory and thanksgiving unto HIM!

I could never be able to describe to you what I have gone thru but suffice to say that I am alive and well because of my MAKER ABOVE. I thank God that he has given me this life to live. I am also thankful to my wife, SLing for staying thru the ordeal I put her thru, my children , JWee and SYuen for staying strong and good friends who had helped my family go through this journey smoothly. Thank you for your fervent prayers and standing in the gap for me. It is good to be alive and well. To my colleagues, Teo & Tan DM, thank you for insisting that I go for a checkup! Thank you too to Errol, Jessica, Jason, Shirley, Dinesh, Abby, Lih Gin, Steven , Wan Sin, Min Toon, Bee Ling , On Tin, Daniel, Rosemary, Gillian, JK , Irene, Stefanie, Ivy, Vive, Sathy, BA, Jessy, Kuna, Cheng and a stream of friends for helping me go through this. I am blessed to have all of you,man..

So, when will I be having my Bak Kut Teh and the rest of the "goodies".......not so sure but soon.....hahahahahahhahahahahahahahhahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...Afterall, what's life without some fun,right?