Porkology 2012...

Someone asked me the other day, "Why are going to Haadyai again?". Honestly, I could not understand it myself but I guess, the one special lure from Haadyai which is simply irresistable is actually the food fare. Well, I must sincerely answer that it is the lure of good food and doing it with the right company of friends are equally important to me. For a food lover like me, Haadyai is one place I could truly enjoy some nice street food and some authentic cum good Thai cuisine. Close family friends say that the lure that hooked me completely - hook, line & sinker were the pork dishes and I must confess that they are right on the dot. I just love the pork dishes and it was my diet for two days - breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner and supper! The good company in LGin, Steven, WSin, Jason, Shirley, Bryan, Timothy, SLing, SYuen and JWee made a difference as well.

One those days, I truly miss the presence of my "family" - Vive & Sathy plus Errol, Jessica, Josephine and Jocelyn as well. I really wished they could have joined us for this trip. It would have been more epic and fun. Anyway, the other families that was with my family for the trip had made the trip a truly fun-filled and memorable one. So, thank you to LGin, Steven & WSin, Jason & Shirley, Bryan & Timothy.

We started out the morning of our trip by having a good breakfast in Penang together with Vive & Sathy. Then we bid farewell to Vive & Sathy with a heavy heart before proceeding towards Bukit Kayu Hitam and the Malaysian-Thai border. This was our yearly trip for the past 3 years after serving at Tabernacle of Praise - Christmas with the Community event. That day, there wasn't a crowd at "no man's land" and it was easy getting a van. I thanked God that we got a good and comfortable van. As we got to the Thai border and immigration, I must say that some things just don't change and surprisingly, there wasn't any hassle at all. As we boarded our van and got our way to Haadyai town, we were on good mood and looking forward for a good trip. Along they way, Steven made reservations at one of the restaurants that we missed out last year but this time, we managed to get a dinner reservation. I know that we are going to have one great dinner that night.

We arrived at Asian Hotel, our accommodation for two nights at about 2.00pm on Christmas eve. As our rooms were not ready, we decided to put our bags at the front office of the hotel while we proceeded out for lunch at I-Restaurant, located at the back section of the hotel. Ahhh! Our usual suspects of fried pork leg, tom yum , slice fish cakes, vegetables, other foods plus sugar cane drinks filled our stomachs. There was plenty of silence due to the niceness of the food. With belly filled and the tantalising prospect of a great collapse on a comfortable bed, we immediately made plans for a walkabout for some shopping at the nearby Robinson Departmental Store, Odeon Departmental Store and later to Central Shopping Complex. Yup, the walkabout made us all alive and chirpy like birds on a tree. We didn't want to waste an ounce of sunlight available so that we can cover as much places as possible. However, food was gently on our mind and menu ; as always. The eating never stops and it was fun all the way. The 7 Eleven store was such a convenient place to get drinks and whatever we wanted. It was our all time favourite shop during our stay at Haadyai.

As evening neared, we boarded the tuk-tuk to our restaurant destination. I know for certain that we are going to have real food fun at this restaurant and I was not dissappointed. Food comprising of fried pork leg, paku salad with eggs and prawns, fish cake with special peanut & cucumber sauce, BBQ ribs, BBQ char siew, Mango salad, Thai Green Curry made our day a heavenly day for food. For dessert, we had black glutinous rice with banana, glutinous rice with sweet potato, white glutinous rice with banana, lin yong and red beans. It was truly a meal of great taste and great finese preparation.

Dinner was the most satisfying meal ever and bill was simply at 1900baht for 4 plates of paku salad, one plate of fried pork leg and 2 plates each of the rest of the dishes - That's 15 plates of dishes in total!!! Simply marvelous. I could have sworn that the tuk-tuk had tilted to one side during our trip back from the restaurant. I didn't hear though if the tuk-tuk driver could have sworn in the Thai language at the weight he had to bear while driving the over weight tuk-tuk. It was a good adventure going to the fringe of Haadyai town for our meals. Still not finished for the night, we had pork porridge for supper which was superb before we "raided " the 7-Eleven store for our black soya bean drink and interesting stuff sold there.

The other fun was the tea time where we headed out to the nearby market for street food which included fried pork loins, BBQ pork satay, delightful pancakes, home-made sausages, prawn fritters, cobs of boiled corns ( this is a vege,ok? ), fried spicy chicken and plain pandan-flavoured glutinous rice. Yup, we didn't miss our pork burger and spinach pie from McDonalds, Haadyai either. One friend even remarked that  many pigs will have to be slaughtered during our stay there! I say, bring on the pork pieces anytime!! Hahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.........!

Anyway, one of the most moving moments I had was during my very early morning walk to the market. You see, I do wake up quite early and so, I had taken the liberty to get breakfast for the family and also, enjoy the early morning sights when most people would be warmly-snuggled and tucked in the comfort of their bed. In one of my walks in the morning, I saw a row of monks lined up along the street leading to the market and they held prayers before proceeding to the various intersections of the roads to accept alms for the day. They just stood at one corner two by two , received their alms ( usually in the form of sweet cakes, non-meat food stuff and garland of flowers ) and offering prayers. One that caught my eye and stuck in my mind's vision was this elderly couple who gave alms to one of the monks and then, the couple went on their knees on the tarred road to receive their prayers. My God, the tarred road is a roughly tarred road and I can't imagine how much dirt had been collected from the same road. Such was the people's devotion towards their monks and their God. For the monks, I have not seen them taking any cash nor baht ( Thai currency ) as alms. It is always food stuff and non-meat stuff.

As I sat at one roadside drinks stall sipping my 10baht kopi-o, I saw the Thais blessing their monks and I took some photographs because I found it to be interesting indeed. Such devotion ; such acts of hospitality! I realised too that when you put your palms together, say "Sawadeekaa /Sawadeekap" or plain "Kaap" to wish them or to thank the people or asked them about food or do enquiries as they serve you, they would smile and serve you better. I believe that if we respect the cultures of these people, they would not be hostile or even be rude to us. I am thankful that the people I have met at the market had been smiling and always been courteous to me. Even the Thai lady who was selling the "yu char kueh" thought I was a Thai when I put my palms together to greet her with the only Thai line I know that is " Sawadeekaa". When she spoke to me in Teochew, I was relieved and I bought 20baht worth of mini butterfly like shaped yu car kueh and she seemed to give me a lot of yu char kueh!!! She smiled, I smiled. The universal language of " Hello and thank you", I guess. Like I said, I am always intrigued by the Thai people. I guess, I still have many things to learn. One thing I intend to do is to learn the Thai language one day when I have the time for it. Probably from my colleague who could speak Thai. I believe that if I could master the language, I could communicate better and get a whole lot of things done while in Haadyai. Will put this in  my "Things To Do List 2013".

All in all , it was a fun, good and stupendously wonderful trip as far as the food and fellowship are concerned. The golden question that had been asked to me as I land my foot on Malaysian soil : Will I be back to Haadyai? Your guess is as good as mine............................ Cheers & Happy New Year , everyone!

Christmas with Community 2012....

Every time the month of  December comes around the corner, my family and I get excited as it meant that our holiday trip is just round the corner too. It is a time for family celebration and blessing others. I would consider my family to be blessed as we have a lot of "family members" in our close friends and the ones we had forged friendship with over the years. Praise God for good friends! Anyway, once again, this year, my family and our friends availed ourselves to help out in whatever small way we can for Tabernacle of Praise (TOP)- Christmas with the Community 2012. I must say that it is indeed a privilege and a great honour to be of services with the dedicated and heart-warming people of TOP to serve the community of Jelutong, Penang. To me, it is really heart-warming to know that there are still people out who cares for their community and the community of Tabernacle of Praise, Penang proved just that! My family and friends are truly blessed by the hospitality, care and blessings showered to us. Our special and heartfelt thanks to our family in Penang, Vive & Sathy plus a host of great friends in BA & Jessy, Kuna & Cheng, Esther & Darren,   Bro.CK & Priscilla, Bro.Wilbur & Mary and a host of others who had blessed our lives tremendously over the years. Your great love, hospitality & generosity will forever be etched in my heart.

We started out by travelling from Melaka to Penang after work in the evening. By 8.00pm, we ( SLing, SYuen, LGin and me ) hit the highway after dinner. It was a smooth ride all the way to Penang while making stops only for petrol and bathroom breaks. We arrived at Penang sometime at about 12.40midnight together with some very blurry-eyed but happy passengers. For me, it was a good drive and earlier that day, I had driven to Muar to do my work and with a 30 minutes sleep at the side of the road for rest, I was ready for the drive to Penang. No worries, I am used to this already but the excitement of being able to serve in the CWC 2012 was far more an excitement over all the tiredness and long travels. 

After a good sleep and some good meals shared with good friends, we were all ready for our duties. At the same time, Jason Chiew and his family joined us the following day and our adventure trail begin. From meals to fellowship, it was fun all the way. At one of the dinners , we had Pastor Rachel who was formerly from a Melaka church joined us for dinner at Khuntai Restaurant at Teluk Kumbar. It was truly a time of fellowship, fun and laughters filled our days.

As we served together at the CWC 2012 event, my heart filled with joy as the crowd filled the registration stand. This year, the guys in our Melaka team were assigned to security duties while the ladies were assigned our familiar role of registration duties. It was fun all the way and there were plenty of smiles everywhere. Though I have seen all these excitement before as this will be my third year of helping out, but each year, the excitement is different. This year was no exception. From the brave barbers from TOPians themselves under the leadership of Bro.Rodney to every games stalls and food stalls plus the special Connect Room, Blood Donation Room and Health Talk Room, I just thanked God for their dedication and heart in serving. As I stood near the food stalls, I could see the crowd rushing for the food and you could see their "excitement" in that sense. Like I said, I have seen it all before in so many events over the years but there is one thing that makes it all so special, the smiles of the serving people and the contentment on the faces of the crowd at the end of the day. That to me is priceless in an event like this. Yes, we will have one thousand one type of characters and one million and one grouses as well, but at the end of the day, if we can make a difference in ONE life who came for our event, THAT is a success itself. Even if only ONE life is changed/transformed by the the goodness shown, that is the greatest success of this event. I take heart that these TOPians servers have such big hearts that it is shown in the duties they were allocated. Each and everyone of them wore a smile on their faces that day. Sure! There are tough moments and things to do plus teething problems to settle but it is all done in good spirit. That's the beauty of it all. There is so much co-operation and co-ordination were excellent. 

One thing that caught my attention a lot was the fact that the young people of TOP playing a more prominent role in the CWC 2012. From the early preparations to the Christmas carols singing to the dances and performances, they were great and outstanding. It is good to know that the young people are given that kind of liberty and freedom to help out in such an important event. It shows characters, upbringing of good leaders and moulding of young lives for service to the community. That is the epitome of a healthy church and a community-conscious people. I say BRAVO and WELL DONE to TOPians of all level. It was a really good and beautiful event. 

This year, I had the opportunity to also serve at the lunch line where they were a little short-handed. I did not want to miss the opportunity to serve the people and I must say that these servers duties are huge. I tell you this, the food servers are fantastic people. Even in the midst of chaos, they kept it together and served the people the very best they could. At my food line, it was like robotic hands and factory production line serving the food. It was fun for me as I get to see all sorts of people lining up for their food. It was really humbling and so touching to see the servers trying their best to do what they can to serve the people amidst all the rushing, sometimes scoldings and unkind words being pelted to them. The servers were great. They did what they could to cater to the crowd. 

At the end of the day, we were all exhausted but happy that we could do our small part in the event. We are just glad that we are standing in the gap for our Saviour. At end of the day, we sow the seeds of goodness, water the seeds and hope for a bountiful crop at the end of the season.Yes, that season will come and I pray TOPians will be proud of that sowing they have made as much as I am blessed by their sowing act efforts. To the TOPians, I humbly thank you and salute you for your efforts. God bless~! 

Merry Christmas , everyone!

To all my beautiful friends and family who will be celebrating Christmas Day, 

MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Be safe, drive safe and remember, GOD IS GOOD! Amen!

Sandy Hook Tragedy.....

Three days ago, when I heard that there had been another school massacre happening in the US, it sickened me to my bones. This time, it is Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newton, Connecticut. However, my sadness turned to deeper sorrow when it came to light that the lone gunman had mercilessly gunned down 6 and 7 year olds without battering an eyelid and total non-display of emotions. It was really really disheartening and sad that such things will still continue to occur unless some concrete steps are taken in US to stop the trading of arms or the free & easy access to firearms. 

My first reaction of the massacre was "What did the 6 & 7 year olds do wrong?"" Why do they have to die- so young, so innocent, so much future ahead?" It is really depressing when you hear lunatic killing children! What kind of human being would hurt children? Make no mistake that I have no sympathy for the shooter because when you hurt and kill children, that is the most despicable human being ever walked on the land! I couldn't care less about the shooter but more to the children and their grieving family. As I browsed through the photos of the victims, my heart was constricted and stricken with deep grief. I can't imagine what their parents would have to go through and felt in their hearts. I truly felt as though a sharp knife had been plunged in my heart when I saw the pictures of the adults/teachers who paid with their lives for protecting their students. The teachers died protecting the children and these people are the true heroes of the tragedy. 

Yunno, the facts of the massacre are truly grim and gruesome. Some of the victims had been shot multiple times while one victim was shot as much as 11 times and we truly have a barbaric human being at hand. Twenty (20) schoolchildren and six (6) teachers were killed at this senseless killings. The bravery of teachers, Victoria Soto who hid her students in a closet and cupboard together with Lauren Rosseau's efforts were heart-wrenching when they sacrificed their lives for the children. Then there was Anne Marie Murphy who died shielding her students who were also killed together with her, bled my heart. So much sacrifice, so much death due to one man's lunacy! 

We could all have a silent prayer during our quiet times for the children and their grieving families. Let us remember just how fragile life could be. One minute you could be alive while the next minute, you might end up in a 6 by 4 plot. That is just how fragile life could be! May the Lord watch over us and our families!~   

6.30am madness... Big Bad Wolf Book Sale 2012

"Aiyah, darling....take both the luggage-lar"..... This is one of the line I heard in the early morning at the car park of Mines Convention Centre where Big Bad Wolf Book Sale 2012 was held. Mind you, the lady had a big luggage while the man was having two trolley luggages in tow. What a frightening site,man! They looked like people on fire or on war, man! The only thing missing were probably the army fatigues and the painted war paint for guerrilla warfare! Boy, it is just so ridiculously funny! Here I was with my family and friends in two cars thinking that we are the craziest bunch of people to drive all the way from Melaka as early as 5.20am so that we could get some good books. However, we were pleasantly surprised to know that when we do get there at about 6.15am, there are even far more crazier people who would go the extra mile just for this Big Bad Wolf Book Fair. As my good friend, Errol and his family together with my family inched from our cars to the exhibition centre, you can see the people taking big steps and one eye eyeballing your every step. I find this ridiculously funny as we too took our steps as fast as possible to the hall. I guess, in a crazy way, we were getting the "Wolf" frenzy!

The insane thing is this : It is a little over 6.25am, still dark outside there and here we are lining up with over 150 people waiting to get into the hall. In the midst of our slow pace to join the line, I could see big travelling luggages whizzed passed me as we moved along the zig-zag line. Some had two enormous travelling trolley bags while some had grocery shopping bags ranging from IKEA to Tesco to AEON! What a sight indeed! I find it outrageously funny that people would actually do that. Well, not to be outdone, I have brought my TESCO shopping bag to put in my loot of books today. So, I am officially into the "kiasu" group as well! Seriously , I couldn't help laughing every time I see people with big bags and luggages. It just makes me wonder how many books are you going to get, man! I guess, there is just no limit to what people will do to get a good bargain especially books. Earlier, my sister-in-law, Jade had forewarned us of this luggage frenzy thing and we just laughed it off. yeah, she had a preview pass to the book fair and she bought books for her children. So, in a way, we were pre-warned but never took it seriously coz' what could possibly happen at 6.30am, right? BTW, when we told Jade that we are heading out from Melaka at 5.30am, she laughed her head off  and that was the first sign that we are really crazy bunch of people! 

Anyway, when the hall is finally opened for the people to get to the books, we also inched our way into the hall. Luckily, there was no stampede but rather civil crowd of people which I find surprising indeed but the luggages kept coming, I tell you. When I finally made it into the hall, I marvelled at the seas of books neatly stacked on tables and it was a sight to behold. We then split up and it was time for us to get our books. I headed out to the "Religion Section" first and started browsing through the books when suddenly this smartly dressed gentleman, his wife and his daughter came along side me, opened up one of their luggages and picked out all the titles available under the "Chicken Soup" heading and swooped them into the luggage! There must be at least 50 individual titles and then zipped up and moved on to the next tittles. Boy! That was fast indeed! That's easily RM 500 worth of books in that luggage! Anyway, I picked out m books slowly and steadily. It was an amazing spread of books indeed from cooking to coffee table pieces. 

I think, the most expensive book I saw was RM 65 which was really worth the money especially with the quality of photos, gloss paper and boxed special while the cheapest book ( not magazine ) was RM 5. I got plenty of  books in the range of RM 5 and RM 10. As I browsed through books and moved along the various sections, I could see the women folks going gaga over the hard cover books of Nigella Lawson, Jamie Oliver , Gordon Ramsey and the rest of the cook book authors plus the children books. 

It was a sight to behold when women go nuts and ballistics over children books - dishevelled hairs, hands, elbows, legs and bodies crushing and reaching out for the children books! It was really fun. So what happened to the civil crowd, you may asked, right? Well, they left their civility at the lining lines, I guess! I was just joking,actually.   One thing that amazed me about the early morning crowd is that there seemed to be greater respect for the books. There weren't any throwing of books here and there. Yes, there were adrenaline rush for books and all that but everyone seemed to put books at their place if they didn't want it. I find that fascinatingly interesting. I guess, the early morning crowd are people who just loves to read. At every nook and corner, there is always someone who has their hands on a book and reading. 

As the crowd thickens , as the hours passed by, I felt it was time to go. The stomach growlings can be quite a nuisance. I didn't get as many books as I would have liked that day but I am satisfied with what I had. It was fun spending time with Errol and his family and it was fun being able to read/browse books that I could only see at the bookstores. It was truly great fun. A big THANK YOU to the organisers, Big Bad Wolf and Bookxcess for bringing this wonderful book fair to the public. Truly a great and applaudable effort in cultivating reading habits!     

Shoe Box Project... Worthy

For the past weeks, my family and I have been preparing some shoe box gifts to participate in the yearly giving project organised by City Community Church Melaka under the leadership of Pastor Joanne Lee and her team of leaders. This may be the first year of my family's participation but we had been giving out goodies to the less fortunate families for quite some time now in our own capacity and in our own way. So, when we dropped off our goodies at the church to participate in this project giving, we felt so humbled and blessed. Humbled that we are able to give a portion of the goodness we have had back to the children and feeling blessed  that we are able to make a child smile somehow when he/she opens the box.. That makes it more meaningful for SLing and me. We try to fill up the boxes as much as we could and every time, we put something inside the box, it gives us a lot of satisfaction feeling. It is not an ego trip nor obligation feeling but one big enormous joy. An indescribable feeling!

We did not hesitate to participate in this kinda project. After all, it is for a good cause. To bless the less fortunate children who would probably wear a great big smile at the end of the day gives SLing and I a whole lot of satisfaction. I felt really really blessed seeing this church, CCC Melaka having that great heart of blessing the community. The whole idea of the Shoe Box Project is to bless the children and to share a good portion of the actual meaning of Christmas minus all the unwanted attention and the commercialism. Yeah, commercialism and attention seeking individuals really just adulterated the whole meaning of Christmas. 

Over the weeks, I have so much joy in my heart seeing so many good gifts come through the door of the church and the people working tirelessly in ensuring the gifts are properly sorted out and packed in nicely. Kudos to all servants of God who worked so hard in ensuring that the gifts are packed well and good. Kudos too to those who had stood at Mahkota Parade entrance for hours to get as much participation as ever from the general public to support in this project. That is what the church is all about - Giving back to the community, understanding the needs of the needy and spreading the good cheer Christmas. I applaud CCC Melaka and  team of leaders who had such a foresight when others just turned a blind eye and inward looking rather than outward looking. Yes, there are many other wonderful churches out there who are participating in giving back to the society. With all gratitude and respect, I salute you and I applaud you for your great effort. I know, for sure, your rewards are already being placed in the Heaven above. So, keep up your good works and may you continue to bless the society in every way you can as we are called to the salt and light of the world! Amen!

The next time you are in Mahkota Parade, look out for the wonderful people manning the counter at the main entrance. It is called the Shoe Box Project. Go ahead ! Go and get some stationery or toys or even school going clothes or even shoes to help bless the children. You will be blessed by your contribution and your effort of blessing.  By the way, your giving of items will go a long way in blessing the lives of not just children but the needy ones too. Isn't that going to give you a lot of joy? I tell you this, Christmas is such a delightful day. After all, the spirit of Christmas has always been this : - It is more blessed to give than to receive! Agreed? 

A Thought....

One morning while I was in the office, a colleague came into the office and informed me that a tragedy had occurred at one of the streets in town. He told me that there was a crowd at that place and there was a police tape line at the area. It seemed with some basic investigative works, he found out that a young bank employee took his life by plunging off the building where he had worked. Further information revealed that the young banker had received his first warning letter for something and feeling disappointed, he decided to end his life. Then there was another news of one thirty plus man proving the point for the laws of gravity in another part of the town where the silent majority lumbers! It seemed that the "call" of his late wife was simply too irresistible. 

Personally, it saddens me that young people like these takes the easy way out by practically worming their way out from their problems rather than standing up and look for a solution. A few years earlier, a young executive hung himself in the house because of rejected love while a manager hung himself at the office walkway due to gambling debts. Then, there was a close relative, a young executive, who stabbed himself to death due to depression and work stress. The list could go on and it will go on unless some sanity is brought back to perspective. Maybe, committing suicide is a normal thing these days but it's not normal to my vocabulary as far as I am concerned.  Yes, we all would have these tendencies at least once in our lives but a good dose of the fear of God would always help to awaken us from this dark slumber of insanity of the dark twist of ending one's life. There is nothing glorifying about committing suicide. Neither is it an escapism from our problems. It only shows how susceptible and how vulnerable one could be if we succumb to the dastardly seduction of the dark side. This is not a story - these are real life stories and experiences that I had gone through personallly and I am saddened by it.

I believe there has got to be proper mental strength in each individual to withstand the onslaught of such evil contraption of life.We must equipped our young minds and lives with a good dose for the fear of God. I believe every fabric of religion teaches us that committing suicide is sin. No religion glorifies sin and accept that committing suicide will bring you closer to heaven. I am not going to dour your day by saying nice things because it is NOT goint to be nice. The young people and the older ones are as vulnerable as any person in our homes, our street, our workplace and even our inner sanctuary of worship. What is urgently needed is HELP. Help from all angles of possiblity. I believe HELP for these people are Healing, Evaluate, Listening and Pacify.   Heal the heart and mind with good practical Word of God, Evaluate the reaction, sign and symptons, Listen intently and catch the important breaking point of an individual and Pacify the heart and mind with good, sound and soothing advice. 

Deploying the good Godly principles of life together with a good dose of the Word of God never ceased to fail, amaze and enrich my life. We need to instill good moral values and impart the ability to think and solve problems to the minds of these young people. With the enormous advancement in technology and the vast improvements in human life style, peer pressure and issues in life are getting more complex while physical exhaustion and full mental stress are a real thing. It is never easy nowadays to gauge the mental sanity of people. That's why it is important to instill good and practical values in the lives of our young ones.

We have had enough condemnation in our society shafted down our throats today. What is required is the strength of the family. Let me be the first to admit that I too have been "neglect" in the sense of educating my own children with these values. Yes, I tried my best but I guess, sometimes, we have take up greater effort in helping out our children. Let me be the first to admit some of "the old ways" have to make way for new one so that we can keep up with times. Let us, as parents, play a bigger role by connecting with our children - young or older one and learn to know what is happening in their lives. Sure, we are not going to give in to every whims and fancies but the least we can do is to give these children the lifeline that the home is where the love is. For every son or daughter who had made a wrong turn in their lives, they MUST have the option to be able to go into the arms of a father or a mother to feel safe and to start again. The love starts from the one called the Father and Mother. Believe me, I have realised that I did not have that option very early in my life because Dad was like the only breadwinner and worker in my home while mom was like the executioner with the rotan running around. But they both gave me something which I have failed to realise until much later in my life when I reflected on my life over a cup of good strong coffee. They gave me a lifeline that should anything bad happened in my life, I could always go back to them in whatever battered way I was or whatever bad shape I was in and still be loved. That's the power of love from parents. We must instil that in our children. Honestly, I am learning and sorting out my ways to be like my Heavenly Father on that throne up there. Yes, we all make mistakes in our lives but let us not lose our children or our loved ones in some bathtub with wrist slit or landing on the hard granite tar main road or some gassed room in the house or hung on some beam in the house. Let us make a concerted effort NOT to lose any of our loved ones for the matter. Let us help our loved ones. PLEASE?    

Veiled threats...same ol' story

What is wrong with our ruling politicians today? Are they so afraid to lose their grips on the reins of this country that they have to stoop so low to play the racial riots trump card over and over again? I tell you this :- IF there is ever going to be another racial riots, you can GUARANTEE it that the troublemakers will come from them! There is just no two way about it. The fact remains that when one side "talks", "give hints" or even "insinuates" about this all the time, that means probably plans had been hatched for such process. Let us, the sane Malaysians from all walks of life , race and creed REJECT such shallow mentality and let us answer to the arrogance of these people by our VOTES! We, as Malaysians, should not and cannot be held at ransom all the time by such dark ages colonial "divide and conquer" reign of terror and scare tactics in our lives. To me, personally, it is unbecoming nature of the elected representative of the people to use this type of scare tactics to cloud and further insult the intelligence of the people. It is not only deceitful but shamelessly low to use such rough house tactics such as this just for a handful of votes which probably will be soaked and tainted with the blood of the innocent. Is there no morality on the part of puppet players called leaders of this nation or morality and doing the right thing had become a commodity of paper agongs along the way or better still, the only way to stay in power?

I am appalled about the state of such veiled threats. I intend to make a change through the ballot papers. By God, I'll do it even if it is going to cost me my life. As a human being and a citizen of this country, I can accept and understand the diverse culture, religion and race of everyone represented here but I will not tolerate people who are just out to create mischief and caused unnecessary strains and mistrust among the people of this country. Call me a dreamer if you want to but I have enjoyed my 47 years in my life with wonderful friends from all races, walks of life and you, the bloody inconsiderate politicians wants to smash all that because you want to stay in power? Which part of the people that you don't understand that I love my friends from the Malays, Chinese, Indians, Sikhs, Serani ,Sabahans, Sarawakians and the rest of others? I am  really unhappy that even learned people are still using this old colonial mindset to spread mistrust and wrong perception of each other. The other day I spoke to a Malay uncle in regards to the good ol' days when my family and I were staying in the kampong. We visited each other, ate food offered with understanding of each others do & don't, sit in a table enjoying coffee, helping each other out in difficult times and children mingling happily with one another. There is so much mutual respect and mutual understanding. The Malay uncle exclaimed the same feeling. We both agree that something had gone terribly wrong with our country. Today, we are more divided than we can ever imagine all because of indoctrination of the "divide and conquer" conquest! I believe these selfish ruling leaders who spew nothing but racist and degrading remarks are the real traitors of the country. 

Yes, it irks me a lot whenever dumb piece of asses called politicians does or say things that help not the unity of the people but poison the minds of the people all for the sake of staying in power. The very lifestyle of our ruling politicians are a real joke itself at times especially their flamboyant lifestyle and spendings. Even my colleagues in the office are more noble that these politicians when it comes to working ethics, accountability, morality and integrity. Let us not forget that some of us may not have many years more to live in this fragile country of ours but we certainly can make this beloved country of ours a livable country for our children and our children's children. So, stripped out the egoness, burn away the racist charmers, bury the big bullies, detract the corrupters and shipped out the cocky proud pricks politicians from the government. Afterall, if we continue to vote them in, then we are accomplice to such stupidity and killjoy of our future generations. To the ballot papers we shall go! Then , no one can say that we did not exercise our right to make a good change towards our future!

Ludicrous...

Sometimes, politicians can say the stupidest things ever in their careers as peoples' representative and the latest "scare" statements that there would be chaos if Pakatan loses GE13 is definitely a real insult to the intelligence and a real offence to the sane thinking society and communities in our nation. Everyone in the country knows that these type of scare tactics doesn't work anymore. Maybe in the yesteryears of the previous PM era namely Mahathirism that these things are prominently propelled to scare the wits out of the public but not this time. Even if there are going to be street demos, you can guess who the culprits are already. There is no need to mention who these people are for troublemakers are a few hundred ringgits away when deployed. 

So, politicians or so-called MP's , please spare us the ludicrous "scare" tactics that you have been using all these years. Peaceful demonstrations are an indicator to what the country's administration had been doing wrong. The power of tear gas lobbing,  merciless clobbering and baton wielding people in the blue are real too. The scars are real. The hurts are real. The pains are real but the spirit of truth and the spirit of togetherness by all walks of  people in Malaysia doesn't fail. People are no more afraid of bullies by the people in power. Injustice, unfairness and corruption are the common themes of peaceful demonstrations. The general public, I guess, is just too disgusted and balked at the level of corruption and injustice around the country. So, stop politicking on street demos and put some clean water to taps and erect power lines to those people in the interiors of Sabah and Sarawak plus interiors in West Malaysia. Stamp out poverty. Stamp out corruption . Stamp out stupid scare tactics and feed the hungry. I challenge you, leaders of the nations, to go to OA settlements or the interiors and see for yourself how under-nourished some of these children are or how difficult is it for them to receive any medical aids.See for yourself how difficult is it for them to live under these deprived conditions. I have been to such places, served in such places and I know what I am talking about. There are places whereby children had to walk for hours to reach their nearest school or to get medical attention? You call that progress?

What about those who are living in the concrete jungle today? How our lives being squeezed out of our bodies by the high rising cost each day! I laughed aloud when the statistics shows that heart attacks and diabetes are high among the Malaysians. Why ? Simply because the high rising cost of living doesn't help us one bit at all. Simpleton and average wage earners choose the cheapest meal available and not like so big shot with a wad load of cash in his/her pockets who eats good stuff each day. To some of us and mainly to me as an example, getting a good breakfast for around RM 2.60 ( 2 roti canai kosong ( RM 1.60) and one cuppa kopi O kurang manis ( RM1.00 )  should last me till about 4.00pm. After that, it's another tea time of  one pisang goreng or one keledek ( about RM 1.00 ) guzzled down with plenty of plain water from the office water cooler. That should last me until dinner time, I guess. For others , it may be packed plain nasi lemak with lots of water.  Now, now, don't look so innocent. I guess, some of you are doing this too, right? The main thing is that everything including food items are just too extremely expensive these days. Gone are the days when hearty food are worth our money. Even economy rice ain't that economy nowadays, man! Nowadays, every portion  is shrunk to XS size. Anyway, so politicians, good luck to diabetes and heart attacks! 

I believe politicians would have to be mature about the general public. This is no more a generation of "katak di bawah tempurung" kinda mentality. This is a generation of progressive thinking-lar,brader! There are certainly a bigger group of learned people rather than the troublemakers.  I have seen the rowdies and the troublemakers in my taman and nearby tamans before. I have also seen the tirade of noises generated by the unemployed youths and touts in my taman before. As the number on this group grows due to unemployment and lepak culture kinda thing , the more they are going to be the troublemakers with the generation of couple paper agongs in their hands to create that "aggravated" demonstrations the ruling politicians are talking about. 

My question is this : So what if Pakatan rules in the next GE? Give them a chance and make a change. If they don't perform, kick them out in the following GE. Why should we be always choose the same ol' corrupters and bankrupt our nation further? There are just too many occurrences of wastages, unnecessary outflow of the nation's wealth and corruption. Let's make a change and give the Pakatan fellas a chance to turn our country around. If they fail, then , we just vote them out in the next process. That's how I see it. Afterall, so many of the current ruling politicians DID say that there are proper channels to flow our grievances that is through the Parliment discussion and so on but how much of our grievances are actually taken action, attended to or eradicated? It is disturbing for me if we continue to see bums, porn star, clowns and thieves running the country in the way they did. They don't help us one bit in lessening our burdens as a citizen but continue to plunder our national coffers using the so-called projects for rakyats, intimidation of banning this and that, racial scare tactics and numerous wasteful ways. YES, I DO await the opportunity to vote for a change and CHANGE WE MUST. Alas! Some people don't like that word, though.~

Joel & Jega...

Just about few days ago, I played host to two great friends who was in Melaka for a course. Though, I managed to be the host for only one day, I truly felt blessed with the lives of my two friends. In fact, both of them are my college mates ( my juniors in teaching college days ) and it was good to have met up with them after such a long absence. I guess, in a hurried hurried pace we set in our world today, keeping in touch with "old" friends seemed such a distance away. So, when Joel called me up and asked for directions to Puteri Resort, I wasted no time in trying to get there as fast as possible to meet up with these people. It was raining cats an dogs but I didn't care because when Joel told me that another friend, Jega was ahead of him , I thought it would be good if I could meet up with the both of them together. So, off I went to Puteri Resort and I stood there at the lobby area in my three quarters pants and blue France jersey with an umbrella by the side waiting for them. When they actually appeared ,they drove pass the lobby area, I could recognised Jega and Joel immediately. I must say with all my heart that I was ecstatic to see them. I didn't think they could recognise me at first as we have all aged over the years. It was understandably alright in view of the years we have not met since I left the college for my first posting in Sabah. That was a good & solid  20 years ago, if I am not mistaken. Like I said earlier, we have all added some "muscles" here and there, laterally and horizontally at different parts of our bodies but a friend is still a friend no matter what.

During my college days, Joel was the most feared goal getter in the college hockey team. He was the best centre forward I've ever had the honor to play with on a team. He was sharp, alert , a man of few words but one tough skinny but tall centre forward. He was a junior in college then but he was prolific in his task in getting the goals and the job done on the filed. He plays hard and he plays with his heart. That's what I really like. I really enjoyed playing on the same team with him. Then, there is Jega. He was my super junior in college but he too played on the team  after the seniors left the team but I remembered seeing this young man with bubbly personality playing in the midfielder role. I guess, by that time, Joel was already the senior and they were taking Jega and friends under their wings. Another group of very promising and talented group of hockey players. I really really miss those guys whenever I recollect some of the finest moments in my playing days. I can tell you that we may not be superstars or some big shot players but the team was full of heart and full of fighting spirit. That's the beauty of players from these eras at the college days. They left me with good memories in my heart and being a captain of the team, I was really proud of the players.

So, when I finally got the chance to shake the hands of my two friends, Joel & Jega, the feeling was great,man. Joel and Jega's facial features did not change and I recognised them both immediately. It was really good to be able to meet them. We spoke, shared some laughs, asked about our families and re-living some old times. The sharing from their hearts over the things that had happened in their families and situations touched my heart a lot. I count myself so blessed compared to these two guys who had to go through so much in life and still standing tall and be who they are. I guess, I can only say that their sharing of experiences from their hearts showed their inner strength, their tenacious will and their composure to handle so much that had happened. I am marveled by the lives of these two individuals. Their positive outlook of life and their humbleness have blessed my heart a lot. There is just no airs about them and their humble ways made our conversation such a joy and lively. I had a quick peek at their time table and I knew that their stay here would be packed to brim with lots of program along the way. So, I managed to squeeze a time from them so that I could be their dinner host. I must say with all honesty that I was also up to brim with work at the office but I could not resist giving these two buddies of mine a good time and a good meal while in Melaka. I believe that blessing is a two way traffic. I have felt so blessed over the years from great blessings by many people who had touched my life and my family genuinely. In turn, I would like to be a blessing in whatever way I could to others when I get the opportunity. This was an opportunity I would not passed up.

So, I took them to my favourite place for a great meal and fellowship. We talked, laughed and shared some great moments together. The scrumptious meal made it more memorable especially the curried wild boar, meat rolls, garlic pork, sweet potato leaves and the black pepper deer meat. It was just pure joy seeing them enjoying the food. I guess, good company will always be blessed with good food, right? As they had another session in the night, we had to leave from our makan place and head back to the hotel in a zip. It was hard to say goodbye to these two great friends but I know that the memories we had shared in this short time will be a blessing to all of us. Let's hope that they would get their college mates to gather together for a reunion of college mates (their year) and enjoy the fellowship like the one we have had.

The last that I heard, plans for a reunion of friends are being discussed! That is GREAT NEWS!~

A Brochure....

In a far far away land, located at one secluded corner of the world, the country of SLIVANIA held their country elections and the following leaders are elected and appointed to their respective key positions in ensuring good governance of the country resources. The country's main resource of income are oil, rubber, palm oil and tourism. Located near the tropics, basking and enriched under the beautiful coastline of beaches, sheltered from the major nature calamities, SLIVANIA is a perfect hideaway and business opportunities. Strong and steadfast leadership with the "2SLIVANIA" caption ( The true meaning of the caption is ONE portion from YOU to me and ONE portion for me to ME )  has helped Silvanians catapulted into the strong economy, cohesive unity and harmonious working environment. Criminals are beheaded with live video telecast where applicable, shot on the spot with the use of 50 calibre sniper riffles at close range, blown to bits with the use of C4s explosives ( usually done in oil palm estates! ) and however, for serious but non-threatening crimes - a bound of 3 years good behaviour are encouraged to give a second chance at life depending on how active one is associated with sports association or economic status. That is why the Police force of Slivania is the most efficient and approachable police in the planet. The Dept slogan of "Everything We Kow Tim" had yield tremendous accolades of good relationship between the State, public and community. Police Brutality, Over-Indulgence Interrogation, Death during interrogation or missing persons during detention are unheard of from this elite arms of the country of Slivania. Bank of Slivania is the most efficient bank in the universe. There is no need to return any loans taken as all with be taken care of by the leading government when the time comes. It is "I scratched your back and you scratch mine" when the day is done will be honoured tremendously. Come to SLIVANIA , the country of Absolute Wonders!  

The leadership list are as follows:

Prime Minister                   :       Evan QED

Deputy Prime Minister       :       Vive S

Finance Minister                :       BA Lim

Home Affairs Minister       :       Iggy 

Education Minister            :        Kuna

Minister (1)- Teaching Colleges :  Cheng

Minister (2 - Higher Learning :   Ivy Wong

Minister (3) - Colleges     :        John Ng

Minister (4) - Secondary  :         C.Zamira

Minister (5) - Primary      :          Tan BL

Minister (6) - Kindergarten :       Liz T

Minister (7) - Special Need :      Abby P

Tourism Minister                 :      LG Chua

Foreign Affairs Minister(1)  :       Anna T

Foreign Affairs Minister (2) :       WS Lim

Transport Minister              :       Din

Law Minister                      :       Kenneth WongPL

Primary Industries Minister :        Egan

International Trade Minister :       JChiew

Youth & Sports Minister :       CKTeo

Women Affairs Minister      :       ParaSathy D

Special Ladies Affairs Minister:   CKTeo [ He is so special, he gets 2 portfolios ]

Environmental Minister        :       Stef S

Health Minister                   :        Alv Y

Information, Communication & Culture Minister :     Mel C

Entrepreneurship Minister   :         Jessica H

Social Matters Minister      :         Jessie L

Housing & Local Govt Minister :  Lee TC

IT & Multimedia Minister   :         Kew SL

Labour & Manpower Minister :   Tan OT

Science,Tech & Innovation :        Richard L

Agriculture Minister             :       Stephen RJ

Domestic Trade, Cooperatives & Consumerisme Minister :  Low SB

Oil Trade Minister               :       YK Tai

Food Minister (1)                :        YV Tai

Food Minister (2)                :        YM Kok

Human Resource Minister   :        Jason T

Banking & International Finance :   Shirley L

Ministers in the PM Dept    :        Steven C

Public Relation Minister      :        Eunice T

R&D Minister                    :        Carol 

Urban & Interiors Dev. Minister :  SPTy

Special Assistant Minister   :        OL Liong

Hospitality Minister            :         LP Wong

Please be informed that none of the PM's children or relatives are in the Cabinet line-up.This is to prevent any conflict of interest in the everyday running of the country. However, there is no limit on opening any bank account overseas as SLIVANIA encouraged Slivanians to open up to 100 or 200 accounts overseas to spread the country's wealth around the world to strengthen other nation's economy. By the way, please be very careful  and do not dispose off  this brochure easily as 32 million Slivanians dollars had been spent in producing such brochures and brochure stands.  We want this brochure to be in the right hands of people who would come and enriched our land further as we would be taking back ALL that had been invested for the good of building the country. Come to SLIVANIA, the land of opportunity and fun. It all begins here! 

My Woman...always!

They say, " Behind every man's success , there's a woman behind it. " and I say " That's correct! " especially in my case. I guess, in many ways, I couldn't have paid a better tribute than to my better half, Soon Ling. Soon Ling had been an inspirational support to the family and me all these years and it was good to be able to celebrate her birthday. It wasn't actually a great way to start her birthday celebrations when we had to send our son, JWee to the bus-station to go back to Penang for his studies. Somehow, after a great meal together ( Dim sum and yummy ' bak pau' at Bachang ), we managed to get into some lively conversation and some bonding time together. In many ways, we wanted to have a family makan together on SLing's birthday but we have to settle with one less family member. However, it did not damper us from having a meal together. 

There is nothing extravagant of SLing, actually. She's sensational good for me and the family, honest! She is who she is all these years. Patient, loving, caring but firm many times. I have been blessed by her ways, more or less. ( Woi! Cold beds are a real thing,ok? Gotta say something nice-lar! Hahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ) Jokes aside, she is the calming factor in our family. Many a times, she had exercised her wisdom in many difficult situations in our lives and I believe, she is much a stronger person than I am. Her faith in doing the right thing and saying the right things are spot on at times. However, her cold stares and cynical sarcasm can be a spine-numbing experience when it warrants. She can be witty and quite a handful at times but most of all, she had been a Godly sent woman in my life. I pay such tribute to her because I know that at times, I drive her mad to the walls with my antics or even I can be quite a handful in my opinions and ways but it didn't stop her from loving me any less.That's the cool part. The "not-so-cool" part is that she can give you a good tongue lashing too when it warrants. So, that balances the unique relationship that we have.

Anyway, as always, she wanted to spend a quiet evening together with SYuen and me on her special day. We decided to go to "Wok&Pan" for our dinner and have some great time together. With " Herbs marinated pork chops " and " Pork burger delight", we kinda have our own fun at that time. I guess, what we missed most  was the presence of our son, JWee and good friends around us to celebrate this joyful time together. SYuen and I got her the "Red Velvet big cupcake" and a slice of  " Dark Chocolate Delight"  earlier in the day for her indulgence. Though it was a small celebrations, it was what we wanted - simple & cosy. In that way, we could sample the simple things that had made us what we are in the first place.

I want to declare openly that I love this woman of mine a lot for what she is. Jealous, eh? Well, there is nothing better than doing that for the woman you love. Some may disagree that we are Asians and we should not do that while some will agree that it's about time we say it out loud. To me, I don't give a two hoots to any of it because to me, SLing is truly a remarkable woman in my life. It's about time, you declare it rightly to your woman you love.Yeah, it could be done in private or as crazy as I am, saying it out loud in the open. It doesn't matter because there is freedom in expressing our thoughts and our heart's desire. Yeah! I am hopelessly poor at romantics and the finer acts of romanticism and bluffology but I do know my woman! Noticed that it is "woman" and not "women",ok?        

So, to Soon Ling, blessed birthday and may the Lord bless you abundantly and shower you with greater love, peace and joy! YES! A trip round the world for sight seeing when we are out of our responsibilities are STILL ON,baby!

  

Twenty Three ......

Twenty three (23) years..... That's how long SLing and I have been with each other under the banner blanket called marriage. I am lousy with dates in memory  but I remembered that it was 15th November ,1989 that I penned down my name on that piece of paper to cement my relationship with SLing.   It will always be a real significant day for us , not just spiritually , but also a very true testament and profession of our commitment to one another all these years. Yeah, there are days when we wanted to "poison" one another or even tear each others head off the shoulders but those days are virtually smaller than the happier and fruitful days of joy. 

I will not pretend and paint a rosy picture of our relationship but I want to be real in saying that if we can still bite our tongues when we eat, why should our relationship be any different? I guess, it takes a lot of tongue bitting to keep the relationship strong and durable after all these years. What mattered most to both of us was keeping a balanced harmony at home and in our relationship. Sure, we have worries, uncertainties and whatever that comes to derail our faith but I must say that we HAD weathered through the storms that hit our lives. We are not perfect but we do what we can to our very best of our ability. We don't cut corners in our methods of problem solving and we stand steadfast on our decision - good or bad. 

What made us tick, you may ask, right? Well, first and foremost is our relationship foundation. There are two huge factors which took us to where we are today. First factor is that we are very rooted in our believe in GOD. I believe that helped us a lot in our times of trouble. The next factor of foundation is TRUST in each others. These two factors are inter-twinned together. Our relationship thus far is based on these two core factors before other items comes in place. I want to remind many young couples out there that you need to work on these two factors before other things comes into your lives. The greatest factor of conflict in a relationship is always finance. I have seen relationship failed miserably when this factor test the strain of the relationship. I guess, I count myself blessed and happy that SLing is not a material girl and that helped me a lot. We both worked very hard for what we have but we never have this notion to crave for more. It is okay to crave for this and that but when the craving goes viral or ridiculous , that's where the danger comes. SLing and I always avoid such situations and always have a good look into our wallet/purse before we purchase anything that is not a necessity. Indulge once in awhile but let it not be habitual or else the relationship will go on a very stressful mode. 

Maybe, just maybe, getting to know someone better before proposing did help to strengthen our relationship over the years. In fact, I really thank God that it was real love at first sight for me when I first laid eyes on SLing. Scrawny, thin and dimpled simple lady caught my attention immediately. It wasn't the same for her , though. Anyway, what I wanted to say is that I took the opportunity to get to know her and later on courted her. Boy! After that, my bachelorhood days are OVER for good, baby! OK!OK! I must admit that I wasn't macho or good looking-lar but cukup makan-lah! Hahahahaaaaaaaaaaa......Even my late dad once remarked, " What? Are you telling that there is actually a girl who ACTUALLY like you-kah? " Mom used to say, " You sure the girl is okay? Anything wrong with her?" So much for confidence from your mom and dad, right? See the difficulties I had to go through even before I embarked upon my journey of relationship?Anyway, as SLing was my junior in college, we were two years apart before she actually joined me in Sabah. Those two years apart made us stronger as we got to know each other better before eventually penning our signature on that paper called marriage certificate. In many ways, I really appreciate those days as it helped us to be more comfortable with one another, knowing likes and dislikes, what can be done and what cannot be done and so on and so forth.We built our relationship slowly and with lots of patience and tolerance. Sure, we all have our good side and bad side but it's the tolerance that helped in calming down the raging tempers and what not!

Again, thinking of our wedding anniversary, after 23 years, you don't have much to fight about anymore, right? Hahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa............ Well, all jokes aside, it is still fun to stay married and be married to the same woman after all these years. Let's create new inroads of fun to spice up our marriage lives in the next years ahead, shall we? To SOON LING, HAPPY 23rd ANNIVERSARY, my dear!