Hospital....surprise....

The other day, I brought my daughter for her regular medical check-up at the General Hospital. It was one of those check-ups which will probably take a few minutes of consultation but a few hours of waiting. So, I was ready for the long wait and took the day off to accompany my daughter. Surprisingly, on that particular morning, the crowd seeking medical attention was enormously high and there weren't any enough seats to seat the people. The waiting hall was packed like sardines being pulled to the shore but surprisingly enough, the registration people, medical staff and the general public were quite civil and orderly. Certainly, the service standards at the Melaka General Hospital has improved a lot from those nauseating, rude and harsh treatment days. I could still remember dreading to bring anyone to GH for that matter. Nowadays, appointments were made, numbers were called and even names were still being called out despite the electronic advancement and the number serving services.

There was hardly any murmurings or grumblings in regards to the medical services rendered at the waiting room and after consultation. I guess, services standards had grown by leaps and bounds while this is getting interesting indeed. Due to the regularity of my own medical checkup and daughter's checkup, I have come to know some of the nurses and medical staff by name and I greeted them as usual. I always made it a point to remember names and faces when I can. It is just something I learned over the years while I am in the private sector.  I guess, when you are polite and pleasant with these people , they would be pleasant with you. You come around and strut yourself to be like a pompous little ass then, you will be treated like one, I guess. I think, this is common sense and simple logic. All in all, I have "enjoyed" the time I shared at the General Hospital. It has been a good experience indeed. Will this continue? Honestly , I dunno but I do HOPE SO!
I sincerely HOPE SO!

Sunday rant....

Chap Goh Mei signalled the 15th day of Chinese New Year and supposedly the beginning of many other days of goodies in store for the year. For me & SLing, it was just another day as far as we are concerned. As usual, on a Sunday morning, we got ourselves ready for church and we enjoyed the message presented by Elder Wong F.M. It wasn't a feel good message but a truly heartwarming message. I guess, that is what makes me enjoy the services at this place. I make no bones that I am recovering from years of hurts, pain in my heart, bitterness at times and a true empathy for others who had felt the same way as I do. So, please do excuse my reservation, , my crude ways or even my non-committal stand if you ever meet or speak to me at the corridors of the church. Generally , the years of "battles" had drawn me to my edge at times. Alas , all is not lost. Indeed, I feel very blessed knowing that I am slowly recovering from this little "battle" inside of me.  It is the true, honest and truly heartwarming messages that had helped me in more ways than the preachers would ever know. The message that is preached as it is AND from the heart reached me easily. That's why I have really enjoyed the messages that had been preached. In my humble opinion, that is so very important. I know , it is never easy for anyone to stand up there and preached the Word but sometimes in the midst of our presentation, pride & sin does get in the way, right? Somehow, I considered myself blessed to be able to grasp good Word message from these blessed vessels from CCC. 

I must confess and say that I experienced the warmth of a small church in CCC. Call me a skeptic if you want to or even lack of faith is believing the power of enlargement if you want to but the fact remains that as the organisation grows big, the fellowship dwindled and the warmth of fellowship slowly goes out the window. Hear me out before you sharpened your knives and axes to hurl at me. I must say that a small church makes us humbled and dependent on His strength. Many times, enthusiastic leaders want bigger church and bigger building but eventually, whether we are truthful to ourselves or not,  pride takes over and covers the shawl of mistakes, errors and mismanagement. How many have you seen and known have had this trouble? Come on, don't sweep things under the carpet! It makes a hefty bump of filth at the end of the day. I have always believed that the church of the Lord is the one that preaches the Word truthfully from the heart and built disciples so that the rest of the world could hear the message and tell of the goodness of the Lord. As I looked over and over the pages and poured my soul at the pages of the Bible,  kingdoms of splendour and majesty eventually fall from grace but the simple teachings of the Lord continues even to this day. Our calling is to worship the Lord, to reach out to the people and to tell the people to worship the Lord. The church is US ( you and I ) while the church building is only a place for us to gather. Even if 1,000 or 10,000 of us sits under some trees on a Sunday morning to hear the preacher preached the Word of the Lord, church IS already in service. The building - the BIG BLUE SKY! Let us be less obsessed with the buildings, leaders and be more conscious of the Word and our relationship with people. Someone once told me, "We all but walk on this earth only once - let's make it COUNT, shall we?   

Hotel Deluxe...............

The last time I went to the cineplex to watch a movie was some many moons ago, I must say. But to see a Cantonese movie was even more remote for me. Thereby, " Hotel Deluxe" was my very first Chinese/Cantonese movie I have ever seen in a cineplex. What an experience indeed! I must tell you this : This movie is hilariously funny if you understand the Cantonese language. It is such a funny, crazy silly slapstick comedy indeed. The facial expressions, the characters, the dialogues and the actions were hilarious, man! Funny through and through.

I really had a good laugh today. I have not had good laughs over the months and it was good to be able to laugh again. I guess, it was good to be able to laugh heartily and laugh silly over some of the comedic scenes. The acting by the actors and actresses in the movie were superb too. They are funny and such fun in the movie. There weren't any awkward moments but easy going comedy. A movie that will spill your dinner contents as you laughed at the jokes and humorous ways. 

The plot is a simple but brilliant plot regarding a hotel which is run by a group of crazy individuals who then meets up with a strict and disciplinarian Manageress who goes all out to gain the 5-Star Deluxe recognition for the hotel. Thrown in a spanner like a hotel detective, the chaos continues and so are the laughs. With some twist and turns of events including some challenges, the hotel finally gained its 5 star Deluxe status. Go ahead and enjoy yourself watching this movie. It's fun to have a good laugh.

Laugh and be merry! Cheers. Gotta thank Kew, SBee, SLing and SYuen for accompanying me to the cineplex! Enjoyed the movie.......thoroughly!

Negotiate? Siau-liao.......

Can someone please tell me or educate me that when foreign enemies invade your land, you "negotiate""? Heck, I find it ridiculously annoying to know that some lunatic claiming to be some King wants to take back a portion of our land and we NEGOTIATE? I didn't hear our Home Minister speaking of "negotiate" when dealing with Bersih rallies nor supporters. Injuries, hospital bills, wound stitches and blood-stained Bersih t-shirt very real-leh! Not play-play and "negotiate" one -leh! It is more to "belasah first, talk later " action and now , we have to "negotiate" with illegal intruders in our soil? Pegi-dah! So, when we tried and charged those people involved in the Memali incident and Bukit Jenalik - AlMaunah heist under treason against the King and nation, why can't we take action against people who has no interest in our country and try to create a nuisance in our country? Please tell me, why can't we drive these people back to their pirate ships when they threatened the national security of this country? Why the double standard in action? Isn't the "invasion" in Lahad Datu a national security issue and how come these goons gained entry into this country of our so easily? Hey! This is not a western movie or some cheap shot Hollywood movie take, this is about the NATIONAL SECURITY OF MALAYSIA,man! Wake up,man! Like that any Tom, Dick and Harry together with some army fatigue clad group of people can claim to be descendant of this King and that King any time, right? As far as I know, my loyalty is to the Yang Dipertuan Agong, ( Kesetiaan Kepada Raja dan Negara - Rukunegara-lah, beb! ) the Malaysian rightful King and not some wish-wash allegedly King of Sulu,man!

One of the funniest sent by a Sabahan friend not too long ago!  

It is no wonder that Malaysia is made the laughing stock of the world and why the general perception of the rest of the nations perceived our nation as the breeding ground for terrorist and extremist!! We allowed some 100 odd armed men to dictate the terms in STAYING in our country? Well, as far as I know, we shoot tear gas and bludgeoned the public when it comes to "threatening  the security of the nation." So, are  the teh tarik stall owners, assam pedas stalls owners or burger stalls owners making any claims over not being able to do business on these day in Lahad Datu-kah? Come on! These people , Sulu, Suluk or whatever, are holding a sovereign nation like ours at ransom and we NEGOTIATE??? To me, these are enemies of our country and when you trespass into a country like ours, you SHOULD and OUGHT be caught and if resist arrest, should be SHOT! Any Army chief in the world will tell you that when terrorist/enemies of the country endanger your country, you eliminate that threat. You don't sit down and negotiate or serve coffee, kuih tingkat or kuih kochi or even serve beehoon to such people! Rats! Too much influence from government departments functions and useless meetings!

The Prime Minister and Home Minister including the Army Chief and Police Chief has indeed got this all very wrong, man! First, you welcome with open arms to Moro fighters and MLF organisation and now, you open your legs for Sulu King and you expect the public to vote you in the next elections? Niamah! I say NIAMAH to you, dumb idiots! You will never how threatened the people of Sabah are when they have to live with such foreigners in their backyard. I can tell you because I have been there and I have stayed there before. Even in those times when I was there, the market in KK is practically filled with these foreigners and no proper authorities were doing anything about it. On one of my many trips for sports events in Tawau, I find it intriguingly weird to find bullet holes and buildings ridden with bullet holes at police stations at the coastal roads in Sandakan, Lahad Datu and Semporna. Then I came to understand what had happened as my Sabahan friends/team mates explained it to me. These stations are target practise for pirate boats cruising the water ways at these places at those times. Sure, our police personnels were armed with M16's and vest but how secure are they. At one occasion, I really felt pity for our PFF personnels and policemen who put their lives on the line each day as they patrolled these dangerous waters and townships. Even in my fishing and net fishing days near Kota Belud, the red earth roads leading to my favourite cove for net fishing was practically littered with illegal foreigners making their make-shift home from one house and later, to a colony of illegal homes on native lands. I remembered distinctively that many years ago while I was still in Sabah, a local Municipal Councillor in Tawau or Sandakan had to resign because he was investigated and found to be holding a fake IC or an illegal immigrant, if I am not mistaken. Can you imagine the "free" access this councillor had to the secrets of the local council, loop holes, laws, by-laws and the amount of power vested to him by the council? Imagine such betrayal. Sad, isn't it? Walk in the big wet market in KK town and tell me if you feel like a local or feel like you are in little Phillipines/Indonesia? Look, local Sabahans have that look. These people don't even have  hairs that match the locals and let's not talk about their features!!! It doesn't take a genius to recognise a Sabahan. BTW, how did the Pakistanis/Banglas/foreigners get motorcycle/cars licences/ boats/ boats licences so easily in Sabah? Hmmmmnnnnnnnnnnnnn...........Transport Minister, please answer-lar!

So, my pleas to all Sabahans and my Sabahan friends, please wake up and make a change. The RCI in Sabah MUST be a wake up call to all leaders in Sabah and in Malaysia as a whole to push for tighter security measures in Sabah, Sarawak and in Peninsular Malaysia as a whole. BTW, this Sulu King fella has been doing these stunts for years in Sabah as far as I know. It is about time, our country show him the exit door on the other side of the country-lar! BTW, Phillipines government don't even bother about this fella and we NEGOTIATE?      

Stay Alive!....

Yesterday, as I got back to work, I was hoping to start the week with a good dose of positivism after a great dose of reality sermon by Pst.Tan YH on the pulpit on Sunday morning. The sermon was short and sweet, as usual, but an encouraging one as far as I was concerned. However, yesterday morning, I received news of the demise of one of my client's employee and what a way to start the day! Well, even though I did not know him that well, it was about 2 weeks ago when he attended our company's dinner function. I could still remember when I did my rounds at the tables for my PR work, I had a small talk session and drinks with him. He looked healthy and in cheery mood as usual. We laughed , we drank and we had fun with the rest of guests at his table. All the while, he was the happy-go-lucky one. Never knew that this would be last time I would see him alive. I was told that he died in his sleep probably with a sudden heart attack last Friday. I did not know his age nor his family that well. I guess, he was just a face to me or perhaps a client to me but I still feel down at the fact that people in our service-related industry are dropping like flies in the 6'X4' plot faster than anyone else.

It saddened me that sometimes we are our own greatest enemy when it comes to taking care of our health ( me included! ). I know that I should be exercising more, doing my walks more or even taking proper medication on time. I know too that eating right is important and so does sleeping and getting enough rest. I am not giving excuses when I say that sometimes, these are things that eluded us in our rat race and super quick world today. Everything is "quick-quick and doubly quick" these days that we sometimes forget where we are today! Like I said, this is not an excuse or blame shifting exercise but the fact remains that the demands of our work can be quite taxing while superiors are not actually angels either. But the fact remains that it has a lot to do with us. We have to take a conscientious effort to make that change in our lives if we want to live longer. We have to choose life over anything else in our lives. Easier said than done, right? Well, this is far better than landing in the soil pile at the cemetery plot, right?

So, let's make an effort to change of lifestyle and start LIVING , shall we? I know you think that dying in your sleep is the most glorious thing, right? Well, in certain sense, it is true but truly, you will be sorely missed by your loved ones in times like this. Well, it may sound cornish and morbid to speak of death during these "red" and auspicious days of CNY but everyone STILL gotta kick the bucket someday, right?. Happy LIVING and let's stay ALIVE for a little while longer, shall we?  

Chinese New Year 2013....

Chinese New Year celebrations are a children's delight but an adult's ever greater delight! Sure, we burn some big holes in our wallets over the ang pows, mandarin oranges, dried big mushrooms packs, abalone & the good stuff in cans, bah gua and some good ol' Ngan Yin or Shandong groundnuts packs but those things simply can't beat the gathering of family members, a good walk down memory lane of fun, building/mending relationships and having a good crack at the food stuff. Every year we do this "ritual" yearly and honestly, I am never tired of this - can be quite taxing and physically draining at times but I'll survive. I guess, as your age progressively move along with the whitening of your hair, you tend to cherish days like this. Hahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.............

What I like most is Chinese New Year eve dinner. To me, I like being able to sit together with the family and have a great meal together. Don't get me wrong, I really do enjoy restaurant food at times but on special day like this, I would rather have mom's cooking. I count myself blessed in every way for having a mom who could dish out great dishes. In many ways, it seemed like so much hard work but I have always told my mom to prepare the food that we know best from our childhood days and which we usually have during our CNY eve makan. No need the extravagant ( abalone, sea asparagus, prawns, fish etc.etc which had become extremely over-priced at this time of the year! ) or overly pompous dishes but simple & good tasting dishes. This year , mom did just that and I get to sample the simple but meaningful food fares. Six good plain dishes which we are all comfortable with during our early days - Hainanese chicken, braised duck, mixed vegetables, pork stomach soup with fish ball & meat balls, pork & mushroom fare and some fried fish cakes.  

As I sat at the table having dinner with mom, I missed the presence of my sister, Lee Lee who was won't be back until the 3rd day of CNY and also, the presence of my dad. Yeah, I sorely miss him on days like this but he's close to my heart always. Seeing mom smile as we enjoy our food that night together amidst our jokes and antics made me happy. In many ways, it was good being able to have some time of fellowship, laughter and discussion along the way. Chinese New Year also brought along the long lost cousin, nephews, aunties and relatives from far and near. I have practically seen some of cousin grow from boys to men and from girl to women. Indeed, they have grown so much and it is always good to remain humble to the fact that as they grow from children to adulthood, we will all grow older someday. Spending time with Wei, Jade, mom-in-law, Ryan & Ashley too had been wonderful. Those tiny tots get so witty and stronger. So much fun with them and it was certainly a good time. 

SLing managed to catch up with some of her cousins and relatives.As my sister and her husband, Tee came back on the 3rd day, it was makan days all over again. Thank God for Lee Lee, my sister, who could cook as good as my mom. Her prawn sambal was hot , spicy and good while her pork rolls, nasi lemak, belacan fried chicken and her other wonderful food fares were mouth-watering and good indeed! She has taken up a lot of mom's trades in cooking and made it good.

So all in all, it was a really a good and sane Chinese New Year celebrations. The only thing I am really annoyed is those blundering idiots who kept shooting up firecrackers and missiles way into the night which sometimes land at our front yard causing an unnecessary loud bang. I guess, some traditions are die hard,man. The next round of firecrackers would be the prayer days and Chap Goh Mei day. Well, I just wanna catch on some sleep and enjoy some movies during the free time. Hope to catch some serene times and enjoy my cup of Chinese tea blends. So, Gong Xi Fa Cai and have great days ahead!~

Huat arrr....!

The best part about work has always been celebration 'makan' either prior to Chinese New Year or within the 15 days-Chinese New Year celebrations. In many ways, you get to meet up with your supporters and clientele, their staff and have a great meal over it. Throw in some exquisite tasting food and potently high alcohol content drinks, it can be quite a night to remember. Some antics are quite hard to find these days but with PSY " Opa gangnam style " sound blaring - anything can happen, I tell you! (BTW, we didn't splash out RM 3million to get him to come to our gathering-lar. Our localised PSY also can-lar! )  

Anyway, having the opportunity to mingle around with these supporters and friends made the night's dinner a wonderful occasion. Though we have had this function last year but somehow, every year seemed to be different and a better crowd too. Our cool COO, Bala and Senior Manager, Calvin from Kuala Lumpur joined us for this special dinner function. There were new faces amidst the veteran faces and it was indeed a welcomed sight. It was fun, enjoyable and one great ball of good noise, indeed! OK, some of them let go some steam on their own but overall, it was good to be able to mingle around and have some good time together. In other words, it was good let the hair down and get loosen up. Afterall, we are all  tensed enough during our professional dealings and so, to let go and enjoy a meal and some light conversations are ideal. 

My table was graced by the presence of 5 ladies and 5 guys including me. Stephanie, Ms.Lim, Wendy, Ms.Choo and Ms. Liong graced our table on the ladies side while DM, Sathiya, Sam, Jacky and me were on the other side.We had our laughs, teasings, great conversation pieces and even shared some fine moments in food. I guess, I sat down at my seat seeing the attendees of our "makan" function, I couldn't help but felt a little bit nostalgic. Some of our guests were young executives back then - today, they are managers, executives and leaders in their respective fields. It was good to reflect at old times at times. I still remember, the days I would climb up the staircases of  buildings just to deliver big envelopes full of reports. Those were some of the nastiest walk/climb ever but upon reaching the end of the steps where the wide smiles of these people awaits us made it all worthwhile indeed. 

Anyway, the food was excellent that night though I didn't take much of it but I whacked the roasted suckling piglet well and good. Yummy is the word. The ladies cringed at the sight of the poor innocent succulent piglet but I say, let's eat, man! It was heavenly and quantum solace as the velvety suckling piglet pieces goes down the pipeline to my stomach!  There were jokes and drinks and food and karaoke but nothing beat the fun of getting together to share a meal. BTW, our dinner consisted of Yee Sang, Fortune Bowl , Black Chicken Herbal Soup, Roast Suckling Piglet, Steamed Grouper fish, Fried Prawns and Pancake Dessert. Pretty standard fare, I would say, but nice.

That night I really enjoyed making news friends in the industry and also, sharing fun and laughter with colleagues and old friends. I guess, no man can be an island. We all need someone, someday and at some point in our lives. That's why I can't stand the snobbish, the proud and the super superiority mentality types. Perhaps, we could all lighten up and look forward to spending some time with the family during CNY celebrations. Somehow, this festivity will come round the bend in the next few days. We could all spread a little cheer at this time of the year. To me, Chinese New Year has always been a year of reflection on family traditions and food, strengthening of family relationship and reflecting on our lost loved ones. Most important of all, the sheer estacy of  joy for children receiving their  ang pows and the agony of the older ones/married couples for burning a big hole in the wallet/bonuses by giving out the ang pows! Hahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.......but it is okay. Afterall, it is more blessed to give than to receive, right?  It will be dinners and food again for the next few days as there would be invitation to attend such functions and social events. 

Yee Sang, here I come! Huat aarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!