Afternoon tea.....Daily Fix

Last Saturday, I  spent some blissful intelligent time with SLing which was long overdue due to our individual work commitments and activities. Actually, I was the real culprit in not being able to get myself torn away from work and also other commitments. Thereby, last Saturday, I decided not to let go of the opportunity to spend some quality time with SLing after work that day. Though I dreaded the afternoon traffic of voluminous musing tourists and ignorant local travelers that clogged the Melaka streets every weekend while choking us,  the locals of our weekend pleasures, I was determined to fight tooth and nail for that little ounce of enjoyment with SLing in town. And so I did!

Anyway, we headed out to Jonker Walk and kept our eyes peeled upon chancing the cafe called The Daily Fix Cafe.When we finally found it, we sighed a great relief while my tummy rumblings did not make nice sounds to begin with. I was glad that we found the cafe and as we proceeded our way to the mid/back section of the shop, the cafe settings popped up nicely. Simple, rustic and nice are what I would describe the settings. I am a sucker for relics and things from the early years and this place has a sizable portion of that. The combo of new and old chairs plus tables helped make this place quintessentially rustic and a place where probably younger crowd would enjoy. Earlier SLing and I sat at the front but as there was an opening at the back, we decided to take the back seats as at least we could rest well after walking down the streets looking for this place. I then pointed out gleefully to SLing the array of dulangs ( metal serving trays ) adorning the brick wall. I could remember some design of it because we used to have those items at our home before. I then saw the nicely kept wedding metal dulangs, cups, basins and so on. So nostalgic indeed as most Chinese family would be able to be associated with this. I jokingly told SLing that I had seen the metal painted basin and metal painted cups in one of the hotel in Seremban during my early days of courting her. Not forgetting the "Good Morning" towel and sabun potong!!!!! In those days, I could not sleep at her house as her mom was very strict then of house rules. I respected that and I believe that was a good ruling though being a young fella I could not understand it then. 

We ordered the Ciabatta Ham sandwich ( excellent taste though ), banana pancakes with maple syrup ( equally nice ) and some fanciful name Machaiata Latte which was virtually Green Tea Latte. These little bites were good for afternoon snacks and tea time delight. They weren't char koay teow or kuey teow theng, yunno but they are alright for tea time fare. I must say, I was expecting more but I wasn't terribly upset or down as it was a cafe and what do you expect from cafe, I told myself. I felt prices was a little bit steep but expected of a tourist attraction area. Maybe not so pricey for tourists or local travelers but for locals like me, the prices can be quite a stiff. I am not against locals making their money because of the popular tourist area, good food and nice ambiance and all that plus everyone has got to make a living, right? Well, I am only for fair price for fair food. Maybe I am just not well educated yet for these cafe types of food and prices, so I guess, I've gotta learn to adapt, huh? Overall, the experience was still good as I get to spend my afternoon with SLing at a cosy, easy going and cool place, actually. It is a place to go to with friends and spend some time having fun reminiscing the good ol' times.

I am looking out for another place to go with SLing as always though I know that the times we get to spend together can be quite sparse especially with my mental block on town jams, human traffic jams, kiasus, kiasis and pure laziness and plodding your ass on the bed amidst blistering afternoon in an air-conditioned room seemed so much easier of an option!!

Well, somehow, good ol' Aik Cheong kopi-o seemed so much better with yue char kueh and ham chin peng, right? I don't know about you but I am a thoroughbred Malaccan at heart,man!

Just for laughs......

A Hokkien couple from Penang arrived at US Immigration........

The Officer asked , " Do you have fever?" turning to the man.

The husband kept quiet as he speaks no English.

The Officer asked again in a louder voice, " DO YOU HAVE FEVER?"

The irritated wife shouted back in Hokkien.....

"E BO LA!" ( HE DOES NOT HAVE! )

The rest  is news........

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Part 2 of the Hokkien " E BO LA" couple at the US Customs......

The Officer sat both of them down in the Interview Room and asked for their IC's.

The wife shouted loudly back , "Dengue ah? ( IC )! Got! "

They were quarantined for a year!

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Yesterday, Ah Beng went to buy joss sticks, joss paper and accessories to pray to his ancestors. The joss stick boss asked him if he wished to but paper Iphone to burn for his ancestors.

Ah Beng asked, " They know how to use or not - this is so advanced!"

The joss stick boss answered , " Steve Job already there, he can teach them to use it-mah."

Ah Beng said okay. Next, he asked Ah Beng if he wanted Bluetooth. Ah Beng answered might as well.

The joss stick boss then asked " What about charger?" Ah Beng answered, " Need charger -meh?"  The joss stick boss answered, " Of course lar, after battery no power how?"

Ah Beng bought the 2Amp charger and asked for the joss stick boss business card.

"Why do you need my name card for?" asked the joss stick boss.

Ah Beng answered, " I will burn your name card also to my ancestors. For warranty claim, they will contact you directly,okay?".

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WORDS OF WISDOM

1) If you want to change the world , do it when you are a bachelor. After marriage, you can't even change a TV channel......"

2) Normally a man speaks 25000 words a day and a woman speaks 30000 words. But the problem starts when the husband comes home from work after finishing his 25000 words and the wife is getting started with her 30000!

3) Listening to wife is like reading the terms and conditions of a website. You don't understand it but you will accept it!

4) Chess is the only game in the world which reflects the status of the husband; the poor king can only take one step at a time.....while the mighty Queen can do whatever she likes...... 

5) All Men are Brave ; Horror movies don;t scare them.....

    But 5 Missed Calls from Wife.....surely does!

6) What's Checkmate?

     You tell your wife, " I saw a lady, looked exactly like you" and your wife asks, " WAS SHE HOT?..."

     You can't say "NO"  and you can't say "YES" - now, that's CHECKMATE!

Thank you , Jessica Han & Errol Gan for cheering us up a lot with these wonderful humour stories. Truly appreciate your thoughtfulness!

Warong life lesson.....

The other morning, I stopped by at my favourite breakfast stall - Pak Din warong for my usual breakfast fix of roti tampal, roti kosong and one nice cuppa of teh tarik kurang manis. Sure miss this warong after a month of closure due to Ramadan and Raya celebrations. As usual, the stall was filled with customers of different shapes and sizes; all trying to get a place to plonk their butts and get their hands going by tearing up the succulent and crispy roti canai. Being alone, it was easier for me to get a seat  for myself as I am not particular of choosing seats as I am an advocate that if there is an empty seat, take your butt over, sit down and wait for your food fare to come! 

As usual, I sat at one of the tables and shared the table with a pair of elderly folks. I had asked permission if I could sit at the table and they smiled as they asked me to join them at the table. As it was a long table, soon, another young couple joined our table.  The food came and the elderly folks were enjoying their meal just as I started to down my roti canai tampal down the throat; washing it down with a good douse of teh tarik. As I tore the next mouth size bite of roti canai, I could see the that elderly woman was asking her husband if she should packed some food for the children. She was insistent that they would love to have roti canai and lontong for their breakfast. She went on to tell her husband how the children loved the local food fare and how close they were then. The elderly man nodded in silence as he ate his food quietly. The elderly woman went on and on about how nice it was to have the children sharing a meal at the table during the earlier times oblivious to my presence there. 

It was thoroughly interesting for me as a mother spoke so eloquently fond of her children and what they used to do when they were younger. All this while the elderly man just nodded his head with an occasional crack of smile at the corner of his mouth. The elderly man finally spoke out later and told his wife that the children had all grown up and they would be able to fend for themselves after all these years. Afterall, they would be going back to the respective towns after spending two days with them over the Raya holidays. I could see the elderly woman just stopped in her tracks and answered that she was aware of it with a downcast look to go with it. Her head hung down and low as she munched on her food. I guess, that's mother's love for her children. I could see that there was so much emotion and so much passion etched on her face as she spoke on getting the children to come back for weekends.  Her husband just looked at her, patted her hands and said that they will be alright together.  There was such a great smile spreading across her face and I was sure joy spread through that moment as though it was frozen in time. I could also sensed that the young couple was watching the elderly couple and listening intently as I was towards the elderly couple.

As the elderly couple excused themselves and was long gone from the table, the young wife whipped out her handphone and made a call to her parents. I could hear that she told her parents that she would be back in the coming weekend to visit them. The guy seemed puzzled a bit by it all but he seemed to be strangely happy too. The woman soon lifted up her head and our eyes locked. She smiled and I smiled too. It was as though I could feel that she missed her parents too. I smiled as I nodded my head and she just smiled and turned away. No words needed to be said as it was a universal understanding what it meant to miss your parents presence as we moved on in our busy daily lives.

Like I always say, you learn priceless life lesson from the most unexpected places in your daily lives. I certainly enjoyed my life lesson that day. I know that you will too when you learn to see people for who they are and enjoy the simpler things in life in a spectrum of perspective. Be encouraged and be blessed each day. We all are a lesson to one another - either we are a lesson or we are a blessing to each other. You make the good choice, you hear?        

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri

To all my beloved Muslim friends, wherever you are, whether from far or near,

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDIL FITRI 2014

Drive safe, be loved & always be blessed.

May the time spent with family and friends be memorable, splurged with lots of love 

and 

embedded with greater understanding , care & respect for one another.

Be blessed!

Love...God's way.....

Children are truly the delight (or nightmare!!!)  for any parent or anyone who wants to do any activity with them but to me, I am always happy to be able to do something with them. Last Sunday, it was back to my turn to inspire the children and I just did my best. As always, it is never easy to plan what you want to do with these young, energetic and witty children but these children are a barrel of fun. I found that in my close encounters with these children ; it is either you teach them a lesson they will remember or they will teach you a lesson you will never be able to forget! Either way, it is fun with these children.

I wanted to do something different but I was out of time as the whole week had not been nice to me as work & enquiries bogged you down faster than you can hollered out " Break!" Anyway, the challenge was to bring something different to the method of teaching and inspire the children. I hope I have been fortunate enough to bring that cheer to the children. I know that by the look of the childrens' faces.......... I am truly blessed and truly had fun with them nevertheless.

The core of my lesson is about Jesus showing us God's love as in the scripture John 11: 1- 44. As I studied this portion of the scripture, I could imagine the situation surrounding to circumstances of the story. Incidentally, this was the portion of scripture whereby the shortest verse in the Bible was captured. That verse was in John 11: 35 - Jesus wept. Truly, a portion of scripture which was not only short in words but heavy and meaningful in words.

I really had a great time with them and I do hope I have been a blessing to them as they are to me. Sometimes, we do not know if our teachings have reached these young ones or not but I take heart that no words of the Lord will fall to deaf ears or void.

Deep in my heart , I am constantly thankful that the children are here for a purpose - to be a blessing to you and to be a great lesson in your life. You see, children tells you things as it is and that's important. I had a fun-filled day with them as we studied the Word, the play-acting, the game and the goodies in store. Definitely a great time of blessings........

Ah! The ugly truth....

Of late there has been nothing but hatred and more hatred being spewed by certain quarters of moronic people living in this country that felt as though they are the only people living in this land of ours. I hardly want to touch on political and sensitive subject matters of the country as I have been told by my friends to write on the positives of this country rather than the negative aspect of this country. I have adhered to this for some time, patient in many ways and I honestly wanted to continue on except that it has become so ridiculous that I just want to say a little piece of my mind who still thinks that there are people out there who will just holed up after spewing threats, hatred and more ridiculous untruth.

In a land where untruth, racial slur , religious inquisition and hatred are lauded and given priority, where has our morality, integrity and mannerism had gone? I believe that the present government of the day had failed me and my family tremendously and I have lost faith in them - be it the Malay, Chinese, Indian, Sikh, Eurasian, Iban, Kadazan etc etc politicians. However, we are partly to be blamed too because we put these goons there in the first place through our ballet papers, you may say but then again , I did not vote for these goons of government. I vote for the opposition which has significantly shown to be moronic as well in certain sense. 

I speak with conviction that how could the govt of the day stomach the dissappearance of a commercial airplane? A few crocodile teardrops won't help solve the mystery....buckets had flowed from the eyes of relatives and friends....so, sweep under carpet and let it lie low until the people forget about this issue , is it? That's the way it has been always, right? Where is credibility and where is accountability? With all the technology of the age, a plane can go off the grid?? The stench of filth goes a long way some how....... 

What is the use of law enforcers or police if you cannot even be impartial in carrying out your duties to the rakyat? Snatch theft, deaths by robbery, point blank shooting , gang related shoot down and Mafia execution style shoot out are on the rise and you say you cannot even carry out your duties in a custody case. Aren't you choosing sides when you are supposed to be impartial and just carry out your duties? Isn't all your letters signed as " Saya yang menurut perintah" or "Yang menjalankan tugas"?  

What about those who threatened about another May 13? Isn't that more seditious than "celaka" word? What about accusations of Christians taking over the country supposedly a major threat? Aren't those people who made such allegations should be locked up for inciting and stoking racial & religious disharmony? What about race bashing and religious bashing ? Are the police and KDN just suddenly "play possum" to such threats or suddenly turned deaf and mute? Wow! The pleasure of choosing when to become OKU ( Organisasi Kurang Upaya ) and suddenly turned blind, deaf and mute! Not forgetting, we have become "immune" to such lackadaisical attitude of public service..... But wait, traffic roadblocks are a must......need to collect revenue for the country and police coffers......But Friday,Saturday and Sunday nite racing and gathering in numbers at Jalan Kota Laksamana stretch of road is not endangering the lives of traffic.....Aiyaahh....no worries ...only young people wanting to let go some steam -mah....It is okay if they bully genuine road users or shout abuse at car drivers as they rammed into your side door.....hey, they are only letting go some 'young' steam!! Every freaking Friday, Saturday and Sunday nites, loud engines of cars and motorcycles rules that part of town. Bravo! PDRM officers! You certainly are defenders of law and order! BTW, the traffic summonses are out, people. Be careful where you park your car, where you speed on the highway & usual roads and be aware of black & white chasing the ass out of your vehicle at every nook and corner while robbers, rapists and law breakers having a filed day at the society. So much for law enforcement and law defender....sigh! I wonder!

Hey, I am a Christian and yeah, I am a Malaysian Chinese. You don't see me having big plans to take over the country nevertheless. Oh Yes! I DO intend to take over the country, just like any other peace-loving and law abiding Malaysian ........ by being a hardworking worker, earn my salary in a 'halal' manner , build my family with respect and tolerant to other people in this country,  do not rob , steal and take away what belonged to others and be a good Malaysian citizen and not called "pendatang". Well, I've got news for you. I ain't no "pendatang". I am a thorough-bred Malaysian ( my mom is a Malaysian and my dad is a Malaysian - got IC one,okay? ) with balls of steel to go with it. So, stop spewing hatred of race and religion. It is such a dirty, despicable, corrupt old trump card which is constantly played by these half-wits morons and one particularly badly brought up half Chinese goon who thinks he is more religious than others. Save your filthy saliva and get some mouth wash to go with it, will ya?.  

There are still many peace loving Malaysians out there. I really believe we should reject such morons and their moronic idealogy in our midst and asked them to "taubat/repent". This is my country too and I will defend my country for all she is worth. No one should tell me to leave this country because I am a Malaysian and I have the credentials to show it and prove that I am a Malaysian. So, stop pushing your luck and incite such hatred among the people. There are many like us out there who still believes in living in harmony, respect one another, tolerant and caring towards one another irrespective of race, color, creed or even religious background. Let us the genuine Malaysians join hands in rejecting such incitation of hatred, prejudices and crappy half-baked potatoes remarks! Stop throwing cow heads, pigs head or even politician heads for all I care! Stop the rot or the rot will stop you dead in your tracks......afterall, we are already breeding mosquitoes and terrorist too now........Ain't life a bitch, right?

The only real fight or real struggle I ever see for every peace-loving and nation minded Malaysian right now is to combat corruption, high rising cost of living, combat racism & religious divide and stopping the flow of damning black & dirty money flowing into the pockets of dirty politicians and policy makers of the day! The actual struggle starts with you and me. Shall we make a difference? Let's start with being nice to our neighbours, our colleagues, our friends and so on..... Shall we ?  

Ponder....

Something nice which I learn to appreciate:-

Don't worry about what will happen after you are gone, because when you return to dust, you will feel nothing about praises or criticisms.

Don't worry too much about your children for children will have their own destiny and find their own way. Don't be your children's slave

Don't expect too much from your children. Caring children, though caring, would be too busy with their jobs and commitments to render any help.

Uncaring children may fight over your assets even when you are still alive, and wish for your early demise so they can inherit your properties.

Your children take for granted that they are rightful heirs to your wealth; but you have no claims to their money.

50,60,70-year olds like you, don’t trade in your health for wealth anymore………….

Because your money may not be able to buy your health………

When to stop making money, and how much is enough (hundred thousands, million, ten million)?

Out of thousand hectares of good farm land, you can only consume three quarts (of rice) daily; out of a thousand of mansions, you only need eight square meters of space to rest at night.

So as long as you have enough food and enough money to spend, that is good enough.

So you should live happily. Every family has its own problems. Just do not compare with others for fame and social status and see whose children are doing better, etc. but challenge others for happiness, health and longevity………….Don't worry about things that you can’t change because it doesn't help and it may spoil your health.

You have to create your own well-being and find your own happiness; As long as you are in good mood, think about happy things, do happy things daily and have fun in doing, then you will pass your time happily every day.

One day passes, you will lose one day ; One day passes with happiness, and then you gain one day.

In good spirit, sickness will cure; in happy spirit, sickness will cure fast; in good and happy spirit; sickness will never come. 

With good mood, suitable amount of exercise, always in the sun, variety of foods, reasonable amount of vitamin and mineral intake, hopefully you will live another 20 or 30 years of healthy life.

Above all learn to cherish the goodness around ……and FRIENDS… …..they all make you feel young and "wanted"… without them you are surely to feel lost!!

Wishing you all the best.