Young graduates....

While waiting for others to arrive for a meeting last night, SLing and I had the opportunity to speak to one of the leaders who would be finishing her course in the local university and embarked on a new career path. Somehow, we started out with small talks and it soon ventured into what is her expectation of work and what to perceive while at work. As we begin to speak on the subject of work, salary expectations and the future, SLing and I could not help but sympathised with this young graduate. It is not easy for people like them to study the course they wanted, spent a bulk of their time buried in books in a land away from their known haven and laden with heavy responsibilities over their shoulders to succeed.

I could not help but felt rudely sorry for these young graduates who would graced the new working field soon. Knowing very well in the competitive field of work today, they could not have joined in the working fraternity at a much worse time. Generally,  food had become expensive, study loans to repay, housing rental skyrocketing,  spiralling prices of fuel for their mode of transport and standard of living had generally risen just to to state a few of their headaches. As we talked on, you could see the anguished look on the face of this young graduate. I could not help but felt the resigned tempered look and the pain reaction of expectations but facts are facts. As I laid down the current expected salary bracket by employers today, I know deep down in my heart that young graduates like this would struggled through their days just as SLing and I plus a whole host of people had experienced before in our lives. It is always never easy to start out in your career but with wise spending and thrifty ways plus much wisdom, one should be able to sail through. I've always believed that if you work with integrity, accountability and humbleness, you would be able to get through. I guess, these can be offensive words to many money -making motivating gurus but these are good Godly  principles which I've practised over the years. I mean, each and every one of us could device his /her own Godly principles to succeed in life. Just follow that principles and let it ride. Afterall, hardwork, dedication and determination are also good attachments to our own Godly principles in life.

Somehow, after relating some experiences in life with this young graduate, I was transported back to the days when SLing and I started out and the daring plunged I made to switch my career path. It was a very difficult time for us as a young family but thank God, we wade it through inch by inch. I related to this graduate the the experiences of good friends helping us to help ourselves like having savings, having forward thinking in life and making it through the tough times. There are so many "career traps" and " lifestyle traps" set before these young graduates to "snare" them into debts and exhaustion. I just prayed and hope that these young graduates would see the road ahead of them clearly and logically. I pray that they don't look at their career path and think that they would be helped all the time as even crutches has an expiry date. I also pray that they would remain humble, patient and do not expect much praises all the time as these would be shortcoming indeed. I take heart that God had been really good to my household and me. We had never lacked anything in life. It is true that we struggled a lot over our early years and we were frustrated at times as whatever we earned went into household bills with little to spare. But the important thing was that we made our life the best we could. This is exactly what I said to the young graduate. You can make it. Yes, you need to be thrifty, cut & trim some luxuries, tighten the belt a bit but at the end of the days , you'll be a better person. Yes, life is not about our finances but we do finances for our lives. We definitely cannot live on sunshine and air while being practical in life is important. 

This is what I believe - Trust a known God for an unknown future. Honor God first and He would honor you, definitely. This is the Godly principle every young graduate should know FIRST!     

     

Little Louis(s)....

The "goodies"- FOOD!

They say babysitting can be quite a handful when dealing with young children. For me, I think they are a barrel of fun. There is a lot we can learn from children and I am still an advocator that children are much more fun and innocently honest in so many ways. Last night, we had the greatest fun of taking care of 3 children from the Louis household namely "Super" Dave, "Cunning" Caleb & "Curly" Caitlyn. I mean, don't get me wrong, they ain't mischievous or demanding or naughty. They are really really fine boys and girls. Dave & Caleb are just two contrast in character and in their ways but they are really very well-mannered and cool boys. As for Caitlyn, she is more boisterous, loud and inquisitive in many ways. Love their ways and always close to my heart as they are really fun children.

The little Louis

We started out by having dinner at Kensington Restaurant. We ordered the Starter Platter ( a combo of garlic bread, mussels with salsa salad, squid fritters, honey chicken wings & drummet ),   seafood fried rice, fried tang hoon, spaghetti cheesy carbonara for Dave and a nice tomato spaghetti for Caleb. Before this, I had some great fun with Caitlyn who showed me what she wanted to eat as I put the menu in front of her. So cute-lar this Caitlyn! She showed me the lobster picture, the soft shell crab and the cod fish menu! Wah! All the expensive stuff, man! Must have learnt this from her trips with her mummy's friends and accommodating aunties to all the nice eateries! I kept nodding my head yes and yes for all her request. She seemed happy and nodding in agreement but alas, poor girl will be served fried rice and garlic bread! Anyway, the food was good and tasty. All of us truly enjoy exchanging our foods for tasting sake and I must say happily that the food tasted real good. Definitely the food had become better and better as time goes by. 

Watermelon Super

Mango Super

After finishing our meal at the busy restaurant, we decided to give an icy cold treat to the children.So, we headed towards Ice Bowl World Restaurant for some shaved ice delight. As usual, I asked the children what they would like to have and again, they were well mannered enough to tell me that they would share a watermelon super while SLing and SYuen would share a Mango super and I will get my usual dosage of white coffee. When the shaved ice delights came, Caitlyn was most excited and I fed her with both the watermelon and mango delight. She gleefully enjoyed every minute of it! As for the boys, the water melon super was such a great surprise for them. It was just so heartwarming to see the children enjoying the cold treat.

Ecstasy of tasting the shaved ice delights

Later, as we go back to our place, Caitlyn was all still fresh and energetic ; bumping around, clowning around and kidding around with SYuen. The two boys were busy watching Disney HD and "Johnny English" and we laughed out laughed together looking at Rowan Atkinson's antics. When they got back that night as Abby & Din came by to pick them up, I kinda miss these children whom I have come to regard as my own children. They are just so young, innocent and so fun. I'll take care of the little Louis(s) anytime. That is the joy of babysitting, I guess! Am I open for baby sitting business? Don't know - maybe, perhaps....

A little cheer....

Last Friday evening , while SYuen, SLing and myself were having our dinner at Malai Curry House, a lady, obviously a rather distraught looking woman, came to our table and asked us for directions to Unitem's girls hostel. She spoke in Mandarin while being not conversant in Mandarin, SLing answered her by giving directions as much as we can in our "broken" Mandarin. 

Upon knowing that both, husband and wife had traveled all the way from Batu Pahat to see their daughter, I sought for directions from several people at the shop to help them. As SLing explained and told them the direction , you could see that they definitely did not have a clue to what we we saying to them lest giving directions to them. That was when SLing and I decided that were are going to take them there despite our apprehension on the location of the hostel. Yunno, I wasn't really in a mood to help out as it has been quite a day for me but somehow the look on these parents faces says it all. The anxiety, the anticipation to meet up their daughter and the journey they had made triggered off a mighty compassion in my heart. I know deep down in my heart that someone along the way would help me if I did not know how to meet up with my own children wherever they may be. So, I asked them to follow my car lead so that I could bring them to their destination.  

So, I mustered the courage and started to drive towards Taman Tasik Utama and from there asked a few good souls for directions to the girls hostel. When we finally reached the destination, both parents came out of their car to thank us for taking the trouble to lead them to there. You could see the joy and the relief on their faces. The father took my hand and shook them rigorously. You could tell that these are rough working class hands. I do appreciate a good hardworking man when I meet one. His wife thanked SLing for taking the trouble to lead them to the the place. I had to apologised to them as we were not that conversant in Mandarin and so the next best thing to do was to bring them there though we may not be too sure about the place too but we asked and tried our best. I could sense a relief on their part and when they told us that they would be going home to Batu Pahat after meeting up their daughter, my heart really goes out to them. At that time , it was already way past 9.30pm and with the meeting and so on , they'll probably reach home in Batu Pahat way past midnight. What a drive to make in the middle of the night!

My heart was touched by the fact that these parents sacrificed a lot for their children. I could tell that they had not come from a rich family. They did not dress up fancy but simple and clean.  The handphone wasn't the android one but an old Nokia model while the car was a beat up 1st model Proton Saga. But the sacrifice to drive all the way to Melaka just to meet their daughter was indeed an applaudable act of responsibility. I do wish the daughter would be able to see that sacrifice made by her parents. I am constantly reminded of the hospitality shown by our close family, Vive & Sathy who had extended that same kind of love and hospitality to us and to our son , JWee who is in Penang too. Felt so blessed and indebted in many ways!

For a moment , it really felt good being able to help these folks out despite our own shortcomings. I guess, the joy on their faces just says it all. I even asked the father if he would be able to get back to the highway on the way back and he answered that he would be able to. There was great relief and great sense of overwhelming feeling inside. I know it is just a small act of courtesy on our part but it really made us feel alive again and this is what we need each day of our lives. To continue to do good and shun evil. Despite our glum and gruesome daily happenings in our society, we can still play our part to bring cheer to people's heart. We are so drawn in by the daily glummy happenings that we had shrunk into our own world and had forgotten what it is like to bring cheer and feel good again. We are battered, pounded and abused each day physically , mentally , socially with the daily corrupt ways & practises, lunacy of the lives and sickening happenings that we forget that there are people out there that required a word of encouragement, an act of kindness or even a word of consolation to cheer their hearts each day. We had become so withdrawn in fear, paralysed and even constricted in our ways because of how values in society had been compromised and adulterated. We had forgotten of the great blessing God has bestowed on us and we had kept that blessings under wraps instead of spreading and investing that blessings to the people.

I believe , each and everyone of us can make a difference in this life of ours. No matter how small our contribution may be or how insignificant it may look, it is a contribution noted by God. I would rather die fighting a good fight in life rather than giving a walkover for my fears, my inadequacies or insecurities! 

I am a firm believer that it is easy to become a nasty person but it takes a gentleman to be a nicer person. Don't you think so?      

Live another day....

The other day, I celebrated my 48th birthday with my family and extended family in an Indian restaurant in town. That day, I was also outstation for work ( long drive) and it was definitely a jammed pack day. I had promised SLing that I would be back home early but I wasn't able to get home as early as I wanted. So, driving back to office and then attending to another work case made the day a very tiring day indeed. When I got home, I just wanted to lie down for a while and catch forty winks just to recuperate from the long day indeed.

I could hear voices,  speeches, music and conversation from the television while I slipped into forty winks mode; just to rest. It seemed like eternity that I was asleep but when I finally woke up, I have had a 30 minutes sleep and it felt good. I told SLing that I wanted to have a simple meal at our favourite restaurant, TC Spring. SLing insisted that we go somewhere special and I need not drive. That was music to my ears then. She finally drove me to Bonani Restaurant and I was happy with that.  I did not expect anything else and I was thinking that it was just the 3 of us having dinner together. When I walked inside, the restaurant host ushered me to a room and it was indeed a pleasant surprise to see my friends there - Dinesh's family and Errol's family all ready for a good diner. I was pleasantly shocked, surprised and happy. Shocked and surprised as I did not expect a crowd to be there but happy that I get to spent my 48th birthday with my friends and family. We had a good meal that day with dishes like  Aloo Gobi, Tandoori chicken and salad, Palak Paneer, vegetable pakora, onion baji, dhall curry , chicken tika masala and plain naan. Wonderful time of fellowship and meal. The tiramisu cake bought by Dinesh adorned the table after the good meal. Really enjoyed the time spent with my friends and family.

I could never explain how blessed I felt that night. Despite the weariness of the day, it was the many greetings earlier from friends and family members help lifted me up in spirit and fellowship. I truly felt blessed that words of encouragement filled my handphones and the electronic media. So, I live another day to enjoy another day indeed!

Dad...My Memory.

This is my late dad ( on the left ) in his work clothes and his dishelved whitish hair when he came out to greet his grandson, JWee who was in my mom's arms. SLing is on the right.  

I am so humbled and proud to be this car mechanic son. I will ALWAYS miss him ~

~ Departed in 1997 ~

Pizza! The Children's Way.....

After finishing my fist lesson with the Sunday school children about 3 weeks ago, I often wonder if I could inspire a few junior masterchefs in making with the CCC Sunday School Kids after that. I toyed with the ideas and then I said to myself, " Why not Ivan? Get the children to enjoy being children and just have fun!". So, it stuck to my head that I was going to teach them to have fun and to do it in the next lesson. Well, Surprise! Surprise! I did it last Sunday with a lot of help from SLing, SYuen, Sharon and Lily. 

Though it was already quite late by the time we got home after a night out as a family, SLing & I still managed to get the early prep ready for the next days' action. As I diced and chopped up the ingredients with SLing on Saturday night, I really felt the sense of joy and accomplishment in my heart. I just wanted the children to have a great time and something different to do in their lesson with me. Most important of all, I want them to remember the very foundation of God's Word and to remember what was taught through the activities carried out. Preparation takes a lot of time and by the time I lay my head to sleep, it was way after 2.00am Sunday morning.

It's not capati or roti canai,ok? It's  Pizza! Pizza! Pizza!

That morning, I was up early and started my pizza dough preparation. It was as though I had slept with the recipe in my head. I kinda memorized the dough recipe in my head and merticulously did the measurement according but a lot has to do with the guts and prayers that it would be good food for the children, actually. As I worked the dough with my hands, I prayed for a good soft dough to work with. By the time I finished with the dough, it begin to rise, nice & fluffy. We then quickly stuffed every ingredients available into a shopping bag and off we go for some food and thereafter to church.

That morning, as SLing, SYuen and myself walked in with the shopping bags under our arms, members were curious and I was nervous as usual. Then just when I was ready, there a  Sunday School  Service and I had to wait for my turn before the children break out to their respective classes. I then taught the children on creations days and keeping the Sabbath Day holy.  I also told them that we are going to do something fun and enjoyable during their lesson. Their eyes just brightened up and smiles were all over. Eager hands and excited children filled the air and couldn't wait to start. When it was time for them to do their own pizza, they were transformed into adrenaline pumping children. I kicked off the enjoyment by showing them how to dust the pizza dough and placement on the goodies ( pasta sauce, mushroom, cheese, pineapple, sausage and magical stuff, luncheon meat ) of toppings.

Pizza goody on the way to gorgeousness!

Viola! When it is done, it is was straight into the oven for 7 minutes. While the first one was done, two others were being worked on by the girls first. It was really wonderful seeing them so excited and enthusiastic.I guess, as parents, we had been over-protective with our children when it comes to handling of  knives or even cooking. Sometimes, knowing what to do and having that passion is important. So, one by one, as the pizza rolled out from the small ovenette, the smell and the aroma drew people to the table. I'll say it again - the children were the stars that day. They followed instructions, made the pizza and even fed the adults who were around and still could have some to pack back for their parents. This is one thing I wanted to teach the children - respecting the adults and sharing of food with others - Manners! They did so well and I am so proud of them.

Raw pizza with goodies undergoing cooking process

As usual, SLing and I were virtually drained out at the end of the lesson but a fulfilling one indeed. I guess, during the cleaned up, some of the children came by and said their thank yous to me and SLing. Above all, I actually live for moments like this with the simple, uncomplicated, innocent and truthful children. These are moments that I will always live to enjoy and put them close t my heart. As I was about to exit, a child came to my side and asked me, " Uncle Ivan, it was so enjoyable and fun. Can we do this again, please?"  I answered , " Sure, why not? Make sure you come for Sunday School, ok?" Hmmmmnnnnnn.....what's next? Ravioli, pasta, apom, bread,  fruit cocktail ....the possibilities are endless-lar! One day at a time then!