A Place In The Sun

Saying Tak Nak to The Star

2011-01-27T12:05:00.000+08:00

My blog has been gathering cobwebs recently, but something has been getting my goat for the last few weeks that I cannot resist putting in an entry about it.

I have been reading The Star for almost 25 years now (since 1986), and in all those years, while there has been a slight bias in their news, it was definitely not as bad as NST.

But the since late 2010 till present, I couldn't help but notice the way their op-eds have been bashing/running down certain political parties, and making certain other parties look good instead. Not only that, I also began to notice the way they filter/place their news to make certain folks look good/bad.

Take the news on Jan 27 2011 that a Commission of Inquiry will be set up about Teoh Beng Hock's case, for example. On page 2, there was an article about how MCA has been lobbying the PM to get the commission set up. My foot!! This totally ignores the selfless efforts and countless hours that have been put in by folks like Gobind Singh Deo and countless others in helping Beng Hock's sister gather support to find out the truth. Its as if MCA is the only one who has been helping.

So, since a few weeks ago, I have been thinking a lot about quitting my daily habit of reading The Star every morning together with my morning coffee.

And the more I think about it, the more I realize that I don't need it any more. I mean, news wise, I am a subscriber to Malaysiakini, and there are countless other portals such as The Edge Daily, Malaysia Today, etc, etc where I can get news. For classifieds, I realized that I have been buying stuff from lowyat.net forums for more than two years now. Heck, mudah.com.my and carlist.my has much more Car for Sale listings than The Star! Even buying/renting property, there are countless portals you can go to. The Sun even offers their paper online for free, if you can't pick up a copy from your office building.

So, I guess the only person who will be unhappy is my "paper lama" man. So, The Star, goodbye to you and your self serving articles and op-eds, goodbye to your selling out of your integrity to serve your political owners. It has been a great 25 years, but sorry to say, you have lost your soul. Adieu.

Visit to Anfield

2010-08-18T01:26:00.002+08:00

One of the highlights of our recent UK trip was definitely the visit to Anfield, the home of the Liverpool football club. Despite being an Arsenal fan (!), its hard not to be moved by the rich history and heritage of LFC. My friend Siva and his wife kindly treated us to a tour of the stadium :)

Outside the impressive entrance to the Museum and Tour Centre

At the main stand of the stadium, with the Kop visible at the back

The team dressing room - imagine the words of the famous managers that used to echo around here :)

Sitting in Rafa's spot, now occupied by Roy Hodgson

The tin in front definitely reserved for Fergie when he comes visiting!

The famous sign that visiting teams see when they come out to the pitch

Breakdown

2010-08-10T01:44:00.001+08:00

In 12 years of driving, I've had my fair share of breakdowns, but they are often few and far in between.

But in a period of 4 months this year, I had three car breakdowns, which should count as a record of some sort.

The first was in April, when my car battery went dead near a friend's house in Serdang. AAM, which was usually fast and reliable, came after 4 hours.

Then our rental car suffered a snapped fan belt somewhere in Donegal, Ireland during our recent UK trip. It was a surreal experience, being towed back to Belfast on the night England played their most dire World Cup match ever (no prizes for guessing which one :) )

Last Saturday seemed like the usual, albeit slightly packed weekend. Fetched the wife to see a lawyer, then a doctor (!). Met an old friend at Sunway Pyramid. Then down to KL Pavilion to meet my classmate to discuss a class assignment. This was followed by a productive trip to PC Fair at KLCC :)

I decided to go back via the Maju Expressway, exiting at Putrajaya then heading towards the Nusaputra Interchange. About 2 km from the interchange, I suddenly heard a pop. Then I felt the car wobble. Then the dreaded klunk klunk sound. I had blown out my left rear tyre.

No problem, I thought. I called my wife to let her know I had a puncture. Took out the spare tyre and the jack. Getting the car jacked up was easy enough, but trying to take off the wheel nuts was another matter. As I put both feet on the wheel brace to turn the nuts, self doubt began to creep in. They were not even budging, let alone turn!

10 minutes later and drenched in sweat, I weighed my options. My phone battery had died, so I couldn't call anyone. Suddenly I felt alone and isolated, despite the vehicles zooming past me.

For some reason, I thought running back home via the Nusaputra Interchange was the best option and set out. But a short distance later, a car stopped and the guy asked me where I was going. After explaining matters, he offered to change the tyre for me. Halleluiah! But then came another twist. After loosening three of the nuts, the last one just wouldn't budge. The guy took out a walkie talkie and explained that he was speaking to someone at the Putrajaya toll, about 3 km away. Then he said help was on the way and I should stay put in the car.

And so I waited. And waited.

Finally, I decided help wasn't coming. The thought of trying to wave someone down never crossed my mind. I just thought Malaysians would be too suspicious to stop.

So I ran to the Putrajaya toll. I knew they had a PLUS Ronda that can help. An old man met me at the toll office, and agreed to send the PLUS Ronda, but warned that it could take a while. I ran back to the car.

As I waited in the car for PLUS Ronda to come, I suddenly realized that its been a long while since I really had nothing to do. I mean really nothing. Nothing to read, nothing to watch, no one to call, nothing to surf. Just me and nothing.

As I sat there taking in this unfamiliar sensation, I realized its been a long while since I prayed without any distractions. And so as the words tumbled out, my thoughts began to gain exceptional clarity.

PLUS Ronda came 45 minutes later, and two nice gentlemen worked together to undo the stubborn nut.

As I sat in my living room after some food and a cold drink later, I reflected on the experience in the car. To be helpless before the Lord and without any distractions is indeed a rare experience, and something that we seldom voluntarily create for ourselves.

I've Got HSBB!

2010-07-20T12:15:00.000+08:00

It all started when my phone line went down due to lightning, and TM took ages to fix it. Strangely enough, my Streamyx was still running.

So, when TM announced that Unifi is now available in Puchong, I bit the bullet and rushed to the nearest TM shop to apply for it.

The turnaround was very fast - they called back within 3 days to make an appointment, and the installation was done within one week of application.

But be warned - the installation is quite lengthy, so be prepared to apply for leave. Four guys came to my house at 9.30 am and got to work. First, they pulled a fibre optic cable from the telephone pole to the back of my house.

Next, they installed the fibre termination box. Due to the delicate nature of fibre optic cables, up to this point the installation had taken 3 hours.

After that, they drilled a hole in the wall and pulled through the cable into my study room. They then set up the Broadband Termination Unit, the Wireless Router and the IPTV Set Top Box. Since this is during a promotion period, the BTU, Wireless Router, DECT Phone and IPTV Box are all FOC. A good deal!

And I have HSBB! So, now I have - a 5 Mbps line, a new phone line (I get a new number), and extra channels to watch on TV. They also have Video on Demand, although the selection is limited at the moment. For now, you get 100 points per month free to spend on VOD - a movie is 10 points for 24 hours.

How fast is the line? I got the entire season of Glee in 4.5 hours :)

London Trip - 1

2010-06-28T23:22:00.008+08:00

Those of you who follow Simon's blog must by now heard the full account of our trip to London and gay Paree. Here are the links if you haven't: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6.

So, just a few extra thoughts and pics from our end :)

Day 1, we headed out from Hounslow during rush hour, so it was a bit cramped during the journey. But as I pointed out to Mei Yan, in London folks have an unspoken understanding of how they need to behave, from letting people get out to moving to the centre of the carriage to accommodate more passengers to standing on the right on escalators (ok, that one is a written rule), so on the whole, it was still pleasant enough for us.

We had been praying hard for clear weather, as I pointed out to Simon that British weather is two third grey skies and one third sunny. I took everyone on the route I went myself back in 2005, i.e. from Waterloo station towards Westminster Bridge, then northwards to St James Park and Buckingham Palace. It was cloudy when we came out of Waterloo, but lo and behold, the sky became more blue!

Simon and Wai Yin relaxing by the Thames!

Our first dinner at a pub in central London

Crossing Westminster Bridge

Big Ben on a clear day

Cheeky squirrel at St James Park

En route to the changing of the guard

Sibu - Stand Up and Be Counted

2010-05-17T14:02:00.006+08:00

Caution - long rambling post ahead :)

For as long as I can recall, the people I share a place called home with had always had an independent streak. Coming to Sibu out from the famine and poverty in China, the first generation of Sibu folks knew they had to rely on themselves to build new lives in a remote jungle in the middle of Borneo island.

And build they did. From barbers to tailors to farmers, each one toiled patiently and ceaselessly, was thrifty with their money and gradually accumulated wealth for their next generation. They ensured their children have the best education, and any old folk you meet in town today will probably have at least one child who went to university, some even to overseas.

Most of them were also God fearing, the pioneers of the town having been in contact with Christianity.

And so, they owed no one for their lives, and apparently someone forgot to tell BN that in the last few weeks. Gifts and grants are all well and fine, but to tell Sibu folks to be grateful (?!) and to return the favour was just laughable politics.

Sure, there were issues that needed the government's intervention, such as flooding and land lease renewal premiums, but they had been disappointed by the government so many times in the past few decades that when the goodies finally came, there was just a muted response.

In the recent vote, they had been given an opportunity to say something, and I have to say that unlike many of the Semenanjung folks, they did.

As I looked at the results streaming in on the Malaysiakini website last night, my thoughts turned to those hardworking folks of Sibu, recalling the faces that I saw whenever I wandered around town. In their wisdom, they had looked beyond the cynical and destructive politics of West Malaysia, and sent a loud and clear message - we are standing up to be counted.

Sponge

2010-05-13T22:51:00.004+08:00

My three year old is a sponge.

The other day while watching tv, when the adverts came on, she casually rattled off the names of the tv series being promoted - "Pao Tai Yan" (Justice Pao), "Ah Sien", "Jiat Pa Pa".

That got my attention, and I began to notice what she's saying. It seems like she's been absorbing everything that she sees and hears. After my wife's car accident earlier this year, Cynthia gets scared whenever I do any sudden braking. "Daddy, 撞车“ (Daddy, car colliding), she would say.

She would pretend her toy's a handphone and repeat verbatim phone conversations that she overheard.

I now no longer watch violent or scary shows like CSI in front of her - she gets disturbed and starts asking awkward questions.

All these made me realize the heavy responsibilities that parents carry - who your kids become do depend, to a large extent, to what you fill them with.

Long Live The Empire

2010-05-10T23:14:00.008+08:00

Early on in our friendship, Simon noticed an odd obsession I had with a British movie magazine called Empire. Despite earning barely enough to survive in the early years of my working life, I always bought the magazine every month without fail.

I bought my first copy of Empire in Belfast in December 1991, and was instantly hooked. It costs £1.85 then. In 1995, I shipped my 4 years worth of Empire back home in a tea chest, along with some of my uni books. I can't recall where my uni books are now, but my Empire collection now takes up 25% of shelf space in my study room. Yep, all the way from 1991 to 2010.

What prompted this post was the surprise I got when I purchased a copy recently. In 1996, Empire was RM 15 a copy. In 2000, it went up by a third to RM 20, and it peaked at RM32 a few years back. But on Saturday, I was surprised to see RM25 starring at me on the cover of the April 2010 edition.

Over the years, editors and writers came and went. Some writers like Kim Newman, Ian Nathan and Angie Errigo had been around for so long it felt like listening to an old friend talking when reading their movie reviews.

I think what made Empire last so long was the genuine love its staff had for movies. That, and a great sense of fun and humour.

Nowadays, I've made a fan of Simon, who shares my copy every month.

Help Yourself

2010-04-24T22:32:00.002+08:00

Been having this song on repeat recently - Help Yourself, written and performed by a guy who called himself Sad Brad Smith specifically for the movie Up In The Air.

The movie was both about the personal devastation caused by layoffs all over the US, and the character played by George Clooney who chose to isolate himself in the cocoon of constant travel, distancing himself from both friends and family.

So, the song's lyrics, in a way, is directed towards the people who had been laid off, but is applicable to George Clooney's character, too.

Have a listen :)

I know you'll help us
When you're...
Feeling better and we realise
That it might not be for a long, long time...

But we're willing to wait on you
We believe in everything that you can do
If you could only lay down your mind

I want you to try to help yourself

Take the time to take apart
Each brick that sits outside your heart
And look around you
There's people everywhere
No they don't always show
They're just as scared
And we'd be more prepared
If we pulled on through...

I want you to try to help yourself

Oceans of water underneath our feet
Terrible design
Dusty rooms you cannot sweep
Clouding up your mind

I know you'll help us when you're...
Feeling better
And we realise that it might not be
For a long, long time...

But we, we lend the weight on you
We believe in everything that you can do
If you could only lay down your mind

I want you to try to help yourself...

J Plates

2010-04-13T21:02:00.003+08:00

The other day as I was driving around my wife's hometown Kluang, I spotted a car with the number plate JFK, and suddenly realized how lucky Johoreans are with their number plates.

Apart from showing off that you are part of the Kennedy clan, you also get number plates like JET. My friend Simon used to own a car with that plate, and I relished those days when we could say "Let's take the JET" with a straight face in front of our friends.

Then there's JEW (??!!), JAN (for January babies?), JAL (Japan Airlines employee), JAM (for the masochistic). Add the number 5 to JAW and you get Steven Spielberg's classic summer blockbuster.

That Thing Called Running

2010-04-10T22:15:00.003+08:00

Many friends and relatives ask me about my obsession with running in the last two years, and I often have a hard time trying to articulate what it really meant to me.

But a few months back, I stumbled upon Haruki Murakami's "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running". A memoir of sorts, Murakami explained the role of running in his life as a novelist, and I found myself gobbling up half the book at a cafe within one hour of buying it.

A lot of people assumes that people run in order to think, but actually the opposite is true. Murakami described it as "running to create a void", which is exactly what happens to me when I run. There are barely any thoughts when I run - just the focus on moving forward, on the pace, on the breathing.

Running is also about finding yourself - how far you would go to get anything done, how much pain and suffering you are willing to endure. That sounds masochistic, but its actually quite enjoyable :)

Murakami captured all this and more in his little book. He also explained how running impacted the other aspects of his life, especially his writing career. He went so far as to say that he would have produced something very different if he had not been running.

Customer Service

2010-03-08T22:31:00.004+08:00

Its been a while since I shared customer service encounters and well, what better story to tell than to share my encounter with the famous third player in the Malaysian Telco market :)

My brother gave me his old Blackberry recently, so after so many years of admiring them from afar, I finally became a Digi customer!

First, the good news. The registration was quite painless, just filling up a simple form at the dealer, and the line was active in 2 hours.

But this morning, my line stopped working. I've been noticing missed calls from the Digi Helpline, but gave them no heed as I usually kept the phone in silent mode. I mean, I use it ONLY for email, and no one has my new number, so it would be weird for anyone I know to be calling me on it.

Anyway, I called the Helpline. And was put on hold. Now, I usually have nothing against holding, but since I've been used to not holding whenever I call Celcom, I have to count it against Digi. Next, the nice Filipino lady (yes, her accent was obvious) asked for my line number, which I remembered wrongly. She told me the line is registered to another person, then stayed silent. My mind was racing by now - how to get the problem resolved?? Then I blurted, "Can't you just find the number by my IC?" Luckily, the lady obliged, and found my account.

Then it was explained that Digi was supposed to make a verification by calling me on the number. Since I never picked up their calls, my line had been barred. I guess that's fair enough, but wouldn't it have been great to also send me an sms as well? I would have called back pronto to do the verification. Secondly, the dealer never mentioned anything about the verification.

But I have to say the Filipino lady did her job well, and the verification was quickly done. My good impression of Digi was slightly dented, but overall, I have to say I'm impressed.

The Miracle of Alvin

2009-12-29T21:48:00.002+08:00

On Sunday, someone shared the most powerful testimony I have ever heard in my life so far. It was a first hand testimony of someone whose life was literally saved by the Lord.

Alvin was a young chap who was doing some renovation work for one of the church members when he suffered sickness that resulted in collapsed lungs.

Ending up with 2% lung function, he had to be put on a lung machine in the hospital to help him breathe. Pastors and church members alike prayed for him, but there was no improvement. Put on sedatives, he ended up in a 2 month coma instead, and became a shriveled 40 kg of skin and bones.

One night, the lung machine failed. He stopped breathing and his heart stopped beating.

Alvin found himself looking at his body on the hospital bed and the nurses rushing in to check on him.

The nurses called the doctors. They took a look and asked the nurses to wait another 30 minutes. Alvin tried desperately to go back into his body, but to no avail. He prayed to God to help him, but no answer came.

30 minutes passed. The doctors came in, and pronounced him officially dead, at 11.45 pm. They switched off the lights in the ICU room and left.

Alvin was left alone in the room with his body beside him. He prayed to God to take him to the better place, since his time has come. Suddenly, a bright light came out from the wall.

Alvin walked towards the light. And woke up.

The next morning, the doctors could not believe that he was alive.

Months later, they also could not believe that he had recovered 90% of his lung function.

Leadership & Obama

2009-12-16T16:39:00.002+08:00

An article at the Huffington Post today caught my eye, and I think succinctly sums up Barack Obama's leadership of America so far.

I have never thought much of him during the campaign last year, when I was actually rooting for Hillary Clinton, who, despite labels of being a bookish technocrat, actually showed much more passion and conviction.

True, Obama often tend to speak more eloquently than Clinton, but does he have it inside? Is it in his bones? I have more than enough first hand experience of leaders who can speak really well but clearly is unable to follow them through with real, preserving action.

His actions thus far has been too data driven and too reality driven, not that data and realism are bad things, but if they are the only considerations, then he is not leader, just a mid-level manager.

Vision, passion and beliefs are all things that come from the gut, and not from dry data. Out of these things come courage, conviction and boldness to act. And most important of all, it is critical to get a sense, a feel, if you will, of the people that you are leading, otherwise leaders will end up barking up the wrong tree.

I really wish Obama well, but I am afraid he will end being remembered for being too cautious, too timid, in a turbulent time in the world where bold and courageous leadership were needed.

I end with a quote from the article:

"...a transformational president has to move the Congress -- and the public, if need be -- beyond the limits of where they thought they were prepared to go."

Misdiagnosed

2009-12-16T09:21:00.005+08:00

I guess in this age of overcommercialization, my story is not really such a surprise after all.

It started innocently enough. On Sunday I had a slight sore throat, but was beginning to get the chills and body aches. Come Monday morning, I decided to see a GP at Pusat Bandar Puchong. The lady doctor I met seemed skeptical of my condition, it sounded like she thought I was just trying to get an MC to avoid work on a Monday morning :)

Nevertheless, she declared that I had a viral infection and gave me some Panadols and NSAIDS. Now for those of you who do not know the difference between viral and bacterial infections, in terms of treatments what it means for the case of bacterial is that you get to have antibiotics to help you, while for viral you basically have to rely on your body's immune system. She even checked my throat and declared it "nothing".

I was miserable the whole Monday despite the medication, and on Tuesday, decided to go back to the same clinic. This time it was a male doctor. Again. he took a look at my throat and didn't think it was serious. He thought the NSAID I was prescribed was not suitable and gave me another type.

So, again, I spent the whole of Tuesday with body aches and fever, cursing my immune system for not doing its job. Finally, at 6 pm, I decided to go to a hospital to do a blood test (just in case its dengue) and a second opinion.

The lady doctor took a very close look at my throat, and said "You have very bad tonsilitis, can already see pus coming out". I was like, huh? I told her my GP said it was viral infection. She just smiled and didn't say anything. The dengue blood test confirmed that I was fighting a bacterial infection.

So, finally armed with some antibiotics, I suffered for another 1 hour before it kicked in. Relief, at last!

So, lesson learned. Don't trust your GP 100%. If you have doubts, always get a second opinion, after all, its your body and your health.

But I still don't understand how two different doctors from the same clinic can get it wrong. Maybe they think alike? Maybe they were just too overloaded and had mentally formed certain opinions about people like me? Anyway, having lost my trust, I doubt I will be going there anymore.

T3

2009-12-09T22:39:00.004+08:00

No, not promoting an old Terminator movie. but something that I have been involved in for the past one year :)

I think a lot of us grew up with more questions about the meaning of life, God and the hereafter than we could manage to cope. With the busyness of our lives, they tend to stay in a corner at the back of our minds, to be taken out and thought about once in a while.

I was in this same boat, until I encountered someone who decided to fearlessly take on these questions. If dinasours lived millions of years ago, how can we reconcile it with how God supposedly created us? Does science make belief in God irrelevant? Is there a God, and if there is, why should we believe and worship Him?

Dr. Ron Choong is one of a kind, someone who dared to face these questions head on and was able to gain clarity and understanding to them.

If you've ever been haunted by any of these questions, why not take the opportunity to hear what Dr. Ron has to say? He will be in PJ, Malaysia in January 2010 to do a series of seminars that covers these topics. You can get more details and register at the ACT Asia website.

Just in case you're wondering what T3 stands for - its Thinking Things Through. So be warned, the seminars are not the usual Christian talks, they will really make you rethink your ideas and presumptions :)

Singapore Marathon (Not)

2009-11-27T23:13:00.002+08:00

For the first time since I took up running last year, I am going to miss a race I have registered for, and it was down to my own foolishness.

I injured my right foot at the end of August, and instead of immediately resting and letting it recover, I kept trying to run again every time I got slightly better. In the end I prolonged the injury to three months, and even as I write this I am still only 80% recovered.

Desperate at one stage, I even went to a sports clinic, where I found out I had something called posterior tibial tendonitis, which in layman's terms meant I have strained one of the tendons on my foot. After some treatments and custom orthotics (thanks, Dr Aston), I got slightly better, but foolishly, I kept trying to get back to my training, even trying to supplement it with some cross-training on a stationery bike.

Finally, I saw the light, and to date I have stopped running cold turkey for three weeks. Not being able to run is quite depressing, but I realized if I don't rest until it is 100%, I will just keep prolonging the issue.

Hopefully, there will be more discipline in managing my injuries in the future :)

Whitney Revisited

2009-10-11T23:07:00.003+08:00

With the return of Whitney Houston to the music scene with her latest album, some music commentators took the occasion to revisit her finest hour - the 1992 soundtrack to the movie The Bodyguard, which even today remained the best selling soundtrack of all time.

The movie itself was so-so, but the theme song I'll Always Love You struck a chord with a lot of listeners, and lent the movie an extra level of poignancy which was lacking in both the script and the acting (Kevin Costner tried very hard to go for the stoic look but ended up looking wooden instead).

I remember the song well, for I had fallen hard for someone around the time it was released. The song had been playing for a few weeks on the local FM station at Belfast before the film's opening, so most people were already familiar with the song when they went to see the film.

As Whitney walked away after saying her goodbyes to Kevin at the end of the movie and the acapella first verse started, suddenly, the girls in the cinema started singing along! The guys in the cinema squirmed, but the girls grew bolder and louder. Of course, not everyone made it to the iconic chorus, but the whole incident was oddly moving. The song was about loving someone but not being able to be with him/her for some reason, and the girls were pouring out their own set of circumstances into their impromptu karaoke.

Even today, the opening verse still gives me the goosebumps, as I remember the voices of those girls in that dark cinema many years ago.

Eight Years On

2009-09-11T14:26:00.002+08:00

Like the baby boomers who remembered where they were when they first heard about John Kennedy's assasination, I guess most of us Gen-X'ers remember where exactly we were when we heard about what happened eight years ago today.

I was having supper with some friends in Section 1, PJ Old Town. The whole group of us were just hanging out and gossiping about other friends. One of us got a call from her sister that CNN had reported that New York was "being attacked". A bit bewildered and somewhat worried, we quickly paid up and headed home. On our way to our cars, we passed by another mamak stall that had CNN on, but couldn't really make out what was going on.

When I got home, my cousin was watching her usual Cantonese serials on Astro. I asked her to switch over to CNN, and we watched silently in horror for about 20 minutes to what unfolded before our eyes.

I went to bed that night thinking that the world will never be the same again.

Fours year later I had a chance to experience it first hand as I was in London one week after the underground bombings, and there was a bomb scare.

A lot has happened as a result of that fateful day.

Libraries

2009-08-07T13:44:00.004+08:00

I went to the Royal Lake Club, located within Lake Gardens, for a seminar last week. Just as I came up from the underground carpark, I caught sight of something which quickened my pulse and brought back a flood of memories.

Lake Club Library

Located on the ground of the club was a library. Not the modern type with metal shelves and bright lighting, but one with nice wooden shelves and a cosy atmosphere.

My love affair with libraries began when my dad first took me to the Sarikei public library when I was eight years old. Abridged Ladybird books were then the staple of my reading.

When we moved to Sibu, the SMC library became my regular haunt, and I read Tolkien's The Two Towers long before I realized it was a classic.

Sarawak was luckier than the other Peninsular states in Malaysia, because up till the 90's, the British Council was a significant donor of books to the public libraries there. Thus, I learnt BASIC programming without even touching a real computer, and had access to a wonderful collection of British magazines.

Sibu Library

When I came to KL to study in 1989, the National Library was at Jalan Raja Laut, and together with the British Council library at Bukit Aman, became my favourite weekend haunts.

Things got better when I got to Queen's in Belfast, for they had a 10 storey main library and a 3 storey science one, not to mention Linen Hall library at the centre of the city. I felt like a man trying to gulp down an ocean of water, borrowing books like crazy.

Back to KL in 1996, the British Council library became my regular again, together with the KL Memorial library at Dataran Merdeka, which I felt was the only decent government funded library in West Malaysia apart from the National Library.

It was also at the British Council library that I found the perfect excuse to "bump into" my future wife, as she was studying for her MAICSA then :)

Sadly, after shifting to Wisma Selangor Dredging, the British Council library is now closed down for good.

After witnessing the terrible collection at the MBPJ library in 2000, I gave up visiting local libraries, and nowadays prefer to haunt Kinokuniya and MPH instead.

However, I was glad to find out that Puchong is finally going to have its own library at Bandar Puteri, which I think will be open sometime this year. Here's hoping it will have a decent collection.

With the pervasiveness of the Internet, Wikipedia, etc nowadays, do libraries still have a place in our lives and our kids' lives? If we want to go beyond consuming snippets of info, plentiful though they may be, I believe physical books will still continue to have a future. Let's put it this way - consuming info from the Internet is akin to eating a McDonald's Chicken McNuggets, convenient, fast, but insubstantial. Reading a book, on the other hand, is akin to tucking in into a nice steak, something to be enjoyed slowly.

My little Cynthia has been observing her daddy always having a book in hand in the evenings, and my wife would sometime catch her intently studying a copy of the Reader's Digest, even though she can't really read yet. When she does, I look forward to share with her the wonderful world of libraries.

RIP, Yasmin

2009-07-29T23:39:00.003+08:00

Tonight, as I sat starring at my monitor, I thought of Yasmin Ahmad's untimely demise, and decided to gorge myself on her works on Youtube.

Like Lat, she was one of a very few persons who really understood the essence of who we are, in this beloved country of ours, whatever our race may be.

My heart aches for the fact that we will never find out what else she had in store for us. But I guess we should also celebrate the fact that she also left us a lot - a legacy of reminders to us on what means to be, well, who we really are. I share some of my favorites below.

The Last of An Era

2009-07-14T00:17:00.004+08:00

The retirement of Brother Paul Ho recently as principal of XXI in Penang marked the end of an era. For he was the last of the La Salle Brothers working as headmasters or principals in Malaysia, private schools aside.

I attended these Christian schools from the time I entered kindergarten till the day I left for college. I started at St. Clement's Kindergarten in Sarikei, which is still standing today! There's a fantastic write up about it here.

Half of my primary school years were then spent just a stone's throw away from St Clement's, and that's St Anne's primary school.

When my family moved to Sibu, SHS (Sacred Heart School) was my alma mater until Form 5.

Throughout all these schools, the same tenets remained - discipline, respect, strong work ethic, pride, love. All the Christian Brothers and Sisters that were there poured out their heart and soul to educate the children the best that they can.

And today, I dare to say many who have passed through the gates of those schools have continued to rely on those principles to make their lives a success.

As I write this, the songs that the Sisters at St Anne's used to make us sing during morning assembly echoes through my mind. Even after 30 years, they still remain vivid:

We Stand For God

We stand for God and for His glory
The Lord Supreme and God of all.
Against his foes, we raise His standard,
Around His cross, we hear His call.

Strengthen our faith, Redeemer,
Guard us when danger is neigh
To Thee we pledge our lives and service,
Strong in a trust that ne'er shall die.
To Thee we pledge our lives and service
Strong in a trust that ne'er shall die.

It's A Long Walk to Freedom
R- It's a long road to freedom,
A winding steep and high,
But when you walk in love
With the wind on your wing
And cover the earth with the songs you sing
The miles fly by.

1- I walked, one morning by the sea
And all the waves reached out to me
I took their tears, then let them be…

2- I walked, one morning at the dawn
When bits of night still lingered on
I sought my star, but it was gone…

3- I walked, one morning with a friend
And prayed the day would never end
The years have flown, so why pretend…

4- I walked, one morning with my King
And all my winters turned to spring
Yet every moment, held it's sting…

KL Marathon 2009

2009-06-28T15:49:00.003+08:00

When 2009 came, I wasn't too sure I will continue running anymore, after all the pain and injuries I went through.

But after some googling around, I decided that my shoes could be the culprit. So, shortly after Chinese New Year I got myself another pair of spanking new Nike shoes. Nike Air Structure Triax 11 maybe quite a mouthful, but it brought the joy back to my running again. According to the sales guy, you are supposed to buy one size bigger than your actual size, as your feet will expand as you run.

Thanks to a good friend who also took up running recently, I slowly got back into training again.

When the Standard Chartered KL Marathon was announced, I quickly registered for the full marathon, which I immediately regretted! But since commitment is made, I decided to try my best to train for it.

The hardest part of the training was waking up early on weekends to do the long runs - if you don't start by 5 am or 6 am, the sun will make the runs unbearable.

By the time the marathon came around, I had logged almost 300 km in 3 months, including 4 races.

Before the race, the question constantly eating on my mind was - will I be able to finish the race? The furthest I had ever done in training is 25 km, but according to marathon training theory, anything between 25 km to 32 km in training should be enough to guarantee that one can finish the full 42 km.

Then there's also the weather - the race starts at 5 am, meaning amateurs like me will finish in the hot sun between 10 am to 11 am. And last but not least, there's the feared "hitting the wall" phenomenon, the moment when your leg muscles finally run out of fuel.

The race started in drizzling rain, which I was very thankful to God for, as it meant that the first 30 km was very pleasant - the rain was later replaced with an overcast sky and a gentle breeze.

After running through Petaling Street (km 32) and up Jalan Istana (km 34), I finally found the fabled wall. I had imagined it was going to be fatigue, but it was not - it was sheer pain! Both my legs felt like they were going to fall apart. I managed to alleviate some of the pain by doing squats and rubbing Counterpain. From km 34 to km 40, I was alternating between running 1 km and walking 1 km. Km 40 to 42 was mostly walking, with short runs of 300 m in between. It was agony, but I also knew the finishing line was near!

My good friend who was running the half had stayed back to cheer me on in the last 200 m. Thanks, Liu! I owe you one :)

I finished in 5 hours 6 minutes, above my target time but I was just glad that I finished :)

I ran 42 km and all I got was this finisher medal :) (plus a finisher t-shirt)

Dating Blind

2009-06-15T22:50:00.018+08:00

There was an article in The Star recently about where ladies could supposedly hang out to meet guys. They include the usual suspects like the local Starbucks, to the weekend flea market.

For the Chinese in Malaysia there is the MCA Cupid Club to look forward to. Judging by the number of weddings they had, I would that say it is more successful than trying to snag a guy while pretending to browse through some old antiques :)

Anyway, from the early 80's until 2003, the British had a tv show called Blind Date that supposedly did the job. It was hosted by the irrepressible Cilla Black, who always ended the show with "ta ra then!".

The show basically had a guy choosing between three ladies who he can hear but can't see, and vice versa, after which the show sponsors them on a blind date at a usually exotic location.

The fun comes in four parts - in the answers to the questions that the chooser asks (most participants try to give as suggestive as possible answers to even the most innocent questions), in the fact the guy who gave the most charming answers was usually a fat bloke who you usually won't even give a second look, in the speculation of whether they tried anything with each other during the trip, and finally, in the behind the scenes post mortem of the date by both sides.

While the show was great to watch, as far as making real matches was concerned it was quite miserable, scoring a measly three marriages in its 18 years of existence. The BBC has a great write up about the show here.

The Taiwanese had a much more effective tv show called 非常男女 which was somewhat modelled after traditional Chinese match making. A group of ladies would sit opposite a group of guys, and the hosts then throw up topics for discussion which then helps the participants decide who they like.

The parents of the participants usually come along to give moral support - some of them even point out to their kids who they should choose! As usual, there is the inevitable guy or lady that everyone wanted to date, but for the most part, at least half of them end up with someone by the end of the night. And some of them were so serious they looked they were going to get married on the spot! The show's been discontinued, but you can catch an old episode here.

A Tale of Two Car Parks

2009-06-03T22:52:00.008+08:00

The other day, a discussion at the office reminded me of a true story that happened at a place I used to work some years ago. No names mentioned, in order to protect the innocent :)

Once upon a time, there was a company that had an open air car park and a covered car park at its office. Only the two top big honchos of the company were allowed to use the covered car park, while the rest of the staff made do with the open air one.

Everyone accepted this arrangement, and all was at peace.

Due to tight project deadlines, some staff came back to the office on their own on Saturdays. There were no OT or extra allowances for doing so, but they were happy to sacrifice their day off. Since the bosses didn't usually turn up on weekends, they parked at the covered car park.

One Saturday, the big boss turned up. He was enraged that his car park was occupied.

The following Monday, his PA sent out the following email to all the staff:

"Please take note that no staff is allowed to park at the covered car park at all times."

From that day onwards, no one came back the office on Saturdays.

The End.

Now Everyone Can Really Fly

2009-05-04T23:12:00.003+08:00

When I found out that my opposite neighbour was going to UK for a 10 day holiday, I was genuinely surprised. Going to Europe used to be a big thing, and boasting that you just came back from a trip there never failed to solicit the "wah's" from friends and relatives alike.

Prior to that, I also found out that my babysitter is going to Melbourne at the end of the year.

And nowadays, whenever any friend mention that they just came back from Bali, Bangkok, Phuket or Hong Kong, no one bats an eyelid or even bothers to ask for the photos anymore. Instead, most of us starts to compare notes on what we did at those destinations.

Thanks to Airasia, the world has really become a much smaller place for us Malaysians. On a whim, I checked for flights to UK next year, and managed to find fares of around RM 1200 round trip.

Thanks, Tony, for giving us the chance to live out our dreams to travel the world.

Naming Vanessa

2009-05-03T23:21:00.002+08:00

A common question friends ask us is how we came up with Vanessa's name, and its meaning. A lot of them imagined a lot of thoughtful discussion and research happened in terms of names' meanings, etc.

Well, actually the truth is slightly more mundane, but it was still an interesting process for us.

One thing that got my dad upset when Cynthia came along was our decision not to follow the family's Chinese middle name. The Chinese word in question was 德, pronounced De, and usually written as Teck. Its quite a masculine word, and the tough part was matching it to the right female name to balance it out.

I told my wife that since its possible that we may decide not to have another kid, I wanted to honour my father's wish this time around. Being Chinese educated, it fell to my wife to find the right word to go with the middle name, and she came up with 2 choices, both pronounced xuen.

Closer to the birth date, we both traded lists of English names, and got it down to between Theresa and Vanessa. Our choices were based entirely on how we perceived the names, and not on any meaning behind them (sorry to all you romantics out there). I had wanted an Irish name, and it has always been my dream to name one of my daughters Siobhan (pronounced "Shevon"), but since the name is so rare in Malaysia, I had to agree with my wife the headache this will cause teachers and friends alike in the future.

Shortly after delivery, I told my wife I was leaning towards Theresa (on account of Mother Theresa, Theresa Kok, better match with Teck, etc), when I was told that my younger brother's coming baby was going to be a BOY. This changed the whole situation, as unlike girls, it is compulsory for boys to take the family Chinese middle name. Hence I no longer feel obliged to use it.

Right there and then at the hospital bed, we brainstormed a new name, and flipped through the day's Sin Chew Jit Poh for ideas. We decided to use the same middle name as Cynthia, i.e. Xin, and agreed on Hui for the name. Theresa doesn't really go well with Hui, so it was settled there and then that the our second daughter will be named Vanessa Ling Xin Hui.

So there you have it, our non-systematic, non-romantic and non-scientific way of coming up with a name for our kid :)

Vanessa

2009-04-12T18:16:00.009+08:00

She came almost a week earlier than expected, but praise God our second one was delivered safely at 12.16 pm on 8th April 2009.

This time around, the labour pattern was completely different from Cynthia's. For almost 12 hours there was no progress, but once the doctor decided to induce, it all happened very quickly, so much so I had to leave behind my lunch at SJMC cafeteria and rush to the delivery ward :)

Vanessa at 36 minutes old

Vanessa looking around after arriving home

The difference between newborn and 2 years, 3 kg vs 12 kg - Cynthia and Vanessa side by side

Baby Rooms

2009-01-06T22:19:00.006+08:00

When we first decided to take Cynthia out, one of the worries was whether there will be any places to make nappy changes. Initially, I thought it should be a cinch to find a suitable place, especially in the more established shopping centres.

The reality is actually quite a mixed bag - the good, the inconsistent, and the surprising.

The good - One Utama old wing gets our thumbs up for a having a large baby room that can accommodate around 10 babies, located on the first floor of Jusco. Part of the room has curtains in case anyone needs some privacy . And the best thing is, if you run out supplies, the baby products section is just outside the room!

Another place that gets high marks is the new wing of Sunway Pyramid - the baby room even has a playpen and a separate breastfeeding room. See pics below:

Ikea, of course, is another place that get good marks.

The inconsistent - having sung the praises of 1 U, I have to also point out that apart from the mentioned room in Jusco, there aren't any other baby rooms in either the old or new wing, and similarly for Pyramid.

In Midvalley Megamall its the same situation, in the whole gigantic building, there isn't a single baby room, while in the Gardens, its inconveniently located on the second floor, not to mention being small and cramped. To further add insult to injury, to get to the baby room in the Gardens from Megamall second floor, tough luck if you happen to be having a stroller with you - there are stairs to navigate, so I was forced to carry both Cynthia and the stroller up and down the stairs! Pic of the Gardens room:

In Times Square, the one and only baby room amidst 10 floors of shopping is so well hidden you have to ask for directions to get there. But to give credit where its due, the room itself is quite nice.

Another strange thing is, there is no other Jusco that I know of that has a baby room.

The surprising - have a look at the picture below. Nothing special, just a nappy changing board, right? Well, guess what, it is actually located in the MEN'S ROOM. The shopping centre? Kudos and bravo to Ikano! It is gratifying to know that someone actually realized that its not only the mummies who are taking care of the babies :)

Love You Forever

2008-12-23T00:23:00.006+08:00

Have you ever encountered a book where you had not even read it, but it got into you?

I was at a hair saloon, glancing through a Chinese newspaper while waiting for Cynthia to get her hair cut. An article about an old book by Robert Munsch caught my eye, and before I realized it, my eyes had welled up.

Later, I googled up the book - Love You Forever. Tears flowed again....

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.

Malakoff Run KL 2008

2008-12-22T23:20:00.002+08:00

Back in June, I never thought I would end the year running in a 12k race. I was pretty out of shape then, barely completing 3k in a single run.

After the Mizuno Run, I was bitten hard by the running bug. Before I realize it I was running 5 times a week; over 3 evenings, and Saturday and Sunday.

It felt liberating, pushing my body to do things I never thought it could do, and as I picked up more speed and distance, it felt like I could keep on improving.

Alas, the frailties of my body began to show, and I realized that I was not superman after all. First came the shin splints, which luckily was overcome by changing the running technique. Then came a painful ankle sprain after a long run one Saturday. I was in pain for more than a month and had to wear an ankle support. And finally, I was hit with ITB syndrome towards the end of the recent Malakoff Run which, again was probably due to improper running technique.

Getting all these injuries reminded me why I wasn't too much of a sportsman during my younger days. I got acquainted with the anti-inflammatory powers of Ibuprofen, which greatly relieved the pain and the swelling.

Sometimes my wife would look at me as I stood at the door in the evening putting on my running shoes, shaking her head as she wondered what crazy thing has possessed me to torture myself :)

The Malakoff Run was a weird 2 laps of 6 km, no thanks to a last minute safety concern of running on a highway, but it provided a rare opportunity of watching the front runners in action, who usually zoom off into the horizon after the starting gun goes off. And my, are those guys fast. They were practically sprinting, eating up the hills like they were nothing. And among that group of elites was a 50 plus Chinese uncle!

I finished painfully in 1:15, hardly my best effort. But as I reflected on the past six months of running, I only remember the joy and exhilaration. Looking forward to another year of running in 2009!

What Goes Up....

2008-12-09T23:31:00.004+08:00

Yesterday when I filled up my car, I couldn't resist taking this photo:

Because almost six months ago I took this:

Its amazing how things went all the way up and then all the way down again within such a short time.

Its quite obvious that there are more cars again on the road nowadays, and the jams have become more pronounced again. Still, I'm thankful that now I will have an extra RM 200 in my pocket every month :)

Penang Revisited

2008-11-10T23:50:00.006+08:00

We went up to Penang last weekend to attend a wedding dinner. This was our first visit to Penang since 2003, when us and a bunch of church friends did a very ambitious food trek and ended up with constipation on the third day.

But I digress. Driving up and down the west coast at this time of the year can be quite a scary affair due to the heavy rain, and we saw quite a few serious accidents on the way. Thank God we managed to arrive safely.

We stayed at Gurney Hotel this time, which provided a great view of the Gurney coastal line, not mention proximity to the famous Gurney Drive hawker food. Alas, rain put paid to our plans, and we ended up having Korean barbeque and steamboat at Seoul Garden in Gurney Plaza instead. Here we were in the food paradise of Penang on a Friday night, and we were eating mall food :P

On Saturday we met up with an ex-colleague who kindly showed us how to get to Bayan Lepas and also brought us to the awesome Bayan Lepas food court.

Saturday afternoon was spent at Prangin Mall to meet up with some of the wife's relatives. Prangin Mall felt like a cross between Pertama Complex and Sg Wang Plaza, and we were warned to watch out for muggers and snatch thieves.

On Sunday morning, we headed to the Botanical Gardens, but had to cut short our visit as Cynthia got quite cranky due to the heat and humidity. She's getting to be quite a "puteri lilin", must train her to endure the Malaysian weather more.

An ex-teacher made an excellent suggestion of watching the sunset at Balik Pulau, but unfortunately, that will have to wait till the next round. Despite some bad press, Penang is still a great holiday destination and we are planning to go back again next year.

Mizuno Wave Run 2008

2008-10-19T21:50:00.003+08:00

After all the excitement of the Shape Run back in August, I was all fired up and trained hard for the second race - the Mizuno Wave Run (10k).

First thing I did was changing my running technique, and then trying to introduce some speedwork into my runs. A lot of tips and articles from Runner's World helped.

Keeping a regular training schedule was hard, but in the end I managed about 3 to 4 sessions a week - speedwork and tempo runs on weekdays, long runs on weekends.

Then, finally came the big day. It didn't help that the night before Cynthia was acting up, coupled with the fact that I couldn't sleep. In the end I slept for about 4 hours before waking up at 5 am to pick up my other running mates.

The course this time around was harder than the Shape Run, a lot of uphills. By the 7th KM, I was getting quite tired and the thought of stopping crossed my mind for a second, but I pressed on.

I finally finished in an unofficial time of 57 minutes, but the official time will probably be 1 hour, because there was a queue at the finish line! This was the first time Pacesetters was using a microchip to track the participants' start and end times, and one lesson learned would be that they need more finishing lanes in order to avoid congestion in the future. At one stage, I saw that the line was about 50 persons long :)

Next stop - improving my running technique further, increasing speedwork, more training on uphills in order to challenge for a better timing in the next race. Unfortunately, there aren't any more short races that I can participate this year, so the next race will probably be early 2009. Gambate!

Cinemagic

2008-10-17T17:52:00.008+08:00

I saw a review of Homerun today, a 2002 Singaporean film by the (in)famous Jack Neo that I heard managed to be both quite touching and politically loaded.

I got to thinking why there aren't many meaningful movies that kids and teenagers can enjoy nowadays, apart from the usual slick fare that Hollywood churns out.

Then I remembered a film festival for young people called Cinemagic that happens around November & December every year in Belfast. The festival featured movies for and about young people from all over the world, both new and old. I managed to catch the '92 and '93 editions, and still kept the '93 programme book.

On a whim I googled for Cinemagic, and presto, its still going strong after all these years! You can go their site to find out what kind of movies they are showing this year.

Tucked within the usual blockbusters are movies such as Innocent Voices, a movie about how war had affected the life of a child.

Maybe we could persuade GSC or TGV in Malaysia to do something similar film festival one day :)

Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again

2008-10-14T22:56:00.003+08:00

I didn't know about the Carpenters until a relatively late age - I was 18 when I first saw the cassette tapes at a music shop I used to frequent with some friends at PJ State.

But I was quite hooked on their soothing songs soon after, and collected quite a number of their song over the years.

In Uni, I found out that Karen Carpenter had passed away, and with that came the sad realization that I was not going to hear any more new songs from her.

But in 1995, a new single CD was released, around the time I was preparing for my final year uni exams. It contained two old songs, and a previously unreleased one - Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again.

The song was haunting - hearing Karen's voice on a new song was a spine tingling experience. I soon had it on repeat on my CD player as I slogged through my books.

Now, as I listen to it again, those months between spring and summer when I was coming to the end of my time at Belfast came flooding back to me - looking out at the students relaxing in the fields just outside the hostel, the dread-filled hours spent at the Science library going through the past year papers, walking past the Botanic Gardens towards the computer labs, playing football outside the Physical Education Centre.

At any moment he'll be walking through that door
But he won't find me behind it
'Cause the feeling is gone and just won't come back any more
I worked so hard to find it

I've been up, down, tryin' to get the feeling again
All around tryin' to get the feeling again
That one that made me shiver
Make my knees start to quiver every time he walks in
I've look high, low, everywhere I possibly can
But there's just no tryin' to get the feeling again
It seemed to disappear as fast at it came

Read every book, looked, for every meditation and poem
Just to bring home that old sweet sensation
But it ain't no use to me to try to get the feeling again

When did it leave me
How did I come to miss use such a beautiful bonnet
But baby believe me, I've done everything I can do
But somehow it's no returnin'
I've been up, down, tryin' to get the feeling again
Like a bloodhound searching for a long lost friend
Could you help me rediscover
The way to re-be his lover once again

The "IF" Tag

2008-09-15T00:09:00.005+08:00

Ann tagged me to do this last week, but was pretty tired from work the whole week and couldn't rack my brains properly to come up with the five "IF"'s.

Anyway, I finally sat down to think about it this evening and, yes, I did manage to come up with five "IF"'s. So, here we go:-

First "IF": If I had passed my SAM exams at Taylor's College like I was supposed to, I would have ended up in Australia. And as a result would have probably known a totally different set of people. I suspect my worldview would also have been affected. And last but not least, it would also have affected my second "IF below.

Second "IF": If I had not accepted an invitation by a uni friend to attend a retreat at Peace Haven (Genting), I would not have ended up in my current church, which was where I met my wife, made a lot of close friends and brought me closer to Him. At the retreat, I met someone who invited me to join my current church. This second "IF" was only possible because I ended up going to UK for my studies, which was where I met the uni friend who invited me to the retreat :)

Third "IF": If I had not joined my first company, I would not be doing what I'm doing today. At my first company, I met someone from a software vendor company, who later invited me to join him when he moved on to another vendor. Through that second company I was asked to do project management, and also met my "sifu" who taught me what really needed to know in order to do my job well. As a result, I was able to move to better jobs.

Fourth "IF": If my wife had not decided to switch church eight years ago, I would not have met her and ..... you know the rest :)

Fifth "IF": If my auntie had not saved me from drowning more than twenty years ago, you would not be reading this post.

...Class Remembered...

2008-09-03T21:39:00.004+08:00

When I saw the name of the person who sent me the Facebook invite a few days ago, a flood of memories came back to me.

15 years ago, I had the privilege to meet an unforgettable lady in uni. J was a few years my senior, and was doing a course somewhat similar to mine. She was never a classic beauty, but what she may have slightly lacked in the looks department, she made up in tonnes in personality.

J had a way of making you feel as if you are the most important person when you are in her presence. The way she holds a conversation with you, you feel like you could talk to her forever. She was funny, feminine, and playful. And the list goes on.

There were other girls who were physically very beautiful in my uni during those days, but to many of us guys then, none of them even remotely compared to J.

Which brings me to the point of my post - I realized what true beauty was when I met J. A lot of women assume that men are attracted to the physical and the visual, but in reality men are much, much more attracted to a woman with an amazing personality.

In fact, there was a news article recently on how most men preferred to date Helen Mirren or Judi Dench than a sexy young thing.

J, its a privilege knowing you :)

Beijing Olympics - A Tribute

2008-08-24T22:29:00.005+08:00

Just finished watching the closing ceremony, and felt like putting a few final thoughts about the Beijing games.

The games has been very memorable, mainly because behind the spectacular shows that the organisers put up, the true spirit of the games still remains intact. We saw wonderful achievements, wonderful sportsmanship, and to see the athletes time and again exceed themselves was a joy and inspiration.

So, as a tribute to the those who so inspired us, I dug out some old MV's from Youtube from that perennial favourite of mine - Animalympics.

The first two MV's are a tribute to the sacrifices that each athlete makes and the discipline that they have to endure to get to where they are today:

The third MV is a tribute to all who have gone to Beijing and gave their very best:

And last but not least, beyond the spectacular presentations that Zhang Yi Mou came up with, the Beijing Olympics theme song for me best personifies the spirit of the games:-

Running

2008-08-21T19:28:00.003+08:00

Since young, I was well known to be a kaki bangku, hopeless in all sports, except maybe for chess.

But in Form 1, I took up cross country running, and was instantly hooked. I wasn't very fast, but there was a certain sense of joy and fulfillment whenever I go out for those long runs.

Since then, on and off I will pick up running again. In Belfast, I used to go on bracing runs in the cold winter. The cold made it easier to cover long distances, and 8 to 10 km was quite the norm.

In my first job, I was encouraged to take up walking, and for 2 years I represented the company in the 10 km walk in the annual inter-insurance company athletics meet.

But later as I started a family and moved on to new careers, running took a backseat. The only exercise I got seems to be wandering around shopping centres during the weekend.

A few years ago, thanks to my good friend Simon I got a treadmill for a good price. I found out to my horror that my fitness had dropped tremendously - I could barely do 3 km before being forced to stop. Once a week I also jogged in the park near my home - again 3 km seems to be my barrier.

Then about 6 weeks ago, a church friend called and asked whether I was interested to sign up for a 10k race.

With that, finally came the incentive to really train and break through the barrier. I did 4, then 5, then 7 and finally was able to do 8 just before the race.

And finally came the big day. It was a wonderful feeling finding out that, yes, I can do 10k once more! The time of 1 hour 5 mins wasn't great, but finishing was still a fantastic feeling :)

Wither Malaysia?

2008-08-06T21:59:00.004+08:00

I don't like to blog about politics, but it has weighed heavily on my mind recently.

Amidst all the shows and drama that are on display daily in our newspapers and in cyberspace, there are a few things that I felt are worth pointing out:

The dominant party in the ruling coalition has become too powerful, to the point that not the police, not the judiciary, not the parliament, and probably not even the monarchy is able to do anything about the rampant abuse of power by them.

I suspect it is not really the alternative coalition that the rakyat want, but rather a way to finally check and roll back the insidious influence this party has been having on all our cherished institutions. They see the alternative coalition as one of our final hopes of doing this.

The key players in the party have too much at stake for us to hope that they will find it in their conscience to do the right thing. They will surely have to answer to the Almighty in the hereafter, but at the moment they just don't care.

There is one other hope, and that for the other member parties of the ruling coalition to realize that they do have it in their power to turn this tide around. Minus all the other member parties, the dominant party cannot stand on its own. But most are either too cowardly or too self serving to have the courage to do the right thing.

--------------------------------------------

So, is there no hope for Malaysia then? Will the final remnants of resistance be finally snuffed out and Malaysia continue on its slow but sure path to self-destruction? The events unfolding in the next few weeks will tell, but at this moment the optimist in me has just turned off the lights and left the building.

Goodbye to Randy Pausch

2008-07-26T18:02:00.004+08:00

Though I didn't know Randy Pausch in person, it was with sadness that I read about his passing on today. You can read articles about him here, here and here.

I first got to know about Randy I think around late last year. The original version of his "Last Lecture" was on Google Video, and though it took a while to download, it was well worth the wait.

It was heartbreaking that he left behind three young children, but they can be proud that their dad also left behind a legacy for millions of people.

Many people said they have been touched by his story - some stopped feeling sorry for themselves, some decided to "Seize The Day", others took courage from it.

Someone had assembled a tribute video to him on Youtube:-

A full version of his lecture (be warned, its 1 hour 15 minutes long):

Priorities

2008-07-21T23:11:00.003+08:00

Two weeks ago, my wife's colleague had her handbag snatched near her office in Jalan Semantan.

A day later, my babysitter's purse was snatched in the early morning at Pusat Bandar Puchong.

The day after that, my wife's eldest sister was injured and hospitalized after a snatch thief grabbed her handbag as she walked towards her home in Simpang Renggam.

And what was the police busy doing during that time?

Where is the compassion to help citizens in need, to ensure they have safe streets to walk on? Where is the urgency to go after those who are the real threats to our country's security?

Instead, much manpower and effort are wasted to serve political masters to achieve their selfish agendas, not to mention inconveniencing millions of people.

I appeal sincerely to your conscience - WHERE ARE YOUR PRIORITIES? Or do you not have any conscience left?

I do not currently support PR to overthrow the government, but it seems BN is trying very hard to make me.

The Debate

2008-07-15T22:47:00.002+08:00

I switched on the TV when it was already into the second round.

And there he was, as eloquent as ever.

It has been 10 years since I last heard him speak, and he continues to be a mesmerising speaker. There's no denying Anwar's charisma. The way he confidently carried himself, sure but without a hint of arrogance. The sincerity dripping from his voice.

I have always had mixed feelings about Anwar. On one hand, I regard him as a very intelligent and rational person, tempered with compassion. On the other hand, I wonder if there is deviousness, greed and a gigantic ego lurking behind them.

But I suppose it is unfair for me to expect perfection from our leaders when none of us in this world is.

So, as I listened to him calmly and somewhat humbly express his well thought out views, my mind vaccilated between wishing this man is now our PM, and thinking how this guy might be one of the greatest actors in world.

So, I think the actual question on my mind is, is he for real, or is he just like Obama, a great orator but not much else?

Malaysia sure needs a courageous leader right now. Pak Lah is a good man, but all he has are mostly just good intentions. And you know what they say about good intentions.

Sigh. I don't know. I just have mixed feelings right now.

Olympics Ramblings

2008-07-09T22:17:00.003+08:00

The other night as I went to pick up my daughter with my wife, I boasted to her that I could name all the Olympics venues in at least the past 30 years. So, off I went. Then, for some strange reason, I couldn't get 2004. I racked my brains, but it wouldn't come. Finally, I decided to Google it there and then on my PDA.

Athens!

Gosh, was Athens so unmemorable?

I remember the rest for one reason or another:

2000 - Sydney
I remember it was at the end of the year to coincide with summer in Australia. I had just started in a new company at the time and there wasn't much to do initially, so me and a few colleagues took to surfing the Olympics website every few minutes :)

1996 - Atlanta
Made an impression because of the security scares.

1992 - Barcelona
Was in Uni in UK, some of my uni mates actually went to see it.

1988 - Seoul
Theme song was "Hand in Hand". Was also the Olympics where my faith in it was shattered - Ben Johnson was my idol and I was devastated that he cheated.

1984 - Los Angeles
Peter Uberoth helped put on an amazing spectacle for the world. Most memorable for me. I was in Form 1 afternoon session, hence I got to catch a lot of the broadcasts in the morning.

1980 - Moscow
The year of the boycott, due to Afghanistan. I still couldn't get over the fact that Malaysian football qualified to go, but couldn't as Malaysia joined the boycott.

1976 - Montreal
I had a set of stamps commemorating it! :)

1972 - Munich
The hostage tragedy.

1968- Mexico
The famous long jump record.

This year, China finally has the honour of hosting the games. Let's hope politics and scandals will be kept to the minimum, and let sporting drama prevail instead.

TM Customer Service Story

2008-07-09T13:30:00.004+08:00

Every once in a while I like to rant about bad customer service in Malaysia, but I thought should give credit where credit's due when improvements do happen.

My Streamyx went on the blink last Friday. I gave TM a call on Sunday night to report the problem.

Surprise number 1 - With the new menu system, I was able to select talking to a person with three buttons.

Surprise number 2 - A person picked up the phone within 2 rings!

Surprise number 3 - they did not blindly ask stupid questions, but was willing to listen to my summary of the problem and acted accordingly.

Surprise number 4 - When I called back after trying something and it didn't work, I was able to get back a consistent customer experience!

Surprise number 5 - the problem was fixed within 24 hours, no hassle.

Surprise number 6 - I received TWO calls from the technical department to confirm that my problem is fixed and that I was happy with the resolution.

I still have complaints about Streamyx's inconsistent speed, but their customer service has definitely made a significant improvement. Syabas!

Love Letter/The Contact

2008-06-22T14:00:00.009+08:00

I just finished reading a review of Made of Honour by The Star yesterday, and got to thinking - when was the last time I saw a really good romance movie? After digging for a while, I have to go back all the way to "Love, Actually" which was released in 2004. If I have to name something more recent, I would be forced to choose "Iron Man" (bear with me here) which, in addition to all the usual action scenes, had a very sweet subplot concerning Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and the hero.

Apart from the Before Sunrise/Before Sunset combo, two of my other all time favourite love stories from the silver screen came from Japan and Korea.

The Japanese one is actually pretty well known - Love Letter. I first saw it at Midvalley in 2000, and have since owned a VCD of it (still hunting for a proper DVD copy).

The movie handles the themes of loss, memories, and things unspoken with tenderness wraps things up with a coda that is heartbreaking but yet uplifting.

The second movie was more conventional (think You've Got Mail's predecessor), but it's execution is much more superior to Tom Hank's movie. The movie's protrayal of the loneliness of our modern existence amidst all the comforts and choices we have is something that most of us living in Klang Valley can really relate to.

The Korean movie came with the bonus of a really cool theme song - Velvet Underground's Pale Blue Eyes. Enjoy :)

Ipoh Trip

2008-06-09T15:19:00.003+08:00

Was up with Ipoh last weekend with wife and kid to attend a wedding. We stayed at Heritage Hotel, which was nothing to shout about, but it was quite clean and comfy.

The dinner at Sun Lee How Fook, however, was another matter. The food was REALLY good, all the dishes had the freshest ingredients and was superbly cooked. The finale, however, was a puzzle - Nestle ice-cream??

Going round town was made easier thanks to the superb map drawn by Wai Yin, and also the help of a local friend (thanks, Victor!).

On Sunday, we originally planned to go to Foh San, but was warned by Victor that it will be difficult to get into. So, we decided to go to Yuk Fook Moon, supposedly one of a trio (Foh San being one of them as well) of excellent dim sum places in Ipoh.

After breakfast, we went to the famed toyshop near Sun Yuen Loong in Old Town (thanks again, WY!) and got some toys for Cynthia.

Then we paid the Ipoh train station a visit. I was surprised to see a brand new platform had been built there recently. Victor explained this was in preparation for the double-tracking project.

We finally rounded off the trip with a visit to the Salted Chicken shop and also bought some Heong Peng.

On the way back, my wife commented that things in Ipoh seemed more solid and authentic, in contrast to KL. I have to agree - somehow, KL has become a pale imitation of the real thing.

PD Retreat

2008-05-24T00:05:00.004+08:00

Had a great time at PD last weekend with some church friends. Simon, Ann and Wai Yin have all blogged about it, so wifey said, "Hey, where's yours?"

So, here you go, a few more photos of a great trip. Thanks Simon & Wai Yin for organizing this and taking good care of us, and thanks to the rest for your wonderful company and great conversation :)

The spectacular view from the hotel

Cynthia relaxing at the comfy king size bed everyone was raving about

Teluk Kemang - can you believe this was my first time here?

My dear friend Shang with her daughter Arielle

Arielle & Zoe having a good time playing in the sand with their daddies and mummies

Unwanted

2008-04-07T22:22:00.004+08:00

Although I agree with my good friend Simon's recent post that Malaysian mainstream newspapers are generally biased and useless, one of the reasons I still buy The Star is that they regularly feature stories like this.

I was reading it as I was having dinner tonight and was almost moved to tears as I saw the photos of the little babies that the kind soul was taking care of. They reminded me of my own Cynthia, innocent and helpless and beautiful, and yet, for some reason, unwanted.

Why, are they unwanted? It is not for me to throw stones, as very often, the reason is economic - the mother simply do not have the means to take care of the child.

God has really called Phuc to do His good work, as he has carried them out in faith, without worrying about how he will have the funds to do it.

The story really made me cherish my own little angel more, and tonight I spent more time than usual with her :)

Sing It Again, Jose

2008-04-05T17:41:00.003+08:00

No, not that Jose formerly with a very famous football club :)

There's a saying that goes "all Filipinos can sing". And sure enough, in Malaysia you can find a Filipino band playing in almost every lounge. But in 1990, we had the privilege to be introduced to Jose Mari Chan.

Jose Mari Chan was actually very popular in his home country for many years, but his songs were seldom heard elsewhere.

In 1990, his new English album was released in Malaysia, and the song "Beautiful Girl" was a monster hit.

But till today, a bigger favourite of mine was the first song in that album, "Constant Change".

As usual, a trawl through YouTube produced the goods. Hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do :)

We're on the road
We move from place to place
And oftentimes when I'm about to call it home
We'd have to move along
Life is a constant change...

The friends we know we meet along the way
Too soon the times we share form part of yesterday
'Cause life's a constant change
And nothing stays the same, oh no

Clouds that move across the skies
Are changing form before our very eyes

Why couldn't we keep time from movin' on?
Hold on to all the years before this moment's gone?
Why must we live the days at such a frightening pace?

We're all like clouds that move across the skies
And changing form before our very eyes

Have we outgrown our Peter Pans and wings?
We've simply grown too old for tales of knights and kings
'Cause life's a constant change
And nothing stays the same, oh no

Election Musings

2008-03-20T23:12:00.002+08:00

Shortly after our political tsunami, I discovered an interesting fact about the parliamentary elections. If we only look at parliament seats in West Malaysia, the score is actually 86 vs 80 between BN and BR. Six seats!

What saved the BN in PRU12 was effectively Sabah and Sarawak. I complained to my wife why, despite years of neglect and bullying by the Federal Govt, East Malaysia still chose to throw their support behind BN. I then painted a tantalizing scenario where the East Malaysians also decide they had enough and decide to defect to BR.

Well, it turns they are thinking of it :) See here and here.

This could be the end of our country as we know it, and the birth of a new era.

Future of Broadcasting

2008-03-20T22:18:00.003+08:00

I have seen the future of broadcasting, and Astro should be very, very afraid.

About a month ago, I was back in my wife's home in Kluang, which had no broadband and no ESPN/Star Sports. Arsenal was going to play MU that night, so I came up with a plan.

I've heard of online sports broadcasts on the Net. So, step 1, I subscribed to Celcom's Daily Broadband (8 bucks). Next, I hooked up my PDA to my notebook. I started surfing the net for online broadcasts.

I ended up downloading something called SOPCast.

I ran it.

A list of channels came out.

My hands shaking with excitement, I clicked on the Star Sports channel.

After a 30 second wait........I was watching the match. Live. On my notebook, hooked to a PDA accessing a 3.5G network to link to the Internet.

As Arsenal began to lose badly, the number of peers started dropping, and the stream began to get jerky.

SOPCast is actually a peer-to-peer internet tv system, and works very much like BitTorrent. Which means the quality of the stream very much depends on how many peers are there sharing the same channel.

As broadband becomes more commonplace all over the world and the pipes get bigger, in the future, will we still be watching tv as we know it?

Groundhog Day (Again)

2008-03-16T22:37:00.006+08:00

Some of you may remember me mentioning the movie Groundhog Day in my previous posts and also on my Facebook profile.

Tonight, the movie suddenly occurred to me again and I googled it up while I reflected on what I saw 15 years ago.

Yes, its been that long since I first saw the film. In June 1993, I had just finished my second year uni exams, and was feeling a bit depressed after struggling through some of the papers. It was at Cannon cinema in Belfast, which has since been overtaken by MGM a few streets away.

As I walked out of the cinema that afternoon, I told myself that I must always strive to remember that each day is unique and precious, that I will never be able to go through that day again, and that I have the power to make it a good day or a bad day for everyone that I encounter.

About five thousand days have elapsed since that day, and I felt a bit despondent realizing that more often that not, I have forgotten those thoughts.

The other realization came when I read a blog entry by the scriptwriter of the movie and the comments left by a guy who wrote a self improvement book based on the movie.

That realization was, again sadly, that although in many ways I had changed, there are also many things which have still remained much the same, and some things which have in fact went backwards.

Those of you who know my age will probably say by this point - "Pat's having a mid-life crisis" :)

. . . . . . . . . .

In more ways than we realize, our days do bear more than a passing resemblance to the ones that Phil in the movie went through. We stumble through our busy lives, the days whizzing by in a blur of frantic activities. Try this: can you remember everything you did last Wednesday? Or what you ate for lunch three days ago?

Perhaps if each one of us can take a little time each day to pause and reflect, rather than rush headlong into the day the moment we wake up and collapse into bed at the end of it, then we may achieve a little of what Phil achieved at the end of the movie.

If you have felt a little depressed yourself after reading this, fear not. As Scarlett O'Hara said, after all, tomorrow is another day :) As you wake up tomorrow morning, remember Phil.

It Finally Happened

2008-03-09T16:48:00.004+08:00

Just when I thought I would never see a change in the Malaysian political landscape in my lifetime, it finally happened.

What a sweet moment it was.

Ever since I became politically aware during my teenage years in the 80's, I sensed something was wrong with the Malaysian system.

One day in 1987 when I went out to buy my daily papers, I was surprised to see that The Star has disappeared from the newstands and the remaining papers mentioned something called "Operation Lalang". I began to read Aliran to find out what was going on.

In 1988, the UMNO crisis and the subsequent Salleh Abbas case shook my faith in the government.

When 1990 came around, I was hoping Razaleigh would be able to break the 2/3 stranglehold BN had on the parliament, but they missed the opportunity.

In the 90's politics took a backseat as everyone was too busy making money from the economic boom.

In 1999 some quarters were spooked by the prospect of an Islamic state, and the expected change again did not materialise despite Keadilan, etc.

On 8th March 2008, the silent majority of Malaysia finally decided that they had enough.

It was not just the Chinese and Indians. The Malays had a voter swing, too.

My Malay colleague gave me a knowing smile on Friday when she reminded me to be a good citizen on election day. I realised later what she meant when the results came out - she had driven all the way to Kedah with her kids to vote. It was a touching representation of the silent majority who have finally decided to do their part for the good of the country.

To all those who are trying to analyse the loss, especially the folks from BN, I have this message for you. Don't bother looking into what the opposition did or what the BN did wrong or did not do, tactics, local issues, etc.

It's not about you.

It's about us.

We, the silent majority, have finally spoken. Please don't continue to be so self-centred, and REALLY listen to us for a change.

What is it all about, really?

2008-03-07T23:08:00.003+08:00

I originally intended NOT to do a post about Malaysian Elections 2008, but I was lost in deep thought this morning as I was driving to work and listening to the slick BN radio adverts that had been broadcasting for the past one week.

As I listened to the advert guy intone in Mandarin on the radio "What are we voting for? We are voting for peace, security and prosperity. Vote for Malaysia", I suddenly felt a surge of anger within me.

How dare they equate voting for BN with voting for Malaysia, I thought.

I am actually pretty torn this time round. Back in 1999, the first time I voted, I went anti-establishment just for the heck of it. But in 2004, I bought into the vision and promises that Pak Lah made, and made my vote an endorsement of him. Heck, I didn't even notice the candidates' names, all I cared about was putting the big X next to the scales.

Now, four years later, a lot has happened. And there is a sense of betrayal. Yes, the economic numbers don't lie. But beyond that, there is gnawing feeling that we are on the wrong track.

Why? Could it be because of our leaders are too short-sighted to care about the next generation, and only interested in enriching the present? Could it be because we are squandering our wealth away? Could it be because there is a distinct lack of respect by some of us for each other, and lack of acknowledgment of each person's contribution to the nation, regardless of the skin colour? Could it be because after 4 years, much still remains the same? Could it be because our leaders lacked the courage and conviction to do the right thing for the good of the nation, regardless of vested interests?

As I was nearing my office, I realized what I really wanted. Our leaders have become too smug.

I want accountability.

The alternatives are not palatable by any measure, but I would rather we have someone who can speak up for accountability than someone who just tries to get some goodies for us. We are all citizens of Malaysia. Aren't we all entitled to the fruits of our labour, instead of electing someone to beg for it?

A Good Day

2008-03-05T23:01:00.002+08:00

Today started off a little earlier than usual for me. For some reason I woke up with a start at 4.30 am. Remembering the Arsenal-Milan match, of which I had a dreaded sense of foreboding due to Arsenal's uninspiring performance during the weekend, I switched on my PDA and connected to the BBC website.

"0-0", blinked the screen. MU was already 1 up against Lyon in the other match. I sighed and went back to sleep.

5.00 am -- "0-0" Sigh. Looks like its going to be one of those matches again.

7.00 am -- "0-2" Hooray!!!

At 12 noon I dropped by the CNN website. Clinton wins Ohio. My heart skips a beat. If Mrs. Clinton going to pull another one similar to the one his husband did in 1992? 3 pm - Clinton wins Texas. Hooray again!!!

5.30 pm -- got an email from one of my staff. A difficult technical problem that had been blocking the team is finally solved. Yipee!!!

8.00 pm -- got hold of my favourite magazine Empire at IOI Mall Popular.

9.00 pm -- Wife and daughter greets me at the door.

Yep, its been a good day :)

Chinese New Year 2008 (Part 3)

2008-02-19T23:09:00.005+08:00

No CNY will be complete in Sibu without the fireworks and firecrackers, and this year was no different.

The first round usually starts around dinner time on New Year's eve, and the main event would usually start at midnight. In the olden days when supply was plentiful and cheap, the din could last up to 45 minutes!

One favourite fireworks was parachute, where a rocket would shoot up, explode, and a parachute with New Year's greetings would be released. Another was a stick which shoots up to 10 colourful fireballs.

I still never fail to feel the surge of excitement and fear when the fuse sizzles as it lights up.

Hopefully one day the government will legalize them again :)

Chinese New Year 2008 (Part 2)

2008-02-14T22:50:00.003+08:00

For quite a few months, we were worried about how Cynthia is going to cope with making the plane trip back to Sibu. A pharmacy friend even suggested giving some cough mixture to make her sleep through the whole journey.

at KLIA airport

In the end, we decided we will take the risk of letting her cope naturally with the flight. PTL, she slept through most of the journey going back to Sibu. Coming back to KL, she was more naughty, but luckily she didn't throw a tantrum or anything. We breathed a sigh of relief as we touched down in KLIA.

in the plane with mummy

Chinese New Year 2008 (Part 1)

2008-02-11T22:35:00.000+08:00

Just got back from an 11 day break in Sibu (the longest in 2 years!) for CNY.

As per tradition, before the reunion dinner we let off some firecrackers.

This year, we were short of the youngest sister, who had to work. Miss you, sis!

Going Home

2008-02-02T00:19:00.000+08:00

Today as I was packing to get ready to go back to Sibu, I was suddenly overcome with homesickness. I usually don't think about my hometown much, but today my memories just came flooding back.

It's been two years since I've been home.

I only stayed in Sibu for eight years, but I spent my most of my childhood and teenage years there, so I've always had the most affection for it.

During my Belfast years, I used to hear this song called Caledonia on tv and on radio. Every time I hear it I'll get homesick. It was a song that speaks of someone's longing and love for the place where he came from. Although the song was referring to Caledonia (Scotland), the sentiments expressed in the song is universal.

You can hear Lisa Kelly's version below, although I personally prefer Frankie Miller's version (here).

Caledonia

I don't know if you can see
The changes that have come over me
In these last few days I've been afraid
That I might drift away
So I've been telling old stories, singing songs
That make me think about where I came from
And that's the reason why I seem
So far away today

Oh, but let me tell you that I love you
That I think about you all the time
Caledonia you're calling me
And now I'm going home
If I should become a stranger
You know that it would make me more than sad
Caledonia's been everything
I've ever had

Now I have moved and I've kept on moving
Proved the points that I needed proving
Lost the friends that I needed losing
Found others on the way
I have kissed the ladies and left them crying
Stolen dreams, yes there's no denying
I have traveled hard with coattails flying
Somewhere in the wind

(Chorus)
Now I'm sitting here before the fire
The empty room, the forest choir
The flames that could not get any higher
They've withered now they've gone
But I'm steady thinking my way is clear
And I know what I will do tomorrow
When the hands are shaken and the kisses flow
Then I will disappear

Bitter Lotus (苦心莲)

2008-01-23T23:30:00.000+08:00

Way back when I was in Form 1, there was this Taiwanese TV series called Bitter Lotus. It was basically a remake of the popular Japanese TV series Oshin.

I can't remember whether I saw it on RTM2 (no TV3 for Sarawak folks back then), or was it on video. But I do remember my grandma getting all excited about the way life was depicted in the series. She would point out that this was the way things were in China when they were young, and never stopped reminding us on how lucky we are.

Being young then (and not to mention well-fed and well taken care of), I used to feel quite resentful whenever she did that.

But many years later (2006 to be exact), when I went back to visit my grandfather's birthplace, I found out how close to the truth the TV series was. Life IS really hard in the remote villages in China, despite the economic boom in the cities.

Anyway, another reason why the series stayed in my memory was the theme song, which was quite sweet and haunting at the same time. You can hear the song below:

For those who know Mandarin, here are the lyrics:

思乡曲

四重溪的水涼又清
四重溪的水情意長
我家住在溪頭水源上
春光明媚　秋氣(風)爽
冬天溫暖夏天涼
四重溪的水水流長
四重溪的水悠悠淌
隨著溪水流落到他鄉
朦朧的淚悄悄流
人生的苦暗暗嚐
四重溪的水甜又香
四重溪的人思故鄉
我又回到生長的地方
喜悅的淚滿眼眶
興奮的淚暖洋洋

More Testing

2008-01-14T23:58:00.000+08:00

Been trying out various settings on the camera after reading the manual during the weekend.

The 50 mm f1.8 lens I added is really good in low light, but at the same time I have to increase the ISO (to 1600!) in order to get the speed that I needed to get candid shots indoors. The downside of that is I get some graininess and loss of sharpness.

Looks like its going to take some work to get really "pro" shots :) Will try a few more things this weekend and see whether any improvements.

Meantime, check out the results of last weekend's experiments:

Another thing I learned was that I can shoot in RAW format and then edit the photo to get the picture that I want. Sample below after editing with the Digital Photo Professional software that came bundled with the camera:

RAW files are really huge though (about 11 Mb per photo).

New Camera

2008-01-10T22:31:00.000+08:00

After much thought, I decided to go semi-pro a little bit and go for an entry level DSLR in order to get better pics of Cynthia.

It was not easy to persuade my wife, but thanks to friends like ashlight and bloggers like chen22 who demonstrated what can be achieved, I finally got myself a Canon EOS 400D.

So far, I didn't have much time to study the different techniques and settings yet, but playing around with it and trying out a few things showed the possibilities. Check out the photos I managed to get below after 5 minutes with the new camera:-

Fancy a KFC Meal?

2008-01-05T23:50:00.000+08:00

Tonight we decided to go to KFC after I failed to fulfil my usual obligation to "ta pau" from the pasar malam.

While queueing I noticed a nutritional guide pamphlet displayed next to the cashiers. Then I remembered - one of our Health Minister's (ex) initiatives was getting all the fast food companies to supply nutritional information on all the food they sell, and they had to comply by 1st Jan 2008.

Reading the pamphlet, I was surprised to learn that,

on average, a piece of Hot & Spicy chicken has 30% more fat and 50% more salt content than the Original Recipe ones.
The rib and thigh have the most fat content. In terms of salt content, breast shares the top spot with rib.
Think you're going the healthy way by avoiding fries and going for coleslaw? Think again! Coleslaw actually has 100% more fat content and 200% more salt content than an average packet of fries. There's actually a simple explanation for this - the dressing used to make the coleslaw is the culprit.
Apart from Garden Salad (go easy on the dressing :) ), the healthiest side order is the humble Whipped Potato.

So, I guess we know what to do the next time we visit KFC again :)

Home (Part 2)

2007-12-26T22:54:00.000+08:00

Part of calling a place a home is not just the house that we stay in, but also the places nearby that we regularly go to. I'm referring to places like the church, hairdresser/barber, kopi tiam, etc that give us a sense of belonging to the place.

When we moved to Puchong almost 5 years ago, my wife and I had stayed in PJ for more than 7 years, and it took us quite a while to switch to the equivalent places in Puchong.

Our hairdresser in PJ was this chatty lady from Penang who loved to talk about everything under the sun, and all her customers seem to know her well. She used to boast that people still drove all the way to Section 17 to look for her long after they have moved. Well, we were one of those people, until a few years ago :)

SS2 and Sea Park being food paradises, we still had our dinners and even our weekend lunches and breakfasts in PJ until Cynthia was born. The stall owners at Chow Yang (now Lim Mee Yoke) used to remember what I like, and often I even automatically get served my usual drink (teh o ice) whenever I go there.

Alas, in Puchong most coffeeshops and stalls are run by foreigners, so there is no sense of belonging to speak of.

Even for pasar malam, we still went to the Thursday Chow Yang one. The usual routine was - get the fishballs and siew mai from the Hokkien auntie in front of OK restaurant, followed by jagung, then paper wrapped chicken, then Anson chee cheong fun, and finally the peanut kuih. I remember all the stalls so well that I could recognize which stalls moved or didn't turn up.

We now go to the Saturday one at Kampung Baru Puchong which, although a bit dirtier, also had a good selection of comfort food.

The only holdout until today is the PJ church we go to. Somehow, the Puchong church just didn't click and we continue to make the 25 km journey to PJ every Sunday.

Sorry Is The Hardest Word

2007-12-17T23:11:00.000+08:00

If there's anything harder than saying sorry, it's saying sorry and actually meaning it. By meaning it, I'm referring to saying sorry and actually changing for the better.

I came to this conclusion recently after following two tv shows this year that illustrate the point well. In Californication David Duchovny portrayed Hank Moody as a brilliant and funny but flawed writer who never seemed to be able to get his act together. Despite the love of a 12 year old daughter and the care of good friends who stood by him through thick and thin, Hank was never able to overcome himself. Particularly heartbreaking was one episode when his daughter could not hide her disappointment at being let down yet again, and told him in no uncertain terms that one day she's not going to care anymore. The episode ended with Hank lamenting that he needed to change, but at the same having no clue at all where to start.

Side note : Californication is quite blasphemous in certain episodes, and the show is generally quite profane and pushes the envelope on just about everything. Be warned.

The other show was House MD Season 3. Time and again House realises the pain he causes to people around him, but like Hank Moody, he seemed incapable of doing anything about it. House thrived on living in denial, self pity and avoiding the truth, and on certain episodes in Season 3 he is forced to face his real self. Particularly memorable was the episode where a rape victim chose to connect with him, and for once, House found his humanity again. Also outstanding were the episodes related to a policeman's attempts to prosecute him for drug abuse - House fell into a spiral of hurting more and more people as he refused to give up his addiction to painkillers.

But like Hank Moody, although House was able to on occasion say sorry, nothing changed.

We may gape with a mixture of fascination and wonder at the antics of these two man-childs, but we probably fail to realize that quite often, we are just like them, too.

Personally, I also feel quite mortified that often, I am no better than Hank or House in atoning for my actions.

Home (Part 1)

2007-12-06T23:06:00.000+08:00

In a few months, it will be five years since I moved into my house in Puchong. This would be the longest I've ever stayed in a single place since I left Sibu in December 1988. Prior to leaving home I had stayed in Sibu for 8 years.

I went to study in KL in 1989, and rented a room in SS18 Subang Jaya from a couple. You should see Subang Jaya in those days - there was hardly any traffic and I used to walk to the college in the morning. Evenings were usually spent at the mamak stall in SS14. Unbelievably, roti canai used to cost 40 sen then.

I was back in Sibu again for 4 months before I went study in PJ, where I rented a room in Section 6 from an Indian family. They had a dog who still failed to recognize me even after I stayed there for more than a year.

I was then in Belfast for 4 years, during which I stayed in the uni hostel for 2 years, then apartment, then hostel again.

So, up to this point, from the 1988 my abodes went something like this:

Subang Jaya SS18/4 rented room (11 months)
Sibu (4 months)
PJ Section 6 rented room (14 months)
Sibu (3 months)
Belfast Hamilton Hall (9 months)
Sibu (3 months)
Belfast Sir Rowland Wright Hall (9 months)
Belfast Rugby Avenue (14 months)
Sibu (1 month)
Belfast Hamilton Hall (9 months)
Ballynahinch Chinese Restaurant (6 months)

When I came back to KL, I foolishly shipped almost all my stuff back from Belfast. Imagine dragging all those boxes through the following:-

Stephen Chung's House in Taman Supreme, KL (2 months)
Rented room in PJ Section 10 (5 months)
House in PJ Section 14 (1 month)

After that, together with my two brothers and a couple of other friends we found this place in PJ SS2/18 to call home for 4 and a half years. I then shifted to SS2/10 for another 2.5 years. After I got married, I stayed in PJ Section 17 for 5 months.

So, finally in February 2003, I moved to my current house in Puchong. 7 years after I left Belfast, I finally got to unpack my boxes from Belfast and put the stuff in my study room.

Reusable Shopping Bags

2007-12-02T16:56:00.000+08:00

I was in Tesco Puchong a month ago, when I noticed that they were selling reusable shopping bags. The deal goes something like this - you buy a bag for RM 0.99, and you're supposed to use it for your future shopping at Tesco's instead of the usual plastic bags. When the bag gets damaged, you can actually get it exchanged for a new one, at no cost. Better yet, you can keep doing so for life!

I was quite excited and immediately bought one. My wife was not too keen, though. What are you gonna use to store the baby's diapers soiled with poo poo and for your dustbin linings, she asked. She had a point, we do reuse the normal plastic bags to store trash. But I reasoned with her that we don't usually use that many, if we can reduce our use of plastic bags we could make our own little difference to the environment.

Anyway, the first time I used it, I got curious stares. An elderly couple behind me in the queue asked me about it. The funniest thing was, the cashier totally ignored it and proceeded to put my groceries in the usual plastic bags. When I told her I wanted them in the reusable bag instead, she looked confused for a second, then obliged. I guess Tesco had not trained their staff yet on the bag.

Unfortunately, so far that was the last time I used it. I leave it on a shelf near the front door, but invariably I'll forget to grab it whenever I go shopping. Now I am planning to leave it in the car. Hopefully, I'll remember to grab it when I get out of the car at Tesco! :) I guess new habits need to be formed in order to use the bag effectively, which is why although I do see some people buying those bags, I seldom see them actually being used.

Malaysian Customer Service - A Short Story

2007-11-25T21:32:00.000+08:00

For the longest time, I never had any expectations when it came to customer service in Malaysia. Big companies or small ones, it doesn’t matter. Most companies give next to nothing customer service. The only ones I could recall that left great impressions were Public Bank and Citibank.

However, over the last year I allowed myself to have higher expectations of my mobile provider Celcom. I was recently able to upgrade to a 3G SIM card without any hassle at all, and was also able to pay my phone bill by credit through their call center.

I have a love-hate relationship with Celcom for over 10 years (postpaid). You would have thought with high churn rates nowadays, they would have appreciated a customer like me more. After all, postpaid customers form but a minority (about 20%) of the 6 million customers Celcom has.

So when I was barred a few days ago for forgetting to settle my last bill, I wasn’t too concerned. Before I go any further, let me admit here that it was my own fault that I forgot to follow up on the bill earlier. But having said that, what happened was still galling for me.

I called them up on Thursday night to pay again by credit card through the phone. The lady on the other side told me to hold on. She came back and left me totally bewildered with an explanation about “tele-order” and “ pre-registration”, etc. Hey lady, I just want to pay my bill, I have credit card in my hand, ready to read you the details, just do the job and we’re done. You can’t do that. What do you mean I can’t do that? I did it the last round. Oh, the last round was a first time exception we give all customers. All subsequent payments can only be made after “pre-registration” blah blah blah.

I said no one told me before about this. She disagreed, according to her computer, it said I was given a form by mail but I didn’t send the form back. I told her, honest to God, I never received any form. I was put on hold again.

She came back with another explanation, the form was sent to my email and I never returned it. I checked my email, there was a form for auto-debit, but certainly not for pre-registration. Put on hold again.

She came back with yet another explanation – according to our policy, since you did not return the form, you are not allowed to pay by phone anymore. By this time 30 minutes has lapsed and I was getting impatient. Look lady, no one told me anything about what pre-registration before, and I certainly did not receive the form that you claim I did not return. So, can I please pay my bill?

No.

At this point I was getting worked up and demanded to speak to a supervisor. She claims there’s no supervisor there.

Ok. I tried another tack. What if you fax me the pre-registration form now, and I fill it up, fax it back to you, then you process my payment? Can’t do that. Why? Because the department that processes the form only works during office hours. And anyway, you can’t send me the form anymore because we sent you the form before.

I demanded to speak to a supervisor again. By now, an hour has passed since I called. I finally spoke to a guy called Stephen. I started off with a little threat. Stephen, I know you work for VADS, don’t you? He gulped and replied yes. I said I knew people in VADS (which was true, by the way), I can get a complaint pinned on him if he didn’t handle my case right.

Stephen first gave me the same spiel that the lady gave. We are just following our process here, sir. I tried my last card – listen here, Stephen, put yourself in my shoes, assuming that what I had said earlier was true, aren’t I a victim of a mistake someone at VADS made a few months ago? And if you agree that this is the case, shouldn’t you figure out a way to help me rather than hide behind your rules and processes?

This finally seemed to do the trick. He told me he would call me back in 10 minutes. And he did. “I spoke to someone, and we agree an exception should be made for your case.” Finally! Stephen, if you’re reading this, you have my eternal gratitude. You’re the only one who used some common sense in this whole sorry saga.

So I managed to pay my bill that night, and Stephen assured me the line will be unbarred within 30 minutes. I went to bed a happy man.

The next day, I tried to use my phone and realized that the line is still barred. I called up again. This time a guy picked up. Summarized the previous situation to him. He checked. And came back with this classic answer “ The payment has been received, but it is still in progress, sir”. I was dumbstruck. How can a payment be received but still in progress, I hollered down the phone. Oh, the payment is received but it needs to be processed before we can unbar your phone. But I was told it would take 30 minutes after the payment is received! Errrm, no sir, it actually takes between 2 to 24 hours to process the payment. Can you call back again after the 24 hours is over?

Third call. Went through the usual explanations again. Was told again, “ The payment has been received, but it is still in progress, sir”. This is getting ridiculous. After some back and forth, finally, the penny dropped. Apparently one department records the payment. Another department looks at the payment and decides whether to unbar the line. And that department has not done its job.

I went for blunt force this time. Look, you have obviously received my payment, I CANNOT accept that you are not unbarring my line! The poor guy rushed off to speak to his supervisor. When he came back, “Sir, we have made an exception for your case, your line is now unbarred”. After three days and more than a total of 2 hours on the phone with these “customer service” agents, I finally got my line back.

A few conclusions I can draw from this whole incident. One, the agents have no clue what to do if anything deviates from the written rules and processes.

Secondly, the agents have obviously not been empowered to make any exceptions at all to special cases (except under extreme duress from customers like me). Do you know what is the Nordstrom (a large department store chain in USA) rule of working? Use your good judgment in all situations. There are no additional rules. If everything is just about rules and processes, Celcom/VADS might as well just use robots to run the call centre, it would have been cheaper and less aggravating.

Thirdly, in this present time where Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is already a 14-year-old concept and most companies have done away with silo type work processes, it was amazing to find that this was still the case in the incident above. The first lady I spoke to even said “I can’t call you sir, we’re inbound, outbound is another department” when I asked her to call me back. Classic.

Between Safety and Freedom

2007-11-21T23:07:00.000+08:00

As my daughter learned to crawl and stand recently, me and my wife are beginning to face the dilemma all parents face at different stages of their children's growth - how to balance between protecting the child and letting her explore the world around her.

A typical day in our house would go something like this:-

put her in the playpen (lasts between 5 to 15 minutes, 30 if you're lucky)
put her on the walker (15 minutes at most)
put her on the play area which, unfortunately, is not fenced out
make her sit next to you on the sofa
make her sit on the baby chair (the plastic one used for feeding) and give her some toys
carry her around (her favourite, obviously)
rotate through all the previous options

We used to be able to also put her on our bed, but nowadays she moves so fast we are worried we won't be able to catch her on time if she decides to check out the edges of the bed.

Add to all these the fact that she now grabs and puts in her mouth everything and anything, and we have our hands full taking care of her whenever we are at home :)

Although we look forward to her walking soon, that will also bring another new set of challenges. We will have to make sure all sharp edged furniture in the house are properly padded, and all electrical points covered properly.

Now I am beginning to understand why parenting is such a big responsibility.

Down and Out

2007-11-21T22:15:00.000+08:00

Been down with a nasty throat infection in the last few days. This is the second time in the last few months that I had to take MC, feeling a bit embarrassed about it.

When I was in my first job, it was a good four years before I took my first MC. Alas, there was no award for such an exemplary record.

As I grew older, my MC's averaged about 1 a year, nowadays its more like twice or three times a year. Sigh, guess I have to take better care of myself, my immune system is not what it used to be.

Either that, or the bugs are getting stronger. For the throat infection, the doctor originally gave me some normal antibiotic, but as I got worse, I went back to him again and was given a generic brand of Cefixime to kill off the bug. I googled it up and found out that it was originally called Suprax, made by Wyeth. Apparently Cefixime should only be given if the doctor strongly believes that the infection is very serious and normal antibiotics are not working. If Cefixime is prescribed for every bug we get, the bugs may mutate and become resistant to it.

Thank God for my case Cefixime seems to be working, though I was a little concerned it may not work anymore in the future.

I also have to stay away from my daughter for a few days, lest I pass the bug to her :(

Happiness is ....

2007-10-22T23:12:00.000+08:00

....listening to your daughter playing happily......

....seeing your daughter's contented smile.....

Smart Tunnel - Nightmare Scenario

2007-10-22T22:55:00.002+08:00

Just before the Smart tunnel opened earlier this year, I was chatting to a friend about it, and he told me that he would never use it because of the "Daylight" nightmare scenario. Daylight is a movie starring Sylvester Stallone which was about, you guessed it, a flooded tunnel.

I laughed off his fears, and thought the guys operating the tunnel had too much at stake letting that happen.

Well, guess I was wrong after all. On Tuesday 16 October 2007, the approach road to the tunnel flooded, raising the possibility of the "Daylight" scenario. What made the incident infuriating was the finger pointing after the fact, instead of showing concern and trying to find a solution.

I estimate that during peak hours, there's probably a good few hundred vehicles in the tunnel, and the real possibility of the nightmare scenario happening is too horrifying to contemplate.

Granted, the flooding happened to a cause external to the tunnel, but I would have expected the people involved to take the issue seriously and try to find a solution urgently rather than start the blame game. After all, not just the company involved, but the whole nation has a lot to lose should the unthinkable happen and lives are lost.

You'll Never Walk Alone

2007-10-16T23:58:00.000+08:00

This morning on my way to work I heard Gerry and The Pacemakers version of the song again on my CD player, and felt compelled to look it up on Wikipedia. I've heard the song countless times ever since my younger brother told me it was Liverpool FC's song (as you can guess, he's a die hard fan), don't ask me why today of all days :)

You'll Never Walk Alone is one of those songs that seldom fails to stir the emotions of those who hear it, no matter whether its sung by singers with soaring vocals or hoarse football fans.

As mentioned in Wikipedia, the song as it was used in the musical Carousel was meant to comfort after the death of a character, which explains the mournful first part of the song. Later, the song segues into a defiant exhortation and shout of encouragement. By the time the singer reaches the line "And You'll Never Walk Alone" a myriad of emotions goes through the listener, and more often than not, tears flow freely.

The lyrics of the song also plays a big part in its power. They seem to apply to a lot of situations that most of us face every now and then, and listening to the song usually reminds us of the things we've been going through.

You can hear Gerry and The Pacemaker's version here, Ray Quinn's version here, and Jordin Sparks version here.

You'll Never Walk Alone

When you walk through the storm Hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark
At the end of the storm
There's a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of the lark

Walk on, through the wind
Walk on, through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk alone

Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk alone

Desktop Peek

2007-10-04T22:21:00.001+08:00

Ashlight tagged me into doing this recently. When she mentioned "no cheating", it was like being caught with a dirty house when friends suddenly popped by to visit :P

The background is a photo of the lake next to UTAR in Kampar, which I visited with some friends recently. As you can see, recently I've been too lazy to put all the downloaded files in their proper folders.

The True Cause of Malaysian Traffic Jams

2007-09-17T22:58:00.000+08:00

The other day, while having lunch at the office, conversation inevitably turned to one of us Malaysians' favourite topics - traffic jams. My boss commented that he noticed that in LA, California, traffic is heavy but usually moving, while in Malaysia, things often come to a standstill. He believes the reason for this is the stupidity of Malaysian drivers who, i. don't follow the traffic rules, and ii. don't use their common sense.

That got me thinking. Is it really true that everything would be okay if all Malaysians could just get some common sense (which is not so common after all) into their heads? Here are a few common causes of traffic jams that I can think of:-

1. Accidents - one is all it takes on a highway to make everyone late by a few hours. I was amazed at how people can get into serious accidents in very slow traffic, until one day I found myself day dreaming and almost banged into the car in front of me. So, 1-0 to stupidity.

2. Giving way - Some roads are designed such that traffic from two roads are supposed to merge gradually. But more often that not, cars on both lanes refuse to give way. The result? Deadlock on both lanes. 2-0 to stupidity and lack of common sense.

3. Construction work - For some reason, city councils and police see it fit to let construction workers who have ZERO experience in traffic management to block the lanes and to direct traffic. The result? Frayed tempers and rude gestures as drivers pass by the offending stretch. 2-1.

4. Floods - Despite building world class airports and buildings, apparently building effective drainage is beyond us. Or rather, it is folks who dumps all sorts of rubbish into the drains, resulting in flash floods galore whenever it pours. 2-2.

5. Cutting queues - instead of lining up on the correct lane early, most folks prefer to jump to the front of the queue and force some poor driver to give way. Stupidity in the lead again, 3-2.

6. Lane switching - this is a very strange phenomenon that I have not yet fully understood. For some reason, if the roads ahead present multiple choices, inevitably people get confused and snarl up the traffic. I guess I could blame it on poorly placed signages, so 3-3 it is then.

7. People who slow down to stare at accidents - this is a classic Malaysian behaviour. Even if the accident is only blocking one lane on a four lane highway, traffic on BOTH sides of the highway would come to a standstill. 4-3, in the lead and pulling away!

8. Car breakdowns - Okay, there's an element of chance in this one, but on more than a few occasions I saw the highway patrol pouring petrol into the stalled car. I'll be fair and not give any score for this one. Still 4-3.

9. VIP entourages - On my home via Tun Razak-Sg Besi one day, I encountered THREE entourages, each with its own fleet of siren blaring traffic police. 4-4!

Okay, after 9 causes I'm beginning to get depressed, so I've decided to stop here. But based on my unscientific findings, I have to say that it could indeed be true that if we all gained some common sense tomorrow our traffic jams would be reduced by 50% :)

Smart Tunnel

2007-08-21T23:19:00.000+08:00

Since moving to Puchong four years ago, I've seen many changes to the roads and traffic system around the Klang Valley.

Some were well intentioned but flawed, such as the Sprint Penchala Link and the NPE, some actually made things worse, etc. But one change that really made a huge positive difference was the Smart Tunnel, which opened a few months ago.

Traffic along the Seremban highway all the way to the city centre suddenly became much smoother, but everyone sort of took things for granted, until the tunnel's temporary one week closure recently. Suddenly it was back to the bad old days again.

By measure of distance alone, the LDP-Kesas-Seremban Highway-Tun Razak way is supposed to be one of the quickest ways to KL from Puchong, but no thanks to crazy traffic planning by DBKL, things get really stuck around Chan Sow Lin. The Smart Tunnel allowed some of the traffic stuck there to bypass the jam and turn up at either Sultan Ismail or Tun Razak.

I've timed myself a number of times, and was amazed to find that despite departing from Bandar Wawasan (where Cynthia's baby sitter lives) at around 8 am, I usually manage to get to KLCC by 8.40 am, plus or minus 10 minutes. Of course, there's the RM 4.20 toll (2.20 at Kesas, 2.00 at Smart Tunnel) to worry about, but if you car pool with someone it really makes sense.

Despite criticisms about its somewhat dangerous narrow winding path and uneven surface, I credit the Smart Tunnel with making one of the biggest impact on my quality of life in the last few years. Thanks to it, I get one whole extra hour in the morning to sleep, shower, etc :)

Now that I am working in TPM, the commute is even shorter, but if I ever need to get to KL, the Smart Tunnel would be my preferred choice.

Just in case you're wondering, I neither work for Gamuda/MMC nor own any of their shares :)

Power of 4 (Part Deux)

2007-07-31T23:12:00.000+08:00

If this looks vaguely familiar to you, that's because back in March 2006 I've done a similar post based on another tag. Anyway, after Ponytales tagged me again I figured I should have enough material to do another different one, so here goes:-

4 Jobs I've had in my life

Dishwasher - my mission, which I had to accept because I didn't have enough money then, was to wash not only dishes at a Chinese restaurant in Belfast, but also anything that's disgusting and dirty in the whole kitchen. Luckily, the job came with gloves, a free meal, and much needed $$ :)
Programmer - Doing COBOL wasn't what I had in mind when I graduated, but COBOL it was back in 1996. Luckily after 1 year, my work gained enough recognition for me to be moved to Windows programming.
Project Manager - I sucked at it for three years, luckily I had a mentor who put me on the right path. Thanks Yoda, er, I mean, Allen.
Computer Center Supervisor - did this part time at my uni's computer center, again to find extra cash for beer, er, I mean, hostel fees. Perk of the job - even the pretty chicks have to talk to you when their user account's locked up.

4 of my favourite foods

Mamee dried noodle snack - my wife thinks its very unhealthy, but I just can't stop eating it, especially if I'm in the middle of a good book or the latest Empire.
Salted Egg Prawns - the Chung Wah restaurant (Puchong) version is the best. Whoever thought of combining Salted Eggs with big juicy prawns is a genius.
Toast with Kaya and Butter - although simple, a really good one really sends you into ecstasy. My favourite - old kopitiam at Port Dickson town.
Chee Cheong Fun - the Teluk Intan one really justifies its reputation, especially when taken fresh. The SS2 pasar malam one is a pale imitation, but still good value.

4 countries I have been to on vacation

Thailand - Chiangmai. Combining the best of Thailand's shopping with a laid back environment and natural beauty, Chiangmai is simply the best place to be in Thailand.
China - Fuzhou, Xiamen. Went there last year with my whole family, on a pilgrimage to our ancestral home. Got to see first hand how people really live over there, instead of just popping into the usual touristy places.
UK - Belfast. Finally managed to visit my old alma mater again in 2005, and was glad to see the city booming after peace finally broke out.
Kuwait. Not really on vacation there, but managed to squeeze in some sightseeing while posted there last year. Desert, Kuwait Towers, more desert. And some classy shopping centres.

4 places I would rather be right now

having coffee at Kluang Station, 1U.
in a warm bath with a good book.
in the cinema, watching a really good movie.
in bed. Its almost midnight as I'm writing this!

4 friends to tag
Most bloggers that I know have been tagged during the last round, so I shall not tag anyone this time :)

Senior Moment

2007-07-25T19:24:00.000+08:00

I had a senior moment recently. I had my earphones on at the office yesterday when a colleague approached me for something.

After speaking to her, I couldn't for the life of me locate the earphones. I looked under the table, on the floor, in my bags. Nothing. Its as if it just vanished.

In the end I gave up and assumed the earphones lost.

This morning I came to work, I immediately noticed it. Stuck to the underside of my chair. How on earth it got there I don't know. And how I managed to miss it after so many rounds of searching I also don't know.

I had to conclude that I was getting old. Either that or Harry Potter decided to play a trick on me :)

10 Years of 013

2007-06-24T14:44:00.000+08:00

I received a call a few days ago from a friend who was working in UK, I've lost touch with him for nine years.

My first reaction when I got the call was "How did you get this number?". His reaction to that was, "I'm surprised you're still using this number! Almost all our other friends had their numbers changed!".

This got me thinking about 1997. That was the year I had my first mobile phone, and being very lowly paid then, I opted for Emartel 013.

Being one of the few who was using 013 wasn't easy. During the era of before inter-operator cooperation, sending sms to friends on other services were impossible. That caused a lot of resentment among my circle of friends (who were mostly on 012 or 016) who had to bear higher charges of calling me.

On top of that, Emartel wasn't doing well, so coverage wasn't very good. That changed when Telekom took over, renamed it TMTouch and later merged it with Celcom. Suddenly, I was the guy with the best coverage, hehe. Those days, using 012 had a certain snob factor to it, so I couldn't resist rubbing it in when friends on 012 couldn't get coverage whenever they're back in Sarawak, my home state.

As time goes by, almost all of my friends moved to 012 prepaid, with a few sticking to 016. My circle of 013 friends and colleagues never increased. In addition, with the introduction of new pricing schemes, from a financial point of view it became increasingly illogical to stick to 013. But still I continued to use the service.

Things finally made sense when Celcom introduced the Minutes Plan. Overnight my phone bill plunged by 40%.

Even today friends tease me about my loyalty to 013. I guess it was more laziness and the inconvenience of informing people of the change that held me back rather than loyalty.

But next year, the government is planning to introduce number portability to the industry. For the first time, one can change service providers without having to change the phone number, so I can be 013 but actually using Maxis, for example.

So, would I change?

The answer is maybe. If I do change, it probably won't be 012 - even after all these years, I can't shake off my perception of 012's snob factor :)

I have been rather taken in by 016 lately, for a few reasons -- the endearing Yellow Coverage Fellow, their amazing ability to take on Maxis and win market share from it, and my admiration for their work culture.

RIP Loga

2007-06-05T23:48:00.000+08:00

The recent passing on of Loga of Alley Cats brought back memories of one of his haunting songs - Suara Kekasih. I remember the song from a school concert back in 1987.

Hadiran ombak membelai pantai
Tiada putusnya percintaan itu
Hembusnya bayangmu menyejukkan
Tapi tiada terhenti dahaga
Kerinduan suara kekasih
Membelai hatiku
Suara kekasih
Membasuh lukaku

Tibanya sinar bulan di laut
Dengan ribuan alunan kemesraan
Membawa kenangan yang berlalu
Dengan ribuan warna keemasan
Suara kekasih
Membelai jiwaku
Suara kekasih
Yang menyejukkan ku

Terdengar suaramu yang suci
Pabila terkejut dari mimpi
Ku manyakinkan suara itu
Memanggil daku dengan harapan
Tapi sayangnya alunan ombak
Yang memecah diri sangkaku
Suara kekasih
Yang memanggil daku
Suara kekasih
Di malam yang indah

Hear the song here.

Patience

2007-06-05T23:12:00.000+08:00

My wife finally went back to work a few days ago, after having taken care of Cynthia full time for almost 3 months.

A common discovery shared among my friends who also had babies recently is how taking care of the little ones had helped to make them become more mature and patient, and we are no different as well.

In this aspect I have to take my hat off to my wife. Throughout these 3 months she showed tremendous patience, much more than I ever thought possible. While my own patience would run very thin after one hour trying to comfort a cranky Cynthia at night, hers would be stretched but still intact even after six hours of on-off crying and feeding and cradling and crying again, from midnight till the dawn.

Now I realize why friends who are mothers look so serene and calm after they had kids -- they have mastered the virtue of patience :)

I can only look at myself in shame and realize that I still have a lot to learn.

I'm Back

2007-06-05T23:03:00.001+08:00

Sorry for the lack of new entries, this time I have a good excuse -- apparently Google's new-fangled Spam Blog Blocker felt my blog was suspicious enough for them to block it.

I spent the last few nights looking through my last entries to see if there was anything that warranted the honour of their attention, but I just can't figure out how entries about my new born daughter, a friend's recent death and some thoughts about my country and traffic would constitute spam.

Okay lah, I know my entries are not as great or readable as some of the "great" Malaysian bloggers out there, but surely not so bad that they have to deem it rubbish, i.e. spam? :)

Anyway, to give credit where its due, Google responded swiftly and helpfully when I complained and I got my blog unblocked within 24 hours. That's five times faster than the response I got from Astro when I complained about reception problems last year.

Digital Ghosts

2007-05-18T19:16:00.000+08:00

A dear friend who was my classmate during secondary school passed away recently.

He was an avid blogger who kept 5 blogs going at the same time. His sudden passing was a shock to all his friends, myself included. He had a shoutout box, and friends from all over left condolence messages on it.

It was quite a surreal feeling every time I visit his blog again. I was half expecting a new post to pop up, saying that it was all a mistake and he's still alive and well. But of course, it just stayed static, a snapshot in time of his life.

I've always wondered what happens to the stuff created online whenever someone passes away. The IM id's, the email accounts, the blogs, the photo archives. They are all remnants of a life, capturing all the laughter, happiness, sadness, fears, hopes of that person.

What makes me sad is that it will all never be recovered. Without a password, friends and relatives cannot access the data, and after a period of inactivity the companies that own the accounts will delete them.

Even the next of kin cannot request for access - I read a heart-rending story a few years back of an American soldier's family futile attempt to get Yahoo to let them access his email account after he was killed in Iraq.

That's the sad thing about our world today - so much of the stuff people care about are stored online, and when they pass on, those stuff are gone forever. No faded photos, no folded letters, just a bunch of bits that gets wiped out when the time is up.

Rest in peace, Frankie, you will always remain in our hearts.

Gratitude

2007-04-18T22:31:00.000+08:00

Been carpooling with a friend recently due to my wife's maternity leave. With nothing better to do while stuck in jams, we ended up griping about everything under the sun, from corruption to waste of public funds to lack of public transport to, well, just about everything that is wrong in this dear country of ours.

At the same time, we also shared about our travels for work over the last five years, and gradually, we came to the realization that, hey, we are quite blessed after all compared to a lot of other countries.

So, despite all the faults of Malaysia, here's a list of things I feel we should be grateful for:-

1. It is still dirt cheap to live here.
Despite the rising cost of stuff in the last few years, you'll be surprised how much you really need in order to live in this country, if you know where to look and you are willing to make certain lifestyle adjustments. I had been shopping with my mom-in-law every Sat at the neighbourhood pasar malam for the last one month, and believe it or not, a family of three can eat for a whole week with less than RM 100 worth of groceries (vegetables, fish and fruits). For comparison? A bunch of vegetables in Dubai costs roughly RM 7 at Carrefour, while I get it for RM 1 at the pasar malam :) Me and my wife were spending at least RM 800 per month eating out prior to her maternity leave.

2. It is still a relatively safe country.
True, snatch thefts are still rampant in some areas and car thefts, rape and robbery happen far too often than we would've liked. But at least you don't have to hire bodyguards to follow you wherever you go, which is what happened to my carpooling friend when he worked in the Philippines (his company was kind enough to arrange the guards). How often do we worry about our security when we go about our daily business, apart from taking the usual precautions? If you really reflect on it, its much less than you think.

3. Opportunities abound for those who are willing to work hard.
I hate to say this, but many of us are spoiled. We had hardworking parents who attended to our every need and a environment thats been relatively free of war, strife, natural disasters, etc. So, most of us get to go to school/college/uni, and after we graduate there are plenty of jobs and business opportunities waiting for us. Think about it. If you're willing to work hard and take some risks, who or what is stopping you in this country?

So, whilst we certainly can't claim to be the best country in the world to live in, I would say we still have plenty to be grateful for.

Sleep Like A Baby

2007-04-11T21:29:00.000+08:00

Whoever coined the phrase "sleep like a baby" obviously never had a baby, because after 4 weeks plus with Cynthia, its obvious there is no such thing as a fixed sleeping pattern for babies.

One day she'll be well behaved and sleep, well, like a baby for 4 to 6 hours at a stretch, and the next, she'll wake up every 40 minutes. And then there's all other variations in between, e.g. sleep for 2 hours, 1 hour, etc.

I decided just before my wife gave birth that I'll sleep in the guest room for the first few months, so I was spared all the sleep interruptions, but my poor wife and mother-in-law bore the brunt of Cynthia's erratic sleep habits. One night I came back and found both exhausted and sleepy - they had barely slept more than 1 hour at a stretch for the last 24 hours.

There were also no end of tips and tricks from friends and colleagues on how to get our baby to settle into a longer and more predictable sleep routine.

Thank goodness some of the tips do seem to work, her sleep patterns has settled somewhat in the last few days, but occasionally we still get zombie nights.

I'll be moving back to the master bedroom in a few weeks time, hopefully Cynthia would have improved even more then :)

Where I Would Like To Go… (Rather Than Sitting Here at Home)

2007-04-03T01:37:00.000+08:00

Been too busy to blog much (you all know why lah), but since my good friend Simon took the trouble to tag me to do this, I thought I'll indulge him on this one :)

Since most people already know of my penchant for Ireland & NZ, I'll go for .....Austria!

I think almost everyone above 30 must have been captivated by the fantastic mountain scenery of The Sound of Music when they were younger, and I was no exception. But what really did it for me was a movie and a tv series -- Before Sunrise and Band of Brothers.

In the former, Vienna looked absolutely gorgeous and romantic as the two main characters wandered through it in a day and a night. Watch it and you'll find yourself itching to take the next flight out there.

In the later, in the final episode the weary band of brothers finally got to take some well deserved R&R in the most amazing surroundings of the Austrian countryside. Watch out for the final scene of the soldiers playing baseball amidst the towering mountains of the Alps.

Tags:

forestfyre - well travelled lady, wonder what's next for her :)
ashlight - armed with a DSLR and a healthy appetite, another lady who's been goin' places
jyon - hey, there's gotta be more than just Bangkok! :)
egg-e - you could use a break! :)
Loon - wonder what is our friend's dream destination...

INSTRUCTIONS:

**Start Copy**

Proposition : Where do you want to go Next, OUTSIDE OF YOUR COUNTRY, for tourism, work , study, whatever.

Requirements: Find some info about the place, itinerary etc, pics if possible so you get MORE Traffic coming in, and maybe some people can find somewhere to go to. Excludes your NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOUR, ie Singapore,Malaysia,Brunei, a country that borders yours.You must register for MyBloglog so we can blogwalk ah…..get it?

Quantity : FIVE PEOPLE.

Tag Mode : Chain Link. 15 of them.You leave 15 people and their DEEP LINK of their Blog Name and TAGGED POST and hit out for five more. So it will look like

Simon living it up in Hong Kong

Laundryamah having fun with Hyun Bin in Korea

Azrin going Down Under

MaRLinda in Disneyland Paris

Athira and her Balamory Antics

Msau to Japan

Shoppingmum to Europe

Angeleyes off to Bora-Bora

Giddy Tiger snorkelling in The Maldives

Jess to Europe

Mybabybay wants to go Round The World

Immomsdaughter visit World Heritage New Zealand

Just My Thoughts whale watching at Monterey Bay

Bubba Stuff lomancin, in Tuscany, Italy

**Add in the blog you got the tag from and tagged post.** (In this case, for example, you should add :Patrick dreaming of Austria”)

Extra Rules: you cannot Tag another person who has performed the Tagging Rights to Travel. Check yr commentators.

You MUST PASS this tag within 7 days of receiving it , or lose a day’s worth of Blog Revenue or $10 to charity. Can?Makes it interesting anyway.So no Lazy Tags running about, and yeah, eventually, there will be less than a 1:3 chance you can’t tag that someone. And pay those people in the list a visit, you never know if you can pinch / recycle some ideas for your next entry!

**End Copy**

Baby Cynthia

2007-03-12T23:20:00.000+08:00

Being the last of a gang at church who were expecting babies, we had been hearing all sorts of stories about the birth process and the trials and tribulations of taking care of the little one.

When it finally came to our turn, we were sort of mentally prepared for what was about to happen. My wife packed two Reader's Digest and I packed 3 books, expecting a long wait at the hospital. But praise God, after just 5 hours of labor, baby Cynthia came into the world.

I was sort of expecting the hard part comes later, and indeed it did. On the first night she was back, Cynthia absolutely refused to sleep except when being carried. We all woke up bleary eyed and wondering how we were going to cope for the next few months.

But the joy is indeed as all my friends described -- nothing beats the joy of cradling the little one in your arms, all helpless and lost, looking to you to feed her, guide her, protect her and be her all until she grows her wings and finally flies away one day.

Traffic

2007-03-05T22:01:00.000+08:00

The most jammed up day of the week is not Monday, as most of us would believe, but in fact, Tuesday. I've been observing this curious pattern for a while and wondering why this so.

My favourite theory is that most people find it hard to drag themselves back to work after the weekend and some decided to call in emergency leave, sick leave or whatever other leave you can think of in order to get another day of bliss. The Monday Blues syndrome, so to speak.

Another possibility is some people taking an extended weekend due to traveling outstation. Or could it be some people getting up late from watching EPL matches the night before?

Whatever it is, it might be a good idea to buck the trend and take Tuesdays off instead. That way, you save yourself the stress of going through the nightmare traffic and instead enjoy an early midweek break!

Only Yesterday

2007-02-20T22:49:00.000+08:00

With the imminent birth of our first daughter, we didn't get to go back hometown during CNY. So, we ended up catching up on movies instead :)

A really memorable one we watched was a Japanese anime called "Omohide Poro Poro", or "Only Yesterday". It was a really moving tale of a 27 year old lady reflecting on her life through flashbacks to the time when she was a 10 year old girl. Through those reflections she began to understand herself again, and provided her with a context to understand the choices she faces in adulthood.

Apart from the moving story, the movie itself was also gorgeous to behold, not in the Pixar kind of way, but sort of like looking at a beautiful watercolour painting.

It's hard to describe the feelings that the movie evoked, but suffice to say it really made my holiday.

And the ending. What an ending it was. When the credits started to appear, I thought I was gonna get one of those ambiguous endings, but instead a Japanese version of the song "The Rose" started, and what followed was magical. You can see it on Youtube here, but be warned, without watching the whole movie, you might not understand it.

While hunting for the lyrics for "The Rose", I was dismayed to find out that Westlife did a cover of it last year, and quite a number of other singers have done covers of it as well. But no matter, to really appreciate the song, get hold of the original Bette Midler version :)

The Rose

Some say love it is a river
that drowns the tender reed
Some say love it is a razor
that leaves your soul to bleed

Some say love it is a hunger
an endless aching need
I say love it is a flower
and you it's only seed

It's the heart afraid of breaking
that never learns to dance
It's the dream afraid of waking that never takes the chance
It's the one who won't be taken
who cannot seem to give
and the soul afraid of dying that never learns to live

When the night has been too lonely
and the road has been too long
and you think that love is only
for the lucky and the strong
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows
lies the seed
that with the sun's love
in the spring
becomes the rose

Working Girl

2007-01-30T22:08:00.000+08:00

One of my favourite movies of all time is Working Girl, which I first saw just after I finished college. I remember I was supposed to catch a flight back to Sarawak that night, and after a whole day of packing, I decided to just go and catch a movie. Back in 1989, there was a cinema in Ss15 Subang Jaya that specializes in showing reruns.

I just finished my pre-u studies, and I knew I was going to do badly in the exams. While my college mates were busy choosing which uni they wanted to go to, I was wondering what my dad will decide to do with me.

When I came out of the cinema, I knew I wanted to try again. And my dad did indeed give me another chance, which I am very grateful till this day.

The theme song "A River Runs Through It" was my constant companion when I re-sat for my pre-u the following year. Even today the song never fails to raise goose pimples whenever I hear it.

Let The River Run

We're coming to the edge,
running on the water,
coming through the fog,
your sons and daughters.

Let the river run,
let all the dreamers
wake the nation.
Come, the New Jerusalem.

Silver cities rise,
the morning lights
the streets that meet them,
and sirens call them on
with a song.

It's asking for the taking.
Trembling, shaking.
Oh, my heart is aching.

We're coming to the edge,
running on the water,
coming through the fog,
your sons and daughters.

We the great and small
stand on a star
and blaze a trail of desire
through the dark'ning dawn.

It's asking for the taking.
Come run with me now,
the sky is the color of blue
you've never even seen
in the eyes of your lover.

Oh, my heart is aching.
We're coming to the edge,
running on the water,
coming through the fog,
your sons and daughters.

It's asking for the taking.
Trembling, shaking.
Oh, my heart is aching.
We're coming to the edge,
running on the water,
coming through the fog,
your sons and daughters.

Let the river run,
let all the dreamers
wake the nation.
Come, the New Jerusalem.

Windows Vista? Nah....

2007-01-25T22:24:00.000+08:00

At the time of writing a worldwide campaign is underway to enlighten folks everywhere on the delights of Vista, M'soft's much delayed OS.

For those of you who balk at the price tag or do not have a PC spec'ed high enough to run it, you can actually get a feel for it by installing the Vista Transformation Pack. I tried it for a few weeks, and, well, the only thing I felt would make my life easier is the Aero glass effect. Sometimes I need to refer to another document while I'm typing, and by overlaying the two documents on top of each other, I find that I could get a lot more done than if I tile the documents vertically. Alright, those of you who own 19 inch LCD monitors, you can stop snickering now.

The gadgets sidebar concept is not a new one, I've seen its potential since the days of Borland Sidekick, but unfortunately to date no one has done a good job of implementing it. Call me when you get some really useful gadgets to dock to the sidebar, will you? A clock to tell the time? That's what I wear watches for, mate.

Apart from eye candy, from what I read there's not much else that would compel me to rush out and buy one. What I really want from a new OS would be these:-

Much faster boot up time. On average, it takes a minute for my XP log in screen to come up, and another good 2 minutes to get everything started up after I've logged in. The Amstrad CPC 6128 I used 20 years ago booted up in 2 seconds flat, including monitor warm up time. Come on, after 20 years and umpteenth generations of Windows OS's, you can't get this fixed?
A much easier way of getting to my stuff. I have a lot of stuff on both my home and office PC's, and I do mean a lot. Getting to them is just a pain. Sure, I can create shortcuts and there's the Recent Documents list, but its still difficult to quickly zoom in on stuff that I do not access frequently. Google Desktop also helps to a certain extent, but I will hail the day when I can get to any stuff I want in 5 seconds flat.
Easier way of setting up things. It still requires a postgraduate degree to get things set up. Don't believe me? Pop quiz: Why can't I connect to a Wifi network at my branch office when everyone else had no problems? Answer: because the network uses the same name as the Wifi network at the HQ, therefore the system tries to automatically reconnect using the HQ Wifi's settings, which was saved to the notebook's Wifi Connection properties. Now how many of us are gonna be able to figure that one out?

August 1995: I went out to get a copy of The Times in a small town called Ballynahinch in Northern Ireland, and was bewildered when the newsagent refused to accept my money. "It's free." Huh? After looking at the paper for a few seconds it dawned on me that it was Windows 95 launch day. Microsoft had bought up the entire print run of The Times on that day. I was filled with much excitement and anticipation, sure that this new fangled OS would let me do wonderful productive things as I start my IT career. 11 and a half years later, much has changed, and much still stayed the same.

The Family Man

2006-12-25T22:41:00.000+08:00

I was in Singapore over the weekend, and on Christmas eve, I caught The Family Man on Channel 5, a movie I missed some years back.

The movie's concept is based on Dicken's A Christmas Carol and Jimmy Stewart's Its A Wonderful Life, so you could probably guess what the movie was about. But I felt that Nicholas Cage and Tea Leoni managed to pull it off and came up with a heartwarming and reflective movie.

The story basically revisits the modern questions of whether you can have it all and what really matters in your life. The answers that came were pretty obvious, but of course, those high fliers among you may beg to differ. And those of us who are struggling hard to provide a better life for their loved ones may feel the same, too.

I don't think the reality is as clear cut as portrayed in the movie, after all, I can think of people who do have it all. But during this festive season, if you've been feeling somewhat dissatisfied with your life, I think there is still one message from the movie that applies to all of us , and that is we are where we are today because of our choices. And we often forget that we can choose.

Long Bridge

2006-12-02T04:34:00.000+08:00

“Do you want to see your grandfather’s old house?” The elderly lady in front of me asked excitedly. “It’s just in one of the backlanes nearby”. The auntie was the wife of one of my dad’s cousins in China.

So off we went, the auntie leading us through winding cobbled backlanes. We reached a dilapidated wooden house. “This is where your grandfather grew up”.

The house is not much to look at now, but at that moment I felt a strong sense of belonging. I was finally able to see beyond my grandfather’s life, to see my roots in that shabby house.

“Your grandfather was the only son in the family. They had to frequently hide him to prevent him from being taken away”.

So, once upon a time, in the early part of the twentieth century, a poor family lived in a small house in a remote village called Chang Qiau (Long Bridge). The family had a son and a daughter. One day, the son made his way to a coastal town, presumably Xiamen, and traveled by boat to a place called Sarawak in Nan Yang (the South Seas). There, he was given some land by the white Rajah, and worked hard to create his own place in the sun. He settled down and his wife bore him two sons and two daughters. He never forgot his sister in China and over the years kept in touch with her by letters. The sister also started her own family in a small town called Ping Nang.

After many years, the grandson and granddaughter of the son who left China found themselves back where the son came from, looking at the house the son had left behind.

Nanowrimo again

2006-11-12T23:23:00.000+08:00

This post is in response to my good friend Simon's reminder that once again Nanowrimo is upon us.

Nanowrimo is where writer-wannabes all over the world make a commitment to write a 50000 word novel in a month - specifically, the month of November.

Last year I enthusiastically signed up thinking I could do those writing while on two 12 hour flights. Alas, I got stuck after just 1000 words. Kudos to Simon who managed to slog through the whole thing and got the 50k :)

Amongst my blogging mates, apart from Simon I think SexySiren has the most writing talent to produce a novel, she writes with passion and has a nice way of putting things. Kay, what say you? Do you have a novel for us next year? :)

Air

2006-11-06T22:17:00.000+08:00

Have you ever wondered where the Internet will go from here? The Net has evolved in so many unexpected ways over the past ten years that it is hard to predict what it'll be like even five years down the line.

Well, one person dared to, and what a prediction it was. Geoff Ryman provided a breathtaking vision of what will happen to the Net in the year 2019 in his sci-fi novel Air.

I happened to read the book while travelling with my parents in the rural parts of China recently, and what I saw there provided a striking parallel to the rural village described in the book.

In the year 2019, the Net has become Air - all pervasive, all encompassing. It has become part of each individual, man and the Net together as one.

The main story of how Air came to affect one of the last places on earth to receive it provides a touching and moving context to all of us of what the Net really means to each ordinary person in this world. Sometimes we tend to forget that for more than two thirds of the world's population, the Net means nothing to them.

Gambling Ghost (or Du Gui)

2006-10-01T21:51:00.000+08:00

According to the movies, there can only be one God of Gamblers, but in real life there are plenty of Gambling Ghosts, i.e. those who are just plain addicted to gambling in any form.

Being Chinese (and despite being a Christian at the same time), it was somewhat inevitable that at certain points in my life, I was one of those ghosts, too.

My earliest recollection of gambling was going to the little tuck shop opposite my house to play tikam-tikam. This is a board game where you buy tickets from the bottom half of the board in the hope of the ticket number matching one of the numbers on the top half of the board. Each number on the top half holds another ticket which when opened, reveals the prize you have won. I remember the tickets were 5 sen a piece, and the prizes ranged from 10 sen to 50 sen (a big sum back then, hehe). The friendly aunty at the tuck shop always persuaded me to reinvest my prizes in more tickets, so I usually walked out of the shop empty handed. At the time, I didn't realize that this is one of the classic symptoms of a gambling ghost, i.e. always going for one more try.

When I entered Form 1, a friend introduced me to another tuck shop, where, hidden at the back, was a real slot machine!! My allowance back then was only RM20 a month, so luckily (!) I did not get to play much, since per bet was a massive 50 sen.

In Form 3, the whole bunch of us discovered card games, and during Chinese New Year, we played endlessly. By the end of the holidays, we were so addicted we even organized additional sessions after school hours. Some of us had very understanding parents who actually enjoyed having us around and gambling in their houses (not mine, though).

When I left my hometown for college, I graduated (ahem) to buying Magnum 4D and playing Mah Jong. Mah Jong, I must say, is a superb game of skill and strategy, despite its association with the gambling Chinese all over the world. I remember spending the weekends at my kaki's house in Cheras, our whole time preoccupied with "washing the table" (the Hokkien euphemism for playing Mah Jong).

At the same time, during the holidays, I spent my time hanging around my uncle's snooker centre, where horse racing video games were the rage. This involved turf club style betting on virtual horse races, and at RM 1 a pop, it was surprising to find out that some folks actually lost fortunes on it. The machines are still around to this day, hidden in the back rooms of snooker parlours and cybercafes all over Klang Valley.

After my 18th birthday, me and my mate decided it was time for us to pay a visit to the shrine of gamblers in Malaysia - Genting Highlands. Age of admittance was (and still is) 21, so we tried our utmost to grow mustaches and dressed in our most serious outfits, and managed to sneak in. It was a revelation, watching people lose RM20k on blackjack in 30 minutes. We knew then we were way out of our league, and didn't go back again until we graduated from uni.

When in uni in UK, I was actually quite a good boy, refraining from gambling until some juniors introduced me to the joys of horse race betting in my final year. Horse races are held almost every single day in the UK, even some Sundays. There is an element of skill involved in this, and till this day, it remained the only form of gambling where I actually did come out on the plus side (to the tune of about 500 pounds).

After graduating, I was barely surviving on my fresh graduate salary, so there was a lull, until a hefty raise the following year pulled me into the biggest casino of them all - the stock market. The year was 1997 - the timing could not have been more perfect. Needless to say, I suffered massive losses, which took years to pay off.

The start-stop-start cycle of my gambling habit finally stopped when I met my wife. Its been a good 5 years since I did any serious gambling, and except for the occasional social game of blackjack, hardly indulged in any form of gambling at all. As a Christian, I have to say I'm quite ashamed of those days, interesting though they were.

And I have to thank God that I didn't end up a permanent gambling ghost. One of my mates from the college Mah Jong days ended up addicted to all forms of gambling, and has lost upwards of RM150k at the last count. As his friends, the whole bunch of us old school mates have been trying to talk some sense into him, but it looks like only God can break his habit.

Crazy About Michael Wong (Guang Liang)

2006-09-17T18:04:00.000+08:00

Recently I've been crazy about Michael Wong's songs. For the uninitiated, there's a pretty good write-up about him on Wikipedia (which I suspect was written by his publicist :P)

Over the years I've heard his songs when he was part of a duo, and later when he went solo. Earlier this year, I was at a Chinese wedding (yeah, the type where you have badly sung karaoke as part of the entertainment), and a bunch of kids went up to sing his monster hit from 2005, Dong Hua (literally, Fairy Tale). Something struck me about the song, it was both sweet and yet tinged with sadness. As if he lost something and he knew he would never get it back.

Anyway, today while bored out of my skull waiting for my wife to finish her shopping in 1 U, I popped over to the music store to buy my second (ahem) original CD in 2 years. And I was instantly hooked.

After listening to his songs the whole afternoon, I finally decided that him being a boy from a provincial town in Malaysia had a lot of to do with how he came with all these sad, wistful songs. If you look at his MTV's, you'll find that most of them reflect the same sense of loss and nostalgia. Listening to his songs reminded me of my days in secondary school, of having crushes on the girl in the the secondary school next door, of cycling to school and days spent fooling around with mates. Of days spent dreaming when I would grow up and leave this town with its quaint old shops and familiar faces.

I suspect for many of us now working in KL and Singapore, and even beyond, his songs sends us back to our more innocent days when life was so much less complicated and more joyful. I think that's what made him so successful in recent years, him having touched a part deep inside us with his songs, reminding us once again of who we really are and where we came from.

For Want of A Good Plumber

2006-09-02T21:42:00.000+08:00

In the first few years that I moved into my current home, everything was pretty much in good order and I took no notice of the countless cards and leaflets advertising renovation and plumbing services that fill my post box almost every day.

But one fine day the house water tank had a problem and I was finally forced to look for a plumber. Out came the handphone and I started sms'ing friends for recommendations. Surprisingly no one seems to know anyone who they could recommend.

After much nagging from the wife I finally decided to bite the bullet and called a number on one of the cards.

What happened next left a bitter taste in my mouth. The guy who came quoted some outrageous figure to fix the problem (I figured the price should probably be half of that at most), and when I declined his offer he blasely told me that there is a minimum RM50 call out charge. At that point I was ready to let go with a string of expletives, but in the end I bit my lip and paid what he asked for.

It took the guy all of 15 minutes to climb up to the roof and replace the spoilt stopper (that was all that needed fixing, the stopper). I know I'm paying for his skills but still, it really felt like a rip-off to me.

If anyone knows a good reliable plumber in the Klang vallet who won't charge an arm and a leg, I want to know his number!