Great Oratory's Skill

In classical times when Cicero had finished speaking, the people said, ‘How well he spoke,’ but when Demosthenes had finished speaking, they said, ‘Let us march.'

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I read above quote from someone's blog and googled the name Demosthenes. I have provided the link above should you be interested to know more of this person. Apparently, he was one of the greatest orator during ancient Greek time.

Not so long ago, I was volunteering in the logistics' association. During that time, I had the opportunity to get to learn and practice some public speaking. Believe me, with practice, comes the ease. I would not be caught on stage no matter what, I am a shy guy through and through. I can articulate very well in writing, given practice, I would be able to do it orally but I have left the association since and did not have any chance for public speaking anymore. In a way, I have returned back to the safety and comfort of my "shell"

Still, my stint in the association teaches me to overcome (or rather, still trying to) overcome stage fright, should there be any requirement to go on stage, I will be more prepared as some basics were driven into me before, it becomes less scary.

That being said, I would encourage people to join Toastmaster Club if they are available in their own area and practice the art of speaking publicly. There are some overtly done speeches and speakers, at the same time, there are some really good speakers waiting to be discovered. People become more outgoing and friendlier once their shells were cracked open. Been there, done that, though not fully hatched yet. May be I should consider to project a more public self and learn to throw inhibition to the wind (I wish!)

Value Of Friendship

How do one value friendship? Is friendship quantifiable? What yardstick to say one is a friend and another is not? Do friendship means ever presence in person? Or ever presence in "presence"?

I am very fortunate in that I have a few really close friends. Some of my friends stretched as far back as secondary school. Many friends are known during working. Some friendship forged through shared difficulties in certain situation. Newer ones were made during networking or just socializing. Some you just clicked and become fast friends though you might have known them for like a year or two.

But today, I noticed some really close friends are a bit cold. It is probably due to the fact that I am very close to another mutual friends who happens to be a supplier of sort and they probably thought I have a better deal since I am THAT CLOSE to that friend. The reason is I didn't even complain once about an imminent price increase. I feel that in a free market, you work in your best ability and if costs goes up, you either find other way to cut costs or increase revenue. You don't blame other people for increasing prices. You look for lowest costs you can find. I didn't get any special privilege price from my close friends but the others thought I did and probably due to that, they feel not pleased with me...sigh..

If I said I didn't get preferential rate, they don't believe me, when I keep quiet, they assume that I was not affected in the price adjustment. Life is such that sometime, you just keep quiet and let matter as it is. No point explaining or trying to explain. For me, life goes on. Things do change. But I don't believe in putting a price in friendship, it should come from the heart and that nothing material should be used as a yardstick, ever...

Anyway, this post is more like for me to vent a certain frustration and dissappointment, so, if it is not understood what have I rambled about, don't worry. It was meant for my future look back. I will post something nice later on. Let me go and do whatever needed to be done in the house first, I will be back.

The Advertlets/WALL-E promo

Have you guys heard of Wall-e? No? Soon, you would. Or rather, most of the younger generations would, just like they have heard of Nemo, Dash, Buzz & Woody and Lightning McQueen.

Here is a prelude to what Wall-e is



Why would I want to mention this in my blog? Well, the guys over in Advertlets.com is giving away some freebies to be the first in Malaysia to watch this. I just have to give it a shot. I mean, come on, if I can name the names above, that shows that I am a fan of Disney / Pixar collaborations. If that doesn't qualifies, what else would, eh?

Anyway, what actually attracted me to this screening is the very fact that Disney / Pixar always come out with something so simple, so nice, so funny and so touching, meaningful, all in one package. By making this movie way into the future, it intrigues me how Disney / Pixar is going to pull off the emotional aspect of this movie, what with the characters being robots et al. They managed with Finding Nemo (no hand, no leg) and they did it again with Cars (no hand, no leg and NO FACE!!)

Here is the official Advertlets/WALL-E blog flyer from this promo, as copied from the Advertlets.com



I hope I get to win this because it would be fun to be one of the first to view it officially in Malaysia. Go to all the links I have made above to give yourself a chance to win too.

To eat or not to eat

I have been on a mission to lose some body fats for the past two three months. In a way, I would say that I have more or less reduced my body weight to a more acceptable figure, which is about 9 kgs less than when I started off.

Still, the foods in Malaysia are very tempting and it seemed that my discipline waiver a bit recently, I have been having late dinner / supper and took breakfasts too, which, I have skipped for quite some time.

Only just now, I had some capati and poori at Kanna Curry House Klang, which, to say the least is one of the best Indian Restaurant in Klang. If I am not on a weight watch, I think, I would have had one banana leaf rice, one capati, one poori, fried sotong, prawn curry and a few more others. It was damn tempting and I gave in to a piece of capati and a piece of poori. I am beginning to wonder if it will be a good idea to do a makan trip to Rawang this coming weekend. My resolve might weaken yet again, sigh....

I have had a conversation with my friend just now and we were discussing how some people who works but don't know or don't care what they are doing. There are a lot of assuming, don't they realise assume will make an ass out of you and me? My line of work is such that any stupid mistake, just an oversight will costs hundreds of ringgits and we are not talking about profit margin to the tune of hundreds of ringgit that we can easily write off silly mistake. We would make about tens of ringgits and some stupid staff only need to make one miserable silly mistake to wipe of the profit for the next 10 - 20 jobs. Stupid...

Anyway, as I told him, sometimes, we just have to bear the pain and sometimes, make the staff pay so they know how painful it is to lose money over stupid mistake. The problem is, they never learned....What kind of education our country is providing to have teach such irresponsible attitude to the younger generations?

Anyway, I believe most people would have had their share of silly mistake by colleagues and staffs, I guess we just have to follow the Malaysian mantra of Tidak Apa if we were to live to ripe old age....

Road Less Travelled

** Re-edit for submission to AllMalaysia.info / The Star Holiday Contest **

As mentioned the post prior, I was in Ipoh over the last weekend for a motor treasure hunt. After the hunt, the next day, on Sunday, we just walked around the hotel to spend some time as we very rarely stop by Ipoh. So, perasan a bit, wanna tiru like Ewin-d-future-aircraftman and Joyce-d-guy-photoblogger, I snapped some photos lah.

Here is one that I like, it is a building that was well maintained and the color highlighted the beauty and subtle art of decorating. I like it, that's why I snap it, noticed how the building looked like cut into half? But it is indeed designed like that, probably the builder forgot about the road. Anyway, the building is now a gallery, I didn't managed to go in as it seemed closed. It is about five minutes walk from Hotel Excelsior, left side from the main entrance.

And then, I also perasan lah, try to take some pictures without actual meaning, like this two following :-

Then, upon reaching the hotel again, I took some photos from the front of the hotel..



Very obviously, my photos were not taken with proper camera, nothing like what my two new photobloggers friend have, they would have make an art of the pieces they see.

Oh, before I forgot, on the way back to Klang, we stopped by a durian stall manned by an old auntie (exit 135 south-bound, then head towards Bidor/Gua Tempurung). Being the kind of persons who have soft spot for elderly people, we bypassed all the other stalls and only stopped at this auntie's place.

She can't remember us stopping the day before, buying her rambutans but that did not stop her from being friendly with us. Seeing that there were not many durians there, we just asked her how much would it costs if we take ALL her durians (about 15 in all, I think) and she quoted RM 30.00. Not that cheap actually, but we thought, why not. So, we agreed and asked her if it's okay for us to eat there. It so happened that her husband came to send her some rice and he opened a few durians for us. Unfortunately, the first 3 durians were all rotten. I guess, that comes with buying from non-pesticided farm... So, we told the auntie, how lah, all rotten one, she said, not to worry, she will replace for us and the uncle also said, no problem, he will just go into the orchard to find some more, which was just located right behind the stall.

My brother-in-law went with him and scoured for durians in the orchard. I think he had a lot of fun, town people being never searched for durian before. Do you know that durians only drop from trees at night? It's trivia that I picked up when I was very young.

Meanwhile, I saw some ripened rambutans and asked the auntie if it's okay for me to pluck them. She gave her permission and I went ahead to pluck some rambutans, my, they are damn good. I think, I might even drive up just to buy the rambutans (they are just about to ripe in another 10 days or so) - what I had was just the early blooms.



Good looking, ain't it? The auntie didn't charge me anything for the rambutans, hehehe. She says, if she plucked for us (which she is not able to, anyway), then she will charge, since I do it myself, it is on the house (or orchard, as this case may be). So, we had a good fun and spent about 2 1/2 hours just by the road side and the orchard behind it, chatting with the elderly uncle and auntie, savouring the durians and rambutans and listening to the auntie's story. What I liked about this type of encounter is that you get to see people, as they are, unpretentious. We even learned that the auntie has 7 children; 2 doctors, 2 engineers and 1 architect. Who would have thought? She also told us her husband is 80 years old (and he is even stronger than me!!) and I believe the auntie will be at least 75 years old!

In the end, we checked with her and noted that she has about 20 mangosteen left, yet to be tied. So we asked her, how much would she wants for the whole bunch and she quoted RM 3.00 only. We just told the auntie, give us everything and then she can go home and rest, no point waiting for customers to buy the mangosteen when all her durians were snapped up by us (including the ones that we helped to scour earlier on, which totalled about another 12 durians, for RM 12.00!!).

So, sometimes, a road less travelled is more fun and if we take the time to enjoy ourselves and the company we might encounter, there are many joys to be had in such excursions.

Hunt to Ipoh

Last Saturday, I went for a treasure hunt to Ipoh. The event was organised details as follows :-

26th & 27th July -- VBCM Gift of Life Charity HuntKL/PJ - Ipoh
(In aid of National Cancer Society of Malaysia and one orphanage)
Organisers: The Vajrayana Buddhist Council of Malaysia

The hunt was damn tough, even the regulars find it tough going. We just there to make up the numbers, so, it's okay with us. The event took us through small routes, we passed by Rawang Town at about 8.00 a.m, and boy, I didn't realise that there are so many Indian Restaurants there and the variety of breakfast available ; putu, idli, apom, chapati, roti canai, wadey etc etc. If not because of high discipline to lose weight, I would have gone berserk with the choices and the best part is, it was all freshly made, there and then, and as with all things fresh, the taste is damn good. I will plan another eating trip there and I will take some photos for sharing later on.

We moved further and when we were in Bidor town, we went to a shop that sold pau and it was cheap and yummy. It was sold by an old uncle, about 80 years old.

And then, we passed by Gua Tempurung and there were so many durians and rambutans. We stopped and bought some rambutans and promised the old auntie there, we will stop and buy from her the durians the next day. (which we did, that will be another post)

Finally, we reached the hotel at about 3.30 p.m and what a long day it was.....Well, I won't go into details about the hunt or dinner but I do want to share some observations. Ipoh is very sleepy town, in terms of traffic. It is quiet and so much different from Klang Valley. The most obvious thing was that, there are many Chinese coffee shops operating late into the night as compared to Klang Valley where it always is Mamak shops that operate late into the night.

I took some photos of the town/city and one thing for sure, Ipoh have some very nice and well maintained buildings. I didn't take the tourists' attraction as we didn't really moved around, only some of the buildings nearby the hotel.

I Want To Believe - Not

I have to get this off my chest before I go to bed, otherwise, I will not be able to sleep peacefully tonight.

Okay, first off, a zillion thanks to the kind +size who (were forced to) invited me for the free movie, X-Files. She looked so sweet (I puji you, must give me priority for more tickets in the future) and demure in her baju kurung that is very unlike her alter-ego in the blog, I guess blog can be "misleading" then, hahaha.

Then the ever macho-ey cheezy Hurley who put a few of us together to spend some time to get to know each other (very "a few", that is; apparently, not all bloggers are that blogger-friendly, sigh). Well, at least, Tiffany, that is my sister and I get to know nice people like Joyce (not girl) and Ewin, both of whom are photo blogger. I went to their blog and what can I say? In the hand of artist, even ordinary things looked beautiful. Must make a mental note to get them to photograph moi in flattering lights, hmm, make moi looked dashing and worth a million. I met a few others, Iced Nyior for example, but didn't get the chance to chit chat or exchange information, just kind of hi bye kind of thingy, another occasion perhaps.

Ok, now to the movie itself, as +size mentioned, must do a bit of a review lah. The thing is, after the show ended, I was like, geez, how am I ever going to do a review on THAT!

I would say the movie is only for the die-hard fans. I am a fan, not a die-hard fan and I find the movie to be "wanting", if you get my drift. I mean, I am watching a movie for heaven's sake and the total movie goes like tv shows, even some of the episodes in the TV (free) were much better than this movie. If I am going to pay good money for the big screen, I will want value, like more special effects, more emotions, more .... I don't know, oommphh probably. As an audience, we can understand if TV shows have to work with smaller budget and cut some corners but where big screen is concerned, it should be much better than this. The fans deserved better than this.

All the actors in the show seemed to be in a hurry to finish the movie, there doesn't seemed to be much acting, more like moving the dialog along. Not stiff but just no chemistry. I don't relate to the actors or the story. There is no spark or fire. There is no wow factor. Nothing, zilch.

Ok, ok, it sounded scathing but unless you are big fan, my advice is, watch the old X-files DVD instead.

I don't know what the rest will post about this movie but go to their link as provided (all the shaded one lah) and read for yourself. Till the next post, ciao...

Countdown to X-Files

Later today, ie, Thursday evening, I will be going to Cineleisure to watch X-Files the movie, courtesy of +sizekitten (thanks ya)

The show in tv was so long time ago that whether we will still get the same oommph from after such long gap. Watch this space for review. I hope I can review shows as good as +size and cheezy hurley.

I also understand there will be some photo-blogger joining the outings. It seemed exciting but I guess, I will stick out like sore thumb being the only "uncle" in the group - must remind the organiser to get older people than me to join in the future.

Expect to see some nice photo in the hands of these professionals, I will try to direct to their blogs once we get to know each other better, failing all, we still have the ever reliable cheezy guy to cover the blanks. I am pretty hopeless where photos are concerned..

Funny, Yet Disgusting

I would like to share a personal experience about our human body.

You know, one time or another, some of us watched documentary where some people will suck milk or liquid in through their nose and send it out via their tears duct or just eyes.

Well, a few weeks ago, I was having a flu and blocked nose. As usual, when you have flu, you always blow your nose, right?

It so happened that on this particular day, my nose was blocked quite badly and that I went to the washroom to blow my nose. As usual, you would press one side to clear another side, right? So, I did what normally people would do. Imagine my surprise that my nose is REALLY blocked and the mucus have to find another outlet......through the eye!!!

I got the shock of my life and I was like, huh? It was so amazing and yet disgusting that you actually didn't realise, our bodies have a lot of hollows!! So, nowadays, if I blow my nose, I don't blow hard, I only blow gently lest I have another shocker, imagine mucus coming out of ears instead!!!

Bah, Humbug!!!

I heard this phrase many many years ago. Then, not long after that, I heard it in the cartoons, where the Uncle of Donald Duck the miser uses it many many times.

Today, finally, I use this words on my two new found friends who pretended to be innocent and shy and things sweet and diabetics, that my sugar level would have shoot through the roof if not because of the magic words, Bah, Humbug!!!

Anyway, I have always equated Bah, Humbug!!! to what a load of B/S but apparently, Bah, Humbug!!! is slightly different, in that "Bah, humbug!" is often used to express disgust with many of the modern Christmas traditions. Over the years, quite a number of people also uses the same expression to equate the actions of people which borders on the unbelievable.

I don't feel like launching a tirade of the current politicos, so, I am going to stop here. Lastly, please go to this link if you want some light hearted jokes for fill your day, though, be forewarned that most of the jokes are hamsapish and sexist. It does not represent the view of the writer, though. :)

Ubah Gaya Hidup

Government says, grow your own vegetables. You can eat chillies for your meals and you will never get sick of eating ladies fingers everyday. They are yummy and nutritious after all. The highlight is, it doesn't cost you money to buy the soil and the fertiliser, your time are of no value, so, in the end, you get a plant or two for free and it's produce can bring you income if there are bumper crops, you can even plant it in your condominium or low cost flats and whatnots.

Government says, change our lifestyles, since they too are changing their lifestyles, what kind of changes, go here. Better still, read from the government's own mouth piece.

I wonder did the Sultan of Trengganu made the right choice in insisting a candidate? Or is it just so entrenched in their blood that they are all the same, past and present? Can the Sultan haul this jokers all to the Royal Palace for a dressing down? And RM 50,000.00 for repairs and maintenance of ONE car, a PROTON at that? Did ACA or audit department check the bill? Did they send the cars for servicing in Europe or Proton workshops down the street? Will the corruptions and swindling never ends?

For the ordinary folks, this changes of lifestyle is what was expected of you.



Ad nauseum, again and again and again? We are getting short changed left and right and we are still a gentle Malaysians, tidak apa lah. After all, you can't go demonstrating, you will cause more road blocks and jams, everyone is gonna pay more in terms of wear and tear of their vehicles; whereas us in the government will just change whatever at our whims to a better and expensive products.

Dinner At Thien Hou Kong

Had dinner at Thien Hou Kong Saturday night. It was organised by the temple, or rather the association of Kung Men Tar Tao, a branch of Tao-seeker, aka Taoist.

The dinner itself was quite good. It was vegetarian food, in line with most of the attendees belief and lifestyle. Among my friends, they were quite surprised to see that the dishes were served in courses, exactly like normal 9 course dinner would. There were foods like 4 seasons, shark fin, abalone etc etc but all are "faux" copy of their originals.

My only complain is that the serving was slow and that the table is too small to seat 10. It is a stretch to seat 9 and 8 would be the most comfortable. But since it is for donation and good course, I guess, we shouldn't complain.

The stage programme was not that good. The speeches were boring and for most part, especially when the speeches were delivered by guests from Taiwan, I couldn't understand any of them. Talking about same but different! They were definitely speaking Mandarin but somehow, the words elude me.

My another complain was that the organiser over emphasized sign language performance by the children. I do not see the point in it, once is a novelty but more than that is an overkill. My reasoning is very simple. Firstly, I don't think any of the guests understand sign language. So, the sign language is for whose benefits? Secondly, sign language is a language, it should be treated as a mean of communication, not as a performance. It reduced the importance of understanding the less fortunate to a mere performance only.

It was not without it's highlight though. There was one small girl who was so over-enthusiastic to hear her own voice that she wanted to pull the microphone to her, though it was a choir. She even tip-toed to reach nearer to the microphone. When the singing stopped, she even tapped the microphone to ensure that it was working! It was definitely one of the highlight of the evening.

Anyway, almost everyone stayed until the end. It was one of things you experiences in life.

Ad nauseum

I read somewhere and saw this word. I googled it and found the above - click on the title to go to the link for the meaning.

It is an interesting subject, right? I think, for the first time in generations (bar the independence period) have so many people of all walks of life talks about government, nation and economy, though not in same sequence. Like it or not, everyone are affected by the lost of direction, the lack of inspiration and no action talk only (ie NATO) syndrome.

We have had so many talks and rhetorics and promises et cetera et cetera that the people in general are just sick of it. We want our nasi lemak, roti canai, char kuay teow, leng chee kang, teh tarik all uninterrupted, and back to it's original bigger portion. Not the paltry portion we are getting nowadays with exobitant price. What is happening?

That is why I named today's post Ad nauseum, we have talked, everyone have talked, everybody have talked but in the end, nothing concrete happened....

Get Real, Get Realistic

These few images were sent to my mail box today. It is good to share good ideas, so, I would like to share this few pictures with you. Click on the picture to see a bigger image.

WTF!!!

Noticed the change of the presentation? @#$%^^&&*$$%%$^ !!!

I was toggling around with the template and though I have saved the template, unfortunately, when I repaste it, it doesn't work. So, I have to find another template as temporary measure. I thought I want to add some colours to the pages, now, I have lost all the additional widgets I put earlier on. WTF!!!

But in most probablity, I would end up with some other nice template too, hahaha. Let's see how it goes. May be, at later stage, I can add back all the widgets that got lost....

Or, may be I can try another host. I tried Vox, it seemed quite interesting but a little bit confusing, may be because I am so used to Blogger.

Check it out and let me know whether Vox looked better or should I just stick with Blogger? Or may be post at both side?

I have posted one old post there just to see how it would look like, I have to say, I quite like the results. Go here to find the link.

Wisteria Lane

To the couch potatoes, above should not be a problem to relate to. To those who are uninitiated, Wisteria Lane refer to the street where a group of upper middle class people made their homes. Probably in Malaysian terms, a "taman".

Anyway, yesterday marked the first informal meeting cum gathering for some of our neighbours. I counted 14 families or households which turn up, that is like 10% of the total number of household in our "taman", which, incidentally, is only 50% or less, occupied, it being a very new development.

So, what I had wanted to highlight is that, a community is formed when one takes the initiative to get to know each other. Even if we stay next to each other but if all of us only mind our own business (not that we should mind other's personal business) but a hello or hi would do a world of good. At the same time, Malaysians especially do not like to be seen to be intruding into people's life, that is why there are seldom bonds that form among neighbours.

In a way, in the small community I am currently staying in, the people are more friendly, probably due to no gate allowed in the neighbourhood. Most will take the time to say hello and make themselves available for activities organised by the management company or individually.

Since moving in to stay here, I have been to many parties in a short period of time and I have not even visited many neighbours' house at my previous place. Here, the neighbours always invite each other for whatever parties they might be organising. It's pleasant and it encourages one to feel belonged. That I think is the ultimate community forming feeling that should be nurtured, like time long ago, in the villages.

The Peaceable Kingdom

While following some of the links in some friend's blog in vox, I came across this blog and boy, the food looked delicious. Click on the above link or here to go to the blog or more specifically, the post that attracted me here.

Here is a sampler of the food our friend cooked, my my, the mouth waters just looking at it. (p.s : copy right remains with the original blogger)



Deep Dish Sun Dried Tomato Quiche - what a mouthful and definitely equally delightful servings.

Here is another one.



Noodles with Asparagus, Meatballs and Mushrooms.

Okay, go to the site and explore for yourself. Who says vegan or vegetarian have to be boring.

Putting The Lesson To Test

Alrighty, after a week of the baking lesson, we tried to make some breads using the knowledge acquired at MIB. Actually, pictures paint a thousand words, no? Look....

Narcissism

Is this for real?
That's the question asked by Marina Mahathir. I know, I know, some of you don't think her opinion matters much but hey, she is a very good writer, witty and smart. She did share her views and it is up to us whether to accept her view or not. Let's not judge her just because she is the ex-PM daughter.

Go to above link and read what is for real? After reading it, you guys tell me whether my title of the blog is spot on? I mean, we can be vain at times, but should we be vain all the time and announce it to the world as well? Gosh, I have never had such a low opinion of someone until I read this post. There was a phrase from some cartoons, I can't remember which, where the mother admonished the young for saying something not nice, "If you have nothing good to say, say nothing at all."

Can someone really be so far off from reality? Can someone really live in another world when they are sharing the same sky? Is everyone having such a good life that every words spewed thenceforth by our leadership are the gospel? If people can't face up to reality of life, do we follow blindly? Had we, as a nation, evolved to the stage that we have let inverterbrate to lead us? Was there such a dearth of abled men/women?

Once something becomes a habit, it will slowly become a culture. Aren't we worry that Malaysians will have the culture of living in denial? I have thousands of question but will it ever get answered?

Big Brother

Today received a message from a Big Brother, reminding him I still owed him the THB he paid on behalf. Seemed I like have to remind another Big Brother to pass the money that I have ALREADY passed to him for delivery to the other Big Brother.

It is strange how sometimes people just click and you have utmost respect for them, in term of Success, Status, Wealth and Knowledge? I am very lucky that during the course of my "volunteering" assignment with our community's association, I get to know a few Big Brother and most of them are very successful in their respective lines of business.

My this Big Brother have already established himself. In terms of money, he have more than enough. In terms of success, he is also there. No need to mention about Knowledge, he have Masters and going for PhD. I tabik man. I always looked up to him as my role model, someone with enough confidence and air to achieve what he set out to do.

Many times, we will discuss about many issues affecting our community and though he is knowledgeable enough, he still take in points from laymen like yours truly and for that, I have very high regards for his unbiased ability to absorb and filter what is good and what is not good, on it's merit, instead of the speaker's merit. I mean, I could be not highly educated but that does not means my views are not without merit, right? I guess that's what set successful people apart, the ability to remain neutral in all situation.

Anyway, what I wanted to convey is that many successful people remain down to earth and are willing to share their knowledge for the betterment of society, to this type of people, I say, bravo...

OneRepublic TwoWins ThreeThanks

OneRepublic - one :- STOP AND STARE (that's the name of the YouTube video's title in AMBP)


TwoWins - two :- here is the picture of the album.



ThreeThanks - three :- thank you for the opportunity to try and win somethings again, after the memorable Baking Lesson hahaha. You see, if I thank before hand, I might stand a better chance, right? I mean, here is another contest for some free CDs from AMBP with courtesy from Universal Music. Don't they deserve resounding Thank you Thank you Thank you?

To be frank, normally, I don't shove nor vie with other people to grab free CD. But listening to the band and the YouTube Michael posted, I said to myself, this band, OneRepublic, deserved all the accolades. I mean, I can't get the song OFF my head now, only after hearing it twice!!! Help!!!

So, if the free CD, Dreaming Out Loud comes my way, that will be great. So, here I am, blogging about it to at least have a fair shot at getting the CD, compliment of AMBP.

I read through some of the story and news about this group, apparently they have been around for quite sometime and only now I heard about them....Their first single was Apologize and it was the biggest radio airplay hit in Top 40 chart (source : wikipedia) and was replaced by Bleeding Love (written by one of the OneRepublic's member, go figure..) as the most spinned song. That is like WOW!! with a capital W.

Apparently, they are coming to Genting, City of Entertainment as they were nominated for Breakthrough Artist of the Year, and Best Hookup (together with Timbaland). I will not be surprised if AMBP comes with some tickets for us to watch this LIVE! in Genting, yippee !!! (Michael and gangs must be feeling the pressure then, hehehe)

Well, that's about the thing I have to post in for the time being for the subject but do listen to the YouTube, nice and catchy music, it keeps on replaying in your head after a few listens, cool.... I have pasted the same YouTube below, enjoy...

Uncle? UNCLE?!!

The age must be showing.. Ada ke patut, someone who is may be like 20 ++ calls me UNCLE!! Hello, I still looked 28 ok!! (ehem, ehem) I am not even 40 yet! (oops, nearly revealed my age)

Anyway, this brings to the subject of addressing people. You know, I like the Indonesian way of addressing people, they have Pak, Mas and whatnots. Pak is mainly for senior people, whether senior in age or senior in status or just someone you should respect. I think Mas is mostly used when someone is more or less of the same level and you are not sure of his name, I think so lah.

So, in Malaysia, we don't have such culture, which the public should actually come up with a general greetings for daily use. Just like when we call policemen either Tuan or Encik (which is over addressing them, because they are supposed to serve US, not the other way round, ironic, isn't it?), there should be some form of addressing that is acceptable to all for use in emergencies. Right after graduation, I have the habit of calling our Malays friends, especially in the government department, either Bang or Kak. It is quite universally accepted in the Malays community and I felt comfortable addressing the strangers as such, instead of the rude, "Eh" or "Woi". But as the years crept on, I find the situation awkward. Imagine a 30+ person calling a 20+ person Bang or Kak, people will look at you one kind. So, at times, I am at loss as how to address people.

The thing is, normally, a Chinese will call a Malays or Indian - Bang or Kak but never a Chinese, why? Whereas all other races are very comfortable with addressing their senior Bang or Kak. Strange huh?

Anyway, I would like to relate an anecdote sometimes back (when I wasn't THAT old). I was just window shopping with my wife and a shirt attracted my attention (I am a clothes junkie and enjoy buying clothes). As I was feeling the texture, looking at the colours and deciding whether to buy or not to buy, a salesgirl came over and asked me, "Can I help you, UNCLE?" Aiyoh, potong stim betul lah, straight away no mood to buy already. Suddenly the clothes doesn't look that appealing anymore. I know, I know, this is vanity to the extreme but hey, you are only as old as you think you are. My friend told me it's just a number. So remember you sales people out there, don't call people uncle unless you know them well. It is an affectionate way of calling someone whom you are familiar with or dealing with, not to be used for a "prospective customer"

By the way, I normally address government servants as Abang or Kakak, I think it is more polite and in the occasions that I need to deal with police, I also uses the form of Abang and/or Kakak and in extreme cases, I will use Encik but never Tuan. It is an overkill and I think we should refrain from using that.

Close Call

You know how we were constantly reminded not to drive if we feel sleepy? Malaysians are known for their hard headness and yours truly is no exception. To be fair, when I started my driving today, it was with clear and alert mind. As I drove back to Klang, by the 30th minutes, my eyes got tired and droopy.

To keep from feeling very sleepy, I decided to play some music but the suddenly, when I looked up, a blue car appeared right in front of me, I was so shocked and stepped on the brake, my car was like going left and right, that all the sleepines is gone in an instant. That is a tonic that have kept me awake for the rest of the journey, the adrenaline rush I supposed.

Well, now you know why it is still advisable not to drive if you are feeling sleepy because somehow or rather, your senses are dimmed and you are more prone to carelessness. I was careless just now but I am very lucky. It was a really close call and I am thankful that I managed to look up and brake in time.

Pay per post

I don't know what I am doing but apparently, somebody is paying for people to blog. How true? I have no idea. I don't even know if I have signed up correctly, for all I know, the money goes elsewhere.

But you can check it out though.word of mouth ethics

And then I am supposed to link this and link that. I don't really know what I am doing (again) but here is the image...



Then, I am supposed to attach this again, haiyoh, so many step, did I get it correctly or not? Can someone assist me?

Follow The Bread Crumbs

Remember last time I blogged about 6 degrees of separations and deja-vu?

You would also noticed that recently I got to know some other blogger? Remember my partner in the baking lesson, the ever Cheezy Hurley? I was reading his blog yesterday and click on some of his links. I went on to read the blog by SotongZai and then, I noticed he mentioned his colleague by the name of Yeehou, which when I followed the link, I noticed another link which is very familiar, Viewtru!! Which, if you go to his website, you will find a link back to my blog, tmithomas.

Count the link, it is about 6 times removed, talk about 6 degrees of separations, shudders shudders, thus the title of this blog and the mention of some old blogs, ie, the crumbs that lead the way.

Anyway, Viewtru is one of my all time favourite blogger but unfortunately, he went into hibernation mode, probably to make some babies. But he is a very prolific writer and blogger, do go and see his old posts, albeit being a tad "old" but it is still very good read. I believe those who share the same frequency like me will enjoy particularly this post, Viewtru's Lantern Tale. Be forewarned though, it is very crude humour and might offend some people but damn addictive, read at your own perils.

I know for a fact that the symbol gal will enjoy Viewtru's blog, same frequency mah. I would suggest readers to click on all the crumbs that I have hyperlinked in this blog. All of them are very good blogger, much better than me, in fact and you will definitely enjoy all their entries.

Simple Leisure In Life

What's your aim in life? Money? More Money? Power? Status? Celebrity?

Going a full circle, I believe end of the day, I would only like to be remembered, for all the good (and a little bad) that I have done. I am not greedy, I don't have to be rich like Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, or even closer at home, like Vincent Tan or Francis Lim, but a couple of millions ringgit will not do any harm.

I also don't strive to be a powerful person. To be powerful, you have to built your foundation on people's ruin, people whom you might have share ruining. I don't know if my conscience will allow it. I prefer a good night sleep and don't want to be scared by any bump in the night. I have looked, in fact, many have seen in our country, but my case in our own small circle of friends or society, how power corrupts and absolute power definitely corrupts absolutely.

What status do you want in life? Higher status of being a rich man? Of being a powerful man? End of the day, irregardless of the importance of the office you hold, when you are dead, you are still fertilizers. I have seen people vying for status, position and in the end, when you step down, people don't remember you, as my earlier mantra, life goes on, thing changes...

We can see from our ex-prime minister, the ass-kisser are so obviously arse kissers. Some segment of the people says he mismanaged the country. I say, he is not perfect, but he tried his best, though his best is very much in wanting. If only he is Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, but he is not. So, the minute he stepped down and left the corridor of power, he became an untouchable. Not only nobody queue up to kiss his hand like it used to be, the former arse kisser condemned him even. In Malays, it is called kacang lupakan kulit. In politics, it is called, polishing the shoe of the one wielding the power.

Celebrity is passing. We can't live on celebrity alone and it is over-hyped anyway. Sure, it is nice and exciting when everyone knows you but human needs personal space. We will not know what we will miss unless and until we become the sought after celebrity, you can't even go to shopping without a mob following you. How is that for life? May be the first few months would be nice but as the novelty wears off, it becomes irritating. You have to sacrifice your personal time and freedom, that is the price to pay for being a celebrity.

So what's next? Your average next door Joe? For all we know, the next door average Joe lived a fuller and much happier life, without influences from the temptations as mentioned above. Stop to smell the flowers, hear the birds chirps, the fish splashes and many more. Even the smell of rain is therapeutic. It is really the simple leisure of life that makes life more meaningful. To experience it fully, then I believe our life would not be wasted, though we did not make it to Bill Gatesdom.

M.T.C.

People must be wondering what is M.T.C.? Actually, I am referring to Malaysians Toilet Culture. I just read a snippet of news from Taiwan. Apparently, there is a city in southern Taiwan that is now encouraging the citizens to "use and flush" the toilet tissues. Huh?

May be for those who are not aware, in Taiwan, the culture is to "wipe and throw to bins" which is located somewhere nearby the throne or whatnots. When I was there, both my wife and I are not able to bring ourselves to follow this special cultivated culture. Even though the tour guide reminded all tourists not to "wipe and flush" but "wipe and throw", we find that to be very very yukky. Even when I was using their toilet, for small call that is, I have to focus my eyes elsewhere, otherwise, the "call" can't get done, hahaha.

And being unique to Malaysians, many of us were like, why is there no bidet? It is so hard to do big calls if there is not bidet. We are so used to washing instead of just wiping that when we are forced to, we felt very unclean.......

So, for the few days there, there is not many big calls completed and the minute we landed in KLIA, I was so happy to see the TOILET sign that I just have to visit the thrones inside and uses it's bidet, it's like, ahhh, all the few days collection gets cleared. Si fuk sai.... kakaka

I know, I know, it's disgusting and yukky but hey, the news got me started okay, and I am just merely sharing my experience, being a Malaysian, going to toilet also we have our own peculiarity.

And don't even get me going on the language part, really, we Malaysians really speak like bullet trains, you don't realise that until you are overseas. Everyone could be speaking the same lingo, unless if you are a Malaysian or to a certain extent, Singaporean, your words will be lost and the crowd would be looking at you, wondering, what language you are using....

For A Friend

A new friend is going to Bangkok, very shiok. I loves that place. In fact, I like Thailand a lot. It truly is a Land of Smiles. The people are so humble that you at times would feel awkward to be treated like V.I.P, unlike here, where we are like, Very Insignificant People....

I can't post much about that place, you have to experience it yourself. Let yourself be surprised. Anyway, the last time I went there, there is only three places that I went.

a) Hotel - as it was actually a 3 days conference
b) MBK - tailored clothes are more affordable compared to Malaysia. I mean, I got 6 shirts and 4 pants for about MYR 1,200.00. Tailored! Some friends said it is more expensive than malls in Malaysia but hey, to each his own, all right. I am thinking of planning another trip there just to make some more clothes...
c) Massage - I went for massage like 4 times of the 5 days I was there. Gila one. But it was very relaxing and enjoyable that I just couldn't resist to pamper myself, after all, it would have cost me at least double that in Malaysia and at less quality service too.

Before the rest goes wink wink nudge nudge, it was all proper with no hanky panky stuff okay. No doubt Thailand is the capital of flesh trade (in a way) but if you are not looking for it, you still can enjoy more innocent joys of life, ok.

To any first timer, I would suggest to try their 24 hours tailored clothes, good value for money, not necessarily cheap but worth it. Then, go to their Chinatown (Yaorawat, I think it's called) at night to try their bird nest and shark fin, nothing superb but still, it's worth a try. While there, look for a stall that sells toasted bun with fillings like peanut butter, strawberry jam, kaya etc etc. There are many other fillings but hey, yours truly is on a mission to lose pounds, not gain 'em.

If you are fruits lover, you can try some of the local fruits, that used to be available in Malaysia, like kundang (yellow color, grape-sized, mini mango family). Theirs is very sweet whereas here, it is basically extinct. Don't forget to try some charcoaled bbq'd octopus etc. Nice...

Well, if I go into details, this will be the longest entry yet. Just go with the flow and be surprised. Thailand is the land of tourists because it really is a tourists haven.

Expect the unexpected

My wife called me this evening, asking me to be back a bit earlier to take care of the kids. It seemed her brother had a minor surgery due to some stones in his urinary tract.

He is like 30 years old only and fit as a fiddle. Though it was a minor surgery, he still have to be hospitalised for 2 days. That get me thinking, how life are so unexpected.

Another unexpected thing is that I got invited to a premiere by my new found friend. I am not the only one though, let's be clear about that but nevertheless, it is a nice feeling. Thanks the symbol gal, for the nice thought. What's more, it is for the X-files, one of my favourite show, after Bones and Grey's Anatomy, and Lost, and Friends and .....

I have also nominated my sister's blog for her consideration, + have something like 10 free tickets, envy envy. The thing is, I am supposed to comment, either praise or condemn it after the free preview, well, that's the price + tag on it, from what I understood. We shall see if I can be a movie critics, I pretty much doubt so because I tend to take things at face value....

My Share Of Cultured Life

I have yet to learn the art of appreciating finer beauty, where one can sit down in a museum for hours admiring some paintings by some masters, or sit in a restaurant savouring the delicate nuances of wines and other fine food.

I do admire people who are able to look at an object d'art and be mesmerised by it. Me? I would probably look at it for 20 seconds and moved on. Probably, it is high time that our education systems include art appreciation in their syllabus.

Anyway, though much lacking in the knowledge of fine arts appreciation, I still try my best to appreciate some arts in my own limited knowledge way. The finer arts may be beyond me but at least, some stage art is still within reach, though many of them are not really art, I need something that I can understand, not imagined. I am a more spur of the moment person I guess.

Ok, I would like to list the so-called stage art that I have been, including concerts. Hey, don't snigger. Singers are artist too, aren't they?

a) I watched a "Abridged Shakespeare" theatrical before. I think I watched it near the Science Centre, I think it is the auditorium of INTAN. It was performed satirically and taking bits from Shakespeare famous plays. I enjoyed the show very very much. I clapped throughout the show, in fact, everyone did and it was truly one of the most enjoyable show I ever watched.

b) Ah Beng's Story performed by one actor from Singapore at the Actor's Studio in Bangsar. It is a comedy and the guy is good too. I also enjoyed this show very much.

c) Les Miserables - I watched this when I had the opportunity to visit London a few years back. My friend is crazy about theater and she told me that since we are in London, it would be a waste not to at least catch one of the West End shows. After hunting around, we managed to get the ticket for Les Miserables as the Phantom Of The Opera was sold out. How nice if Malaysia have such culture. The tickets are not expensive (pound for pound anyway) as it costs GBP 25.00, though after conversion, it is a bit expensive, hahaha. The show is good and I almost cried at some parts.

d) Phantom of The Opera - I watched this in the Singapore Theater. OMG, why Malaysia can't build something like that theater in Malaysia? Don't we have enough theater going crowd to warrant such a nice, comfy building? The show is fantastic but unfortunately for us, we only managed to get the tickets at the upper floor, so, our view is like 45 degree looking down. The effect is a bit lost but well, the production is fantastic and good.

Where concerts are concerned, I have been to only a few, namely :-

a) Air Supply in Genting recently. They are good singers but a bit old already. It is okay to watch them perform but once is enough actually. It is like watching MTV anyway, so, why waste the money?

b) Richie Ren in Genting about 3 years back. He is a very good singer and I like most of his songs. Needless to say, it was an enjoyable outing and my wife queued to get his autograph on his album. I have 2 authographed album now, any bidder?

c) Ronan Keating in Genting, also about 3 years back. Simple set up and his songs are all very nice, though I am not a big fan.

Well, that's about all that I can recall, with a few dance recital in between but can't remember the details anymore...

Surprises in small doses

I heard from my wife and colleagues that yesterday, there was a heavy downpour, in fact, so heavy that the road to my wife's office were flooded, which have never happened before. She ended up going shopping at a nearby mall, with her colleagues and boss, hahaha. The road was so flooded that it will reach the car's window, so, everyone didn't want to risk their car or life. Noticed that the car comes before the life? Strange but that's Malaysians for you.

Anyway, let's go back a little, while I was watering my grass yesterday, I did feel that the weather seemed a bit cooler than usual and was hoping it would rain so I don't have to water the grass. But them grass looked so thirsty that I still water them anyway.

The rain came around 4.00 a.m and stopped around 6.00 ++ a.m. That was a solid 2 hours of water from the sky, no wonder it flooded in some areas. When I woke up, it's about stopped. I wanted to wake my daughter up but apparently, she has already woke up.

The thing is, every morning, she must have her fix of Milo (a chocolate drink) and she always grumbled that her mom didn't make it for her, (she is 6 years old, by the way). But today, when I went to wake her up, I noticed she was awake already, so, I just casually asked, "You want Milo? Daddy make for you...." She immediately lifted her hand up and showed me her bottle, stating, "I make myself already!" I was like, huh? Today must go down in history as the first time she made drinks for herself.

Kids never ceases to amaze you. Well, when I went downstairs, I noticed that there were some spillage at the sink, well, what to expect? A six year old doing a clean job? Hahaha. Anyway, I am proud of her for being independent enough, finally.

The thing is, when I told her mom, her first question was, "She used hot water or cold water?" - which I don't know because I never asked. Anyway, I believe the water from the thermos is not that hot anyway, so, it should be okay. Shows huh, the difference between a man and a woman? A man proud of his daughter and a woman is worried for her daughter, hahaha.

So, can you notice the number of small surprises here?

Look and you shall find...

Following is a very interesting question from a dear friend and then, my reply. Some edition has been made but the gist of the content is still there.

First of the question :-

Dear Friend,

I hope you don’t mind if I request some of your precious time to get some “light” to my dilemma.

I had attended the funeral of my friend’s Father-in-law, who passed away on
Thursday night and the funeral was on Saturday.

My close friend’s father-in-law, while he was alive, is a very committed Taoist. All his friends knew about it and his house still have altar of various deities. He had stroke and was bed ridden for a few months. On Thursday night, on the verge of “leaving the world” his elder son (who is Christian after he married) asks him if he wants to be buried as a Christian? Later the elder son announced that his father has consented by blinking his eye, to be bured as a Christian.

I’m not too sure why the rest of the siblings had not protested it but I’m just curious to know the following :-

1) Is it acceptable to be converted to Christian as mentioned above?
2) He might have done a lot of good deeds when he was alive as a Taoist, will the good merits be “carried forward” since he was buried as a Christian?
3) Would it be like the scenario where there are body snatching cases as reported in newspaper by claiming conversion from one faith to another faith by some groups?

I hope I did not offend anyone by asking the above question. My sincere apology if its had offended you. My knowledge about Religion is very limited but I do believe that my best pals around me can be my guide.

Regards
A Concerned Friend

To which is the answer from me (though I don't claim to be anywhere more enlightened than my friend already is)

Dear A Concerned Friend,

Religion is a very personal issue, it is between God and his subjects. But I would be most glad to share my view as long as it is taken in the understanding that it is a personal view with no prejudice whatsoever.

I am generally a free thinker (different from atheist), meaning, I believe in all the religions and that God works in mysterious ways. I have always believed that religion per se is a vehicle, to take you back to God's side. So, it doesn't matter which vehicle you take, as long as you reach your destination. You can choose Toyota, Honda, Proton or even walking, as long as your aim is the same, I believe God in his Wisdom and Compassion will guide the souls of the people who have departed to Him.

You obviously have not been reading my blog (hehehe, advertiment time, click here : (http://tmithomas.blogspot.com/2008/06/is-hell-exothermic-gives-off-heat-or.html or my personal view here : http://tmithomas.blogspot.com/2008/05/path.html)

To your questions, I will offer my "personal" view, it is opened to dispute of course, but then, it is one man's personal view only to the question raised.

1) I am not too sure if the conversion is valid, in total according to the religious rites but if the deceased believed so, or his son believed so, then, I guess it has to be so. After all, religion is a belief, so, as far as I am concerned, if you believed, then you are.

2) If going by MY belief, yes, all his merit will carry forward, irregardless of whether he died a Christian, a Buddhist, a Taoist, a Muslim or a Hindu because GOD is FAIR and WISE, GOD won't reject a good deeds just because he did not get a TAOISM burial, same goes for any other religion, if you are Hindu but got buried as a Muslim, as long as you did good deeds when you are alive, your GOD will not abandon you just because someone buried your body with some other rites when you are dead. After all, you ARE dead, so, you have no control over the body anymore, right? Also, I am a firm believer of SUBSTANCE over FORM. All the rituals are FORMS. It is the SUBSTANCE that should matter and good SUBSTANCE is universal, irregardless of what school of thought you belonged to or in.

3) Same as above

As to why the others had not protest over their father's burial rites, I will be frank and hope it does not offend you, or anyone else

a) may be the children can't be bothered? if he was bed ridden for a few months, I believed that few months are very tough on them and they are just relieved, so they can't be bothered since their ordeal is over? It might sound harsh but there could be some truth in it, after all, the truth always hurt.
b) it might be due to "costs" factor? as all of us are aware, to die nowadays is not cheap, especially if you die as a Chinese. A Chinese burial would have costs at least 20K for the most minimum, excluding the burial plot? a grand send off probably would cost 50K and above?
c) probably, the rest of the siblings acknowledge their eldest brother as the decision maker in the family. in each family, there are always a decision maker, either the smartest one or the richest one or the most respected one, so, if that particular one open his/her mouth, everyone in the family will listen.

In your friend case, I personally believe it is the third situation c)

Don't worry about life after death, God will take care of it, it is HIS area of jurisdiction. And going by all the religions belief, God is FAIR and WISE, so, let HIM decide whether that particular person gained enough merit to be at HIS side for eternity..

Sorry to be writing so long, religion is always a long subject. I hope my ramblings does not offend anyone.

Regards
A Friend

Amazing Race II

It's about 11.46 p.m now. I didn't really get the sleep I had wanted. Probably, I have to get this morning event off the system before my body can relax enough to warrant me a good night sleep.

Ok, let me recap. The morning started early enough, I left home at about 6.00 a.m. (that's the sacrifices one has to make if intends to become a treasure hunter). We reached Johnson & Johnson's factory around 6.45 a.m. with some time to spare. Breakfast was served at about 7.30 a.m. and we had good spread of nasi lemak, mee hoon, chicken curry, kuehs and tea. Well, after having our fill, by 8.30 ++, we were called to assemble at the first point, which is their parking lot (I think) and each team have to get from the marshal a cob of corn. After the siren sounded, each team were to peel of the skin, take out the corn seeds and make a necklace from it, with thread and needle of course.

When ours were done, we had to queue for quite sometime for our turn to receive the next clue. The clue instructed us to be at a KL attraction that stood at 421 meters (we guessed it at KL Tower) and we drove there immediately.

Nearing the KL/Selangor Arch, there was a road-block and the jam was bad. I don't understand why the police bothered to put up road-blocks when they don't even bother to do the checking. I mean, here we are, bumper to bumper because of some stupid road-block and the ones doing the blocking were at the roadside, chit-chatting! Since none bothered to look at the cars that have to slow down, what's the purpose of the road-block? To scare the would-be demonstrators? Hello, if the people wants to demonstrate, no road-block is going to stop them, right? What can we do if we have nothing-between-the-ears as our law-enforcers.... And another bone of contention, why everytime there is a road-block, all the lanes must be closed, leaving only one opened and everyone have to converge to that one? Why can't the police just put up cones on EACH LANES and let each cars be checked on their OWN LANES? If anyone intended to run over the blocks, do the one lane makes any difference? If you have nothing between-the-ears, must you also shout it to the world to tell it? Jeez....

Finally, we reached the KL Tower and proceeded to the flying fox area to perform our task, which is to ride the flying fox. Who in their right mind would set up a flying fox in the middle of the city and offer such ride for a fee? Would you just take the flying fox if you happens to be sight-seeing at the place or while you were dressed to the nines to eat at the top of the tower? I can imagine some Datins with their diamonds dangling taking the flying fox just because it was there...Pure stupidity at work.

Anyway, the worse is yet to come. Though we got there at about 9.20 a.m. or thereabouts, we didn't get our turn until it was like 10.40 a.m. What kind of amazing race are they talking about if we have waste time waiting for our turn? Most participants who were waiting for almost an hour were losing temper. How they expect to serve the 80 people taking the flying fox, with only 1 and 1/2 guys to wear the safety gear for participants (1/2 because the other guy have to call names as per their lists, which he only did after people start getting grumpy and temperamental. I mean, people were jumping queues! Also, at the same time, he has to take off the safety gear for those who have finished their jump too.)

It is organisation at its worst. No plan whatsoever. Very typical of bureaucratic mentality, too dumb to cope with a sudden surge of people. I believe, probably in their best days, they would have to cope with 5 - 10 people a day, suddenly to ask them to service 80 people in shortest possible time is just asking for miracles....which very rarely happens in the best of days.

The marshal/organiser should have anticipated that hiccups, so, that is their fault too. It was sheer stupidity as simple mathematics will tell them that there will not be enough time and it will not be fair to the people who are just minutes behind their competitors arriving but ended 30 - 40 minutes behind just because of the waiting and disarray in the arrangement for jumping off. A very poor management skills that deserved an F-.

On the part of the operator, knowing your own limitation, you should have split up the work. Instead of letting everyone converge at the jumping point, you should have ask participants to queue at the arriving point, that, whoever come first will take the safety gear from the participant before him and run up to the jumping point to be fixed with the safety gear. That way, time would have been saved and works are more spread out. Well, it shows how much thought were put into the job flow at the place (for that matter, many places in Malaysia suffers from the same doing-blindly culture)

At the same time, the marshal/organiser could have break up the arrival time to this flying fox point by giving some teams the tasks at other places first, instead of 1 2 3 4, it could have been 3 4 1 2, right? So, it was a bad management and render the race lopsided, if you were not the first few to arrive at the flying fox, you have no chance as the top finisher.

Needless to say, after our turn, it was like 90 minutes after our arrival and there is very little hope of ever catching up with the frontrunners. I means, 90 minutes? Anyway, after getting our next clue, which is to go to a field nearby to do a teh tarik demonstration, we got a following clue which instructed us to go to Batu Caves and collect our next clue at the top of the hill.

When we got there, weather is beginning to get hot and still, we have to climb up. All of us were breaking into sweats and our knees practically knocking each other for climbing the 272 steps up (and another 272 down), except for Seng Fook. Shows how much exercises the three of us in the team have done, no wonder we are all + sized. When we got down from the hill top, our car were blocked by some devotee's car, so very typical of Malaysians. I mean, if you are a devotee and is here for prayers, don't you think at least you be more considerate of the people who were there earlier? What if people are done with their prayers and wanted to leave but your car is blocking them. Can't you park properly without causing any obstruction to anybody? We were fortunate as the family who parked his car behind ours were just leaving the area and we asked him to remove his car. Stupid fella.

Next stop is the orphanage. We were to buy a pack of biscuits for them but as we were not able to find the brand requested, we just bought the first that come to our sight. It was rejected of course but hey, at least the kids got to enjoy some good quality biscuits as we bought one of the best (and most expensive). After all, it is for charity. We were penalised for five minutes (as if it makes any difference) and we were off next to the paint ball academy. Oh, again, when heading to the orphanage, there were road blocks again! And again, it was not manned. What's wrong with all these people? Petrol too cheap is it? Our time no value is it? Stupid nothing-between-the-ears people....Probably, they were trained that way.

When we reached the paintball academy in PJ, we were told to put on masks and instructed to grab any one flag planted on the ground without getting hit. Most of us were nervous, we are after all, + sized, meaning, we have more areas for the shooter to aim lah. If only we were as thin as a bamboo, hehehe. As I was peeping from behind a "boulder", a bullet flew by and grazed my head. Fortunately it was not a direct hit but it was a hit nevertheless, so, disqualified lah. It was a bit painful and I imagine, if it is a direct hit, it must be damn painful. Those who played this game must have some sadistic tendency in them I guess.

Last clue, after that close call, were to go back to starting point (next door actually) to a gym and hit the treadmill. Penny did the running first, broke out in sweat and it was like 100 meters only. Sheesh. So, I took over and hit another 200 odd meters before I had to stop, not so much because I am tired but my jeans want to drop off lah. Probably my diet is working. Anyway, how to run in jeans lah? Next, Seng Fook took over and he ran for like another 1200 meters before Penny and I took over for another 300 meters or so and Seng Fook did the finishing. Luckily he is fit enough, otherwise, I think we would still be there now, doing the treadmill, hahaha.

The next and final task is to dive into the pool next to the gym and find a cd with our team number in it. Everybody don't have spare clothes to change! Neither did most of our competitors anyway. So, our hero of the day, Seng Fook did the honour and jumped in as he was wearing bermudas compared to us who were wearing jeans. If it really comes to it, I guess, I would just jump in, in my underwear, hahaha. The thing is, I don't know how to dive and I will not be of much help in this case. But I have surveyed the pool before Seng Fook took the dive and pin-pointed the exact location to collect our cd. I think we would have won the fastest to recover the cd, if there were such prize lah.

By the time we go to the finishing line, we were like the number 24 - 25 team, meaning, we were over the prizes placing (which is only 20 for open category, which is our category), so, we just hope for lucky draw. Fat hope that one. And the day ended at about 3.30 p.m after all the lunch and lucky draw etc. All in all, despite the bad organising and timing, it was fun and something different that we would not have done in our normal sedate life, like running on a treadmill, climbing the Batu Caves etc.

Well, this has to be the longest entry I have ever made but it haven't even really capture the excitement of the day (or the frustration). Words will not be able to explain the adrenaline rush for some of the tasks. But to most of us, once is more than enough to last us another few years, hahaha.

Amazing Race Malaysia

Just got back from our local version of Amazing Race. We went anticipating Treasure Hunt and we got Amazing Race (localised version) instead. Damn tiring. Let me give a run down on things done today (all for the good of charity, the money will be donated to homes and shelters, two to be exact, applause to Johnson & Johnson). Then, after a good sleep, I will get to the nitty gritty details, my usual comments and perspective of how things would have been done, my way...

1) First of, peel raw corn and form into a chain of a certain length.
2) Second task - riding the flying fox at Menara KL
3) Third task - climbing the Batu Caves
4) Fourth task - finding a shelter home for kids abandoned by HIV+ parents and some HIV+ themselves
5) Fifth task - grabbing flag while avoiding being shot at (paint ball pellet)
6) Sixth task - running 2 km on a treadmill
7) Final task - diving to get a numbered cd in a swimming pool.

My partner aka Seng Fook aka my brother-in-law did most of the tasks, he enjoyed all this endurance game (lucky for the rest of us, there were 4 to a team)

Despite the effort, we didn't win anything. But it was a very challenging outing and though a bit tired, I felt that it is all worth it.

More details later. Ciao..

MIB

No, it's not MEN IN BLACK. It is Me In Bakery lesson. Hehehe, it is Malaysian Institute of Baking, must pay tribute a bit lah, after all, people taught us some good secrets.




And at the same time, must thank also lah the organiser in CloveTwo and AMBP.

Okay, now that I am done with the currying (hint! hint! wink! wink! - let me win more contests, hehehe) , let me thank all who are concerned again for the opportunity. Beside learning how to bake (and may I say, wonderously and the result is wonderfully), we got some free gifts to boot. Let me see, what's the best to list down, erm, yah, MIB aprons, caps, Flavour magazines AND loads and loads of self-made cakes, breads and cookies. There goes my diet.....

In the process (will elaborate later), also get to know some bloggers too, chiefly being my partner in crime, err, bake, Loh aka Hurley aka Save The Cheeze (geez, I didn't know cheese needs saving, you probably have to save ME from the cheese instead!!), the ever bubbly and cheerful +sizeKitten aka Miu aka Tammy, aka many other aliases as she is quite popular, it seemed (already green with envy - pass some traffics over here, would'ya!!)

Go and see their blogs, very interesting take and perspective of life. Probably most bloggers have about the same wavelengths, I supposed. Except that mine is like a scrap book, anything that takes my fancy goes inside into the blog....No theme whatsoever....

Okay, now to the event proper.....drum roll please.......

I left home about 7.30 a.m, was expecting traffic jam and not wanting to keep people waiting, that's why I left around that time (from Port Klang, mind you!) Surprise, surprise, traffic is smooth with no hint to jam whatsoever. I guess, not trying to get in other's nerves, in a hindsight, the petrol increase does bring some advantages with less cars prowling the roads. It is good for the environment, lesser carbon print per person then.

When I got there, it was like 8.15 a.m, still too early. I still managed to bank in some cheques, hehehe. Anyway, when it's time, we registered and were given some basic stuffs, ie, aprons, recipe books and caps. There was one auntie in front of me who didn't get a place but came nevertheless, thinking that it is opened to public. The staffers, from The Star I think, apologised and told her nicely that it is not opened to public. How sweet of them...Anyway, I think this persistent auntie didn't give up and I saw her in the lesson, in most probablity, she replaced some participants who failed to turn up. I guess, persistence does pay in the end.

I don't remember much of the lesson actually, except that in bread baking, butter must be the last to be added. That is good enough for me because I am more a bread man than a cake man.

I partnered with my new friend, Loh of Save The Cheeze and my wife, who my partner for the lesson. Loh didn't get his partner to come due to some last minute engagement, so, we have 3 students only in our group. Anyway, to cut long story short, we got creative, played around with dough and make some fancy designed breads and cookies. I must mention that all of it tastes fabulicious. Master means mastar (that's me lah, lol)

Now, to the out of extraordinary part, which could have spoilt our day but being Malaysians, we are "cin cai" - "tidak apa" etc etc, though, inside heart, frust also lah.

First one - our chocolate mix got switched. Ours were so smooth, Loh and I spent a lot of energy whisking it, with TLC. It was switched with someone else's which is clumpy and coarse. It happened when we were busy monitoring the meringue (I got the spelling right thanks to anonymous friend - comments posted as follows, I also don't know who is she since she shy, prefer to keep low profile) at the mixer machine. Even our "sifu" was a bit geram but nevermindlah, all is in good fun and unintentionally.

Second one - one of our cake was given to another table (I think another blogger) because theirs failed in baking, due to some wrong mixture. Otherwise, we would have 4 cakes for the 3 of us instead of one each.

Third one - all our utensils ALWAYS got borrowed, missing, taken etc etc. I guess, in future, do not take middle table, it is so "on the way" and always at the "centre of attention" (hint hint to organiser - we deserve a medal for the most cincai and generous team)

Anyway, all is well that ends well. Our cakes turned out fine despite a bit coarse but still taste fantastic nevertheless. Bread is superb. Cookies are good too. Overall, we enjoyed the session very much and I would suggest to try it at least once. Oh, I forgot to mention one very important thing, you get to STAND ON YOUR FEET for like 4 hours. You don't realise that until you sit down. So, please, be more appreciative of the breads and cakes we buy, people spend long hours on their feet to make it for us. Which actually goes for all the food anyway.

Well, I think for a day, this is some experience and I am glad I joined the AMBP which gave me the chance to let me find out if I have some baking skills in me (I do!!!)

That's all for the day folks, ciao..

Universe Accounting

Just some last minute update.

Was reading the Baking competition results and comments. Apparently, I only made the cut after the few entries which are actually better than mine was either unavailable or uncontactable.....

I guess, the most important thing is that I will be attending the baking lesson and all else is immaterial. That is why I named this entry the universe accounting, where, as I have believed all along, que sera sera, what will be, will be. Whenever there is a rejection, there is an acceptance. Where there is winner, there is loser too.

I was hoping that I will make the final cut and I finally did, albeit in a sudden death mode. Small wonder than that I received the call at the eleventh hour. Still, I am very appreciative and to those who forfeits their chances, I only have this to say, you guys (and gals, and aunties, and uncles, and grandpas, and grandmas) are very good, witty and funny, and creative.

Bake A Cake, No Mistake

Good news (to me anyway) !!! AMBP / Michael called me to inform me of the class. It seemed I won a place. I am in a daze. I mean, me? Thanks Michael and AMBP. I hope I can do you and the rest of the members proud...

Anyway, I am so looking forward to the baking lesson tomorrow. Let's hope something got cooked or baked tomorrow, properly.

I will be reporting the event of course. The least I can do then is to advertise for AMBP and MIB in return for their kindness.

I have to take an emergency leave it seemed. But it will be worth it. I am looking forward to a fruitful, err, cakeful lesson tomorrow.

Go and visit the AMBP website, they have plenty of contests and nice posts to fill your time.

Quid pro quo

I didn't realise that there's a lapse of three days since my last post. I wasn't particularly busy, probably, I have no anecdotes to share or nothing to complain (not!)

Was in Melaka the whole day today, meeting up with a few customers. All of them were saying how the money in the market seemed to "dissappear". Fortunately, I am still able to make some collection. I hope our government will do something. Everyone misses the former prime minister who, warts et all, manages to make the nation a hive of activities. Money makes the world go round and presently, there seemed to be nothing much going round.

If in a company, an incompetent manager will have to pull up his socks or get the boot. How about a country? It brings to mind the Emperor Nero....

Anyway, I was thinking of a fancy title for today's post and I think, the above title would more or less be in context with what I have to comment. In a way, the people can not complain of inaction and the state of our government as we put the people in charge by our votes. Quid pro quo, remember? Rightly or wrongly, decision made. I guess we have to bear with our choices for the next 4 - 5 years, unless some miracles happen. Our dearth of calibred people to lead our nation into prominence if not greatness is sticking up like sore thumbs.

I remembered years ago, an Indonesian friend told me how embarrassed he was with their president, Gus Dur at the time. I didn't understand then but I get the gist now. For your information, Gus Dur was partially blind and more or less, ability-challenged, to use the politically correct word. As for our own leaders presently, be it the government or the opposition, you do your own summation.

I hope that the satire played by our nation on world stage will end soon enough. We used to stand tall and proud as a nation, I hope we have not lost that. Until the next post, when I think of something to praise or complain, remember cause and effects, quid pro quo and karma.

Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

I read from a blog (link attached above) and I find that particular post very interesting. I reproduce here verbatim.

(If I inadvertently infringe on any copyright, please highlight to me and I will remove it immediately, till then, enjoy the well written article herewith:

HE GOT AN A+ FOR THIS DISSERTATION!

I don't want to speculate about the existence of the above. To me, we do our hell on earth. For the too religious amongst us, if you thrive on self-immolation or a fire-loving hell-raiser and want to go to hell, I ain't stopping nobody.

Enjoy this read that I received from my brother Mike:

The following is an actual question given on University of Washington chemistry mid term.The answer by one student was so 'profound' that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well:

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.

As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.

Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volumeof Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, and then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, 'It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,' and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over.

The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct......leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting, 'Oh my God.'

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+.

Child's Talk

This morning, my daughter, Iona came barging into my room. She looked so sad and dejected.

Before I asked her anything, she threw me a statement,"Daddy, I think I don't like mummy anymore."

I asked her, "Why?"

She answered, "Because mummy didn't make Milo (drink) for me."

I later made the drink for her, she was asleep when her mom left for work that day, that is why she missed her "drink" and when she woke up without her "kick", she threw a tantrum.

And some people says they don't want kids. This are but snippets of the joys of raising kids. You never knew what angle they will come from and caught you totally by surprise with the words and sentences they used.