In the spriit of 1Malaysia

Work brought me to Penang last Thursday. Upon reaching at the airport, I waited for my pickup. Whilst waiting, a gentlemen of chinese descent approached me and asks whether I'm Jeffrey Tan, as he was supposed to pick him up.

For those who knows me, I don't think that I'm anywhere as Chinese looking as as you would mistake a durian with an orange. OK so maybe my eyes may,
But my complexion is not. I might be Jeffrey Tanbarajah..

So I was a bit perplexed about the matter. Maybe with the mix in Malaysia that rave and creed might be able to be cleared and a true Malaysian will be the norm soon. We could only hope for it. The rest of the day I thought that WOW, I could pass off as a Chinese descent... Hehe

But on the way back, I sat next to a pilot and a foreign student of Indonesian origin. The student asked "Bapak mau pulang ke Jakarta?" Which brought me back to reality. Hmmm....

Take some time off

Received this through email and wanna share it with friends :

A SCHOOL teacher one day spots a scribbled paper from her son and suddenly gets emotional. Her husband, who had just walked in, saw her crying and asked why. She quickly shows her husband the essay and asks him to read it. The husband reads it, thinking it is a homework assignment of one of her students. The essay goes as follows:

Dear God,

Grant me a favour. Please make me into a television. I want to take the place of the TV in my house and I want to have my family around ME. To be taken seriously when I talk.

I want to be the centre of attention and be heard without interruptions or questions. I want to receive the same special care that the TV receives even when it is not working. I want to have the company of my dad when he arrives home from work, even when he is tired. And I want my mom to want me when she is sad and upset, instead of ignoring me.

I want my brother and sister to fight to be with me. I want the whole family just to spend some time with me. And lastly, I want to make my family all happy and entertain them, just like the TV. Please grant me this wish to be a TV.

At that moment the husband paused and said, “Poor kid! What horrible parents he has!’

The wife looked up at him and said, “That essay is our son’s work!”

With all the going ons in recently, I think the article did struck a chord with me.

3 Idiots

A rollercoaster ride of emotion...bursting to stitches in laughter...heartfelt moments...

Truth be told, I am not a fan of Hindi movie, somehow I find that their formula too predictable, in fact most of the movies do, except that in Hindi movie they'll break into a song and dance routine at every opportunity they can. Girl meets boy - song & dance, Boy leaves girl - song & dance. They meet up again, song & dance.


Now this 3 Idiots didn't venture away from that formula, but the way its being delivered had me glied to the idiot box. Maybe because it about 'engineering' & that's why it took my interest, but I honestly can watch it again. Even the boy enjoyed itm The mrs cried bucketloads. Hehe..

It certainly wasn't up to cinema paradiso cinematography but it still had me on stitches. A good watch.

Bye Palm, I'm now a Crackberry.

My dear Centro,

With a heavy heart I have to leave you, even though I'm still in love with you. All the years we spent did have a special place in my heart, and I will cherish those moments. Its hard to find someone like you and every time I wish that I'm still with you. When I'm with the other, I wish that it was you But alas, we have come to a crossroad in our life where we want different things and I know that I can't be what you want me to be.

My dear, even though we are apart I still have a soft spot for you in my heart and I wish that we could be together again sometime in the future. I do hope that you will flourish with your choice and wish you all the best. I will miss you.

Seeking solace in words

Just gotten my reading spirit revived this week, thanks to the discovery of another the same book for less bookshop near my workplace. As far as I can remember, I have been mesmerized by words that are beautifully strung together to form sentences, sentences forming paragraphs and paragraphs forming a story line.

I would just have myself immersed in the story and as much ad I hate to admit, a good read would keep me awake at night. I can't stand the fact that I need to sleep in order to rest as the next page that I'm missing seems to taunt me, coaxing me to open the next one and the next one and the next one.

I would envy people who could construct a beautiful sentence from normally used words, also for the life of me can't even quote any quotes that I have read. Nonetheless, it never detract me from reading. As for writing, I think I would just stick to reading peoples had wrote whilst imagining that someday I would be able to do the same.

The last of my wisdom

I went to the dentist today to get my wisdom tooth cavity filled. I don't know why, but all my wisdom teeth have erupted, and three of them have been removed. The last one standing have some cavity issues, as per the other three but as far as I have known, no other tooth have experienced cavity at all.

Could it be due to my oral hygiene or the last all the wisdom teeth are made from different material?

I dunno ..

but I do know, the last one is another 2 day MC waiting to be taken once I feel like it...

There is an end to everything

"There is an end to everything, even to good things"

One of the article that I read during my Sunday read starts with that. That adage holds true for the situation that we are in today. As what I can see, the news nowadays comes from the government, who have been working hard to wake us up from our slumber that things are not going to be as rosy as what they painted during the process of selecting them into power.

Slowly but surely, things that we have now would be taken away from us, either knowingly or unknowingly. This would almost all the time being followed by the adage. Where are we heading now? Back to the olden but golden days? Does the good old times would be followed by a better future?

It seems to me that at the back of our minds, this adage would ring in any situation that we are in. Are we ready to face it once the end looms near? Do we bite the bullet and just go through the inevitable or we just linger on with the hope that things would be back to what it were, and everyone will be happily ever after?

Its kind of hard to say, I would say go with the flow, but what will happen when the flow ends?

There is an end to everything, even to good things. Cherish them while it lasts.

Its been a while

It has been a while since this blog been updated.

Work wise it has been hectic, just came back after being away for 2 weeks, Ipoh & JB. Would be away again till the end of the month.

My day trip to JB last Friday was very eventful. Firstly I met my dad, who coincidentally is on his way there on the same flight. We also sat on the same row, albeit across the aisle, shared the same cab in JB and met him during the Friday prayers. Due to the Friday flight arrangement, my dad opted to take the bus back and not the flight, else I would have spent most of the day with him in JB. That's more than I do while we are in KL ... hehehe .. not a sign of a good son ..

Then on the way back, I was assigned the emergency exit seat, than theres this young dude sitting next to me.. I started lamenting about the seat as it couldn't be reclined, then we started talking.. turns out he was on his way to KL to join MENTOR 4. I was puzzled as I recalled, the show had already started... long story short, he was selected to replace Ziana Zain's protege, who for some reason opt to drop out, and his concert was on Sunday, less than 48 hours ... To Izwan, all the best and good luck ...

Goodbye Miss Rumble and Tumble

After 12 years with us, we have to say goodbye to Miss Rumble and Tumble. Your years of service, without uttering a word when asked for would be remembered. You said nothing when asked to do the same chore again and again and again. Would you continue to be of service in another 12 years to come and your deeds to those who is is dire need of your service would be remembered for eternity.

Farewell. We'll miss you.

April Schedule ..

April have been with a hectic start for me. It started off with a work trip to Kedah for 3 days, 29-30 March 2010, then a dive trip to Tawau/Semporna/Mabul from 1-6 April 2010, then continuing with work trip in Sabah again , KK/Sandakan/Tawau/Lahad Datu/KK from 12-18 April 2010.

In the past three weeks, I have been home in about 6 days :-(. There would a few more work trip in Semenanjung planned but I'll try to make it a day trip as much as possible even if it means I have to drive or take the early flight in last flight out.

Work is work but what I miss most is time with the family. Time with the kids and the mrs. Things are moving at such a pace that I wish I could clone myself, leaving the original me home to be with my family. Until then, I will try to minimise days away.

Black Beauty is down .. again ..

For the second time in weeks, the black beauty had experienced a leak in the power steering system. All this while, we had managed to get by using Amiaq's magic potion no 1, but this time it did not help. Need to bite the bullet & get the component changed, but due to limited availability of second hand parts, the progress had been slow. So much so that I had to forego my teaching session in Taiping tomorrow. Else it would be my return trip to Taiping since last Thursday..

Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan

The March school holidays was spent in the north, with specific food instructions :

1. Kwey Tiau Goreng Doli, Taiping

~ no pics, too busy eating ~

2. Mee Banjir Udang Mak Teh, Kuala Sepetang,

3. Nasi Ketam, Warung Pak Su, Bagan Nyior, Juru, Penang

4. Roti Canai Argyll Street Penang

5. Seafood Dinner at Penang

That was a tall order and to my surprise, we managed to go to all those and had finished everything that we ordered. Officially, I'm above the limit of my cholesterol / uric acid intake for the month, now need to call my reflexologist for some detox session and to keep fit for upcoming dive trip in Sipadan, else I'll end up looking like a dugong in my wetsuit.

ps. Stay at Jana View Condotel in Taiping, room rates are on the cheap site, quite good accommodation unit with a sofa-bed but the breakfast leaves a lot of improvement to be made. RM60/night during the school holidays, what more can I say ...

Micheal Phelps in the making

My uncle had refurbished his pool (kolam ikan to be exact) because he's trying in a new venture. Previously he had bred patin & keli and when the harvest time came, the fishes were snapped up real quick. But then the pool has some problem, so he drained the water and let it dried for almost two years. During that time he did rear some fish in the surrounding parits, but as usual it became targets for thieves. Imagine almost 1000 fishes of the talapia, baung and patin varieties slowly dwindling due to theft. Not to mention the water pump as well.

The refurbish pool will be housing some udang galah, with maturity and harvesting period around 14 - 16 weeks. Then maybe we could have some udang fiesta ... watch this space ..

Four pools

Eager testers

Ready to set the world record

Berendam sampai kecut

Traffic Offense

There I was, driving to my alumni dinner in Royale Chulan, KL using Jalan Pekeliling. I took the turn off to Bulatan Kg Pandan and try to cut left to go towards Berjaya Times Square when I was topped by two traffic police doing 'ops' there.

TP : Encik dah belok pada tempat yang salah, minta IC & lesen ...

me : Salah macam mana tu?

TP : Encik sepatutnya buat bulatan baru boleh masuk sini. Encik kena tengok arrow kat jalan tu ..

me : Oh ye ke.. saya tak perasan sebab saya jarang masuk KL.

TP : Encik duduk mana ?

me : Saya duduk Puchong. kerja kat PJ, jarang masuk KL . Hari ini pun sebab ada function and kawan kata suruh belok kiri kat sini.

TP : Takpelah Encik.. kami akan tulis kesalahan seperti begini (shows me the previous summons slip)

me : ok.

The TP then went round the car, so called checking my road tax and other things.. I was ready for him to fill in the book and sign it off ..

TP : macam ni la Encik, kira saya kasi warning kat encik ajelah kali ini, lain kali jangan buat lagi ..

Hmmm... made me wonder whether he's trying to nego something from me or what, the moment he says I'm in the clear, I straight away drove off ...

Close encounter of the slithery kind

We were back in Pekan for the long CNY hols and also to celebrate Adi's birthday there. On the second day of CNY, about dusk, we heard a commotion coming from the chicken coop. A quick inspection by Peh confirmed that one of the chicken had been attacked by a python and the offending snake serpent is still there trying to swallow the lifeless chicken.

So out Peh went with a parang, torch light and a rope loop. I follow suit with my camera and flash, trying to capture the 'historical' event. I brought the boy along in order to show him how a live snake is being captured.

The snake had nowhere to go as it has exhausted itself in constricting the chicken. The chicken is not the normal ayam kampung, but of another variety, which is about 1.5 times the normal chicken, hence it had difficulty in swallowing the chicken whole. What Peh did was to knock the snake on the head and tie a loop around its neck and carried it away from the coop. The snake is about 2m in length, probably still a juvenile. From Peh's account, this is the third time the chickens had been attacked but as their sizes are a little bigger than your average chicken, it couldn't swallow it, hence the decision to kill the snake before it launches subsequent attacks.

The pics showed it all, plus the boy posing at the lifeless snake after its all done.

Trying to corner the phyton

Success!

Sizing the snake out

Aiman tak takut pun ...

The lifeless serpent

Do we have all the time in the world?

I'm still trying to achieve balance in my life. At the moment it was not as what I wanted it to be. As usual, new year work schedule is filled with activities and it has been taking me away from home a lot. Even when I'm in the office, the amount of work is SOOOO Much, that right now maybe its like waiting for the last straw to break the camel's back.

In an ideal world, I would like to have all my work during my office hours, with the rest of the time spent at home. I know I haven't been much of a help to the mrs, who's singlehandedly running the home and wish I could do something more to relieve her. Plus my kids are also commenting that I'm always outstation. Hmmm ...

Now even they are calling me to work during the weekends, and with the songel in my HR department, getting an off day for work done during the w.end is like asking for a pot of gold.

Now have to relook on how to reorganise my life with the current situation ...hope it would just be temporary...

KK, KK & KK

I will be going to KK three times this month.

The first time was last week, from 16-19 Jan 2010. The nest one is this coming Wednesday.

The third one would be 1st Feb 2010, albeit only to Kuala Kangsar. Hehe.... 3 kk trips jugak kan ...

Touch & Gone

I have been using Touch & Go (TNG) since 1999, back during the days when they haven’t integrated the toll paying system. The only reason I got the TNG is that to use the then PLUS only highways as the other like SPRINT and LDP are using their own KESAS or LDP tag.

In a way, I have found that the reload system of other tags is way more efficient than the Touch & Go. Imagine this, you sign up for an integrated credit card with TNG with the anticipation of hassle free reloading but what you get is not. One case in particular is that I passed through Sungai Besi and upon exiting in Seremban I have been told by the machine that the card is not valid. WTF?

I also have another TNG which was linked to my credit card for reloading and after one reload which have been credited to my TNG, they called me up saying that I haven’t been paying for my top up along with a legalese letter. I told them to shove back the TNG card where the sun doesn’t shine.

My then LDP tag was not giving me any problem at all. At exactly RM 10, it will reload to the preset value and straight away debited to my banking account. No hassle at all. But then the heavy hand of government wanted to streamline all the payment into one and no guesses needed. TNG is the preferred method. So everyone had to migrate. FINE. I got another one to use. Along the years I have also bought an additional TNG & Smart Tags for the mrs.

Then they came up with some press release saying that certain cards form certain years will not be usable any more and the user have to get new cards. I read about it in the news but didn’t expect them follow thorough but I guess the smell of money made them do it.

If we keep on using our old card then they can’t supply new cards right? They must have been going through the numbers and realize that supply of new cards are slowing down and what way to generate more income on top of the % charge to all the operators using TNG. Why deactivate a fine and working car other than to rake in more money from the consumer. Curse you TNG & Rangkaian Segar.

All has been done, now up to divine help

A friend of mine from school is now experiencing some serious medical condition. His predicament started off with a one day viral like fever, developing into near paralysis of the limbs and eyelids the next day, deteriorating vitals, put in chemically induced coma and life support machine. All this in the span of 3 days.

Whilst the details of his illness couldn't be shared here, suffice to say that his own antibody is attacking his central nervous system, which created all the chaos to his body. What we are told is that the medication given to him is super expensive, bordering to RM40k.

My batch mates are organizing some sort fund raising and solat hajat for him. I just wish that he could recover from this and even though the diagnosis is that he would have to undergo a long recovery period. My prayers goes to him. Get well soon.

Hong Kong Trip

Sorry for the delay , a lot of pending post not yet published. For the Hong Kong trip, the photos could be viewed here ... Facebook link .. story coming up later ...