Rachel's Memories

Hawaii - Polynesian Cultural Center

2010-10-16T17:28:00.005+08:00

The Polynesian Cultural Center is like a mixed-cultural theme park consists of 6 different natives of Hawaii, hailing from the islands of Samoa, Aotearoa, Fiji, Hawaii, Tahiti and Tonga. Daily scheduled activities and island presentations kept us busy throughout the day.

We got there at 3pm and only managed to see 3 of them :

1 - Samoa. Here, a tanned man, rippling with muscles was the main person who joked most of the time. We saw how fire was made and put out, how they are able to climb a coconut tree with agility ....and many others. Mostly, we were told of the simplicity of their daily lifestyle.

2 - Aotearoa - They danced for us. Their music was simple and calming. To my surprise, I heard one very familiar tune and the lyrics, although it's the same as what I know, was sung with their heavy accent. Nevertheless, this song reminded me of my childhood days where we would use two bamboos and danced over it.

3 - Tonga - I guess you could say they specialise in drums (I really don't know the specific name for those big drums, looked more like a giant bongo. Three men from different countries in the audience were picked and they were to imitate the presenter.

We managed to squeeze in some time for a short movie on how the Polynesians came to Hawaii. This was shown in an Imax theatre.

After a buffet style dinner, we settled ourselves down to watch their performances, where each tribe would showcase their different culture. The entire performance was about 2.5 - 3 hours long with a 20 minute intermission break. Out seats were assigned to us according to our ticket number and we were quite far up from the stage.

By the time the show ended, I was half asleep (mainly due to jet lag), even though it was only about 10pm. The 45-minute ride back to the hotel gave us all a chance to snooze to our heart's content.

It was an exhausting but worth-while day for us. The Polynesian Cultural Center is really a must for those visiting Hawaii and wanting to know more about it's origins and culture.

Hawaii - Dole Plantation

2010-10-15T17:01:00.000+08:00

Before we went to Hawaii, I checked the itinerary. Dole Plantation was one of the highlights. I googled this place wanting to know what was so special about it. I found this unique maze which I really looked forward to going to. I even printed it out so that when I get "lost" in the maze, I would be able to find my way out.

The first thing we did was to buy their famous pineapple ice-cream. I saw most of the adults queueing for it. I haven't tasted this flavour before and was curious. It was really creamy and refreshing, but it melted very quickly in the hot sun

We decided to go for the shorter train ride around the plantation. We were a little disappointed with it because all we saw was a huge field with lots of huge machineries and few types of trees. I have to admit, we did see a few rows of pineapple plants but that was about all. The place looked a little deserted. My suspicion was that we took the shorter ride (due to time constraint) that didn't get to go to the actual plantation site. The earth was reddish and it reminded me of my visit to Kunming, China.

The rambutan tree looked scrawny compared to the ones that we have here in Malaysia. The joyride took about 15-20 minutes. We didn't even get to see the famous pineapple maze. :(

Lunch was at a place called Fumi's Shrimp Farm. Simple environment. The food tasted great, though. Very fresh. There were 10 shrimps in each set and I couldn't finish mine!! Yummy, but I didn't want my cholesterol level to shoot up.

Hawaii - Pearl Harbor

2010-10-14T23:18:00.009+08:00

I was pretty excited when dear hubby said that we were going to Hawaii. To me, I've always had this picture of Hawaii in mind : An exotic place where the sea has different shades of blue, coconut trees swaying lazily in the sun and people lounging about in the heat without a care in the world.

We went together with a group of 33 people. Transited at Incheon, Seoul, Korea, for 3 hours. Our very first impression of Korea was that things were pretty expensive. Hubby bought shaving blades, a bottle of water and lip balm costing RM62.

It was a total 18 hours traveling time inclusive of transit. By the time we arrived in Honolulu, Hawaii, we were feeling a little restless and tired. To add to our exhaustion, we arrived at the airport at 1am. The immigration officers were surprisingly pleasant and friendly. One of the them commented that it was "humid" out there. We, as Malaysian, do know what humidity is all about. We were welcomed with a lei each by our Hawaiian tour guide, Henry.

Earlier when we were in Incheon Airport, we were told by our tour leader that we were upgraded to stay at The Royal Hawaiian (we were supposed to stay at The Sheraton), which is a luxury hotel.

We checked in at 2.30am. We didn't feel sleepy at all because Hawaii is 18 hours behind us. Nevertheless, we forced ourselves to sleep (it was about 3.30am by the time we unpacked) in the cool comfort of the king sized bed.

First day was quite relaxed. We went to Pearl Harbour, waited for about 1.5 hours before we got onto a ferry to take us across to the site where a shrine was built in honour of those who died during the bombing.

As we gazed out in the waters, there were still signs of oil from the remains of the ship. According to our tour guide, Henry, to this day, the oil never stopped leaking into the water from the day Pearl Harbour was bombed.

After Pearl Harbour, we did a little shopping near the hotel. There was an Apple Store nearby and almost everyone went into the place specifically to get an iPad, which at that time, wasn't sold in Malaysia. I was seriously contemplating on getting one myself but somehow the features didn't meet my expectations.

We rested for a short while before heading to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner.

Merdeka Climb - Gunung Angsi via Bukit Putus

2009-09-22T12:50:00.006+08:00

Every now and then, the siren calls and the next thing I know, I've agreed to go for a climb.

I have climbed Gunung Angsi once in 2007. It was my very first climb and I remembered suffering a lot. We went via the Ulu Bendol way and the rain lengthened our entire climb.

This time, 16 of us went via Bukit Putus.

We started our climb at 8.27am. It was steep for the first 20 minutes and I was out of breath within the first 10. Golly, I was thinking to myself that if this continues, I would not have enough strength by the end of the climb. It reminded me a little of the KFC in Gunung Ledang (although KFC felt like it was never ending)

We rested for a little while here.

The trail got easier after that.

Then it was uphill again, though not as steep as before.

Because I haven't been on this particular trail before, I wasn't sure where I was or how far before we reach peak. Aunty Chris said, "Don't worry. When we see KG coming down, you'd know that the peak isn't far away".

We continued climbing up and suddenly, we saw KG and a few others ahead. Hurrah! We have reached the summit in about 2 hours. Aunty Chris was pretty surprised because she expected to be climbing for at least another 1/2 hour or so.

Within another 10-15 minutes, the rest of the group appeared. We rested for a while, makan and minum, caught our breath before being called to sing the national anthem, "Negaraku" as it was Merdeka day for us. Someone so rajin, brought the Malaysian flag.

We even had a Merdeka cake, made by Aunty Chris (but I can't remember who susah-susah carried it up) specially for this climb. The words "Happy Merdeka" was suposed to be on it but we didn't think the icing could withstand the heat.

After filling our stomachs, we had a little song session led by Joo Tatt. There were 8 songs there but we only sang 7. Most of them were lively malay songs which required dancing and action. :-)

We spent about an hour on the summit and descended at 11.33am.

For me, going down was not much of a problem. My shoes are good, but Aunty Chris kept saying that it's slippery. Perhaps I should introduce her the Columbia shoes I wore.

During the descent, some were in front of us and some were at the back. KG, Aunty Chris, Pat Gan and I were together when KG wanted to take a different route. Because the entire climb was short, we decided that it was no harm trying another route back, thinking that it would not make much of a difference where time is concerned.

We were wrong. We had do a lot of climbing and at one point, we though we have strayed from the main mountain and moved on to another. We thought of turning back but decided that we still had time.

Suddenly, the trail was super steep .... and we were back onto the main trail. We cursed KG after that!! LOL

When we got back to the base, everyone was waiting for us. I think they were there for about 15-20 minutes and were wondering if we got lost.

There was only one small make-shift bathroom and we showered as quickly as possible. The guys didn't really shower.

We went to Ah Seng's coffeeshop for lunch before going back home.

Statistics:-

No of climbers : 16

Started climbing : 8.27am

Summited : 10.29am

Started descending : 11.33am

Arrival at the base : 1.22pm

Water intake : 1.5 liters

Food : one piece of cake

Floria 09

2009-09-19T16:49:00.003+08:00

Never in my wildest imagination would I thought I would see beautifully decorated flowers in Malaysia such as these. But the impossible happened.

I was in Putrajaya early August going to Bahagian Pinjaman Perumahan for work stuff and caught sight of these colourful flowers at the open space car park.

Well, nice as it is, these were carefully placed in bags of soil for the Floria '09 fest and was said to only last a week. We were there on the second day and the flowers looked fresh despite the blazing sun.

In an indoor, fully air-conditioned huge make-shift tent, flowers were decorated in different shapes and sizes.

Rocky Road

2009-08-14T07:11:00.000+08:00

I guess Cadbury has to come up with new flavours with fancy names ... and thus, Rocky Road doesn't refer to a certain type of road but a new flavour of Cadbury's.

This is not out in Malaysia yet, though ... so for chocolate lovers, go to Australia to get a taste of this new flavour. Come see me if you don't want to travel so far - while stocks last, of course.

KL Bird Park

2009-07-29T07:04:00.000+08:00

Getting everyone to agree on going to the Bird Park was not a problem. Getting everyone's schedule to match was tough.

We planned this outing from May and told En in advance that she can't spoil our plans just because school had something on or that she suddenly developed fever or flu.
.

Getting Brian to avail himself that day was not a problem at all. He would happily skip tuition for it... plus, he doesn't get sick too often.

Wayne, being 2+ years old, didn't have much of a schedule except for the fact that he sleeps in the afternoon.

Om was supposed to come but was stuck in Butterworth, visiting relatives.
.

So, on Monday (July 20th), Matthew, MinChee, Eunice, Tusi, Brian, En, Wayne and I went to the KL Bird Park in 2 cars. We weren't sure where the place was and overshot along Jalan Parlimen going into Jalan Cenderawasih and ended up at Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman. We made a u-turn there and went all the way back to Jalan Parlimen and into Jln Cenderawasih.

The Bird Park is near Bukit Aman.

We arrived at about 10.30am and easily found many parking spots available.

The ticket booth was at the entrance of the park. For foreigners, it's RM42 perperson. For Malaysians (we must produce our Mykad to get this discount), we pay RM15 perperson. A further discount of RM5 would be given if we had produced either an MJ or Jusco card but I didn't know that - even though it was stated on a piece of laminated paper right in front of me. I didn't know it was a FURTHER discount. Children below 12 is RM6 perperson. Tusi managed to qualify under the RM15 level, having explained that she is the maid. Actually, we wanted her to have a good time, to enjoy a little and be a tourist.

This bird park is the biggest free- flight walk-in aviary in the world... and I didn't know that it existed until a couple of months ago.

The children were all excited, seeing huge birds walking along the path .. or perching on a branch above them. They kept exclaiming, "Look! There's a bird there" and pointing everywhere. Wayne was happily immitating En & Brian, saying, "Look, Bird".

The koi pond was a hit with the children. Earlier, at the ticket booth, I bought 3 packets of fish food. I passed two packets to them and those fat fish got fatter that day. Wayne really loved the fish. They were all playing with the water too.

We stopped for a break after walking for 1 hour 15 minutes. En and Brian, each having RM10, paid for their drinks. We are trying to instill in them the value of money and how to budget with what they have and what they want.

We got to take pictures with birds of our choice. I asked En and Brian if they wanted a group picture or single shots.... and they chose the latter. So, for RM8 perperson, they went in one by one.

En was pretty brave. The owl actually left marks on her scrawny arms.... and she is sooo not scared of the huge birds.

Brian was pretty scared. You can see it in his face. He kept saying that the birds were heavy.

Tusi was scared at first but wanted to look nice for the camera ... and so, she smiled her best.

As for me, I guess I am a natural, huh? I figured that I should also take this opportunity to have my picture taken ... a memento.

We hurried on to catch the 12.30 Bird Show at the other end of the park. Well, I must say, the children loved the show and the many tricks the birds were able to perform.

After the show, they played at the playground nearby. I actually didn't want them to "waste" time there but Eunice was kind enough to allow them 5 minutes (which turned out to be longer than that) to go down the slide.

We took another route to go back to the main entrance and came across this beautiful cascading waterfall (which is man-made, of course).

We also saw ostriches and emus .. those big bodied, skinny legged birds.

The nursery was nearby but there was nothing much in there.... except for chicks, artwork of the colouring competition held in December 2008 and some posters about how chicks grow into chickens. It was smelly in there.

There was also a gallery (air-conditioned, much to my delight) which showed deboned birds and the skeleton of two ostriches.

We walked on. By that time, it was past 1pm. En wanted to see more birds. Brian's stomach was growling. He kept saying that his lunch time is 1pm and En retorted that it was already 1.30pm .. so it makes no difference anyway.

En managed to get us to go into "World of Parrots". Brian soon forgot his hunger pangs when he was given a chance to feed the parrots. En fed the parrots too.

There was once when a bird landed on Brian's head .. it was a good thing he had his cap on, otherwise I shudder to think what Brian would do if the bird had a nature call to answer to. Anyway, Brian was a little worried about the bird, anyway, but I explained that the bird only wanted to reach the milky drink from that point.

We finally got to Hornbill Restaurant, much to Brian's relief. I ordered a chicken pie, Brian had beef burger, En chicken burger and Tusi ... well, because she hasn't tried potato wedges before, I ordered those for her. In the end, Eunice gave her half of her beef burger, En gave her another half of her chicken burger, I gave her a bite of my chicken pie and we all shared the wedges (because she simply couldn't finish so much food).

En and Brian both wanted to spend their balance money on icecream (for dessert). I told them that it's cheaper to get it outside the restaurant.. but on the way out, we had to pass through the gift shop and both of them wanted something in there. En wanted a pair of binoculours which cost RM10 and Brian wanted a plastic cap with a mini fan powered via solar energy and shades - this would set him back by RM19.

Now, En had only RM9 (not sure why she had so much, even after paying for her drink which cost her RM3 ... someone miscalculated very badly) and Brian, RM6.

I told them that they had to choose between the things that they wanted and ice cream .... and they decided to forgo the cool dessert.

I wanted to teach them the value of money .. so I questioned En first .... "You have only RM9 and the binoculours cost you RM10. How are you going to get the extra RM1?" She asked me to lend her RM10 and said that she will pay me back when we get home (I still haven't seen the money yet).

As for Brian, he is short of RM13 and knew that he couldn't pay me back even when he got home. Well, I was thinking .... for him to sacrifice the ice cream meant that he really wanted the cap, so I asked him for his RM6 and told him that I would come up with the balance.

Both En and Brian were very happy with their "toys" ... and didn't even think about their ice cream. Aunty Eunice was kind enough to say that she will spend us all ice cream - and that includes ME!!! :) :) :)

We left just before 4pm. En kept wanting to see the 3.30pm bird show (again!!) but I didn't want to get stuck in the traffic and explained that to her. She said that she didn't mind getting stuck in the traffic. Brian echoed her thoughts. I retorted that "I" was the one who would suffer because I was driving. I don't think they could relate to that. They were probably thinking, "So what? Sit in the car and wait with us-lah".

In the car, En was so tired, she was the first one to fall asleep. Tusi dozed off too. Brian was still awake, maybe thinking back on the many birds he had seen.

Mansions in the Afterlife

2009-07-25T10:45:00.005+08:00

Even as I lay on my stomach and to blog about this, I hear the clanging of cymbals and the chanting of voices just outside my house.

Last night, I half-witnessed the burning of a huge glittering mansion (and other fancy stuff) made of paper as a huge crowd gathered just outside my neighbour's house. Frankly, I was more worried about the fact that the flames might reach the overlaying electricity cables and we would be out of power for days!!

I thought about the paper mansion and how some people think that by burning these replicas, the person whose body lays in the coffin would be able to enjoy these fine things in their afterlife.

I thought about what I believe in. I know that MY MANSION will be prepared and ready for me when I get to Heaven, not because some other people burned paper replicas but the fact that God said so. :)

Spending Unnecessarily

2009-07-24T07:38:00.000+08:00

I was only supposed to buy 1.5 kg Dory fish, one bottle of tomato sauce and capsicum but ended up spending more than I ought to. It ALWAYS happens when I go to Tesco.

f.y.i - those things in the cart are not all mine. Some of the stuff belongs to Eunice

Homework Time

2009-07-23T08:13:00.000+08:00

En is forever doing her homework or watching TV. Last Tuesday when I was at my parents' place, En was diligently doing her homework, after trying to persuade us (in vain) to chit chat in the living room - instead of at the dining table - so that she could eavesdrop on our conversation. I guess multi-tasking begins at a very young age.

Anyway, the music was blasting and she was comfortably slouching on the sofa and enjoying herself. Actually, she was in this weird position whereby if I were to be in that position and doing my homework, I might get cramped all over.

As I observed how she prefered this position to sitting at the dining table and doing her homework, I am also reminded by the fact that I lay on my stomach while using my laptop - a position that would be uncomfortable to most, but not to me :-)

Sweet & Sour Fish

2009-07-21T08:22:00.000+08:00

I've always wanted to learn how to cook sweet & sour fish. The major factor that hindered me was the fact that I don't know how to buy fish, or rather, what sort of fish is suitable and more importantly, how to transform a fish with bones to fillets. As you can very well tell, I don't cook often, plus the fact that I am not a huge fish fan.

A few weeks ago, we were shopping at Tesco and Eunice bought a packet of Dory fish which cost her a reasonable RM5.99 for a bout a kg of fish. And suddenly, I thought of so many things I could do with the 3 pieces of fish. I could make fish and chips or better still, learn how to cook sweet and sour fish.

I asked my mum to teach me but she was too busy playing mahjong... and Tusi taught me how to cook. Of course, earlier on, my mum told Tusi what to do and Tusi was just reciting it from memory.

Anyway, for those who love sweet and sour fish (or even chicken), here's the recipe:-

Chop the fish into bite-size. Marinate with white pepper, a little salt and a little chicken stock (liquid form)

For the batter, mix (normal) flour, a little self raising flour, a little salt and water. Dip the fish into the mixture before frying it.

Deep fry the fish until golden brown. Leave the fried fish aside to cool off.

For the gravy, fry chopped big oinions and sliced ginger.

Add chopped capsicum, tomatoes and mix vegetables

Add lots of tomato sauce (almost the whole bottle) and a little chilli sauce (about 3 or 4 tablespoons) for a very slight spicy taste. Add 1 or 2 teaspoon sugar.
Keep stiring until gravy shows signs of boiling. Pour gravy onto fried fish and serve

This is the end result. There was extra gravy but I poured it onto another bowl for those who want to eat rice with the gravy.

I gave some to my grandmother (she had eaten her dinner earlier) and she said it tasted nice. :)

Huge Banana

2009-07-20T08:10:00.000+08:00

I was at my parents' place when I spotted this huge banana on the table. I think it's more than a foot long. Mum said that she bought it for RM1. Err... it kind of reminded me when I saw a sign at a fruit stall in the US saying that it cost USD1 for ONE slim Montel banana.

No Dinner

2009-07-17T09:25:00.004+08:00

I placed an order with MacDonald's (MacD) last night at 9.10pm, timing it in such a way that when dear hubby gets back, the food would arrive.

MCTC, Eunice, MinChee and Matt were already at my place, preparing dinner for themselves. Yes, THEY prepared dinner. MinChee and Matt cooked one packet of Maggi Mee (or a version of it cause it doesn't smell like Maggi Mee at all) while MCTC spread butter onto a few slices of home-made bread made by Bro Chow.

Eunice prepared the fruits (orange, apple, star fruit, banana) and vegetables (celery, carrot) to be blended for our dinner.

And so, when dear hubby came back at 9.40pm, the MacD meal hadn't arrived. I waited until 9.55pm before I called the call center and was told that the delivery boy would arrive in a few minutes.

I was puzzled because in the past, any delivery boy who wasn't sure of the location of my house would give me a call within 40 minutes from my placing the order. And so far, even after 45 minutes, there was no call.

I waited until 10.20pm (1 hour 10 minutes from the time I first ordered) before I placed my next call to the call center. The person who answered (the same person who picked up my call earlier) was puzzled and said that he would investigate on his side and call me back.

He called back, 5 minutes later, to tell me that there was some technical error in their computer system and the order which I placed at 9.10pm didn't even register in the MacD restaurant in my area here.

It's a good thing I am generally a very calm (haha!! sometimes) and patient person. I told him that it was not a problem on my side but I ended the conversation with "Well, I've got no dinner now".

Dear hubby was a little mad, though and I had to explain that we couldn't fault them because it was a technical problem, something which was out of their hands plus the fact that they didn't know that they had a problem.

Anyway, my dinner turned out to be two cups of fruit juice, which was very filling indeed. Dear hubby had bread and butter (he said it's like having breakfast at night).

Long Time No See

2009-07-16T08:17:00.001+08:00

Last sunday, we had a family dinner at Uncle Beng's place. Every family was asked to bring a dish each.

This dinner was organised because Su-Ann felt that although we meet each other 2-3 times a week, we haven't had any family gatherings since Chinese New Year. And thus, an invite was sent out via SK and as usual, all of us came.

In the begining, everyone was speculating as to what the occassion was because it was SK who sent out the invite via Facebook / email, on behalf of Uncle Beng and family. Some thought that it was to celebrate Aunty Sally's birthday. Others guessed it was to celebrate Su-Ann's birthday. Later, Uncle Beng clarified the matter.

As usual, food was super yummy. It was a variety of food that was laid on the dining table:-

Fried Chicken wings

Fried eggs with corned beef

Garlic bread

Chai Choy (vegetarian dish)

Har Mien (Prawn noodle)

Pizza

Bean curd pudding

err.. some enzime alchoholic dessert (lime rind with dragonfruit)

Longan

Bubur cha cha

Cheese cake

And yes, despite seeing each other every week, we still had a lot to talk about.

It was Indran's birthday and we sang the birthday song, he made a wish (I think), blew out the candles and cut the cake.

After that, we talked some more.

It was awesome! We should have this more often ... like once in two months? Hmm.. actually, sometimes we have gatherings like this too often, especially during Christmas and New Year time. During the middle of the year, everyone is busy with their work and other matters. I guess it doesn't matter what we meet up for, even if it is for the fun of it, as long as we do get together once in a while to catch up on each other's news. :-)

Being Healthy

2009-07-15T12:26:00.000+08:00

My blood pressure readings have never touched the perfect 120/80 eversince I was 21 years old - and that was years ago. And since then, it has gone progressively worse.

I was on the BP pill for a short while but stopped because I can't seem to remember to take it on a daily basis.

Last month, when I was severely sick, my BP shot up to as high as 168/110. I panicked. It was the highest reading I ever had. I guess my being sick made it higher.

I bought a blender recently and decided to "eat" healthily. I started off with carrot and apple. Then carrot, apple and banana. The banana made it easy for us to swallow. A few days after I started my almost daily juice intake, my mum said that carrots have high sugar content. And that practically blew me off. I thought carrots were healthy.

Someone told me a long time ago that celery helps reduce blood pressure. So does starfruit. Bitter gourd too. Yucks!! I tried eating celeries raw but I just didn't like the taste. Star fruit tastes weird without salt (and salt was what got me in this mess) ... and bitter gourd ... well, let's just say that I wouldn't miss it one bit if it was an endangered plant.

What we did last week was blend 5 types :- carrot, celery, starfruit, green apple and of course, banana. It was GREAT. Healthy, too. No bitter gourds though. I really detest the horrible taste.

Hopefully, by the time I go for my next blood pressure test, it would show good results!! :-) In the meantime, if anyone has "extra" carrots, celeries, starfruits, green apples and bananas, send it my way.

Guests in YCYC

2009-07-14T07:13:00.000+08:00

We had 28 people in cell last Friday. Phew! That's a pretty big number. I remember the last time we had 26-28 people was early last year, when we haven't multiplied yet.

After we multiplied (and "gave birth" to MRYC), we started off with only 10-12 people, which eventually grew to a constant 17-18 people. All of a sudden, it looked like it's time to multiply again, but we were told that we need to wait at least two years before we can multiply again. this exercise is to help us bond with our new group.

Last Friday, we had "guests" from other cells:-

The Chongs - from BKYC (parents went to Japan and they were at their aunt's place nearby),

Saral and Darren - from MRYC (came over because they heard that the Chongs will be around)

Lavinia - from KL Cell

In total, we had 7 guests.... and Veron came back from India.

You can imagine, with the Chong and all five Louises .... it equals noise and lots of noise.

For the icebreaker, we played Mad Gab. We played until we didn't want to stop, but at 8.50pm, we did.

Worship was about 15-20 minutes and then testimony time.

By the time we got the the lesson proper, it was 9.30pm. Late!! I was wondering how Rajen was able to get everything done by 10.10pm. Well, he didn't. His first sentence took him 5 minutes to complete!!!!!!

The lesson was interupted by En, who was forever asking the meaning of a certain big word which Rajen used, Lavinia, who had the tendency of thinking aloud a lot and everyone else, who laughed when a certain word was mispronounced (clear clay ..... crear cray...). Oh yeah, Lavinia read the WRONG passage of scripture and had to reread again - and hers was a very long passage.

If I am not mistaken, the lesson ended at about 10.20pm, and by the time we got to the food, it was 10.30pm.

Don't Mess With The Elderly

2009-07-12T07:04:00.000+08:00

a forwarded email ....

.
HOW TO CALL THE POLICE WHEN YOU ARE OLD AND DON'T MOVE FAST ANYMORE

George Phillips, an elderly man from Meridian, Mississippi, was going up to bed, when his wife told him that he left the light on in the garden shed, which she could see from the bedroom window.

George opened the back door to go turn off the light, but saw that there were people in the shed stealing things.

He phoned the police, who asked, "Is someone in your house?"

He said, "No, but some people are breaking into my garden shed and stealing from me."

The the police dispatcher said, "All patrols are busy. You should lock your doors and an officer will be along when one is available."

George said, "Okay."

He hung up the phone and counted 30. Then he phone the police again.

"Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people stealing things from my shed. Well, you don't have to worry about them now because I just shot them." And he hung up.

Within five minutes, six police cars, a SWAT team, a helicopter, two fire trucks, a paramedic, and an ambulance showed up at the Phillips' residence and caught the burglars red-handed.

One of the policemen said to George, "I thought you said you'd shot them!"

George said, "I thought you said there was nobody available!"

Moral of the Story - Don't mess with old people. They don't need a gun to do this!

Free Cell, the Game

2009-07-11T12:02:00.002+08:00

Apart from Taipei, Free Cell is another of my favourite games. It's a strategy game where you need to get all the cards in order (from Ace to King) to the top right boxes using the help of the top left boxes.

It's addictive!

Marriage - The Final Frontier

2009-07-10T07:41:00.002+08:00

Recently I attended a wedding dinner of a man who is a trekkie fan. Everything, from his wedding invite, to the ballroom decor and his outfit was Star Trek based.

The Entrance - this resembles part of The Enterprise

The Backdrop ........ Marriage - The Final Frontier

The ballroom - Dark coloured (I was quite certain it was dark blue but Rajen said it was black)cloth hung above with strings of lights illuminating through it creating a space-like ambience.

Quark's Bar - Free flow of alchoholic drinks was served here

Each table number had the name of a space ship plus the star trek emblem

Instead of flowers, on the main VIP table sat The Enterprise

The other VIP table had this huge balls ... I think it's supposed to be planets

This base plate had the Star Trek emblem printed onto it.

The menu goes like this :-

Betazed Oskoid
Seared Hokkaido Scallops with Tobiko Granny Smith Apple and walnut Salad

Vulcan Plomeek Soup
Edamame Cappucino with Foie Gras Ravioli

Cardassian Regova
Pink Pomelo Sherbet

Klingon Heart of Targ
Pan Seared beef Medallion Au Jus, Cauliflower Puree and Citrus Jus

Bajoran Hasperat
Chestnut Mousse with Crispy Chocolate Feuilletine and Praline Ice Cream

Ferengi Coffee or Tea
Coffee or Tea

Thalian Chocolates
Petit fours / Macaroons

As you can tell, dinner looked great. It tasted great too. I was stuffed by the end of the night.

The Blue Lychee drink looks like it would taste weird but it's just a lychee drink.

The door gift - I am not exactly sure what is this ... I thought it was a soap dish with soap in it but when I opened it, there were 5 small chocolates in it.

When I first saw this cake, I thought it was just an ordinary 3-tiered cake. Later, Rajen (also a trekki fan) told me that it was a replica of a three dimensional chess set which Kirk and Spock played on the Enterprise.

Even the groom was dressed in one of the outfits shown in the earlier Star Trek episodes

NOTE : I AM NOT A STAR TREK FAN AND SOME OF WHICH IS DESCRIBED IN THIS POST MIGHT NOT BE ACCURATE

Oil That Lasts

2009-07-09T08:26:00.001+08:00

There is a verse in the Bible where it says that "the jar of oil did not run dry ..." (1 Kings 17:16)

Yesterday, I finally used up the last drop of oil from a 2 liter bottle which I bought more than a year ago. As you can tell, I don't cook very often. Also, because I love Italian food, I'd tend to cook pasta with olive oil. That means the normal cap Helang oil would last longer.

Trying to think of ways to finish the oil, I bought raw chicken chop, Pacific West fish fillet and french fries from Tesco to fry for dinner. And FINALLY, I poured out the last of the oil!

My western dinner turned out to be delicious. Easy and almost instant. It made a mess out of my floor, of course, with the oil splashing everywhere.

Sharks In Our Lives

2009-07-08T09:40:00.001+08:00

a forwarded email ....

The Japanese have always loved fresh fish. But the waters close to Japan have not held many fish for decades. So to feed the Japanese population, fishing boats got bigger and went further than ever. The further the fishermen went, the longer it took to bring in the fish. If the return trip took more than a few days, the fish were not fresh. The Japanese did not like the taste.

To solve this problem, fishing companies installed freezers on their boats. They would catch the fish and freeze them at sea. Freezers allow the boats to go further and stay longer. however, the Japanese could taste the difference between fresh and frozen and they did not like frozen fish.

The frozen fish brought a lower price. So fishing companies installed fish tanks. They would catch the fish and stuff them in the tanks. After a little thrashing around, the fish stopped moving. They were tired and dull, but alive. Unfortunately, the Japanese could still taste the difference. Because the fish did not move for days, they lost their fresh-fish taste.

The Japanese preferred the lively taste of fresh fish, not sluggish fish.

So how did the Japanese fishing companies solve this problem? How do they get fresh-tasting fish to Japan? If you were consulting the fish industry, what would you recommend?

HOW JAPANESE FISH STAY FRESH

To keep the fish tasting fresh, the Japanese fishing companies still put the fish in the tanks. But now they add a small shark to each tank. The shark eats a few fish, but most of the fish arrive in a very lively state. The fish are challenged.

Have you realised that some of us are also living in a pond but most of the time tired and dull? We need a shark in our lives to keep us awake and moving.

Basically in our lives, sharks are new challenges to keep us active and taste better ... the more intelligent, persistent and competent you are, the more you enjoy a challenge.

If your challenges are the correct size, and if you are steadily conquering those challenges, you are a Conqueror. You think of your challenges and get energized. You are excited to try new solutions. you have fun! You are alive!

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR US:

1- Instead of avoiding challenges, jump into them. Enjoy the game. If your challenges are too large or too numerous, do not give up. Failing makes you tired. Instead, recognize, find more determination, more knowledge, more help.

2- God didn't promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, sun without rain, but he did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears and light for the way.

3- Disappointments are like road bumps, they slow you down a bit but you enjoy the smooth road afterwards... don't stay on the bumps too long. Move on!

4- When you feel down because you didn't get what you want, just sit tight and be happy, because God has thought of something better to give you. When something happens to you, good or bad, consider what it means. There's a purpose to life's events , to teach you how to laugh more and not to cry too hard.

5- No one can go back and make a brand new start. But anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.

En, the Lady Magician

2009-07-07T07:33:00.002+08:00

I was on leave one Friday and was at my parents' place together with Eunice, having lunch. En came back from school at 12.30pm and was surprised to see me there, in my "normal" clothes (as opposed to my working clothes).

Later we were out at the living room talking when suddenly, En walked in with a black cowboy hat and a Mickey Mouse blanket which acted as a cape..... and like her mother, commanded attention from all of us.

She transformed into a magician, all set to perform her magic show. We laughed because she had that cartoon accent while performing her tricks.

I'd say that she would turn out to be someone who's very confident about her ability to capture and hold people's attention. Her public speaking skills are excellent and she is not shy at all. In fact, she craves the limelight and attention - which is really unlike any other Chinese-educated person her age.

50th Anniversary of Louis and Sothie

2009-07-06T07:36:00.001+08:00

Celebrating one's 50th wedding anniversary is indeed a very big thing. When I first got married, especially the first two years of our marriage, it was very difficult imagining myslef being married for even 5 years. And I often "wowed" at couples who already celebrated their 10th or 20th wedding anniversary.

Last weekend my husband and I were invited to Sothie and Louis' 50th wedding anniversary. Friends and relatives flew in from as far as Australia, Holland, America and other parts of the world to celebrate with them.

The following pictures are friends and relatives who came for the anniversary dinner...

The reason for me taking all these pictures is to help me remember who is who. This family is so big and they are scattered all over the world. I don't see them often and celebrations like this helps everyone come together as a family. No doubt the Internet plays a very big role helping us in keeping in touch with friends and relatives who live miles and miles away from us but it's nothing like MEETING up and seeing each other face-to-face.

Blender

2009-07-04T07:40:00.002+08:00

I don't take enough fruits and carrots and all the healthy stuff (although I love vegetables) so one day, I went into an electrical shop with the intention of purchasing a cheap blender which would cost me less than RM100.

My main criteria is : Easy washing after usage.

And the lady was quick enough to recommend me this Kenwood blender which cost so much more than I was will to pay for. The original price for this was RM700 but every now and then, Kenwood would have special promotions for certain items and so happen, this particular blender/mixer was one of them.

And thus, I am now the proud owner of it.

MCTC and Eunice bought carrots and apples one day and we experimented with the many functions on the mixer.

Our first attempt didn't turn out well. Why? Because we didn't blend it enough and it was difficult to drink. We ended up giving more than half of it to my mum and Tusi, telling them that it is healthy for them to drink it.

Because this mixer doesn't separates the pulp from the water, we have to make sure that the fruit is properly blended.

Evaporated milk was added for the extra taste.

It's really very easy to use and I can even blend carrot and banana, wash the mixer after that ... all within 5-7 minutes.

I haven't tested the ice cube function yet!! Maybe that's because I don't have ice in the freezer. Gotta remember to make some ice and test it out. Who knows? Maybe if the economy gets worse, I may have to sell fruit juice/smoothies/ice blended drinks at the side of the road...

Last Day of Class

2009-07-03T07:10:00.001+08:00

You're thinking that I should be jumping up and down for joy at the mention of "the Last Day of Class", right? Wrong!

True, I moan about attending classes every Thursday because of my hectic after work activities. But this class had been an eye-opener where cults and religions are concerned. I learned so much about other religions and why they believe what they believe.

Rev. Lim taught us for 12 consecutive weeks (not the usual 14 weeks). I missed two classes because I was severely sick last month.

For those of you who know me, I don't do well sitting in one place for a long period of time. I tend to fall asleep if someone talks for more than 1/2 hour. But this class is sooo interesting, I didn't fall asleep at all. Well, there was once when Rev. Lim was bombarding us with all the facts on one particular cult and hearing all those "rubbish" made me tune everything out and as a result, I got a little sleepy. Also, that day, I was feeling exhausted after all the running up and down, taking care of my mother in law, going to Shah Alam for road shows, etc, etc, etc.

We had our last class yesterday and we were told to bring a dish each for this bitter sweet day. A few of us came empty handed and I was one of them. I just didn't have the time. I rushed home from work, showered and came to church.

Nevertheless, food was in abundance and very nicely varied. We didn't even discuss what we wanted to bring!!! There were sandwiches (yummy), Aunty Chris' mouth watering chocolate cake, yong tau foo, mangoesteen, rambutan, (no durians, though!!), roasted chicken from Tesco, roast pork, deep fried devil (not sure how to translate this) ... oh well, the picture of the food says it all.

As I've said earlier, I learned a lot from Rev. Lim and I find it helpful when I talk to people of a different faith. It helps me understand theirt point of view and how not to aggravate them when they don't believe in "certain" things.

And yes, I thoroughly enjoyed every session - even though I hardly asked any questions.

90th Birthday

2009-07-02T07:34:00.003+08:00

Guess what? We celebrated my grandmother's 90th birthday AGAIN. Last year, most of her children and their children and their children's children came over for the big Nine Zero celebration.

When my mum told me that my grandmother turns 90 this year, I was puzzled. She gave a simple explanation that they miscalculated last year. Later I found out that the Chinese always add a year to their actual birthday.

Not everyone can live up to a ripe old age of ninety, what more in good health. My grandmother hasn't seen a doctor for years. In fact, I don't even remember when she last saw the doctor. She walks very slowly now but apart from that, she is very healthy.

I remember about 1.5 years ago, she was all set to go out to town with Tusi. It was a good thing I went to my mum's place at that time. She used to be so independant, walking all over Seremban town, taking the bus, visiting her friends and even going up to Genting (secretly) with her friends.

Now, she is confined to the house because we don't think she can walk for too long without feeling tired.

She not only is healthy, she looked healthy. Eunice just recently pointed out to me that my grandmother has very nice and smooth skin and her complexion is great. She doesn't have any pigmentation on her skin at all.

My mum thinks it's because of all the chinese herbs she (granny) took when she was younger, which is true. I remember when Esther gave birth to En, my grandmother would preserve some herbs and asked Esther to drink it so that she would recover fast and that she would not have any side effects in her old age. and my dear granny is the living proof that these herbs go a long way. She gave birth to 15 children ... so she ought to know.

Coming back to the topic, we went to Regent for dinner. Eunice and I bought her a very small cake (which only cost us RM16) because we figured that no one will be able to eat anything more after such a heavy meal .... and we were right.

One for the album. The Tan family and their spouses, En and Tusi.

Piano Recital

2009-07-01T06:09:00.004+08:00

I was at a piano recital at Yamaha, KL, last week. Rajen's cousin, Sothie and niece, Sonali, played the piano in aid of the TMC KL Community Centre Project.

Even though I am not musically "literate" ... and therefore, do not know what No. 2 in Bb minor, op. 31 or Rhapsody in Blue means, I could tell that they played beautifully. I was amazed at how agile and fast Sothie's fingers were, especially since she's in her mid-70's. They didn't just play two songs. In total, 11 songs were played. Wow!! My fingers feel tired for them but when I asked Sothie about it, she said that she feels tired mentally, and not physically. I guess it's because she had to concentrate and focus on the different songs that she played.

She took the time to explain every piece and the different beats. It helped me understand and appreciate the pieces that they played.

Guess who was the guest of honour? Our ex-PM, TunMahathir. I have never seen him in person before and this is truly such a surprise. He sat right in front and I managed to catch his full profile during the intermission, when he walked out of the room. I must say, he looked slim and trim and at his age, he looked great!

Unofficial SPCA

2009-06-30T11:21:00.001+08:00

I was at a friend's house last week and came upon the above sign OPPOSITE his house. It's common to have a "Dilarang membuang SAMPAH di sini" and this is the first time I'm seeing a "do not throw dogs here" sign board.

Also on LiteFM, there was this slot which makes us sound inhumane, throwing our pets away, which in other words, kicking them out of the house when we are fed up with them or when they are sick and old. Do we treat our children the same manner? I hope not.

And the reason for that sign up there is because this person loves dogs. He had, at one stage, 14 dogs to care for. He'd pick up strays from all over, bring them back, nurture them and make sure they have the comfort of a home. Yes, the dogs have the privilege to go in and out of the air-conditioned house at anytime they like. Some of them sleep in the rooms, going up and down the stairs like they owned the whole house. Indeed, they are treated so well, like a human. They were given good food and cod liver oil pills!! Imagine that!

Truly, this is one dog lover who treat his dogs well. No wonder people place their unwanted dogs at his gate all the time.

The Silent Guitar

2009-06-29T09:32:00.002+08:00

I was at the Yamaha Music School (err... I am not sure what the correct name is) last Friday, attending a charity piano concert to raise funds for the renovations of the Tamil Methodist Church.

After the concert, I strolled toward the showroom where pianos and organs and guitars lined up in rows for parents or music enthusiasts to moon over and eventually cave in to get that particular instrument.

Anyway, I came across this guitar which is so unique.... The Silent Guitar. I don't think it makes any noise except through the ear plugs.

The Son

2009-06-28T07:24:00.002+08:00

a forwarded e-mail .............

.
A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art.

When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son.

About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands.

He said, 'Sir, you don't know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly. He often talked about you, and your love for art.' The young man held out this package. 'I know this isn't much. I'm not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this.'

The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture. 'Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It's a gift.'

The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected.

The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings. Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection.

On the platform sat the painting of the son. The auctioneer pounded his gavel. 'We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?'

There was silence.

Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, 'We want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one.'

But the auctioneer persisted. 'Will somebody bid for this painting? Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?'

Another voice angrily. 'We didn't come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Gogh's, the Rembrandts. Get on with the Real bids!'

But still the auctioneer continued. 'The son! The son! Who'll take the son?'

Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. 'I'll give $10 for the painting..' Being a poor man, it was all he could afford.
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'We have $10, who will bid $20?'
.

'Give it to him for $10. Let's see the masters.'

The crowd was becoming angry. They didn't want the picture of the son. They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections.

The auctioneer pounded the gavel. 'Going once, twice, SOLD for $10!'

A man sitting on the second row shouted, 'Now let's get on with the collection!'

The auctioneer laid down his gavel. 'I'm sorry, the auction is over.'

'What about the paintings?'

'I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings.

The man who took the son gets everything!'

God gave His son 2,000 years ago to die on the cross. Much like the auctioneer, His message today is: 'The son, the son, who'll take the son?'

Because, you see, whoever takes the Son gets everything.

FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, WHO SO EVER BELIEVETH, SHALL HAVE ETERNAL LIFE...THAT'S LOVE

MJ Died?

2009-06-27T13:05:00.008+08:00

I was on leave yesterday and was on the computer at 7.30am when I heard over the radio that Michael Jackson died. My initial reaction? Shock! "What? MJ Died? I don't believe it."

I thought it was some sort of a prank but it wasn't even April 1st. After countless mention of the King of Pop's death on LiteFM, I realised that it is indeed true.

I raked my memories in the deep recesses of my brains, trying to remember when I first heard about him. I remembered the "We are the World, We are the children" quote which my aunty Terry wrote at the back of a picture which had 4 of us cousins when we were in primary school. I asked her where she got the words from and she told me that it was a popular song sung by Michael Jackson.

I practically grew up with his songs. His dances were awesome. He was the icon of the 80's and carried forward to the 90's.

Much later, he was involved with other matters which caused so many legal actions taken against him. He became somewhat of a recluse. He got fairer and fairer with each passing year.

Altough what he did was very wrong, the announcement of his death brought about sadness in my heart.

You know, with the radio blasting MJ's songs throughout the day and as internet browsers plastered his face on their homepages and everyone talking about him and saying all sorts of nice things about him, I wonder why when he was alive, only horrible stuff was said of him? Does his death immediately promotes him to be a saint practically overnight?

From this I learned that while your loved one is alive, say those love words. What good is it if nice words are voiced out after one's heart stops beating, eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear any longer?

Simple, But Delicious

2009-06-26T07:32:00.001+08:00

I had a fabulous dinner a few days ago.

Last weekend, 8 of my family members went to Kuching for a vacation. I didn't go because I was there only last year.

One of my aunties went with her grandson, leaving her poor husband home alone. Sunday happened to be Father's Day and we invited my Uncle Norman out for dinner. He suggested one chinese restaurant called Do You (or something like that). I ate very little rice because we ordered a lot of dishes. It was a delicious meal but I ended up having to drink an entire 500ml water bottle in the middle of the night because of the huge amount of Ajinomoto (MSG) in the food.

The next day, Uncle Norman called me and asked if we would like to go over for dinner. We agreed even though we had a lot to get done that night.

We finished our never ending chores and arrived at Uncle Norman's place at 9.25pm.

Dinner was simple, yet delicious.

I had a little rice with sardine sambal (super yummy), long beans, and omelet. Rajen had fried rice, fried luncheon meat and omelet.

It was really thoughtful of Uncle Norman to cook us dinner. :-)

Wanted : Winter in Malaysia

2009-06-25T09:10:00.003+08:00

The weather's been so hot and humid these days. The Star online predicts that Malaysians can expect hotter and drier days till September because an El Nino phenomenon is forming. Gulp!!!

I did what I had to do. I needed cool air to survive.

First of all, the OLD air-cond in our room has to go. We "inherited" it from Bro Chow when he sold us the house 10 years ago. And this unit is more than 20 years old!!! It's still functioning but it takes like forever to cool the room down plus, I had to be at a strategic place to feel the air-cond. Believe it or not, on a really humid day (or even night), I could even sweat while the noisy air-cond blows out inadequate cool air.

Another air-conditioning unit was installed at the dining area. Yeah ... the casings for the wiring and pipes looked terrible but it was the best they could do in 3 hours.

I don't think the house would be cold enough for me because the new units are only 1hp each. Given a choice, I would've installed 2hps each but I don't think my ELCB could take it because it's only 1 phase. Sigh!! Yeah ... we actually thought of changing it to 3 phase but I don't think I can handle more "operation scars" done to my house.

Chicken Chop

2009-06-24T07:21:00.001+08:00

I was at Tesco one day at the frozen section when I saw an easy way to make a western meal. Chicken chop coated with all the right seasoning and bread crumbs. All I had to do was to fry it. And it was so cheap. Three pieces for RM10.50. And those are huge pieces, too.

I also bought fries to go along with it.

I was quite excited and thought we could have this meal on a day or two but after THREE weeks, I finally got the meat out of my freezer. Even that, the first time around, I had to shove everything back into the freezer because dear hubby wanted to visit his friend who just recovered from dengue and after that, we went out for dinner.

The next day, I made sure that nothing could stop my mission. I even got a simple recipe from my mum on how to make the sauce.

The frying took a long time. I waited patiently until it turned golden brown before I fished it out of the frying pan. But to my great dismay, one small part of it wasn't fully cooked. Apart from that, dear hubby loved it!!!

That's all that matters, right?

Writing Implements

2009-06-23T07:09:00.001+08:00

I was not aware of this particular addiction until recently. I opened my work drawer to serch for something and I saw sooo many pens and pencils at the end of it.

It was then that I realised that I buy writing implements all the time. I guess I am addicted to it. Gosh!

Here are some pictures of my collection:-

The above picture shows what I have at work. Don't even for a moment think that the company I work for is so generous with their stationery. In fact, once I got so frustrated because I was told that I had to return a non-functioning pen in exchange for a new pen just to proof that I needed another pen.

So what I did from that time onward was to buy "good" pens all the time.

Pens at home. Some of these pens are imported from Singapore and the US. Maybe from Australia and Canada too. I'd use most of these pens for my scrapbooking hobby.

Pens for Cell Meeting - We are forever needing pens for the people at cell. Being youths, they almost always never bring writing material ... and that includes the note book (not laptop, but proper books with white, lined pages) which Esther gave them for free but if anyone forgets to bring his/hers, RM5 would be the penalty.

Err.... because the usage level is pretty low (once a week) the ink tends to dry up pretty quick. Moreoever, those are cheap pens.

Pens in my bag - I'd normally use either one of the blank-inked pens for sermon notes. The other two blue ones are just in case someone needs to borrow them.

Kidz Safari 2

2009-06-22T07:41:00.001+08:00

Last year, we had Kidz Safari end of May and the kids had a blast. So we decided to do it again this year.

On June 6th, 2009, 120 children turned up for this Kidz Safari 2 event. Registration was at 9am where a hand tag and Bingo card was given to each child.

Last year, we noticed that the children only played the games that they liked. As a result, some of the game stalls were not popular while others were so popular, there was a string of children patiently waiting for their turns.

This year, we put on our thinking caps and came up with the Bingo card system. After playing each game, their Bingo cards would be stamped by the person who is manning that particular game stall. The card must be filled up with the rubber stamps before anyone could exchange their gift at the gift counter.

At the registration table, there was a cake (made by Aunty Chris). The children had to guess the weight of the cake. Three of them guessed it correctly. The answer is 3kgs.

THE GAMES

Water Shed - Basically, they have to lift the bottle up using the stick with a hook at the end of the string. This game required steady hands and a lot of concentration.

Safari Droppings - Each child was given 3 ping pong balls to throw at the egg tray. Looks easy but the ball has to be in a coloured hole in order for them to get a coin.

Spider's Web - The children are given three huge toy spiders to throw at the web. If the spider gets stuck at the web, or falls onto the ground, no coins would be given out. The spiders must go into the baskets provided.

Tin Cans - What's with kids wanting to play this game all the time? Maybe it's their way of expressing their anger ... All I can say is, the person manning this stall had a tough time picking up the cans and stacking them up for every game.

Tarzan Swing - The original game was for the children to swing from one rope to another but we needed a firm pole hanging vertically from the top for ropes to be hung from it .... We couldn't get that to work. In the end, we (err... actually it was Mr Loo's worker who helped us secure the ropes to the trees) had two ropes running parallel and the children are to walk from one end to the other.
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Ring Toss - The children were given hoops to throw at the water bottle. Looks easy but most of the hoops land in between the bottles.

Necktie For Mr Giraffe - The height of the giraffes meant that the children had to use more of their strength to throw the hoop to give the long-necked animals a "necktie"

Munchy Monkey - This is pretty easy. An unriped banana was hooked onto end of the stick. all that needed to be done was to transfer the banana onto the nail, which was on the board where the painted banana was.

Leap Frong - Anything involving water proved to be a popular stall. Each child would be given three frogs. Any frog which lands on the lily pads would be given a coin.

Hungry Lion - Throwing the tennis ball into the hole where the lion's face would've been. Easy game.

Hit It In - I laughed at the ingenuity of this game. It's like ping pong cum golf. And Mae-Z's toilet bowl was used as the end destination for the ping pong ball.

High Voltage Area - Another game that needs FULL concentration and steady hands. The moment metal hit on metal, the alarm would sound. I wonder how many children gained coins for this.

Feed the Tiger - Believe it or not, Jian excitedly volunteered to be behind the tiger. And those are WET sponges. The children had a gala time throwing the sponges at Ah Jian. I heard that NO ONE wanted to take over Jian's place after he got hit at for more than 60 times.

Dunk the Animals - This game is waaaay too easy because the targets were too near (due to space constraints). All they had to do is throw the tennis balls at three targets.

Dumbo Needs a Tail - It's the same as the popular Pin the Donkey's Tail game. The children were blind folded and they had to pin the elephant's tail.

Darts - I tried this game .... and failed miserably.

Coin Throw Game - Oops!! It was supposed to be coins but it turned out to be key rings. Three tries and the rings must get onto the slippery plates. Tough!

Crocodile Alert - In under 2 minutes, the children had to hook at as many crocodiles (err.. maximum 3 crocs)

Balloon Walk - It's like the musical chair game. The winner doesn't get a coin but a twisted balloon made by Kenny Yap.

Mini Me Show - Most of the children would've played all the other games before seeing this show because it stars at 10.45am. Azriel played Mini Me (err I think the person at the back is Arthur) and also told a little story using a puppet.

Upon registration, each child would be given a set amount (I'm thinking it must be about 20-30 playcards) of playcards. To gain more playcards, they had to memorise Bible verses or the order of the books of the Bible.

Now, children, being children always think of gifts as rewards for their coin earnings. To get the prize that they want, they had to win a certain amount of coins (the minimum being 3 coins). The MP3 player was the most sought after and that was worth 200 coins. Two MP3 players were given out. The rest of the gifts were things like thumb drives, chocolates, Children's Bible, Gold Mining, colouring books, ... can't remember them all.
.

Er... no pictures for this but light snacks and a bottle of water were given to each child. For each helper, we were given solid food like Nasi Lemak with fried chicken. Yummy!

Well, all good things must come to an end. At 1pm, we started clearing up the place. The youths helped out A LOT.

So did all the uncles and aunties. :)

It was indeed a FUN time for both the children and the adults. Lots of effort went into this event and I personally think it was worth it. About 20-30 children came from an orphanage and I am pretty sure they had fun.

I didn't really do a lot for this event, mainly because I was recovering from my sickness and I was so afraid of gong out into the sun because I didn't want the fever to pay me a visit again. I did whatever I could without overstraining myself. I managed to take more than 200 pictures, though. :-)

Bravo to Eunice and Aunty Chris, who helped out with the games........ Aunty Yeow, Ai Ling, Pat Wong, EstherTC and others who were involved in making this event a successful one. Err.. there were so many others who played an important role ... but sigh! I can't remember them all.

Whatever it is, the kids had fun and more importantly, the seeds were planted. Let the watering and growing begin!

Tenjewberrymuds

2009-06-21T07:24:00.000+08:00

You will understand what 'tenjewberrymuds' means by the end of the conversation. This piece of conversation has been nominated for the best email of 2007.

The following is a telephone conversation between a hotel guest and room-service, at a hotel in Asia, which was recorded and published in the Far East Economic Review:

Room Service (RS): "Morrin. - Roon sirbees."
Guest (G): "Sorry, I thought I dialed room-service."
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RS: " Rye ..Roon sirbees..morrin! Jewish to oddor sunteen??"
G: "Uh..yes.I'd like some bacon and eggs."
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RS: "Ow July den?"
G: "What??"
.

RS: "Ow July den?...pryed, boyud, poochd?"
G : "Oh, the eggs! How do I like them? Sorry, scrambled please."
.

RS: "Ow July dee baykem? Crease?"
G: "Crisp will be fine."
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RS : "Hokay. An Sahn toes?"
G: "What?"
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RS:"An toes. July Sahn toes?"
G: "I don't think so."
.

RS: "No? Judo wan sahn toes??"
G: "I feel really bad about this, but I don't know what 'judo wan sahn toes' means."
.

RS: "Toes! toes!...Why jew don juan toes? Ow bow Anglish moppin we bodder?"
G: "English muffin!! I've got it! You were saying 'Toast.' Fine. Yes, an English muffin will be fine."

RS: "We bodder?"
G: "No...just put the bodder on the side."
.

RS: "Wad! ?"
G: "I mean butter...just put it on the side."
.

RS: "Copy?"
G: "Excuse me?"
.

RS: "Copy...tea...meel?"
G: "Yes. Coffee, please, and that's all."
.

RS: "One Minnie. Scramah egg, crease baykem, Anglish moppin w bodder on sigh and copy....rye??"
G: "Whatever you say."
.

RS: "Tenjewberrymuds."
G : "You're very welcome."

Taipei

2009-06-20T07:01:00.000+08:00

Many people's idea of unwinding after a hard day at work is to veg out in front of the one-eyed monster. And I can understand it because after many hours of pouring out their energy, using their brains to tackle problems at the office, being a couch potato at the end of the day simply means not doing anything productive, taking in, instead of pouring out.

For me, unwinding means either reading a book or playing games on the computer. And you must understand that MY version of computer games is so obsolete, yet it's as mind boggling as the latest online war-like games.

Among games like Free Cell (I think that Free Cell is better than Solitaire because it makes me think and strategise a lot) and Bejeweled, I like this game called Taipei.

It's basically eliminating the tiles pair by pair and believe it or not, I don't normally win this game. It has something to do with strategy PLUS predicting what's below the other tiles.

Games like the above makes me frustrated. I can't win because the other matching tile is BELOW that tile.

And at the end of it, a small window with the words "Congratulations" pops out - and that's it! No fancy patterns like Free Cell after the game is won.

So far, my record for winning and completing one game stands at 4 minutes and 39 seconds.

Okay ... I'd better stop blogging and play one more game ...... :)

Doggie's Gone

2009-06-19T07:57:00.002+08:00

I just noticed that Doggie is not around anymore. I don't see her at my neighbour's compound, neither is she anywhere near my house.

I asked my neighbour what happened to Doggie and she didn't know either. Doggie disappeared, just like that. I do hope that she has found her owners and that she's well fed and cared for.

Meanwhile, the sausages and ham that I bought specially for her will be kept in my freezer until she appears again ...... I hope.

Someone's Been Reading My Blog

2009-06-18T07:33:00.004+08:00

A few weeks ago, dear hubby went out for dinner with his cousin Kumar, who flew in from Australia. Both of them share the same birthday, though dear hubby is two years older.

I was busy climbing Gunung Ledang and didn't join their celebration dinner.

Dear hubby came back, carrying a bag of gifts. In it were a book, 3 packs of "Extra" Wriggley's Chewing Gum and two bars of chocolate.

Naturally dear hubby was surprised that his cousin knew his gum chewing habit, and what more, the exact brand that he likes. Kumar simply explained that he read in one of my blog postings that dear hubby loves this particular chewing gum brand which is not sold in Malaysia.

Both bars of chocolates were for me. He explained again that he reading another of my posting that I love chocolate. And if you were to see one of the bars close-up, you would notice that it is chilli flavoured. What a peculiar flavour. I haven't eaten this before. I STILL haven't eaten it yet (it's in my fridge), mainly because I was feeling lousy for the past few weeks.

Well, I've made up my mind of try it out by this weekend. Anyone wants to try it?

p.s. Thanks, Kumar, for being so thoughtful.

Thank God It's Monday

2009-06-15T23:10:00.001+08:00

I haven't been blogging for the past 2 weeks or so, mainly because I've been sick and extermely busy for the past one week. Indeed, my already hectic lifestyle has never experienced such heavy schedule like what I had last week.

It all started when I got sick on May 21st. I didn't really recover from that but was stubborn enough to climb a mean mountain. A few days later, I developed a headache and my concentration at work was terrible. Next came fever and that lasted for 7-8 days. I was worried, of course and had even gone for several blood tests. My platelet count went from 179 to 185 to 298, ruling out the possibility of my having dengue.

And doctors, being doctors, normally prescribe paracetamol (pcm) at the mention of fever. So there I was, being forced to gulp down 8 pcm a day. I'm prety much anti-pills and even bargained with the doctor about this pill intake. One doctor told me that if I don't have any more fever, I don't have to take the pills. I talked to another doctor and reasoned with him that if I were to continue taking the pills, how would I know if my fever is gone for good? And he advised me to stop taking the pills after the 3rd day.

My fever was quite temperamental. In the morning, I would be free from it and later in the day, I would first develop a headache before my fever would start. Still, being a stubborn person, I would still show up at work and try to get as much work done as I possibly could. Unfortunately, I had to put my already-late reports aside as I couldn't really concentrate on the figures.

I felt a lot better one day and was pleased that I was able to concentrate on work. But alas, it was short lived. The very next day, my fever and headache came back and what was worse, I had diarrhoea and vomitted once. I remember feeling so weak and helpless, I wanted to die.

Surprisingly, after emptying my stomach in two different gross ways, I felt a lot better. Still, I didn't go for my Thursday class because I was still feeling weak.

That night, I paid a visit to the doctor for the third time in one week. This time, we decided to have other tests done. They tried to extract more blood from me but alas, they could only fill up a quarter from each little container of the two syringes.

I was forced to take the PCM on a regular basis. No more bargaining with the doctor. I was to finish all 32 pills and dear hubby checked on me regularly. Again, I played smart and did not eat as per instructions. Instead of two pills, I only eat one at a time. And instead of 4 times daily, I only eat three times a day.

A few days after that test, the doctor came up to me, looking concerned and asked if I took pills on a regular basis. Puzzled, I gave him a negative answer before asking the reason for his question. He said that my liver reading is 90, which is a little higher than the normal 40. I gasped and he asked me not to worry because it was still not a life threatening reading. 500 is considered very high.

He then asked if I took any traditional medication and again my answer was negative. As I have mentioned before, pills and I do not see eye to eye. I avoid it like the plague.

I guess the only logical answer to that was the fact that I have taken so many PCMs in the last few days and my liver just couldn't take the sudden surge of medication.

After that third blood test, I began to feel much better but didn't dare push myself too much for the next few days.

Kids Safari was on that Saturday and I avoided the sun a much as possible. Still, I was given a few chores and did my best in helping out. I actually felt so helpless for this event. Err.. I'm usually one of the main persons running around like there's fire everywhere.

Kids Safari was only the begining of a very hectic week ahead.

You see, my sister-in-law was going on a vacation and that would mean ME taking time to take care of my mother-in-law whenever I have time (usually at night). On top of that, I had a road show in Shah Alam and that was really tiring. My feet will be aching by the end of the day and I still had to go visit my mother in law. My house had become a like a hotel for me. Each night, I'd go back in time to sleep.

On top of that, I had to come up with a promo poster or other forms of advertisement for the coming church camp. I really had no idea how to do it. And I couldn't find any time to do it until Saturday night, after I got back from Shah Alam and a birthday dinner in Seremban. I remember finishing the posters at 12.40am and I was dead tired.

On Sunday, I woke up early, got to church about 1.5 hours early just to set up the camping tent and the posters. After church, dear hubby and I went to Malacca to visit with Aunty Timah, but specifically to see Pushpa and Wahid, her Egyptian husband whom I have never met. We were there for a very late lunch (3pm)

After that, we went to Rotunda, the Malacca Club for tea and went back via the coastal road to avoid the heavy traffic on the highway due to end of school holidays. It took us slightly more than two hours to get back.

That night, I slept at 10.30pm, which was really rare but I was sooooo tired. I must've slept like a log for at least 6 hours before I woke up and realised that it was only 4.30am. I went back to sleep.

And when I woke up at 7.20am, I realised it was MONDAY - the day I had been waiting for, for about a week. Today is the day when my schedule would get back to normal. And today, I would start blogging again..... :)

Viral Fever

2009-06-01T06:08:00.003+08:00

When the Ablaze programme first began, I told myself that it would not be a problem to me. I don't mind skipping a meal and being a vegetarian for 10 days meant 10 healthy days. I guess I spoke it too soon because ever since the 1st day of the fast, I was sick.

For days 1-5, read here.

In the 6th day, my head felt heavy.

On the 7th day, I had a terrible headache - for those who know me, I don't get headaches easily.

On the 8th day, my whole body started aching. I left work an hour early, went back home and took my body temperature. It was 38.1C. Gulp! Fever! Oh no! That meant "No going for classes that night" What a drag.

I took one soluble Panadol (upon dear hubby's strict instructions) and went to bed.

That night, sleep was rudely interupted either by water intake or outflow.

On the 9th day, I was at home - ALL DAY. Sick as sick can be. Fever and migraine and a grumpy me.

I took the day off specifically to prepare for the coming Kidz Safari 2 event but ended up not doing a single thing about it. Of course I felt like it was a wasted day.

By evening, my body temperature shot up to 39C. I panicked a little and wanted to go to the hospital but told dear hubby to go to church first before taking me to the hospital.

I didn't go to the hospital because when dear hubby came back with the food, he looked so tired. Also, I specifically asked for vegetarian and non-spicy but I got just the opposite. Dear hubby was really mad at a certain person who took his orders. The food went to waste because dear hubby just can't take spicy food. As for me, as much as I love spicy food, I didn't dare take the risk of my fever shooting through the roof.

It was a good thing I had a butter bun from the day before and some bananas. That was dinner for me.

My temperature went down to 38.2C after dinner at 11pm. And yet, dear hubby not only demanded, he had a cup of 2 dissolved panadol made for me to drink.

On the 10th day, I felt so much better in the morning. My temperature showed 35.6C.

I filled up a trunk-load of newspapers and sold them off in town. Then, feeling weak, I walked around the area, wanting to pack Horlicks for my empty stomach. It took me 15 minutes to get my drink because all the Chinese coffeeshop said they don't sell Horlicks and I finally got what I wanted in a Mamak shop.

Church was my next destination. I had to sort out something concerning the coming Kidz Safari 2. By that time, I was exhausted.

When I got back home, I knew that I was gonna get sick again. I could feel the internal heat plus the migraine got worse. I took two soluble Panadols and went to bed.

In the evening, I felt well enough to go to my parents' place for dinner. After eating one banana, one slice of fried terung and one piece of fried pumpkin, I felt hot again. And the migraine came back.

I slept, out in the living room of my parents' place, where some Chinese show was on TV. Much later, I went to the guest room to sleep.

The moment dear hubby walked in to the house, my mum started nagging at him, asking him why he has not brought me to see the doctor, blah, blah, blah.

Finally, a little irritated by her nagging, the three of us went to Columbia Hospital.

Blood test result came out negative. It was a viral fever. Everybody breathed a sigh of relief.

My medication turned out to be paracetamol and Diclofenac Sodium BP (pain killer).

Now I'm more worried about how my liver is gonna take all these medication. gulp!

I guess this has taught me not to take anything lightly. What I thought was easy, turned out to be very challenging for me. Especially when I lost my taste buds and had to continue to be on a vegetarian diet for at least 7 days.

Ledang 3

2009-05-28T07:47:00.000+08:00

It was the third time Messner and Sirdar organised a climb to Gunung Ledang. I didn't join them for Ledang 1 because of work. I did, however, made sure I was available for Ledang 2, which was only a few months back.

I remember having "that good feeling" when I climbed Ledang the first time and I was definitely looking forward to this climb. I even swapped working Saturdays to make it for this climb.

Just days before this climb, I fell ill and was a little worried about my physical strength, whether I could recover in time or not.

The night before the climb, my head felt heavy and I was seriously thinking of pulling out. I tried to sleep early (11.30pm) but found that I was restless. I woke up many times feeling hot and sweaty. Yucks!

I remember waking up at 2.45am, thinking that I only had another 15 more minutes to sleep. The phone alarm rang at 3am. I didn't succumb to temptation to go back to sleep.

I got ready slowly and waited for Steve to pick me up at 3.55am. From my place, we fetched Cila and Nicholas to Kemayan Square. Bro. Won was already there.

We left at 4.30am. I was asked to drive (and I was really looking forward to having a short nap in the car) to Tangkak. Thankfully I was quite wide awake. Somewhere along the way, calls were going back and forth and some were already in the coffeeshop in Tangkak as early as 4.40am. Permission granted, I sped like never before. I was consistently going at 120km/h - 140km/h.

I took only an hour to get to the coffeeshop. (It was supposed to be a 1.5 hour drive).To tell you the truth, I have never driven past 120 km/h before. The road was quite clear that morning, which was why I decided to drive fast.

I had a bowl of tasteless kuey teow soup and a cup of Milo.

At 6.20am, we departed for Ledang Park.

At the car park, someone cut the bananas individually to be distributed out.

A group picture (Siva is too busy capturing the moment .... and as a result, you don't see him in this picture

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Exercise and warm-up to loosen the muscles before the climb

Steve was kind enough to volunteer to carry this heavy rope

We registered with the park, eased ourselves and warmed-up. A short briefing was led by Messner and Sirdar. There was a doctor in our team (but unfortunately, he was "on leave" and left us in the care of his two assistants).

The rubbish for that we need to fill out before climbing

At 8.10am, 36 of us stared the long, ardous climb.

It was steps, steps and more steps.

As usual, I was panting after about the 100th step. Pretty normal because I needed more oxygen than the rest to be able to gain strength and energy to climb.

Apart from our group, there was this other big group of Malay youngsters whom we meet up with intermittently and also another group from Singapore. I actually felt as though there were way too many people climbing up this mountain.

We arrived at CP5 at 10.30am. Late! I was a little horrified by how slow I was this time. Hmm... I actually wanted to move a little faster but chose not to.

After CP 5, the terrain got tougher and poor Sirdar, had to carry 2-3 other backpacks apart from his 15-kilo backpack.

KFC (a.k.a. Killer For Climbers) came soon after that and I suffered a little ... err.. a lot, I mean. I had forgotten how tough it was. I wondered how I was going to survive until the next CP.

The first cave which we had to climb through. Aunty Chris enjoyed the cool air in the cave and wanted to sleep on one of the big rocks.

Gua Kambing came into sight after that long, torturous limb-stretching climb. I was a little scared the last time because the rock face was slippery but this time, I climbed with confidence. I guess the Columbia hiking shoes dear twin got for me from Melbourne helped a lot. I was more sure-footed.

Anak Batu Hampar. Aunty Chris took the difficult way. I veered toward the right and went up with the help of the tree roots.

The Batu Hamper seemed to get bigger as we move higher.

Finally, the Mother of All Rocks. This huge boulder is as high as a 3 to 4 storey building.

Anak Batu Hampar and Mother of all Rocks was after that. I was not afraid at all. It certainly looked intimidating, climbing up the huge boulder using only a thick rope to haul myself up. I made it to the top, with slightly more difficulty than the last time.. partly because I had my backpack with me this time.

Aunty Chris was next. They forced her to use the harness, even though she didn't want to use it. Personally, I think she can pull herself up the huge boulder without help from others but Sirdar and Messner didn't want to take the risk. Steve (and Messner) were at the top, pulling the rope while Sirdar walked alongside with Aunty Chris.

Taman Bonsai was next. I didn't really stop long to enjoy the beautiful view. All I wanted to do was to get going. By that time, I was with Aunty Chris and Aunty Shirley.

We came to Bukit Botak, where the sun was shining down hard on us. I didn't expect it to be so hot because earlier, we heard thunder rolling across the sky every now and then and it didn't look as though it was a sunny day. But it was really hot. I think I got a little sunburned from that stretch.

CP 7 came and we rested for a while.

And then we climbed and climbed. It was never ending.

Towards the last leg of our climb, we met others who were on their way down. It was really steep and I didn't want to think about how mashed up I would be if I were to slip and fall.

Seeing Winnie slightly ahead of me gave me a surprise. She was behind me by a good 15-20 minutes. It was later when I realised that some of them took a shorter route up. Gosh! If I had known, we wouldn't have wasted our energy on those precious 15-20 minutes. Aunty Chris almost cursed me for that. Haha!

We finally arrived at the summit at 2pm. I think we were only up there for 5 minutes. It was not as windy as the last time I was there.

Then we went down again, to a small clearing where the rest were waiting, with HOT, streaming coffee, curry chicken, pita bread and dried meat. We had a quick lunch and descended at 2.30pm.

I volunteered to be with the kids because I knew that they would race each other down. Just about 100 -150 meters, we sudenly came to a halt. I was told that this lady wanted to answer to nature's call - in a big manner and that she was a little further down, so we gave her a little time (like about 5-10 minutes) before I got sent down to see if she had already done what needs to be done.

I called out. No answer. I walked further and kept calling her name. The others came when they realised that she is no where to be found. We got a little worried. In case you didn't know, Gunung Ledang is known to be a spooky mountain where one could get lost easily. The guide helped by going off to another trail while I kept calling her name and asking if she was done. Finally, we heard an "okay" and continued.

A little later, we were told that she was already with another group in front.

We were moving at a very fast pace (to make up for lost time) when all of a sudden, we came to a halt, again. There was a group in front of us who were going at snail's pace. The kids were, by that time, quite impatient and made remarks such as "Why so slow?", "Go faster-lah" and were actually reprimanded by someone in that group. We found out that one of them sprained her ankle and was holding up everyone else.

We couldn't do much except to follow behind at such a crawl because of the narrow pathway. Well, actually we tried to move past them but they didn't really allow us space. Finally, our guide called the other guide to stop for a while to let us through. We mumbled our thank yous while overtaking them.

Once we were on our own, we moved very quickly and soon lost sight of the other group.

CK and the children went down so fast and waited for us

It rained for about 40 minutes and the pathway was a little slippery. That didn't stop us from practically running down the mountain. We wore our ponchos to avoid getting severely wet. Someone didn't bring one and used his orange backpack cover over his head. For a moment, he really looked so funny. Like someone with this mob of orange hair. Too bad it was raining and I kept my camera in my backpack to prevent it from getting wet.

It was a little dark when we reached CP1 and I thought it was already 6.20pm. I was getting quite worried about the fact that I might need to walk in darkness (I did bring 2 torches, though).

When I reached the steps, I breathed a sigh of relief. I ran down happily.

It was only at the base that I realised that it was only 5.25pm. Gosh!!! It took me less than 3 hours to get to the base. I think if it were not for the two halting episodes, I would've gotten down much faster. Nevertheless, I was really happy with this record .... though I was just as disappointed that it took me 6 hours to summit (compared to 5 hours previously).

The cold bath was REALLY great. I felt so refreshed.

Sirdar helped carry this rope towards the last 2 CPs down

The last person down was Winnie, who sprained her ankle. Poor girl. Messner and Boey accompanied her. It was 7.30pm then and they looked so washed out.

Steve looked pretty washed out too, due to the fact that he had to carry the ropes, plus help do other stuff.

Truly, what Messner, Sirdar, Boey and Steve did was commendable. They helped the weaker ones and ended up getting so wiped out.

Dinner was at the same place (can't remember the name) and this time, we didn't have weird food because Johnny ordered, not Sirdar. Dinner came to about RM502 for 2 tables (23 people).

I went back with Messner and had to keep him awake by talking to him. Well, I volunteered to drive but he didn't take me up on my offer. Hmmm.... probably afraid that I might do a 160 with his 4 wheel drive.

I got back at 11.45pm, tired but happy.

Overall, the climb was great. I got to know so many new people. This team consists of some people from Ledang 1, some from Ledang 2 and about 6-7 new faces.

Bravo everyone, for making it to the top - especially Aunty Chris and Aunty Shirley (because thier very first climb was only a month ago and this Ledang climb was their second)

Vegetarian for 10 Days

2009-05-27T09:54:00.003+08:00

I've always thought that I could be a vegetarian because I love the greens. Plus, I don't take red meat, pork and most fish.

For the recent Ablaze programme, I decided to skip a meal and be a vegetarian for 10 days.

Guess what? It was really difficult. I broke the vegetarian diet on the first day itself, when I was sick and weak and had to eat chicken porridge to regain strength. On the second day, I went mountain climbing. I figured I needed energy, so I ate meat. On the third day, I forgot that cakes have eggs and broke the diet.

Finally, on the 4th day, I managed to stay on non-meat diet the WHOLE day.

Dear hubby loves meat and claimed that eating non-meat meals is against his religion (!!!!). On the 4th day, I cooked Spaghetti Alfredo - very fattening, but hey, it's vegetarian. And yeah, dear hubby got conned into being a vegetarian for a meal.

On the 5th day, I had rojak for lunch and broccoli with onions for dinner. Yummy!!!!

I wonder what the next 5 days would be like. I have come to realise that being a vegetarian is tough and requires lots of discipline, especially when I have to stay off eggs. Also, when I went to the Nasi Kandar restaurant in Subang yesterday, the sotong sambal looked so appealing. Gosh! I was really tempted to take a bite of that succulent sotong. Mmmmm.....

Birthday Boy

2009-05-26T07:39:00.000+08:00

We celebrated dear hubby's birthday after cell.

Most of us were doing a Daniel fast for 10 days but for this particular day, we fasted one meal, so that we could enjoy the delicious food made by Charlene and Shannon's mum.

We also celebrated Sarah and Rebecca's birthdays too. Their birthdays fall on the 28th of May but because of the combined prayer meeting on the 29th which replaced cell on tat day, their parents decided to buy the cake one week early.

We were practically feasting during this 10 days of fast. hehe!!!

Sick

2009-05-25T07:21:00.000+08:00

I don't really get sick very often but when I do, I'd suffer a lot.

Last Thursday, I went to work feeling a little weak. I had a lot to do at work and decided to finish everything before I succumb to collapsing.

By 9.40am, I was just too weak to even think, so I left the office. I had cold sweat and was feeling weaker by the minute. Driving back was a long torture. The moment I arrived home, I collapsed onto my bed (err.. it was super hot, I made time to switch on the air-cond and fan)

By 11am, I was still feeling weak and knew that I needed more than an hour's worth of rest. So I slept until 11.30am.

Feeling groggy, I went back to work. I lasted only 1 hour before I felt terrible again. I just couldn't focus on anything at all. It was then that I decided that I needed to take a day off to rest.

I left the office for the second time that day.

I called dear hubby, told him my condition and asked him to pack a MacDonald's porridge for me. He was kind enough to oblidge, despite his heavy schedule.

I went back and guess what? Cars were everywhere. Parents were waiting for their children just outside the school. And the bad news is, I couldn't even ask the drivers to remove their cars from the road fronting my house ... simply because they were not in.

These two Wiras blocked my gate

I went further and parked my car elsewhere.

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Once again, the moment I reached home, I collapsed.

Dear hubby came back a little later with my lunch. Yummy!!!I was feeling super hungry by that time because I fasted in the morning.

He even drove my car into the porch area later. So sweet of him, yeah?

By 2.30pm, I was feeling a lot better and very much wide awake. I decided to make full use of my leave (I didn't see a doctor and will be applying for emergency leave) by making a birthday card for dear hubby, going to the Socso Office and to church to see what can be salvaged from last year's Kidz Safari.

That night, I went for class and even though I didn't feel 100% well, I enjoyed the class and was able to absorb what was being taught.

In hind sight, falling ill forced me to take a break from work PLUS allowing me to get all the errands done. :)

Happy Birthday Dear Hubby

2009-05-22T07:38:00.001+08:00

Ablaze

2009-05-21T07:07:00.000+08:00

Ten days of fasting and prayer begins TODAY.

There are 4 different types of fasting:-

Total Fast

Abstain from solid food for 24 hours. Take only water.

Partial Fast

Abstain from solid food for an extended part of the day. Take only water. The duration of the fast is 12 hours begining from 7am to 7pm.

One Meal Fast

Sacrifice one full meal a day e.g. lunch, dinner. The fast should last until the next meal.

Daniel Fast

Abstain from meat and other favourite delicacies. Take only small portions of vegetables, fruits and juices.

I will most probably do a one meal fast (breakfast) and daniel fast for 10 days. Hmm.... except for the 23rd, I guess ... because I need my energy for a mountain that I am going to conquer :-)

Other than that, there's a mountain to move through fasting and prayer.

Simple Minds

2009-05-19T12:29:00.003+08:00

Teacher's Day was last Saturday.
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An 8-year old boy came home from school on Friday to ask his mother if she has anything for him to give to his teacher. Sadly, she said that she didn't have any money to buy a gift for his teacher.
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He looked around the house and his gaze fell on the plates that they used for their meals. He grabbed one of them and asked, "What about this? Can I give this plate to my teacher?"
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children ...... theirs minds are so simple, uncomplicated.

Bought in Melbourne, Made in China

2009-05-18T07:24:00.001+08:00

My twin recently went on an impromptu trip to Melbourne. My strict instructions were : Buy me a jacket and a good pair of hiking shoes. And she came back with these.....

A torch light! now, you might wonder why she went ALL the way there to get me something that I could easily get here. Well, this torch is special in a sense that it's not battery operated. All I had to do was to squeeze it a few times and it is charged. One minute of squeezing can last 20 minutes of light. Awesome!

Thermal wear. And yes, she bought me a CHILDREN'S thermal wear. I haven't tried it on yet but she assured me that it fits.

Yeah, I know. Malaysia is NOT the country to wear this. I suppose one day I would get to go to the North Pole and I guess I would need all the help I can to keep me warm.

Socks!!! It seems that people like to get me socks when they go to Australia. Twin bought me FOUR pairs of socks and one pair of leggings.
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Ah! The hiking shoes that I wanted. I love the colour, the shape and best of all, the soles. This pair looks pretty sturdy to me.

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A pair of scissors. I love stationeries. And this pair can join my other 25 pairs as part of my collection.

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A fleece jacket. I had a jacket which I bought in the US a few years ago. It was water proof and can be used on both sides. After a few trips to the dry cleaners, the "skin" of the jacket began to peel. I suspect it was because they made some kind of mistake when handling it the last time it was sent there.
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Twin couldn't get what I wanted and decided that this fleece jacket would do for now.
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14 packs of sugar-free chewing gums for dear hubby. About a month ago, Christina brought back 8 packs and it was finished within 2 weeks!!! So dear hubby requested for more.
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Jar opener. A few weeks ago, I tried to open a "steffi's" jam bottle. I couldn't. Then I asked my hubby to open it. He couldn't. Eunice couldn't either. MCTC? Well, yeah, he was able to open it within 3 seconds! Bravo!!! Hence the above gift.
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And a bag to store all my stuff.
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Most, if not all of what I received were made in China but the quality was very good.

Seeng all these stuff makes me think of Christmas day, when I open my presents and discover so many good stuff. :)

Low Cholesterol Levels Increases Cancer Risk

2009-05-17T07:41:00.000+08:00

A forwarded email ...........

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American College of Cardiology

For years, I've been telling my patients that the medical establishment' s obsession with lowering cholesterol to prevent heart disease is causing more harm than good.

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If your doctor continues to get you worried about your high cholesterol levels, here's a bit of news for you...

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In fact, your high cholesterol may be protecting you from cancer.
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Today, I'll explain the truth behind the myth of cholesterol, and show you how to achieve heart health naturally.
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A new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology revealed that driving down cholesterol levels actually increases the risk of cancer.
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Researchers at the Tufts University School of Medicine found that among people taking "statin" drugs - like Lipitor and Zocor - there was a higher rate of cancer. Although the link between the drugs and cancer wasn't clear, there was no doubt that drastically low cholesterol levels correlated to cancer risk.
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The big drug makers continue to sell the notion that the best way to fight heart disease is to lower LDL levels, the so-called "bad" cholesterol.
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Yet 75 percent of people who suffer heart attacks have normal cholesterol levels.
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It makes sense that low cholesterol levels are linked to cancer because cholesterol is one of your body's basic building blocks. You need it to produce testosterone, to build and repair cell membranes, and to preserve your nerve cells through the formation of the protective "sheaths" that cover them.
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Starving your body of this critical substance will lead to other health problems. We already know that extremely low cholesterol levels result in muscle weakness, fatigue, depression, decreased sex drive, and "brain fog."
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This new research shows that there may be even more deadly consequences.
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What really matters is not low "bad" cholesterol, but high levels of HDL, the so-called "good" cholesterol. As long as you have a high HDL count - 75 to 80, for example - it doesn't matter whether your total cholesterol is 150 or 350. A high HDL will always keep your risk of heart disease extremely low.
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So why haven't you heard this already? It may be because there's no drug that effectively raises good cholesterol levels . You can only effectively do it naturally.
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Consume natural fats. Avoid processed or fast foods containing "trans" fats - these man-made substances were never meant for consumption , and your body doesn't know what to do with them. They wind up clogging your arteries and putting you on the fast track to heart disease.
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Instead, get your fat from free-range or grass-fed animals, eggs, nuts, and unprocessed vegetable oils. These are some of the healthiest foods you can eat. (As with all foods, look for organic or minimally processed options whenever possible.)
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The health benefit of these natural fats comes from their balance of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids. Your body needs both but, as with c cholesterol, they have to be in balance. Omega-3s are great for your heart.
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They've been shown to prevent irregular heartbeat, reduce clogging of the arteries, lower blood pressure, and decrease inflammation in body tissues.
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If you stick to eating natural fats, you'll automatically get the right ratio of Omega-6 and Omega-3, which is about 2:1. As an added bonus, you'll automatically raise your "good" cholesterol levels and you'll reduce your risk of cancer.

The Early Bird Catches The Worm

2009-05-15T07:54:00.001+08:00

Well, in my case, I got a gift voucher to stay a night at a certain hotel in KL.

Last month, dear hubby and I attended an Awards Nite dinner and those who arrived before 7.30pm were entitled to participate in an Early Bird Lucky Draw. I really didn't expect to get anything at all.

And suddenly, I heard my number being called!!!

I was actually eyeing other lucky draw prizes such as a laptop and .... oh dear, I can't remember other grand prizes. Well, I guess God knew that I didn't need any of those gifts and I needed a holiday NEAR A SHOPPING MALL a.k.a The Pavillion!!! Wohoo!!!

En At Bukit Kepayang

2009-05-14T07:00:00.002+08:00

I don't know how Esther did it but En actually gave up her Saturday sleep-in time to get to Bukit Kepayang. It was En's first climb up this small hill.

Esther fetched all of us (En, Joel J, Jian and I) there and we started our climb at 6.55am - in the dark. We were already 10 minutes late.

En had very good stamina - being the lightest and youngest of the group. Both of us went on ahead while the two guys kept Esther company.... about 30 meters behind us.

When we reached the top, En rang the bell. She looked back and commented that her mum looked like one small black dot (I don't understand the black part because Esther was wearing white).

The gentle breeze soon dried our sweat and we lazed about. We met Peter and Helen Lai and chatted with them.

Soon, it was time to go down, and boy! were we so reluctant to do so. En concluded that going up is easier than going down.

Breakfast was at Ah Seng's coffeeshop (Joel J, Jian and En had breakfast while Esther and I had a drink each) and after that, Esther fetched us all back.

What a good way to start a day - exercise and fresh air!!! :)

Dad's 65th Birthday

2009-05-13T07:46:00.001+08:00

We celebrated dad's birthday in a dim sum restaurant one day after his actual birthday.

I thought he was 62 or 63 years old because we'd just celebrated his 60th birthday recently. Well, that was FIVE years ago, someone added. Gosh!!! Time passes by so very quickly. To me, he'll always be the young, handsome dad who's athletic and fit.

Almost Kissed Another

2009-05-12T07:38:00.000+08:00

I was driving to work one day. In front of me was a Saga BLM and further front was a huge bus. The bus signalled left and stopped to take in passengers. The Saga overtook the bus and I followed suit.

It was a three lane from then onwards with two lanes favouring the other side of the road. Because the road is winding and an accident prone area, double lines were drawn to ensure that we stick to our own lanes.

So there I was, cruising at about 70kmph when the Saga suddenly stopped and wanted to make an illegal u-turn.
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I hit the brakes. Hard.

The tires screeched. I closed my eyes, anticipating a loud crash. And my heart? It almost flew out of my body. I was dangerously close to getting a heart attack.

My car stopped. I didn't hear a bang. And I opened my eyes, slowly.

I was just inches away from the Saga.

Phew!!!!!

It took me a few seconds to collect my thoughts and mentally cursed the Saga for being so inconsiderate. The car was taking up 1/4 of the narrow road and there was no way I could've overtaken it without crossing onto the on-coming car lane.

After what seemed like a full minute, I realised that there might be other cars at the back of me ... which thankfully, there was none.

I moved on ahead, veering to the right to avoid hitting the Saga. And no, I didn't give the driver any dirty looks. I kept my cool and looked straight ahead.

Had it not been my new and powerful car brakes (and also my driving skills), I might've rear-ended the Saga.

Thank God for His protection.

Further on ahead, there is a lot of space for anyone who wants to make a u-turn, although it's still illegal as it's just around a very sharp bend.

Bookworm

2009-05-11T07:43:00.000+08:00

Look at this girl??? She just borrowed "The Works of Shakespeare", a book which is about an inch thick, from Rajen.

I don't believe it!!!! She's only 9+ years old!!! When I was her age, I was only reading books by Enid Blyton. Beyond that, no other authors existed.

And even now, I don't think I would ever pick up a book like that to read.

Gosh!! En really surprise me by her reading habits.

The Stranger

2009-05-10T09:40:00.000+08:00

a forwarded email ...........
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This is very interesting and not the ending I had expected!

A few years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around from then on.

As I grew up, I never questioned his place in my family. In my young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were complementary instructors: Mum taught me good from evil, and Dad taught me to obey.

But the stranger...he was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies. If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future!

He took my family to the first major league game. He made me laugh, and he made me cry. The stranger never stopped talking, but Dad didn't seem to mind.

Sometimes, Mum would get up quietly while the rest of us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to say, and she would go to the kitchen for peace and quiet. (I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.)

Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home... not from us, our friends or any visitors. Our longtime visitor, however, got away with four-letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush.

My Dad didn't permit the liberal use of alcohol. But the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing. I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger.

Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked... And NEVER asked to leave.

More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you could walk into my parents' den today, you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.
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His name?....... We just call him 'TV.' (Note: This should be required reading for every household!)

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He has a wife now....We call her 'Computer.'

The Dog Barked

2009-05-09T00:22:00.006+08:00

Remember the doggie I blogged about last week?

Doggie in my neighbour's house

Right now, he's semi-permanently at my neighbour's house. He squeezed in through the vertical bars and because he's so cute, he was sort of adopted by them.

We still do feed him from time to time but we'd only do it once a day, usually it's sausage or some kind of meat. Because of that, he's kinda choosy over food. He loves meat.

Sometimes he comes over to my house. No, he can't squeeze through the metal bars of our gate. He comes in when we drive our cars in and he would run around the compound of the house, like as though he owned it.

In all these weeks, we have never heard him bark before. He was certainly a maintenence free dog - errr.... except for his expensive choice of food.

I was in the house when I heard the dog barked for the very first time. It was on a friday and a cell night. Justin, Sarah & Rebecca was at the gate and suddenly I heard the bark. I went out, saw the kids and was surprised that there were no other dogs around. Well, it seemed that dear doggie barked when he saw strangers.

Later, when more people came, he barked more. Even dear hubby was surprised that doggie barked and went out to see if it was indeed doggie that was barking. Dear hubby said that he has to train the dog to recognise cell members :-)

Coins From the Piggy Bank

2009-05-08T07:24:00.000+08:00

About a month ago, dear hubby's asked if I could do him a favour by taking out the coins from his three piggy (actually they are doggies and a container) banks and exchanging them for notes. My reward? 10% from the entire amount.

Gleefully, I started working on one of the doggie bank. To my dismay, when I turned it upside down, only coins as big as the 20 cents could get through. The 50 cents couldn't get out of the hole and I had to take it out via the slim hole that is used for slotting coins in.

I spent about TWO (yeah, two whole hours) hours on one doggie bank and couldn't continue on to the other one as my hands were aching from the weight of the coins.

The next day, I worked on the other doggie bank and again, spent two hours on it.

At the end of it, I counted the total amount and it was only RM300+, which means that I get about RM30. Hmmm.... 4 hours (plus, plus) for RM30? I seriously think it was not worth it.

Kidz Safari 2 announcement

2009-05-07T10:31:00.005+08:00

We'll be having a children's safari event next month at Agape Gospel Assembly. Limited to 100 children. Do check out what fun stuff we did last year for the kids.

Sungai Chiling Fish Sanctuary, Kuala Kubu Bharu

2009-05-06T07:07:00.005+08:00

Sungai Chiling has been on our lips and in our conversations for over a month now. The date has been set for May 1st as it was a public holiday. (we were supposed to climb Gunung Ledang via Asahan on this day but the organisers had other plans). E-mails were sent out and 13 responded :-

Steve Yap - unanimously voted as our hike leader

Douglas

Eddie Kok

Christine

Christopher - youngest of the group, son of Eddie and Christine

MCTC - who used to be reluctant to go for outdoor activities like this, but was changed after our Bukit Panorama, Sg Lembing trip about a month earlier

Eunice - who found out about Sg Chiling from a fellow blogger, told Steve about it and decided to explore this place
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King Keong - a new friend whom I got to know from reading his blogsite about Sg Lembing. Co-incidentally, we went up Bukit Panorama on the same morning and I recognised the SAME sunrise picture

Edwin Ton - was with us on our Mt K 2007 climb
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Danny - the only one who has been to this waterfall 10 years ago and we were counting on him to remember the trail. He was also our sweeper (and at times taking the lead especially when Steve took a wrong trail and had to u-turn)

Matthew

Min Chee

Rachel

Nine of us met at the Blossom Food Court at 6.45am. MCTC and Eunice were late (which is hardly surprising) but we managed to get to Sg Buluh overhead bridge at the appointed time, which is 8am, to meet with the rest from KL.

It took us about an hour to reach the little town in Kuala Kubu Bharu, which looked like it had a facelift recently. Their roads are made of interlocking bricks and there were other developments going on nearby.

We had breakfast at this little corner restaurant, which was really packed. I had wan tan mee laksa while the rest had wan tan mee kon lou and pan mee. Eddie, who had the gift of interaction, won the proprietor's heart when he talked to her. She gave him a plate of fried wantan.

Next on our itinerary was the Selangor Dam. It was closed, as it was a public holiday, so we went further to an empty area to enjoy the view. Indeed, the water looked lovely and clean and the grass was green and healthy.

We drove for a further 10-15 minutes before we reached the parking area of Sg Chiling. From there, we walked about 100 meters to the main entrance, where we had a group picture taken.

Say Cheese!

We had to walk for a further 5-7 minutes into this trail-like path before coming to an open space where the registration office is.

Registration was only 50 cents perperson. Cheap, yeah? The purpose of going through this process is to have a headcount on who went in. There had been incidences where people died while swimming in the falls because of the strong current that swept them away.

In this map, we have to cross 6 rivers to get to the waterfall. My thoughts :- it seemed weird that we must cross 6 rivers to get to the main waterfall when we could actually veer towards the right to bypass at least 5 crossings.

We cross the first river by walking on the suspension bridge provided. Only 4 people were allowed on this bridge at any one time.

The trail was easy but very deceiving. It was only about 5 minutes after we started that we got onto a wrong trail because further up was a dead end. It was then that we remembered the park people advising us to always take the left turn. So we took a left turn and walked onto a little stream of water.

Little streams of water along the trail (just before the 2nd crossing)

After about 10 minutes, it looked as though we had to cross the river, so we did. But at the other end, there didn't seem to have any trails. We turned back and continued until we saw a sigboard which states "2nd crossing".

The water level was about 1.5 - 2ft. We made it across without any mishaps.

3rd crossing

After the 3rd crossing, I was right behind Eddie. I overtook him and went on ahead. I saw several people in front of me and assumed they were Steve, KingKeong and Douglas. They were moving very fast and I was trying to catch up with them. Then I heard Eddie calling my name. I thought it was because he couldn't see me and wanted me to slow down. I shouted back that I was only a little ahead of him. Several seconds later, he called me again and this time, I stopped so that he could catch up with me. My name was called a third time and I decided to see what was wrong. I backtracked and found that I had actually overshot the 4th corssing. Apparently, I was following the wrong group. (shy!!!!)

It was a little steep after the 4th crossing.

At the 5th crossing, Christopher fell. It was totally unexpected as we were very careful when we cross any river. In fact, Steve and Danny were normally the ones who'd go first and help us cross the river.

The only excitement (apart from crossing the rivers) were going under a fallen tree ... or above it. The rest of the trail were pretty easy.

We read in the Internet that the 6th crossing is the deepest and that it could reach up to waist level but it was only 2.5 ft in height. I guess it was because of the hot sun which we had for the past few weeks.

After the 6th crossing, we walked a little further before we arrived at the amazing waterfall. It sorta reminded me of the Yosemite falls (though I never got to see it because it was dry season but I do remember seeing pictures of it), the way the water cascades from a very high level.

There were about 20 other people enjoying the pool of water.

We dropped our backpacks and went into the water. It was so refreshing after hiking for 1.5 hours. The water felt as though it was refridgerated and we were immediately cooled off.

After about 7 minutes, some of the guys decided to go to the upper falls. From where we were, I looked up and knew it was going to be a steep climb. Waaay too steep and I wasn't sure if I was up to it.

I decided to go for it. I could always turn back if the climb was too tough for me.

We had to cross the 6th river again to get onto the other side.

From there, we saw the trail, which was so steep - about 45 - 60 degrees. Gosh!! I wondered if I could make it. Earlier, someone told us that there was one part where it could be dangerous and if we were to slip and fall, we'd fall into the water. we'd probably die, too, as it was quite a distance down below. Gulp!

I was extra careful. Even though it was steep, the roots formed steps for us to climb on.

We arrived at the middle falls just after the "dangerous" part - where we had to climb on a big rock - but not to worry, those who are tall, would be able to climb easily. Not me! I needed someone to pull me up.

We could only take some pictures at the middle falls as there was no proper path leading to the pool of water. Moreover, the distance from the waters gushing down the middle falls to the lower falls is quite close and I wouldn't be surprised if one would be swept over to the lower falls if he were to attempt getting into the pool of water.

A narrow pathway but I am sure anyone can go through

Just before we reached the highest falls, there was a sudden drop and those with long legs would not have any problems - unlike yours truly.

We came to the higher falls after only about 5 minutes after the 2nd falls. There were a few people playing in the water. The area was a little too rocky to do any serious swimming.

We were able to look down right to the lower falls where our 6 other friends were.

I think we must've spent about 15-20 minutes enjoying the sound of the gushing waters and feeling on top of the world before it was time to get back to our friends.

We took about 10-15 minutes to descend. The others were still in the pool so we joined them. After having some fun, we had some sandwiches and rested for a bit.

We saw butterflies of various colours flying around. Made me think of the Butterfly Farm in Malacca and the lack of it there. I'm thinking that this place could also be called "Butterfly Sanctuary). Truly, there were so many beautiful butterflies fluttering around.

Someone must've piled up the rocks. I'm amazed that despite its precarious position, the pile stood still.

Perhaps, if it rains, the rocks would collapse. Either that, or the water would fill the entire place and the rocks would be swept away by the strong currents...

We left the area at 2pm and had to cross all those rivers to go back.

At crossings 2 & 3, we could've waded in the river to get from A to D (nstead of going from A to B, walk a little and then from C to D) , which some of us did, actually.

When we came to the little streams of water, we knew that we were going to reach the registration office soon.

The hike back only took us about an hour.

We had to tick off our names at the registration office to let them know that we are back, safe and sound.

A few of us walked out to the car park to get our clothes. It was such a drag because we knew we had to get back into the registration office area to use the toilet facilities. It seemed like a total waste of time.

I had a little headache after I changed. RW called me to ask for directions to Bukit Panorama and while giving her the directions, my head felt heavy and I knew it was because of the sun. Sigh! Maybe it's a sign of me getting old!

We left Sg Chiling and headed for Kuala Kubu Bharu town center to have our lunch. Danny, Edwin, Douglas and KingKeong went straight back to KL as Edwin needed to get ready for dinner that night.

The restaurant that we went to was famous for it's chicken chop. 8 out of 9 of us had that and we ordered extra mee hoon and fried rice. I was dehydrated and drank a glass of barley and one can of 100 plus - and I was still thirsty.

We left KKB at 5pm and arrived back at Seremban at 7pm. I was dead tired and slept throughout the journey back.

By the time I got back home, it was 7.30pm. I showered and got ready to go for cell.

Yeah, it was a tiring day but a fun one too :)

Giving

2009-05-05T07:03:00.001+08:00

On Friday, YCYC and MRYC went to FS to buy canned food and other foodstuff for the poor and needy.

On Sunday, everyone brought their canned food and droppped them into the big food bank container. :)

Free Cell

2009-05-04T07:48:00.001+08:00

My church has set up a Food Bank where a huge iron container would be placed just outside the sanctuary for anyone who'd like to give canned food to the poor and needy. Normally, those who are working would drop those cans into the container.

Last Friday was Free Cell. Anne got creative and suggested that all Youth Cells go out shopping! Nah! Not shopping for clothes or personal stuff. She wanted the youths to contribute towards the Food Bank.

My cell combined with the Merbok Ria cell. We met at AlexisP's place, had icebreaker and worship there before adjourning to the Family Store nearby.

For our cell, we were asked to bring at least RM3 to purchase food stuff. Some of us felt compelled to cough out more than that amount. Whatever it is, all 28 of us filled out the place to look for canned food.

There were so many people as it was a weekend as well as a public holiday and not only that, it was the 1st day of the month - which means, most of the working people had their salaries and are doing their monthly grocery shopping.

It was a long queue and some of us pooled our things together to pay.

After what seemed like a long time, everyone paid and were waiting outside FS with their little bags of food.

We then adjourned to IRC (nope, it's not Internet Chat Relay... it's this new restaurant called Island Red Cafe) for dinner. We were warned that there would be a delay in us getting our food as there were sooo many people crowding the place.

We spread out into three different tables. Someone came to take our orders.

And we waited.

And we amused ourselves by taking lots of pictures.

And did some crazy stuff.

And waited.

The orders got mixed. After 40 minutes of waiting, we were told that Rebecca had to reorder because that item was sold out. She reordered - fries (cause that would come fast).

Rajen had to remind them about his carrot juice drink. And after more than an hour, the drink came - three times!!!! To which Rajen was firm and said that he wouldn't pay for the extra 2 glasses.

Some of them left at 11.15pm. And their food came at 11.20pm.

AlexisP's food came about 1 hour 30 minutes later. And we made him gobble up his food because we wanted to go back home.

The owner promised us that he would minus off the service charges - which he never did, and we paid it anyway.

Well, all I can say is, they warned us earlier that there would be a delay and I guess we shouldn't complain about it. Another comment is that they should've just taken the orders table by table and not combine all the items.

We did have a fun and bonding time, though ..... I guess that's all that matters, right?

What Grudges Can Do

2009-05-03T07:25:00.000+08:00

a forwarded email .........

This is long but worth reading and is a true story ...

This is for all the single, married, divorced, widowed individuals, who take life for granted. Please I BEG YOU, read this story until the end, it is such an opener. You never Know.......!

Just two years after our marriage, hubby brought up the idea of asking Mother to move from the rural hometown and spend her remaining years with us. Hubby's father passed away while he was still very young. Mother endured much hardship and struggled all on her own to provide for him, see him through to a university degree. You could say that she suffered a great deal and did everything you could expect of a woman to bring hubby to where he is today. I immediately agreed and started packing the spare room, which has a balcony facing the South to let her enjoy the sunshine and plant greenery.

Hubby stood in the bright room, and suddenly just picked me up and started spinning round and round. As I begged him to put me down, he said: "Lets go fetch mother." Hubby is tall and big sized and I love to rest on his chest and enjoy the feeling that he could pick me up at any moment put the tiny me into his pockets.

Whenever we have an argument and both refuses to back down, he would pick me up and spin me over his head continuously until I surrender and beg for mercy. I became addicted to this kind of panic-joy feeling.

Mother brought along her countryside habits and lifestyle with her. For example; I am so used to buying flowers to decorate the living room, she could not stand it and would comment: "I do not know how you young people spend your money, why do you buy flowers for? You also can't eat flowers!" I smiled and said: "Mum, with flowers in the house, our mood will also become better." Mother continues to grumble away, and hubby smiled: "Mum, this is a city-people's habit; slowly you will get use to it."Mother stopped saying anything. But every time thereafter, whenever came home with flowers, she would ask me how much it costs. When I tell her, she will shake her head and express displeasure.

Sometimes, when I come home with lots of shopping bags, she would ask each and every item how much they cost, I would tell her honestly and she would get even more upset about it. Hubby playfully pinched my nose and said: "You little fool, just don't tell her the full price of everything would solve it."There begins the friction to our otherwise happy lifestyle.

Mother hates it most when hubby wakes up early to prepare the breakfast. In your view, how could the man of the house cook for the wife? At the breakfast table, mother facial expression is always like the dark clouds before a thunderstorm and I would pretend not to notice. She would use her chopsticks and make a lot of noise with it as her silent protest. As I am a dance teacher in the Children's Palace and am exhausted from along day of dancing around, I do not wish to give up the luxury of that additional few minutes in the comfort of my bed and hence I turned a deaf ear to all the protest mother makes.

From time to time, mother would help out with some housework, but soon her help created additional work for me. For example: she would keep all kinds of plastic bags accumulating them so that she sell them later on, and resulted in our house being filled with all the trash bags; she would scrimp on dish washing detergent when helping to wash the dishes and so as not to hurt her feelings, I would quietly wash them again.One day, late at night, mother saw me quietly washing the dishes, and "Bam" she slams her bedroom door and cried very loudly in her room. Hubby was placed in a difficult position, and after that, he did not speak to me for that entire night.

I pretended to be a spoilt child, tried acting cute, but he totally ignored me.... I got mad and asked him: "What did I do wrong?" Hubby stared at me and said: "Can't you just give in to her once? We couldn't possibly die eating from a bowl however unclean it is, right?"

After that incident, for a long period of time, mother did not speak to me and you can feel that there is a very awkward feeling hanging in the house. During that period of cold war, hubby was caught in dilemma as to who to please. In order to stop her son from having to prepare breakfast, mother took on the "all important" task of preparing breakfast without any prompting. At the breakfast table, mother would look at hubby happily eating his breakfast and cast that reprimanding stare at me for having failed to perform my duty as a wife. To avoid the embarrassing breakfast situation, I resorted to buying my own breakfast on my way to work. That night, while in bed, hubby was a little upset and asked me: "LD, is it because you think that mum's cooking is not clean that's why you chose not to eat at home?" He then turned his back on me and left me alone in tears as feeling of unfairness overwhelmed me. After some time, hubby sighed: "LD, just for me, can you have breakfast at home?" I am left with no choice but to return to the breakfast table.

The next morning, I was having porridge prepared by mother and I felt a sudden churn in my stomach and everything inside seem to be rushing up my throat. I tried to suppress the urge to throw up but I could not. I threw down the bowl, rushed into the washroom, and vomited everything out. Just as I was catching my breath, I saw mother crying and grumbling very loudly in her dialect, hubby was standing at the washroom doorway staring at me with fire burning in his eyes.. I opened my mouth but no words came out of it, I really did not mean it.

We had our very first big fight that day; mother took a look at us, then stood up and slowly made her way out of the house. Hubby gave me a final stare in the eye and followed mother down the stairs.

For three days, hubby did not return home, not even a phone call. I was so furious, since mother arrived; I had been trying my best and putting up with her, what else do you want me to do? For no reason, I keep having the feeling to throw up and I simply have not appetite for food, coupled with all the events happening at home, I was at then low point in my life.

Finally, a colleague said: "LD, you look terrible; you should go and see a doctor." The doctor confirmed that I am pregnant. Now it became clear to me why I threw up that fateful morning, a sense of sadness floated through that otherwise happy news. Why didn't hubby, and mother who had been through this before, thought of the possibility of this being the reason that day?

At the hospital entrance, I saw my hubby standing there. It had only been three days, but he looked haggard. I had wanted to turn and leave, but one look at him and my heart soften, I couldn't resist and called out to him. He followed my voice and finally found me but he pretended that he doesn't know me; he has that disgusted look in his eyes that cut right through my heart. I told myself not to look at him anymore, and hail a cab.

At that moment, I have such a strong urge inside me to shout to my hubby: "Darling, I am having your baby!" and have him lift me up and spin me around in circles of joy. What I wanted didn't happen and as I sat in the cab, my tears started rolling down. Why? Why our love couldn't even withstand the test of one fight?

Back home, I lay on the bed thinking about my hubby, and the disgusted look in his eyes. I cried and wet the orner of the blanket.

That night, sound of the drawers opening woke me up. I switched on the lights and I saw hubby with tears rolling down his face. He was removing the money. I stared at him in silence; he ignored me, took the bank deposit book and some money and left the house. Maybe he really intends to leave me for good. What a rational man, so clear-cut in love and money matters. I gave a few dried laugh and tears starting streaming down again.

The next day, I did not go to work. I wanted to clear this out and have a good talk with hubby. I reached his office and his secretary gave me a weird look and said: "Mr. Tan's mother had a traffic accident and is now in the hospital." I stood there in shock. I rushed to the hospital and by the time I found hubby, mother had already passed away. Hubby did not look at me, his face was expressionless. I looked at mother's pale white and thin face and I couldn't control the tears in my eyes.

My god, how could this happen? Throughout the funeral, hubby did not say a single word to me, with only the occasional disgusted stare at me. I only managed to find out brief facts about the accident from other people. That day, after mother left the house, she walked in a daze toward the bus stop, apparently intending to go back to her old house back in the countryside. As hubby ran after her, she tried to walk faster and as she tried to cross the street, a public bus came and hit her...

I finally understood how much hubby must hate me, if I had not thrown up that morning, if we had not quarreled, if....In his heart, I am indirectly the killer of his mother.

Hubby moved into mother's room and came home every night with a strong liquor smell on him. And me, I am buried under the guilt and self-pity and could hardly breathe. I wanted to explain to him, tell him that we were going to have our baby soon, but each time, I saw the dead look in his eyes, all the words I have at the brink of my mouth just fell back in. I had rather he hit me real hard or give me a big and thorough scolding though none of these events happening had been my fault at all.

Many days of suffocating silence went by and as the days went by, hubby came home later and later. The deadlock between us continues, we were living together like strangers who don't know each other. I am like the dead knot in his heart.

One day, I passed by a western restaurant, looking into the glass window, I saw hubby and a girl sitting facing each other and he very lightly brushed her hair for her, I understood what it meant.

After recovering from that moment of shock, I entered the restaurant, stood in front of my hubby and stared hard at him, not a tear in my eyes. I have nothing to say to him, and there is no need to say anything. The girl looked at me, looks at hubby, stands up and wanted to go, hubby stretched out his hand and stopped her. He stared back at me, challenging me. I can only hear my slow heart beat, beating, one by one as if at the brink of death. I eventually backed down, if I had stood that any longer, I will collapse together with the baby inside me.

That night, he did not come home; he had chosen to use that as a way to indicate to me: Following mother's death so did our love for each other. He did not come home anymore after that. Sometimes, when I returned home from work, I can tell that the cupboard had been touched - he had returned to take some of his stuff. I no longer wish to call him; the initial desire to explain everything to him vanished.

I lived alone; I go for my medical checkups alone, my heart breaks again and again every time I see a guy carefully helping his wife through the physical examination. My office colleagues hinted to me to consider aborting the baby, I told them No, I will not.. I insisted on having to this baby, perhaps it is my way of repaying mother for causing her death.

One day, I came home and I saw hubby sitting in the living room. The whole house was filled with cigarette smoke. On the coffee table, there was this piece of paper. I know what it is all about without even looking at it. In the two months plus of living alone, I have gradually learned to find peace within myself. I looked at him, removed my hat and said: "You wait a while, I will sign." He looked at me, mixed feelings in his eyes, just like mine. As I hang up my coat, I keep repeating to myself "You cannot cry, you cannot cry..." my eyes hurt terribly, but I refused to let tears come out from there.

After I hung up my coat, hubby's eyes stared fixed at my bulging tummy. I smiled, walked over to the coffee table and pulled the paper towards me. Without even looking at what it says, I signed my name on it and pushed the paper to him. "LD, are you pregnant?"

Since mother's accident, this is the first time he spoke to me. I could not control my tears any further and they fell like raindrops. I said: "Yes, but it's ok, you can leave now." He did not go, in the dark, we sat, facing each other. Hubby slowly moved over me, his tears wet the blanket. In my heart, everything seems so far away, so far that even if I sprint, I could never reach them. I cannot remember how many times he repeated "sorry" to me. I had originally thought that I would forgive him, but now I can't.

In the western restaurant, in front of that girl, that cold look in his eyes, I will never forget, ever. We have drawn such deep scars in each other's heart. For me, it's unintentional; for him, totally intentional. I had been waiting for this moment of reconciliation, but I realized now, what had gone past is gone forever and could not be repeated. Other than the thought of the baby inside me that would bring some warmth to my heart, I am totally cold towards him, I no longer eat anything he buys for me, I don't take any presents from him and I stopped talking to him.

From the moment I signed on that piece of paper, marriage and love had vanished from my heart.

Sometimes, hubby will try to come into the bedroom, but when he walks in, I will walk out to the living room. He had no choice but to sleep in mother's room. At night, from his room, I can hear light sounds of groaning, I kept quiet. This used to be his trick; last time, whenever I ignore him, he would fake illness and I will surrender and find out what is wrong with him, he would then grab me and laugh. He has forgotten that last time I cared for him and am concerned because there was love, but now, what is there between us?

Hubby's groaning came on and off continuing but I continuously ignored him. Almost everyday, he would buy something for the baby, infant products, children products and books that kids like to read. Bags and bags of it stacked inside his room till it is full. I know he is trying to use this to reach out to me, but I am no longer moved by his actions. He has no choice but to lock himself in his room and I can hear him typing away on his computer keyboard, maybe he is now addicted to web surfing but none of that matters to me anymore.

It was sometime towards the end of spring in the following year, one late night, I screamed because of a sudden stomach pain, hubby came rushing into the room, its like he did not change and sleep, and had been waiting for this moment. He carried me and ran down the stairs, stopped a car, holding my hand very tightly and kept wiping the sweat off my brow, throughout the journey to the hospital.

Once we reached the hospital, he carried me and hurried into the delivery suite. Lying on the back of his skinny but warmth body, a thought crossed my mind: In my lifetime, who else would love me as much as he did? He held the delivery suite door opened and watched me go in; his warm eyes caused me to manage a smile at him despite my contraction pain.

Coming out of the delivery room, hubby looked at our son and me, eyes tear with joy and he kept smiling. I reached out and touched his hand. Hubby looked at me, smiling and then he slowly collapsed onto the floor. I cried out for him in pain... He smiled, but without opening that tired eyes of his...

I had thought that I would never shed any tear for him, but the truth is, I have never felt a deeper pain cutting through my body at that moment. Doctor said that by the time hubby discovered he had liver cancer, it was already in terminal stage and it was a miracle that he managed to last this long. I asked the doctor when he first discovered he had cancer. Doctor said about 5 months ago and consoled me saying: "Prepare for his funeral."

I disregarded the nurse's objection and rushed home, I went into his room and checked his computer, and a suffocating pain hits me. Hubby's cancer was discovered 5 months ago, his groaning was real, and I had thought that... the computer showed over 200 thousand words he wrote for our son: "Son, just for you, I have persisted, to be able to take a look at you before I fall, is my biggest wish now... I know that in your life, you will have many happiness and maybe some setbacks, if only I can accompany you throughout that journey, how nice would it be. But daddy now no longer has that chance. Daddy has written inside here all the possible difficulties and problems you may encounter during your lifetime, when you meet with these problems, you can refer to daddy's suggestion....Son, after writing these 200 thousand words, I feel as if I have accompanied you through life journey. To be honest, daddy is very happy. Do love your mother, she has suffered, she is the one who loves you most and also the one who loves me most..." From play school to primary school, to secondary, university, to work and even in dealing with questions of love, everything big and small was written there.

Hubby has also written a letter for me: "My dear, to marry you is my biggest happiness, forgive me for the pain I have caused you, forgive me for not telling you my illness, because I want to see you be in a joyful mood waiting for the arrival of our baby...My dear, if you cried, it means that you have forgiven me and I would smile, thank you for loving me...These presents, I'm afraid I cannot give them to our son personally, could you help me to give some of them to him every year, the dates on what to give when are all written on the packaging... "

Going back to the hospital, hubby is still in coma. I brought our son over and place him beside him. I said: "Open your eyes and smile, I want our son to remember being in the warmth of your arms..." He struggled to open his eyes and managed a weak smile. Our son still in his arms was happily waving his tiny hands in the air. I press the button on the camera and the sound of the shutter rang through the air as tears slowly rolled down my face....

A fatal misunderstanding and the person who loves me the most in this world is gone forever...

"Cruel misunderstandings one after another disrupted the blissful footsteps to our family. Our originals intend of having Mother enjoy some quiet and peaceful moments in her remaining years with us went terribly wrong as destiny's secret is finally revealed at a price, every thing became too late.".........

This is a true story.

LEARNING POINT - DO NOT EVER HOLD ON TO OFFENCES!!!

I am totally speechless, this story brought tears to my eyes as I read through each line eager to know what would happen next. It truly showed the devastating power of grudges and anger! Simple humility and communication would have resolved most of the problems in that story, as well as patience.... This story has really touched my heart and life as a whole and it has stimulated a paradigm shift. Though it is very sad, it is also very refreshing to know that from today, I can consciously start to live a life free of grudge. People please let's live a life devoid of grudge.

Communication is the key.

Finger Nails

2009-05-02T08:55:00.000+08:00

FionaL, one of our CG members, always have her nails painted. We've seen many colours on her - red, maroon, black, etc ... but this is the very first time (to my knowledge) she painted her nails lemon yellow.

And dear hubby's question to her was, "Can I lick your lemon nails?"

Ha!

I think this question caused a few people to look shocked and they turned to me to see my reaction, which is .......... none at all. :)

OT Survery Course Ended

2009-04-30T07:22:00.000+08:00

Finally!!!

The last day for our OT Survey course was 2 nights ago. I was so relieved. Don't get me wrong. The course is great and the lecturer excellent. It's just that I've been so pressed for time that I just wanted my schedule to be more flexible, that I would have more time for myself.

I remember a few years back, the schedule of a dentist friend I know had all his weekday nights filled with church related activities. And I remember thinking, "wow!!! How does he do it?"

Now that I have experienced such a heavy schedule, I don't think I want to go through that again. Hmmm... maybe it's a sign of getting old???

New IT Expert

2009-04-29T07:15:00.000+08:00

Last week I moaned about how I felt like a chicken without its head.

I had been spending half a day figuring out what was wrong with my computer. Jim finally managed to help me with getting all my documents back. He created a new ID for me and transfered all my data from one profile to the new one.

I was estatic.

BUT .....

I couldn't connect to the system and I couldn't send/receive any emails from my outlook express. I don't really mind not being able to receive/send any emails from my outlook express because over the past few months I told my purchasers to write to me via my gmail address. But there was this other generic email address which comes into my outlook express and most of them are enquiries - this means more business for us. And I know I had to get this outlook express fixed incase someone out there is wanting a house urgently.

Also, I really needed the system so that I could do my work.

I did a few tests on a few computers and different passwords and finally connected the problem to the "Administrator". I changed certain things in the server and tried logging on to the system from my computer. Voila! I did it!!! I managed to solve the problem. Yeh!

My next problem to solve was the outlook express. All I needed were the two passwords which I wasn't privy of previously. Emily (my colleague) helped me a little and I also tried asking the IT people in my HQ. Finally, I called another person (whom I have never spoken to before) and she managed to find out the password for me to retrieve my emails. Phew!!!

My computer problems are now solved! Woohoo!!! After almost 1 month of being computer-less. You know, I wonder how people survive without the usage of a computer....

The Little Dog

2009-04-28T07:06:00.000+08:00

For the past 2 weeks, this little dog had been paying me a friendly visit whenever I go out or come back home. He (not sure of its gender but it sure looks like a "he") would come near me when I am closing/opening the gate.

After a few days, I started giving him food from my freezer. Knowing me, I've got lots of extra (and sometimes expired) stuff in my fridge. I gave him one or two sausages a day and filled up a small container with water.

At first, he was rather shy and ran away. After a while, he came very close and ate the (cold, frozen) sausage.

He is now bold enough to come into the compound of the house but he knows his limitations and would leave the compound when we ask him to.

I've just run out of sausages.

And yesterday, I went to Jusco to buy a box of dog biscuits. I haven't bought dog biscuits before and don't know if I bought the correct one. There were a few to choose from. I'm hoping that he's not too "spoiled" by the daily supply of sausages that he would not eat the biscuits.

No Water?

2009-04-27T07:17:00.006+08:00

I live in a modest house almost at the bottom of the hill. My humble abode is at a T-junction where the car lights would shine into my house had it not been for the intimidating wall that surrounded my compound. Every morning and afternoon, during a school day, the front of my house looked like Jalan Tun Razak on a busy day. Cars seemed to materialise from every direction. I have been a victim of a minor accident simply because I needed to get back home at the wrong time.

Because of the heavy traffic outside my house, plus the fact that I live close to the main road, my house would be covered in "black" dust at the end of each day even though I'd close all my doors and windows whether I am in or not. Someone once commented, "Do you treat your house like a hotel? The doors and windows are always closed and I don't see anyone there". I had to explain the nasty dust over and over again.

There were times when the whole row on my side would be in darkness. No so on the other side. It seemed to me that the other side ALWAYS had electricity.

My neighbours (not immediate neighbours, though) have probably never known that there were such services as MPS collecting rubbish to dispose them at some remote area. So, almost everyday, the smell of smoke would be blown to the direction of my house, causing all my clothes to stink! Yucky!!! Sometimes I had to rewash my clothes because of the horrible smell.

...

And yet, when one of the pipes burst and water doesn't flow through, I would still have water from the main pipe; not a lot but enough.

Last Sunday, the water pressure was quite low, I checked the whole house, in case I left a tap running, and was quite convinced that the fault wasn't mine.

That night, I called JBA. Apparently, more than 200 people called in to report water loss. And when I asked what the problem was and how long would we be without water, he didn't know. In fact, he said that the technicians were working on finding the problem. He wasn't even sure if it were a water pipe burst ... or ... etc.

I hung up and didn't think much about it.

On Monday evening, the water pressure was even lower and the water was quite brown. I bathed in my parents' place and took a huge pile of clothes for washing.

I even managed to wash my car. Imagine that. People around my area would most probably wonder why I had water when they didn't have any.

This is the secret. I live in a place low enough for me to have a little water and yet, it is high enough not to be flooded when it rained cats and dogs.

I guess this more than made up for the fact that the location of my house had so many flaws. :)

The Cure for Diarrhoea

2009-04-26T07:15:00.002+08:00

I don't get diarrhoea very often but when I do, all I could think of is : gosh! What a great way to get slimmer. Having said that, I know of people whose stomachs are weak and experience diarrhoea often as a result of mild food poisoning.

I received the following via email and even though I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, I'd like to share it with you.....

When someone gets diarrhoea, sometimes the solution is so easy, we wonder why anyone has to suffer.

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The secret is in rice water.
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This is already known in this region. Ask your maids -- Sri Lankan, Indonesian, Filipina and they would know about it.

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My mother knew about it. When Dr Albert Winsemius came to Singapore many years ago for a farewell and thank you dinner in his honour, he brought along his wife Aly and his granddaughter, Jolijn. Both women came down with very bad gastroenteritis. They saw the doctor who gave them medication. It was slow to work.
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Mother boiled some rice in lots of water and went to their hotel with two 1.5L bottles of rice water.

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I cringed in shame at the offer of this folk remedy, which seemed so primitive to me. Never heard of this cure before. To my surprise, it worked, and they were even able to go out for dinner the next day. Both were exclaiming how the rice water did the trick of making them well again. Well, luckily it worked, I thought to myself.

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I was discussing this a few years back with Kim Ng, the ex-matron of KK Hospital. She said, yes, that is what Professor Wong Hock Boon, the notable paediatrician teaches. I was shocked and made some comments how could he? It was common knowledge so what had he got to do with it?

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Many months later, I regretted laughing at it. Dr Christina Shanta Emmanuel, who is the CEO of...uh, which group I have forgotten. Either National Health Group, or Polyclinics, or whatever.. regarded me seriously when I brought up the topic like it was good fun. She said that Prof Wong Hock Boon had presented a paper on it. At some conference. After he had done clinical trials.

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Then his results were published in the Lancet, the Medical Journal all doctors read. In fact, said Shanta, he was credited for saving the lives of 2 million African babies by this method.

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Ah, so! I am impressed.
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It is rice water and not rice, that does the trick. I have found it effective again and again. You take a handful of rice and boil it in a large saucepan with lots of water. Like three or four large glasses. Then you cool that and drink the water. If you are in a hurry to relieve the ailing person, take the saucepan off the fire and dunk it in a frying pan or basin of cool water with ice cubes if necessary.

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This gives the patient a chance to drink the rice water sooner and cure himself or herself sooner.
When drinking the rice water, make sure there is lots of it. You have to tell the patient that enough water must go in to line your guts from throat to other end, all 10 to 12 metres of it. If you take rice, it stays in the stomach. If you take broth, some of it may go into the small intestine.

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But if you take rice water, it will carry rice grains to every inch of your small and large intestine to the end where the problem is.
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How does it work? Even Prof Wong Hock Boon doesn't know. Read the attached file. Or go to ...
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*http://rehydrate.org/dd/dd06.htm#page2*

FRIM

2009-04-25T07:22:00.001+08:00

Feeling so frustrated at work, I decided to take a day off just to forget about work. I called Eunice and asked her which day she would be free so that we could go somewhere. She replied "Any day".

I took leave on the 21st and decided that we should go to FRIM (Forest Research Institute of Malaysia) to check the place out - mainly to see if we could bring the kids there some day.

MCTC heard about our plans and decided to come along. He needed this exercise for his "Operation Chilling" and we were more than happy to have him go with us. The plus factor is that he would drive us around.

We left my place at 8.15am, had breakfast at the Nilai rest area and arrived at the Sg Besi toll at about 9.30am. Traffic was relatively light, though at some point, it was a little heavy.

The ride was smooth until MCTC decided to use the highway to Kepong.

From there, he got the Selayang Hospital and Sungai Buluh Hospital mixed up. He kept wanting to go towards Sg Buluh even though we kept telling him to go towards Kepong.

We arrived at the Sungai Buluh Hospital and that was when MCTC realised that he was supposed to look out for the Selayang Hospital.

A few u-turns and detours later, we were on the right track. We went to Kepong and from there, there were many sign boards pointing towards FRIM.

We finally arrived at FRIM at 10.30am. At the guard house, we paid RM7.00 before driving into the large compound.

I had in mind a place full of tall trees, walking / jogging path, a little road that would lead to the car parks, a building and toilet facilities. I imagined it to be like Big Basin, CA. I was totally wrong. There were lots of buildings and even a school there. There were proper roads from the entrance right deep into the miniature "forest".

Not knowing where to go, we drove around the huge compound.

We drove around for a bit just to get our bearings right. We found the information office at Block 6 and made some enquiries. The lady on duty was kind enough to scare Eunice off with the mention of leeches being plentiful that day as it was raining earlier. And because of that, Eunice refused to walk on any wet trails.

We drove a little further, parked the car and started our hike on Rover Track. There was a tree which had fallen during the night and it blocked our way but we managed to walk over it.

The pathway was easy and we were able to have a decent conversation without gasping for air. It was indeed a nice hike. The air was cool and clean from the rain that morning. We came across some other hikers and joggers.

After about 40 minutes, we came to the canopy walk turnoff. Earlier, the info lady mentioned that the canopy walk was closed for maintenance from April 20th to May 25th. We didn't make that right turn as we knew that it would be a waste of time.

We walked on and came to a very nice waterfall. There were a few other waterfalls but this was the best.

There was a time when the pathway was filled with dead leaves and it felt like autumn.

We finally came to a proper road... and civilisation.

It started drizzling when we were on Jalan Symington. Being experienced hikers, both Eunice and I had an umbrella each incase the rain got heavy. I brought a cap and Eunice brought at least one poncho. We were really well prepared for the rain but we didn't use any of the rain gears.

We saw banners leading the way to the Malay Tea House and headed there.

We decided to stop for a break. We bought some kuih and drinks.

Then we continued on with our walk.

We saw bamboo trees and I told Eunice that Pandas love bamboo trees.

Then we saw the name of the tree on the tree bark saying "Eucalyptus ..." and I told Eunice that koalas love eucalyptus.

The above houses looked warm and cozy. Looked like a place for the FRIM workers but I couldn't tell for sure

We finally arrived at our starting point. A total of 1 hour and 54 minutes since we started our walk. Phew! That was our exercise for the week.

We changed and left FRIM for Lau Yat. I wanted to get several things but only ended up with a 4G SD card, which I bought for RM35.00.

Time seemed to have flown. We planned to leave KL by 4pm but was about 15 minutes behind time. We didn't even have time for lunch.

Traffic was alright and we managed to get to the Sg Besi toll just after 5pm.

Our late lunch was at the Nilai rest area. It was 5.20pm and we were indeed very hungry. We gobbled down our food and started our journey back.

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It was 6pm when I got back. What great timing. :) I still had time for a slow shower to get ready for my class at 7.30pm.

Chicken Without a Head

2009-04-24T07:48:00.000+08:00

The past 2 weeks at work had been terrible. The server at the office kept shutting down and it was 2 months before we decided to get a new one.

We thought that with a new server, our work problems would be solved. Right?

WRONG!

When Jim (an external IT "expert") worked on the server, he told us that we would not be able to use the system for a day. Well, it turned out to be 2-3 days for most of us. He was able to get 5 computers linked to the new server within 2 days. Those computers are so ancient, they ought to be in a museum and because of that, he didn't face much problems with the link - except the fact that the 85% of data in one of the computers could not be retrieved. My poor colleague had to redo most of her reports. If you were to wonder why she didn't back up her files, it was because her computer was so old, it didn't have a USB port.

Two other computers, one of which was mine, were XPs and Jim ran into some problems. He just couldn't link them to the server. Finally, after two weeks, he sort of gave up and asked us to go local. And because of that, I couldn't access my outlook express PLUS I couldn't edit or do anything at all to the "system". This is sooo frustrating.

I really did feel like a chicken without its head for the past two weeks. I couldn't get much work done as I couldn't use the system PLUS, I had to use my personal laptop to get my reports done. I couldn't print my reports and had to email them to someone who could print them out for me. It was really a waste of precious time.

These days, when I get to the office, a sense of dread would come upon me as I spend half a day wondering what was wrong with my computer. Most of the time, I would be trying to map the network, or trying to figure out why I couldn't print anything at all, etc.

I called my IT people in KL.... somehow I think they can't help me as they sounded blur when I told them my problem.

I guess I'll just have to pester "someone" until the problem is solved.

MPH Book Vouchers

2009-04-23T07:52:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday evening, I picked Eunice from Jusco to drop her off at a house warming party before shooting off to fetch dear hubby from a restaurant (he actually gate crashed on someone's wedding dinner!!!!) to Jusco for our dinner. On the way to Jusco, he told me that he had some MPH vouchers which were given to him as a gift from a talk he gave that afternoon.

We accumulated some MPH rebates and both the vouchers and rebate came up to RM343.00. Woohoo!!! The timing was great as I was running out of books to read.

We spent more than RM350 worth of books in MPH. I've already finished reading two easy-to-read books! :)

Hiking Backpack

2009-04-22T07:04:00.000+08:00

Eversince I gave away (out of the gratitude and kindness of my heart!!) my hiking backpack 1.5 years ago, I've always wondered if someone would be kind enough to go to HCM, Vietnam to get me another one.

Over here in Malaysia, one backpack like this would easily cost more than RM100., and it would not be as nice as the one which was purchased in Vietnam.

Last month, JohnnyK went to Vietnam and KG asked him to buy a few backpacks. Because of luggage weight and space, Johnnny only managed to get two and KG reserved one for me :-)

This backpack is better designed than the previous one, especially the front portion. The older one had zips running from top to bottom and if I don't zip it up properly, things might fall off from the side. I think this bag has more compartments in front, and it is easier segregate the different essential stuff.

What I like especially about this backpack (and also the other one) is the wire mesh at the back which allows air to flow between the backpack and my back. I tried to find a backpack like this in Malaysia but only those super huge ones have.

I am not sure how long this backpack can last because it only cost me less than RM40. I think it's worth buying it, even if it can last about 8-10 climbs.

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Anyone going to HCM, Vietnam, please let me know. I might want to get more backpacks like this.