Rocky Road

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.

Mansions in the Afterlife

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.

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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!!

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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. :)

Homework Time

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 :-)

MJ Died?

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."

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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?

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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 Minds

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.

Bookworm

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.

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

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

OT Survery Course Ended

Finally!!!

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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.

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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?"

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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???

No Water?

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

Tight Schedule

Sometimes I wonder if I do take on more than I can. Rajen seemed to think so and everytime I tell him that I am thinking of getting involved in a new ministry, he'd ask me to drop another.

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I used to have 3 weeknights off every week. Not anymore.

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I have always wanted to learn how to play the guitar. And with our cell not having any musician most of the time, I felt the need to take lessons from DY. He offered me free lessons. I chose to pay him for his time, not because he needed the money badly but because I knew that if I didn't pay for it, I might not take it seriously.

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So every week, I diligently go for classes. I practise almost everyday. I made sure I did my "homework", which basically means practise! practise! and practise!

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Monday is now my guitar lesson night.

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Recently, I took up two interesting courses. OT Survey and World Religions. There goes my Tuesdays and Thursdays.

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Which now leaves me with NO weeknight off as Wednesday and Friday nights are prayer and cell meeting nights respectively.

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Saturdays & Sundays are always reserved for wedding dinners, birthday parties, etc, etc, etc

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Early last week, I had to go for my guitar lesson early, just to get to the supermarket by 8.40pm for my dinner and grocery shopping. It was a mad dash in and out of the supermarket. I felt like I was in a Supermarket Sweep Competition. I ended up spending RM330 on household stuff.

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Some of my friends asked me how I managed to fit everything in 24 hours.

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Only two ways :-

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1) Sleep less.

2) Get a twin

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With work during the day and many activities during the night, I really didn't have the time to clean my house. Dear twin was kind enough to bring Tusi over for a few hours to clean my place - while I was at work. Phew!!! Otherwise the house would be in total chaos.

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Dear twin is also my errand girl - post a letter, bank in money, buy stuff from town, send a cheque to this outlet, etc, etc, etc.

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So for those who do not have a twin, sleep less. :)

Chewing Gum

What do people chew gum for?

For some, it's to see how big a bubble they can blow

For others, it's to take away the nicotine cravings

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For me?

2 reasons :-

1) Keep me from falling asleep during classes

2) Helps wipe away plague

:-)

Grateful

There are just so many things to be thankful to God for. I will be the first to admit that sometimes I do take God for granted. I've led a peaceful life (well, so far no one held a knife to my throat or gun to my head and threatened me) with good health, food and water to keep me alive and enough cash to keep me contended.

I thank God for friends and relatives who accept me the way I am and tolerate my idiosyncrasies, who are always there for me when I needed their help or company. Sometimes I know I don't take time to call a person up to say, "Hey! I appreciate what you're doing for me", or "You're doing a fine job. Keep it up" and I know how a little word of praise and encouragement goes a long way.

Having said all that, I would like to take time to appreciate my friends and relatives (individually) in the coming blog postings. So be sure to look out to see if you are included in my list or not. If however, you are not included, have no fear, this is a long term project and I guess sooner or later, you just might see your name in my blog :)

Also, I will not post in order of importance. I will do it randomly, as and when I see fit.

A Hug

I've seen so many kinds of salt and pepper containers but this is the first time I saw one set of a couple hugging. Both actually looked like Casper! Eerie!!! But unique :)

Honey, I Shrunk the Fries

I've always loved McD's french fries. Eat it with chilli sauce. Yummy!

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It's only good when you eat it there and then. I've ordered McD's fries via their delivery service and I don't understand why the fries always looked like this :-

I am NOT joking. I haven't started eating it yet and it looked so little. Either the fries shrunk or I got cheated! :(

A Rare Sight

We have two 29" TVs at home. One in the bedroom and the other, in the living room. The former gets used every night while the latter was practically a white elephant, taking up precious space in our small house.

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I don't think we have switched on the living room TV for more than 5 years. It's not that it's not a good TV. (It's a Sony!!) We just didn't have enough people clamouring for the one-eyed monster. The TV and I do not get along well. I'd get restless, sitting down in one position for too long.

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We have been wanting to give it away to my mother in law for a year now but somehow, we didn't make time for it.

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About a week ago, my mother in law's old 21" TV called it quits and decided to retire for good. It was definitely a good time to MAKE TIME to give the TV to her. And so we did! And along with it, we lent her our TV cabinet.

We took out lots of stuff in the cabinet and discovered these video tapes that have never seen the light of day for years and years. These tapes, I believe, are facing extinction, with the introduction of CDs and DVDs in the past few years.

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Truly, these video tapes are a rare sight. Perhaps, in 50 years time, I could even make money selling these rare items. :)

Rainbow

We were on our way to class on Tuesday evening when we spotted this beautiful rainbow. Immediately I was reminded by God's promise that He will not destroy all life by way of flood. (Gen 9:15)

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In Genesis 6, we read of how God was grieved over the man's wickedness and His heart was filled with pain. So great was His pain that He decided to wipe all mankind and animals, birds and fish.

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Honestly speaking, I'm really glad that He made that covenant with Noah, that He will never destroy the earth with water. Just imagine in today's world, I believe that the wickedness of mankind has increased many times over. If it had not been for that promise, I think mankind would be wiped out all the time.

The Menu

We were having our lunch in a coffeeshop one day. I had already finished my lunch and was waiting for two others to finish theirs. With the constant need to do something all the time, I glanced at this simple menu placed right on the table.

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I was trying to make out certain words and their meaning. Like ... vegetaria should be Vegetarian. I suppose what they are trying to say is that they serve vegetarian food there.

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And what is live cooks? I am deeply puzzled over this.

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Hmm.. I didn't know rice could be counted.

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And what is Chu Cheng Fan and Jin You Tiao?

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Ah! At least I know what Chao Gui Tiao is. I got it after trying for a long time to "uncode" it. It is commonly spelt as Char Kuey Teow. :)

And the Rain Saved the Greens

I got home yesterday evening, looked up at the darkened sky and thought to myself, "Yes! I can sleep tonight"

It's February and that normally meant HOT, dry weather. For the past few weeks, even though a friend from Banting kept insisting that it rains over there daily, on MY side it was hot, dry and humid. So much so that I'd get people to pack lunch for me cause going out in the scorching sun could mean risking my life to the big C called Skin Cancer.

It DID rain three days ago ... and yesterday, it rained in the morning as well as in the evening.

I looked at the three red bamboos I have just outside the compound of my house. I saw the already-turning-yellow leaves screaming for joy. The rain has come to save them from being ostracised. They will be green once again.

Mt Ophir a.k.a. Gunung Ledang - To Climb Or Not To Climb

Mention Gunung Ledang now and you'll see a smile plastered on my face.

It was just the opposite just prior to the climb.

On October 4th, 2008, a group of 38 people (organised by Messner and Sirdar) climbed G. Ledang. One of them was Eunice, my dear twin.

One day after that, she insisted that I should attempt to climb this mountain and asked Sirdar to organise another climb. Thus, thoughts of Ledang 2 formed and was set to crystalise on Feb 9th, 2009.

I was "bugged" about climbing this mountain even from December 2008 itself. I was certainly not in the mood to even think about it because of my involvement in the Christmas Musical.

January 2009 came ... and the question popped up. I was still uncertain.

I decided to test out my level of fitness by climbing Gunung Datuk on the last day of January. And yes, by reading what happened that day, you can guess how "unfit" I was.

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We were descending Gunung Datuk when there was a message from Messner saying that Gunung Ledang is closed to climbers due to heavy rain. In my heart, I breathed a sigh of relief.

February 2009 came. I received a text message on the 4th:-

I didn't answer to that message immediately. Part of me longed to go, but another part kept saying "You're not fit enough".

Two days before the climb, I gave Sirdar an affirmative answer.

My dear twin, even though she encouraged me to climb G. Ledang initially, was suddenly very negative about the whole idea.

She told me the following:-

1 - I am not sure if you're fit enough

2 - You must train more

3 - It is a tough climb

And more scary tales of her experience :-

1 - You know, when you get to the rope part, you'd be so tired but you need to use your arm muscle to pull yourself up. Your arms must be strong enough. Do some push-ups now

2 - To get to the trail, you need to climb more than 500 steps. That's double the steps of Batu Caves. Even "I" had to take a rest in the middle of that climb

3 - . Total number of Check Points is 8. The climb gets tougher after Check Point 5. There's one part where they named it "KFC". It means Killer for Climbers (gulp!)

4 - You'd better read other people's blog to see what you're in for

5 - I felt so exhausted after the climb. So please put all your clothes in order so that after you shower, you don't have to waste your strength digging and looking for your clothes

6 - I was so wiped out, I slept on the way back from Tangkak

7 - etc. etc. etc.

So, you can just imagine how terrified I was about the climb.

I decided to call JohnnyK to ask him just how tough it was. His immediate answer was, "You can do it". And he wasn't just saying it to encourage me. He was my "summit partner" for the Mt Kinabalu climb in 2008 and he was certain that I would not have much of a problem.

I was immediately relieved when I heard the confidence that JohnnyK had in my stamina. Believe me, I felt so much lighter after that conversation with him.

One day before the climb, Eunice made me go to the Lake Gardens to "warm up". We'd normally go at 5pm but because we had things to do at 5.30pm, we went there at 4pm. Yes! In the HOT, burning, scorching sun! Gosh!!! I can't believe how I was "forced" to exercise at such a time. She made me walk up and down the stairs, once again, tatooing the image of the 500+ steps into my head and telling me more of her ardous experience. Just hearing her talk about it made me exhausted and drained out, not to mention nervous and terrified.

That night, when we went to U. Beng's house for a Reunion Chap Goh Mei, I was not my normal "chatter-y" self. I kept thinking about the climb and what would happen if I were the only one who didn't summit. I kept looking at the clock, telling myself that I needed to get back early to sleep so that I would have enough strength for the next day. I kept calming myself down.

We left U Beng's house at 10.15pm (original plan was to leave by 9.30pm) and when I got back, I did a little packing and went to bed. I didn't want to take the risk of not being able to sleep and the only way to combat insomnia was to sleep on the living room floor, with the fan at the highest speed and the air-cond at 16C. I managed to sleep despite being eaten alive by the mosquitoes.

to be continued ....

Kopi-O License

I have this great suspicion that this driver paid a lot of $$ to get his license. Not only did he take up TWO parking lots, he took up half the road!!! Gosh! Some people are just so inconsiderate.

Am I Crazy or What?

A few months ago, someone mentioned that there would be a Ledang 2 and it was set for Feb 9th, 2009. I wasn't really keened on going .... after all, why should I waste one whole day suffering in the heat?

A month ago, someone asked if I was going. I didn't really give an answer to that question. I was still undecided. On one hand, the challenge was issued and I love challenges. On the other, I wonder which parts of me would be damaged by the end of the day. I know for a fact that my stamina is not good but ..... I guess it's all in the mind. If I say "I can do it" over and over again, then I should be able to conquer this mountain.

And now, with the climb only less than a day away, I am thinking, "Am I crazy or what?"