Merry Xmas and Happy New Year

Xmas used to be special to me, even though I am not a Christian. I love the songs, "Silent Night" and "WHite Christmas" never failed to sheer me up. I loved the decorations and the atmosphere. Chirstmas eve is my mum's birthday, so we always eat out during christmas eve and we always have cakes.

This Chirtmas I am stuck here, at the project site, and we just lost our mentor. God bless you Warwick! Hope you are with your family in Perth in spirit as you have planned long for this break.

I even forgot to call back to wish my mum happy birthday, only amended the mistake the next day. What kind of son have I become?

Suddenly lost all mood to celebrate Christmas and maybe New Year.

Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009! time for new year resolution again!

CHEERS! WARWICK RAY! R.I.P.

It is a sad week for me. Monday 2.30pm a collegue in KL office called up and informed that my boss, my mentor for the past 2 years collapsed and passed away in the meeting room.

My mind went blank, I was driving and calmly told the colleague thank you for breaking the news to me and hanged up. I was with 2 other collagues in the car, one whom had known WR for 20 years.

I told them the news, and then the phones started ringing, from 2.30pm to 3.3opm everyone thought we should know the news had called, the other colleague had by then round up the other guys on site and briefed them. I couldn't join because I just couldn't stop the tears. I shut the office door and pretended to be busy, my mind wandering and I was trying to recall my last conversation with him. His last email to me was 1216pm. He called me earlier to confirm some info before his meeting in KL.

This man is the first mat salleh I actually get close to and because of age difference and experience he has become my mentor and a fatherly figure to me. We talked of how to complete the project together everyday. We drink together after work, and oh yes, he can drink like a fish, not uncommon for a mat salleh.

He shares his previous projects experience with me, having completed projects in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Pakistan, Indonesia, Houston etc.

His wife is in KL with him the day he passed away, she was suppose to go back to Perth early for Xmas and he was suppose to join them 2 weeks later. They just had their 35 wedding anniversary, and I was just admiring how the couple can go through the thicks and thins over the years, still loving and cherishing each other.

I went back to the hotel blank the night, not knowing what to do. The wife wanted to wait for the daughter to come over to decide details of the funeral. Tuesday and Wednesday passed with lettle accomplished. I was dazing most of the time. even Tuesday morning when I reached work site my tears started to roll again and I had to detour and come back to office half and hour later.

I sat at his favourite table at his favourite pub here, and ordered his favourite burger and beer. Another colleague joined in, visible upset and suggested that we should put a plate there and name it "Warwick's corner" in memory of him.

It was decided then the funeral shall be held on Friday at Nirwana Memorial Center and his body will be cremated and ashes brought back to Perth.

I flew down to KL with 2 other collegues, couldn't help but cried when I hug his wife infront of his coffin. This is the first time in my life I feel the pain described in many books I have read to lose somebody. The excrutiating feeling just squeeze the tears out from your heart...

CHEERS WARWICK! R.I.P.! We will complete the project off and make you proud.

I have no hobby

I realised many years ago that I have no hobby, my attention span is short, I tried to pick up badminton, golf, write a book, guitar, fishing, but nothing stick.



Everytime I fill in an application form, I would genericly fill in the hobby column "Reading, swimming, travel"



Well, I do most of them, but I do not excel in any of them. The only thing I am good at is movies, I like movies, but if you think logically it is counter productive. Still, I watch whatever new movies I can get my hands on, except horror movies.



My new boss at work is good with his hands, can fix anything mechanical, likes fast cars and bikes, I sometimes wonder if I will ever accummulate his skills, not likely though.



I like travelling, also, seems a bit counter productive, and you can do it once or twice a year anyway, not like something which can fill your time durng week nights and weekends.



I joined a fitness center last year, try to get myself fit, one year and a half down the road, I am still fat, I go to the gym every Saturday morning whenever I am in KL, 30 minutes on the treadmill and 30 minutes in the gym, and sometimes if not many people, 30 minutes in the pool. Can this qualify as a hobby?



What other hobbies can you think of? I used to love computer games (another counter productive habby). I used to collect stamps, then for a while switch to collecting currency, like I said earlier, nothing last.



What is wrong with me?



Another thing I really enjoy is food, not good for me as I am already overweight. I enjoy reading introduction of new food joints in the newspaper and then track them down and try them all.



All in all, seems like my hobby is only eat and watch movies? Sad city boy...



I missed camping...

JUST MARRIED 13&14 SEPTEMBER 2008

One might want to ask why 13 & 14 sept? well, we chinese are used to 2 calenders, apart form the normal calender we use, chinese have the Lunar calender where we use to decide every occasion with it.

For the uninformed, 14 Sept 2008 is actually day 15 of the 8 month of 2008, which is the Mid Autumn Festival (aka mooncake festival laaa...). A big day for most of the chinese throughout the world, and a sacred day for us. The day we had our tea ceremony in front of our ancestors, parents and relatives.

Since many relatives coming from Penang and Ipoh, we have decided to avoid the peak to have our dinner on Sunday night. Hence a simple dinner (drunk nevertheless...hehe) on Saturday night (13 September 2008).

Many thanks to all relatives, friends, colleagues who have attended and help over the 2 days. Hope we will share this memory until we are old, senile and cannot remember anymore...

Aerial View

Guess where... everyday sun, sea and cool breeze, too bad I am not on holiday here.

Beijing Olympic

Merdeka is just around the corner, I am busy, but I was told I have let down my very limited number of fans , hence I have forced myself to write something.

Life is begining to mean something after almost one year of honeymoon in KL headquarters. I am begining to learn more on my near trade... hopefully will set my new career path.

Anwar won last night... most people I know were happy. They are happy for the change, but people have short memory, and Anwar knows it, people almost forgot about him when he was in prison for 6 years.

I still remember 10 years ago, thousands of people crowding outside his house at Damansara Heights, all eager to listen to their hero's nightly sermon on politics, while having the favourite "Burger Reformasi" and "Sirap Reformasi".

I was there that night with a friend, when the masked plain clothe commandos barged into Anwars house, armed with sub machine guns, the young ones were jeering, some even threathen to throw chairs at them.

Anwar was cool and calm, asking all to be patient and not emotional, he left with the commandos without putting up a fight. I thought he could have stalled the guys, get the crowd into a frenzy, wait for his lawyer, but he did none of that, and that was the last time I saw him in public for the next 6 years.

When Pak Lah took over at 2004, PKLR almost collapsed, winning only one seat in the parliment.

Now he is back! We will see what happens on 16 September 2008, only 2 weeks away, same time as the Beijing Olympic, 16 days come and gone. And I only recall the pretty smiling girls in cheongsam...

cheers

Time to meditate

again... time flies, another 1.5months gone since my last entry, can't even keep up a small promise like writing at least once a week.

well, I am in a whole new environment now, actually since 9 June 2008, and I will be here until mid of next year. Thats the life of a project guy, we go where very few ventures, it can be exciting, on the other hand, it can be lonely.

we meet new friends everytime we venture into a new project, a new environment, new chanllenges, people like us cannot imagine doing the same thing over and over again, for the next 30 years, like accountants, sheesh... however one must admit accountant get better pay than us.

month of June has been a challenging one, with more challenges ahead of the whole team.

miss my cat at home.

this is a picture taken in front of my project office, figure out where I am. haha!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Her birthday is on 24 May and we ended up having a family dinner with my family. My birthday is on 26 May and we ended up having dinner with some close friends.

Coincidentally my lunar calendar birthdate is on the 24th of the fourth month and hers on 26th of the fouth month.

I was briefly in a same class with a guy and a girl when I was in lower secondary six who share the same day, month and year for birthday, and we found out we were even in the same hospital! Unique huh? But I have not heard of them for more than 10 years now, wonder how are they doing.

Then there is this close friend who is one day ahead of me and I just celebrated birthday with the MD of a contractor who is on my project, his birthday is just one day after me.

I have been lavishing myself with good food since 23 May 2008 in the name of birthday celebrations, its just gotta stop!

And a day before her birthday, we had our pictures taken.

512 除了捐钱和流泪，我还能做什么？

中國‧母跪死護嬰手機留言‧“寶貝， 記住我愛你！”

（中國‧四川）四川大地震再次顯現母親最偉大，母愛最感人。
搶救人員在瓦礫堆發現一名母親的時候，她已被垮塌下來的房子壓死了。她生前最後姿勢是雙膝跪著，整個上身向前匍匐著，雙手扶著地面支撐著身體，有如古人行跪拜禮，只是身體被壓得變形了，看上去有些詭異。
救援人員在廢墟中搜索沒有發現生還者，突然，在屍體下發現一名三四個月的小嬰兒。因為有母親身體庇護，嬰兒毫髮無傷。嬰兒包在一個紅色帶黃花的小被子裡，抱出來的時候還安靜的睡著。
隨行的醫生解開嬰兒棉被時發現一手機。手機屏幕開著，上面有留言，“親愛的寶貝，如果你能活著，一定要記住我愛你”。
看慣生離死別的醫生，也忍不住落淚，隨著手機傳遞，現場每個看到留言人也都落淚。但幸運存活的小嬰兒，要長大後才能明白母親的犧牲有多偉大。

这个新闻让我难过了很久很久，有一种冲动想马上买一张飞机票去成都做点事情。在这里除了捐钱和不停的为感人的报道流泪于事无补。

KUMANG GAWAI 2008 WHOAHA!

Told you I have to be in Sarawak this weekend, but what I did not realised was that I get a chance to sit in and witness a cultural show of my lifetime.

Kumang means "Queen" in Iban. Gawai of course, most people know it as the "harvest festival" for Iban folks. It is basically a Beauty contest to pick a beauty queen for Gawai 2008, but there is no skimpy dress or revealing 2 piece bikinis, what we have is a feast and drinks and a show of cultural uniqness! I will explain WHOAHA later...

It was Saturday after work, colleagues of mind called up andask me what I will be doing at night, well, to be frank, nothing much as this is a small town and I don't really know anyone here. Seems that there is this Kumang Gawai dinner at the grand ballroom of the same hotel I was staying in, and there is tickets available. Well, of course I will attend haha!

As it turns out the night was filled with juicy entertainment, apart from the 15 contestants parading in their cultural folk costumes, coupled with an 8 course chinese dinner, and OMG RM10 for 3 cans of beer! and RM12 for a bottle of TUAK! Everybody was happy with the price off course, half way through the event you can see beer cans piling up on every table, the Mat Salleh who just came back Qatar on the same table as us was drinking like a fish, hardly touching the food, I think he at least paid the waiter 6-7 times a RM10 note. (Imagine 7 x 3 cans =?)

I ordered 2 bottles of Tuak, to be shared with mates on the same table. TUAK is actually rice wine, in a certain way taste similar to the chinese Rice Wine or Japanese Sake, quite nice mah!

At 12am, there is this ceremonial toasting to greet arrival of Gawai (suppose to be done on Gawai eve) The MC got everyone to stand up for the toast and mumbled some lengthy toast in

Iban, the only part I understood was "NYIRUP! WHOAHA! WHOAHA! WHOAHA!" nyirup meant drink up! whoaha must meant something like our Yam Seng! excellent!

This guy is the best entertainer of the night, he is a sos chef in the hotel! haha! We have suggested that he should go join Akedami Fantasia or something!

And the one sitting is Kumang Gawai 2008! pretty girl!

My CAT is MAD!

I have a cat, her name is MEW, she is mad, and for obvious reasons...

I did not take care of her, did not follow her wishes...

I have pledged my humble service to pamper her and I did not uphold my promise...

NOW I have to make up to my CAT... seems the only way is to openly declare my pledges so that the inferno burning inside will be serened...

OK lah, I will bring you to good CAT massage, good CAT bath and excellent CAT facial lah!!!

And I am saying this with a smilling face and all my heart.. never FORCED!! haha!

picture of my CAT..

LABOUR DAY in SINGAPORE!

OK! Time REALLY flies! Another month is gone since my last posting and nothing much achieved.

Labour Day falls on a Thursday this year, original I planned to take Friday off and spend 3 nights in Singapore, in conjunction to attend a friend's church wedding on Labour Day itself.

Well, things don't go as planned, I had to fly to East Malaysia (Land under the wind?) for a week on 2 May itself, hence had to cancel everything.

Labour Day arrived and I was dragged out of bed by my boss and was forced to drive all the way down to Singapore, making a DAY TRIP just to attend the friend's church wedding!

I am too old for this shit I keep telling myslef! Day trip to Singapore?

We left KL 9am and was having nice Duck Rice in Skudai, not bad...

by 3pm we are in the middle of Paya Lebar looking for the "Paya Lebar Chinese Methodist Church". Wedding only start at 5pm hence decided to look for another friend and she brought us to a Food Court at Lavender Street, had the MOST FAMOUS Wantan Mee in Singapore! Not bad also...

Church wedding is always beautiful, I always say, this one is no execption, the unique architecture of the church building couple with the illuminated glass Chirstian Cross really painted a beautiful picture.

By 7pm we are actually at the Tuas custom on the way back. holy cow! and I did the driving most part of the journey, hurray for me! seems I am not too old afterall!

Now waiting for my boss to upload the photoas taken in the camera...

April Fool!

Haha. Nothing to do with April Fool, just that I promised myself a few things early this year and one of them is to at least update this blog at least once a month, is that too much to ask?

March 08 was exciting for me, I wanted to write about the 8/3/08 General Election but was too consumed by all the others blogs and ideas and post mortem of the general election until I was exhausted.

Interesting part for me is a univarsity senior of mine whom I know personally for almost 20 years is now Deputy Minister. Bet he thought the most he would get was a promotion to Parliament Secretary, but heck no! many of the senior candidates of his party lost and he automatically moved up a few steps.

The other friend who was too consumed to promote himself as a potential candidate for the genral election was glad his was not choosen afterall. We use to go happy hours and karaoke together, but since he became Political Secretary of a Senior Minister, he seldom have time and to a certain extend, no time to entertain me anymore.

Well now, this time around his boss lost, and he was rendered jobless. And I manage to get an appointment to meet his holiness just one week after the election!

And there is PKR and DAP and PAS, suddenly you see many cute young girls and smart young boys much younger than me become YB! some even Exco for the state governement!

Now I told myself, hell if I had just that foresight I would be YB now! I am definitely more qualified then them! Well, as history taught me, if I had the foresight, I would be :

a) Much slimmer now
b) a MBA graduate
c) a certified professional
d) a PHD holder
e) a politician
f) .....

ahhh... things I thought I can achieve. well, still have to try...
cheers!

one of my favourite calon, guess why lerrr...

Behold The White Dragon King! 白龙王庙之旅

Bangkok, a place of mystic and beauty. Some people think of the Golf there, some of the pretty ladies, for me is FOOD! Glorious food!

Well, This is not my first trip to Bangkok, but different as we have a mission this time. To meet the legendary White Dragon King somewhere 2 hours away from Bangkok.

His holiness only meets 100 person per day for 3 days a week, hence we have to be early. It was a Thursday evening, and I was working, I have booked myself the last flight out of KLIA to Bangkok.

Upon reaching Bangkok at 1am, I took an expensive Limo Taxi to meet my friends at a Hotel downtown Bangkok, no doubt now sound asleep.

Reaching my friend Chow's room at 1.45am, took a quick shower and change, we assmble at the hotel lobby at 3am. There were 7 of us, and I only knew Chow. AFter shaking hand with the new acquaintances, we walk into a big cosy van, which I fell asleep almost immediately!

The Van slowed down one and a half hours later, roughtly at 5am, we reached the gates of the White Dragon King's temple, and there were dozens of van like us plus 2 huge bus in front of us!

My new friends were worried, seems we might not be able to meet his holiness as there were already 200+ people ahead of us, some came as early as 1am!

Lucky for us, it was Chinese New Year, his holiness was in his good grace and decided he will meet each and everyone of us. The only thing is that we are not allowed to ask him for indications or directions.

We had to take numbers. At 7am, we were served some delicious 'Yau Char Kuey' with soymilk.

The caretaker started calling out numbers at around 8am, people start to gather around His Holiness, we can see people being called and kneeled in front of him, and he would utter some words and hit the poor guys head 3 times with a small bamboo stick.

At around 10am, half of the people had left after the blessing ceremony. The caretakers were serving delicious fried mee hoon and fruits. I was last of our group. We ended up no more number calling, instead told to line up and move to meet His Holiness.

When it was my turn, His Holiness seemed happy to see me (or was that just my imagination? haha!) He gave me 3 lines and hit my head 3 times.

Should I divulge what he told me? hmm... let me think about it...

We left the temple around 11am, the guys seemed still up for some action, and asked the van driver to send us to the famous 4 Faced God in Bangkok. More praying!

HAPPY CNY 2008!!!

Time flies!

This is the 2nd CNY I have since coming back from Mother Africa. Over the past one month period we had New Year 2008 celebration on 1/1/08, the Hari Raya Haji and then Chinese New Year on 7 Feb 2008.

Cheers! Yam Seng!

People will be leaving for their home town for get togethers, don't forget the millions stuck in China metropolitans due to bad weather, may God bless them.

And to our family reunion dinner, we have a New Kid on the Block... this guy is now the focus of everybody..

yup! certified cute guy.

and they tell me this year is good for Ox, how come I keep losing money on Black Jack??

Bridal Fair

Time flies, tat's for sure. it must have been weeks since I last updated this blog...

well, over the pass 3 weeks I have been to Bintulu for my meetings, gym every saturday and sunday morning... working ... see? there's where my time went!

anyway, there's this Bridal Fair/wedding expo in Mid Valley last weekend and we just popped in after our gym session. there are like 20 over bridal package specialist booths there.

we just sat down to listen to 2 of them over the short period of time we have, each took 30 minutes away of our live and boy they really can talk.

The cheapest package starts from RM2k++ till RM5-6k for 2-3 books of wedding photos taken by professional photographer. The price quoted are for normal citizens like you and me and they even have VIP packages which ranges from RM10k to 20k!

Well, too many choices, cannot make up our minds... choose later larr...

Wynners Count Down Concert to 2008

2007 is gone, personally I find this a good year for me, having come back from Africa early this year, the new job had been easy for me, but being me as usual, the more time I have, I will come up with many plans I cannot keep/execute...

First I promised myself I should slim down at least 20kgs, even joined a 3 year Gym membership, and spent RM2k on some stupid slimming therapy, but results are not there.. the only consolation is that now I have build up a habbit to go to gym at least twice a week, at least better than nothing, I guess...

Then I promised myself I should take up a course to impove myself, ended up taking a 4 months "free trial" for a Master's program in a local university but decided it was not for me...

Haven't been to a Year end count down concert before, this year we manage to get some complimentary concert tickets, heck, Y not? Though I am not a big fan of Wynners, but they are about my time when I enjoyed music and karaokes, they performed some evergreen Bee Gees and Beatles... not bad at all..

Complimentary tickets...