My Saturday with friends

Nor and me accompanied Fuzi and her friend John from Canada for seafood in Kuala Selangor




L-R: Nor, Fuzi and John









John given the honour of catching the crabs himself








We bought the fish, prawns and crabs and brought to a nearby restaurant to be cooked. The food was out of this world!






John having a good time tearing at his prawn. He certainly enjoyed the meal thoroughly






The view from the restaurant






In the evening had dinner in Chee Keong & Jennifer's house in USJ Subang Jaya




Iskandar Lim (R) and Chee Keong, friends since their school days in Kampar








Scenes of Jennifer's lovely home



































A peek into Jennifer's bedroom. Hope she doesn't mind








L-R: Chen, me, Jennifer and Nor










Best friends Nor (L) and Jennifer

Time sifts our friendships and our friends,

for Time alone can be the test.

With the passing of years

we lose the false and keep the best. -author unknown

Why sleep is important !

A few women were discussing diet tips. When it was mentioned that getting enough exercise and sleep were just as important as watching food intake, one woman responded with surprise that sleep was a factor. Another replied: "Of course sleep is a factor. The only time Im not eating is when Im sleeping!"

Source: http://jokes.smashits.com/

She wouldn't talk to me for a month!

One night a man walks into a bar looking sad. The bartender asks the man what he wants.

The man says "Oh just a beer".

The bartender asked the man "Whats wrong,why are you so down today?".

The man said "My wife and i got into a fight,and she said she would'nt talk to me for a month".

The bartender said "So whats wrong with that"?

The man siad "Well the month is up tonight".

Source: http://www.thejokeyard.com/sexist_jokes/no_taking_for_3_days.html

Finally, someone has actually made the point.

Yasmin Ahmad (in red) with the cast of Talentime.

Tragically, Yasmin Ahmad passed away on the evening of 25 July following a massive brain haemorrhage. Whenever I read the tributes to her I couldn't help but feel so sad. Malaysia has lost a gem of a film maker and advertising director.

I had always liked her advertisements which so aptly captured the essence of racial harmony in Malaysia. My favourite is "Tan Hong Ming in love" which depicted a young boy, named Tan Hong Ming who said he is in love with a girl called"Umi" . The advert ended with the message "Our children are colour-blind, shouldn't we keep them that way?" Finally, someone has actually made the point.

Singapore film-maker Tan Pin Pin accurately summed up Yasmin's unique ability,

“All her films, set in Malaysia, have the spirit of 'live and let live'. They tell us that people are humans no matter what their creed and race.”

Semoga rohnya dirahmati Allah

Yasmin Ahmad's blog http://yasminthefilmmaker.blogspot.com/, last entry dated 22 July 2009.

Ha ha!

I must be getting absent-minded. Whenever I complain that things aren't what they used to be, I always forget to include myself.

- George Burns

Funny cartoons

The Trouble with golfing in old age!

Any Way you lose

Check out this site: http://seniorcitizenhumor.blogspot.com/

Very fresh seafood

Once in a while, my friends and I go to Kampong Tanjung Karang for our fresh seafood supply. And I mean really very very fresh, like just unloaded from the fishing boat!

Yesterday we were in the mood for fresh seafood again, having got quite fed up of the quality of seafood of our wet markets and supermarkets in the city. So we headed off for a one hour and a half drive to Tanjung Karang.





Fishing boats nestling at the jetty

The boat just arriving with the day's catch

The towkay weighing our purchases

The towkay's youngest son, Ah S'ng, who posed for the camera after some persuasion

The fishing village on stilts which Ah S'ng calls home.

We also bought live crabs from a shop nearby which we brought to the nearby restaurant to have them cooked with salt eggs, for lunch.
Yummy...very delicious!

The Ikan Toman kept in an aquarium where we stopped to have our lunch.

What are we doing?

I was doing some research on poverty erradication in Sabah and Sarawak when I came across an article by Dr Hams which haunted me for days. He was giving a personal account of the poverty in Kota Marudu in Sabah and his opinion. I take the privilage of reproducing part of his article.

"...it appears that our system, be it health, education or transportation, tend to target and benefit the people who already have access to modern facilities. Why can't we develop the society as a whole? What are we doing for the people of Kota Marudu who do not live in the town and other people of this country who live in remote areas?

We have 16-year-old school drop-outs who are mothers of two and pregnant with their third child. We have a real problem of illiteracy in Kota Marudu. Do you blame these people for being ignorant of their rights as citizens of this country when they don't even have access to education?

Knowledge is power, and I believe the people of Malaysia have begun to realise this. Are we, those who are more fortunate and educated, going to remain ignorant about the existence of these people?

It has been 45 years since the formation of Malaysia and the fundamental rights of the citizens have not been addressed properly. It is embarrassing and a failure of this country to have these conditions exist.

We should stop trying to break records by baking the biggest curry puff and whatnot. We should stop people from constructing the national flag from dried chillies and sago and then complain about food shortage.

We should stop sending people on travels to infinity and beyond when the people of Kota Marudu, the people here on earth are dying of tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases. We talk about wireless Internet service, but, there are far more important issues to deal with. Our first world facilities do not compensate for the suffering of the people."

98 years old!

Gerontologists like to classify old age into three periods:

• The period from age 65-75, sometimes called the 'young old'
• The period from age 75-85, sometimes called the 'old'
• The period post age 85, sometimes referred to as the 'old old.'

Yesterday we celebrated our Father's 98th birthday. He must be a senior old old, closer to becoming a centeranian. We wish to celebrate his brithday in 2 years time in a big way. I
hope our wish will come true.





Following our family's Chinese tradition, the birthday boy has to peel 2 red eggs for good luck. Father swiftly peeled the eggs and ate both up.





Father happily cutting the Birthday Cake!






The Birthday Cake that I baked...eh...no...bought!













Sister Wan Lan and her husband Ching looking satisfied after a full meal











My daughter Deedee posing with her AhKong










My daughter in law Anzi serving the birthday cake








Following our family's Chinese tradition, all of us at the party have to peel a red egg each for good luck. My niece Farah trying her best to do it as neatly as possible.








My son Feris, as usual, had everybody in stiches!










My sister Wan Lan looking very happy,probably because we praised her for her fried mee which was quite delicious!










My son Farouk and daughter in law Azni relaxing after the meal.

My brother in law Ching looks bored. Past his bedtime?












Farah and her newly wed husband, Asri










My nephew Woon Ooi Jin (left) and nephew Fadrul

Plants in my balcony

Plants in my small balcony growing very nicely.

The majestic Holy Rosary Church in Kuala Lumpur

I was caught in a massive traffic jam this morning in Brickfields, on the road leading to Chinatown.

I was infact stuck at the same spot for a good 20 minutes, before the traffic moved very slowly.

While stuck in that spot, I noticed the beautiful Holy Rosary Church across the road and managed to snap this picture (picture below) from my car's side window.

When our family shifted to Kuala Lumpur 48 years ago, we first stayed in Scotts Road for 2 months, just a stone's throw away from this Church. I remember I used to be in awe of this building with its Gothic architecture even when I was very young. After all these years, the Church still remains the same in all its majesty! It seems this Church was first built in 1904 and was rennovated in 1951 into its present form.

For more information on this Church please visit http://www.rc.net/kualalumpur/holyrosary/history_files/history.html

This is also quite funny

Credit to: http://joekohl.com/cartoons_2.htm

This is quite funny!

Credit to: http://joekohl.com/cartoons_2.htm

They take away our 'riches"

While doing some research to write a paper on development issues in Sabah and Sarawak, I came across this powerful statement by a Punan (an ethnic group found in Sarawak) leader:

“We have never been poor, we have been made poor. I am telling the truth, and that’s why I am not afraid of the consequences of my words. The Punan were rich, all our life depends on the forest. From the forest we obtain medicinal plants, sagu, rattan, fruits and wild pigs. We never had to ask for food to anyone, because we had everything. The companies are destroying our forest, our source of life. Day after day, food becomes scarce, rivers become dirty, life becomes miserable. Now the government tells us that we are poor, and they want give us the same privileges enjoyed by the civilised world. This is a big lie, in reality they are taking everything away from us, they take away our ‘richness’, they transform us into poor.” (Tangga Unyak, a Punan elder from Long Halanga)

Unnecessary emotional baggage

A friend was telling me today about someone from her past, how much he had wronged her and how she still loathes him. As she went on...and on... I could see her getting more and more upset and in the end her lunch was only half eaten.

I could not do anything or say anything to ease her emotional state, because everytime I interjected to ask her to "forget it", she got even more upset.

What she does not know is that like her I had a similar bitter experience in the past, only even much much worse. Fortunately for me, "time heals" and I think I had "forgiven" because over time I had classified the experience as "fated", and I had also willed myself to forget and not to factor the unpleasant memories in my daily life. I think I do not want to carry that unnecessary emotional baggage throughout my life.