Catch the trade winds in your sail!

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -- Mark Twain

Some years ago (17)

Date of entry: 24 June 1948

(The original entry was in Chinese. This is a translation)

Recently in Malaya there had been some security issues. In Johore there were gun-killing incidents. A European rubber estate manager was killed. The government issued emergency orders to address the situation. Every morning I buy meat from the pork seller in the market. He always treated me very well, often charging me less than others. This morning I was surprised to hear that he has been arrested. So far in Parit 6 persons had been arrested.

By Woon/Joon SC

Note: In the picture, the writer is in a white hat, white shirt and short trousers, holding a gun

A smile in my heart

Images like these always send a smile to my heart.

My friends Ethelin and Beng at their 60th anniversary

My friends Agnes and Jerry who are accomplished dancers

Courtesy of http://phtosearch.com/

"Lou Hei" with family and friends!

This dish consists of raw fish slices, crushed peanuts, shredded pomelo, carrots, radish, lettuces, and many varieties of colorful raw vegetables and fruits placed together on a large dish. When it is served, everyone will stand up with their chopsticks and toss up all the shredded ingredients as high as possible into the air with the chopsticks, while saying auspices wishes (吉祥话) out loud at the same time. Everyone who participate in the "lou hei" will have better business opportunities and success for the coming New Year and the higher one tosses, the greater will be his fortunes for the year.

CNY with the family

The very crowded SS2 market on the morning of Chinese New Year Eve.


At my Father's house on the first day of CNY. CNY is the time when family members all try to come home.

Dinner at the Curve where we enjoyed my daughter Deedee's generosity...a record of sorts because it was the first time she played host!

The joy of living

The south wind is driving
His splendid cloud-horses
Through vast fields of blue.
The bare woods are singing,
The brooks in their courses
Are bubbling and springing
And dancing and leaping,
The violets peeping.
I'm glad to be living:
Aren't you?

The Joy of Living
by Gamaliel Bradford(1768 - 1824)


Little miss gorgeous, Iffah, just turned one!


The Lion was mingling with the crowd at the Curve

When at this restaurant, the way to go is to eat one whole fish EACH! My mouth still watering...

Some years ago (16)

Date of entry: 14 June 1948

The 10th of June was a public holiday, being the King's birthday. I went to Ipoh on the 9th at 6 pm and brought 3 chickens, one for cousin and 2 for sister.

At 9 pm I took a walk in the Jubilee Park. Suddenly, Chew Jong Kiew met me and called me before I could see him. Thoo Yam and Low Sow Yee were also there, the former came to Ipoh on transfer 6 months ago and the latter had been in the Security Department for the past 9 years. Jong Kiew, the Station Hotel Clerk and I went to Celestial Cabaret and sat down for about 15 minutes. I took beer while they took light refreshements. This is the first time I met Jong Kiew since the Japanese Surrender, while we were in Kuala Lumpur we did not care to meet.

by Joon/Woon SC

(In the picutre, Joon/Woon SC is seated, 4th from the left)

Every 3.6 seconds someone dies of hunger!

Image from photobucket.com

Image from http://www.newsbbc.org.uk/
Image from http://www.flatrock.org.nz/

• Every year 15 million children die of hunger



• For the price of one missile, a school full of hungry children could eat lunch every day for 5 years



• The World Health Organization estimates that one-third of the world is well-fed, one-third is under-fed one-third is starving



• One in twelve people worldwide is malnourished, including 160 million children under the age of 5.



• Nearly one in four people, 1.3 billion (a majority of humanity) live on less than $1 per day, while the world's 358 billionaires have assets exceeding the combined annual incomes of countries with 45% of the world's people.



• Half of all children under five years of age in South Asia and one third of those in sub-Saharan Africa are malnourished.



• To satisfy the world's sanitation and food requirements would cost only
  US$13 billion- what the people of the United States and the European Union spend
  on perfume each year.



• The assets of the world's three richest men are more than the combined GNP of all the least developed countries on the planet.



• Every 3.6 seconds someone dies of hunger

Extract from http://library.thinkquest.org/C002291/high/present/stats.htm

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HAPPY NEW YEAR !

来自世界任何一个角落的朋友, 祝大家新年快乐 !

To all of you from every part of the world, HAPPY NEW YEAR !

How do I love thee?

How do I love thee?
Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.

- Extract of a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1806 –1861, one of the most prominent poets of the Victorian era.

My nephew Fadrul's wedding several days ago to his sweetheart, Imane Saphiia Imhof from Switzerland.

New Year Resolutions

It's that time of year again when most of us find ourselves making "resolutions" for the New Year. Some may be very straight forward, such as, to lose 10 kilos, to stop smoking, to drink less coffee, to take a vacation to a place you have never been before, etc. Most, I might hope, should focus on self improvement and the betterment of ourselves as a person. I hope we all would want to be a better person whatever our religious inclination and we would want to make a resolution to pursue ways to achieve the desire to become a better person.

Flowers in bloom

If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom. ~Audra Foveo


My White Lady Anthuriums flowered again after 3 years. The last blooms were in September 2008.

PERHAPS you’d like to buy a flower?
But I could never sell. If you would like to borrow
Until the daffodil
Unties her yellow bonnet
Beneath the village door,
Until the bees, from clover rows
Their hock and sherry draw,
Why, I will lend until just then,
But not an hour more!

- Emily Dickinson (1830–86),a poet particularly taken with nature