Please visit my other blog @ lyssyip.wordpress.com

Dear all,

I've miserably screwed up my blog here and will no longer be posting any articles here.

Please do visit my new blog at lyssyip.wordpress.com.

Sorry for the inconvenience caused.

Voiced Choice

Once again, the people has spoken "CLEARLY" and has made "OBVIOUS" choice of whom they prefer to be their leader. Every rational person would see that but why is it that the certain party involved in this power scuffle still cannot see or accept it? Why are they still trying so hard, using such pathetic tactics and sickening allegations to disgrace their opponent and hamper his effort to return to the parliament.

Anyway, whatever strategy they deployed or are deploying, it is clear that they are not working. 所谓的真金不怕红炉火(direct translation --> real gold is able to withstand the fiery furnace), and the fact that a person charged with penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, he is currently untouchable and unstoppable, so LOOK OUT!!! He is marching victoriously towards the parliament ...

And for those who opposes his return, please do put in extra brain power and use more "reasonable" and "masuk akal" strategy to halt his return ... or else, when he returns to power, he will be the HERO and those people will be reduced to ZERO ...

My wise friend ... Boston

Last night, i had the previlege of dining with Boston again. He was in town for his work and i obviously grabbed the opportunity to meet up with him... this is solely for entertainment purposes... No no no... Not i entertain him, he entertains me...

A mere 2 1/2 hour dinner has made me a wiser person and i learnt quite a number of things from Boston, amongst others are:

1. If you are a lawyer, you dun have to be afraid during the 7th month in the Chinese Calendar (aka Ghost Festive Season) because who can be worse than a lawyer???
2. If your character is such as those of "mo mo lu", you can survive in politics because you are untouchable;
3. Perfume is not only to be sprayed on the upper body, it can be used on lower body too;
4. When you have been having dogs as your companions for a long period of time, your sense of smell will be as sensitive as theirs. And you can use this sense of smell to sniff out the profession of certain people, especially the "Wind Dust" ladies; Boston clearly demonstrated that last night, sniffing out the 2 ladies seated next to our table.
5. 万同春 is the pioneer in Viagra sales.
6. To kill virus, add 1 portion of Clorox to 99 portion of water and vola!!! No more virus but it may bleach and burn your skin, on top of the 绝子绝孙risk，so please use it only as last resort, when all other methods failed. And please note that Dettol can only kill bacteria.
7. When a beauty salon with the name "Beauty Face" employs a not so beautiful "old" receptionist and is still operating at 11 p.m., they must be offering additional services to beautify your face.
8. This one is for the bosses out there - When you have to go outstation for work, fly there and have your employee drive your car there for you. This is just so that you can be mobile while you are there without having to drive long hours to get there...Clever!!!
9. The way to get back at another person who wronged you is to start a rumour/gossip.

Thank you Boston for the invaluable lessons. 感激你!!!

Dinner @ Pantai Seafood Village

Last night, an aunty from Australia which i haven't seen for a few years gave us a sumptuous treat at Pantai Seafood Village at Kg. Sg. Kayu Ara in P.J. When we reached there, both she and my MIL were sitting next to each other with their backs facing us. The moment she turned around and said hello, i was shocked!!! Huh??? 2 MILs??? They looked so much alike ... of course la, cos they are sisters ma... heh heh heh...廢話!!!

Ok now back to the food. It was a 10-course dinner and as usual, it started with the hot-cold combination.

Really loved the jellyfish with abalone slices and the chicken in sweet & sour sauce was marvelous. The stuff spring rolls were crispy and crunchy and yummy.

CRABS!!!!... oh..no no no no... Sorry! Sorry! I wasn't scolding anyone, but it was really a crab dish next. I dun really fancy crabs because there are a lot of hard work to be done before I can finally put a tiny little piece of the meat into my mouth and after one chew, wahla!!! It's gone... Susah! But I was lucky because i have my abang to do the hard work for me... Hee hee hee!!! For the singles on the table, you know who... this is actually a good reason to quickly get an abang/adik... ;p

After crabs, we had sharks fin soup, ginger steamed kampung chicken, steamed patin fish, butter prawns... speaking of prawns, hmmm... ... this is another dish that requires hard work but some people improvised by putting the whole prawn, of course minus the head because we dun have such big mouth, into their mouths and let their gigi and lidah do the peeling and separating works. But I, chose another method... A VERY EASY method... that is by subcontracting it to of course again, my abang... hee hee hee...

okay, okay... let's continue, after butter prawns was siew pak choy with mushrooms, followed by black pepper udon, and 2 deserts. Tho' the udon was bit bit spicy but overall it tasted delicious.

If you didn't notice, there were no photos after the crab dish until desert... heh heh... that was because I was busy enjoying my food that I terforgot to take their photos!!!

Eventhough the restaurant was packed but I think the kitchen staff were very free, to be carving this little bunny out of a small clove of garlic...

they even put a tail on the rabbit to make it real and..... WAIT!!!!..... What's that under the tail??? My gosh!!!!.... Is that a ... a... a... ??? Hmmm.......... Interesting...

Anyway, the 10-course dinner ended with laici with sea coconut drink and with everyone's tummy screaming "HELP!!! HELP!!! HELP!!!" due to overloading of food....

Thank you Aunty Irene for the sumptuous meal and do enjoy your holidays in the U.K....

蒙查查…漸漸長大了

第一次用剪刀, 是在我幼稚園那年. 當時看見我的嬷嬷用剪刀剪布, 覺得滿好玩的. 雖然嬷嬷有警告過我不可以動那把剪刀, 可是那一個小孩會聽話的呢? 所以,就乘一天, 當家人不在時,把剪刀偷了. 但是有剪刀, 卻沒有東西剪. 找來找去, 唯一能剪的就只有我的頭髮. 結果, 我的頭髮就這樣被犧牲了…… 不用我多說, 看看我的傑作, 就能明白為甚麼當媽媽看到我時, 會拿著藤條從屋里追到屋外……

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一年級的第一天,因為父母親都工作,沒空帶我去上學,結果這任務就由嬷嬷勝任. 嬷嬷帶我到學校後, 就一直在附近等候. Recess time, 嬷嬷帶我去廁所,她說記得十多年前,女廁所是在左邊, 於是就帶我到左邊的那一個廁所去. 我就覺得很奇怪,因為在那裡小便的人都是站著的,而只有我一個人是墫著的. 不過嬷嬷是大人, 她應該不會錯吧?! 第二天, 因為我很容易就適應了環境,所以嬷嬷就沒有再陪伴我去學校了.結果就和朋友來了一場爭鬥,女廁是在左還是右.當然爭鬥結果,我輸了……!!!

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在八,九歲的時候, 剛開始懂得甚麼是報紙; 記得當時我們家訂的是星槟日報. 這報紙很奇怪,因為它的封面,每天都有一對男女,恩恩愛愛的坐在瀑布前,但是卻永遠都沒寫是賣甚麼,好像只寫001 或003. 追問父母親,始終都問不到答案. 過了十多年, 在讀專大時聽朋友們提起, 才終於明白那是甚麼東西.

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一直以來我都是坐校車去上學. 最羨慕的就是那個坐在車門旁, 幫忙開關門的同學. 可是因為我是女兒身,所以一直都沒有機會那麼做. 直到五年級時的某一天, 終於機會來臨了. 當時剛剛放學, 我上了校車後,車門突然關掉. 心想,機會終於來了, 我可以實現夢想了… 哈哈哈… 就趕快跑去把門開. 但是由於太焦急了,沒看清楚四周圍就把門打開, 結果就把一個剛好經過的男孩,推進車旁充滿了水的大溝渠里. 看著他在水中浮來浮去, 整身髒兮兮的, 真不好意思… 好對不起他哦…

蒙査査...兒時趣事

小時後, 經常聽到大人們談泰國女孩子所表演的Tiger Show, 心中很自然的想到Tiger Show一定像馬戲團的表演. 腦里還會幻想到那些女孩子在台上怎樣用圈圈讓老虎跳來跳去. 他們好勇敢哦, 不怕老虎… 但是另一方面卻感到很好奇, 為甚麼那些女孩子會把香煙塞到下面去呢? 想來想去, 就是想不通. 老虎和香煙有甚kaitan呢??? When I was young, whenever I hear the adults talking about the “Tiger Show” performed by Thai Girls, my mind would inadvertently thought of the Thai girls performing with the tigers on the stage just like in the circus, putting up the hoops for the tigers to jump through. To me, they were so brave, not afraid of the tigers… But on the other hand, I was also curious because I also overheard them saying that the girls would put the cigarette on the "part" below… Huh??? What has the cigarette got to do with the tiger show??? Really couldn’t understand what the adults were talking about….

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記得當我四,五歲時, 父母親帶我們一家人到海邊玩,那可是我此生的第一次. 在此之前, 我只在浴缸里”游”過水. 當然在浴缸里游水時是赤裸裸的啦!!! 所以, 當爸爸把我丟進海里時, 我即刻大聲哭叫, “哇…!!! 我的底褲濕了!!! 我的底褲濕了!!!”. 結果呢, 就這樣給在場的親戚們笑了整整几年…. 甚麼嘛, 人家怕媽媽罵我把底褲弄濕了嘛… 有甚麼好笑呢??? 不准笑!!!! Jangan ketawa…. When I was 4 or 5 years old, my parents took me to the beach. That was my very first time on a beach. Prior to that, I only got to swim in my bathing tub and of course I would “swim” naked in there!!! Therefore, when my dad threw me into the water, the first thing that came to my mind was “My panty is wet!!!! My panty is wet!!!” and so I cried non stop… That incident had provided laughter to my family members for the next few years… What??? I was afraid that my mum would scold me for wetting my panty what… What’s wrong with that??? It’s not funny!!! Don’t laugh!!!

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以前, 要到鄰國去, 父母親總會帶我們一家人到immigration department 去. 不知道是為甚麼, 只是聽說是去弄 WATER PASS. Hmmm…??? 心里會想, 為甚麼要弄 water pass 呢? 難道去泰國要坐船過海嗎? 雖然我是笨豬一名, 可是我還懂得到新加坡才需要過海, 泰國和大馬的邊沿是相連的, 哪裡有海呢? 這些大人, 咳… 真搞不懂他們… 甚麼 water pass 嘛??? Last time, whenever we traveled to the neighbouring countries, my parents would take us to the immigration department to have our “Water Pass” done up. Hmmm… why do we need water pass huh? I know I’m not that smart, but I knew that to go Singapore, we need to cross the sea, but Thailand and Malaysia shares the same border, so there is no need to take any boat to across any sea… These adults huh, do they know what they are talking about nor not? What and why water pass huh?

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七十年代尾端, 是VCR (Video Cassette Recorder) 在大馬首次亮相的時期. 有一天, 婆婆從她朋友家回來, 興致勃勃的告訴我們, “哇!!! 我剛才在某某人的家看 MILO TIN, 真好看哦…” 聽候第一個反應就是…”Huh???, MILO TIN, 我們家裡也有嘛，幹嘛要別人的家去看呢？ 有甚麼好看的???” The end of the 70’s marked the start of the VCR era in Malaysia. I remembered one day, my granny came home, and excitedly told us “Wah! Just now I saw the MILO TIN in so and so’s house, it was so nice…” Huh??? What’s so great about Milo Tin? Didn't we have that in our house too? After much talking, then only we found out she actually meant video tape...

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還記得 Little House On the Prairie 這套戲嗎? 我以前很喜歡看. 但是每次看後, 心里總會很好奇, 為甚麼在短短的一小時里, 那套戲的早晨和夜晚過得那麼快的呢? 他們是怎樣控制太陽和月亮的起落呢??? 是不是用了一些特別的燈光呢??? 那些燈光真的好神奇哦!!! 能弄到戲裡的白天和夜晚像真的一樣…. Do you remember the show “Little House on the Prairie”? I used to love that show. However, every time after watching it, my mind would wonder how come within that 1 hour, the mornings and nights in the show seemed to pass so fast??? How did they do it? How did they control the movement of the sun and moon? Did they use special lightings? If they did, wow!!! Those lightings were really fantastic, cause they really made the days and the nights seemed so real….Duh…..

天底下沒有不散的筵席

22 June 2008 9:23 pm

Boston wrote:

“Thanks for coming to Penang. Good to have you all here. But sad to learn that no gal dark love me. May be some might do it darkerly. Hopefully one might do it in the darkest way. Raining now, contemplating whether to go outside for 2 hours. To Iv, lyss, KK, G”

22 June 2008 9:29 pm

G wrote:

“Dear Barrister, me too. Neither got bright love nor dark love. Whatever it is, please do not stand under the rain for 2 hours in view of you still lao sai and leg soft. Maybe consider to change hair style then may have chance to be dark loved. Regards, G. cc lyss, Iv, KK”

23 June 2008 1:50 pm

Boston wrote:

“下午送同學們回去了. 晚上, 燈光也暗了, 音樂低聲了, 口中的pipe也燃燒了, 窗外陰天了, 人是無聊了, 我的心開始想起了. 前天, 和同學們回去了母校, 在路上, 乗著風, 飄蕩在藍天邊, 一陣風把關公頭髮吹立了, 載著你們, 彷彿載著陽光, 不管到那裡都是晴天. 在校園裡, 手牽手, 一步 兩步 三步 四步 望著天, 看女孩子, 一個 兩個 三個 四個 排成線, 想起了二十年前, 忘了是怎麼開始的, 也許就是對你們, 有一種感覺, 忽然間發現自己, 已深深愛上你們, 真的很簡單. 青春若有張不老的臉, 但願它永遠不被改變, 許多夢想總編織太美, 最後迎接幻滅,, 原來沒有人暗戀我. To be continue….”

23 June 2008 2:03 pm

Boston wrote:

“… 原來沒有人會想起我的笑, 想起我的校服, 想起我的紅色底褲和手子淡淡pipe的味道. 看著你們回去了, 我要講你知, 你的意義, 我願用我十年, 去換我供你十天. 我要告訴你們, 愛我別走, 如果你說你不愛我, 不要聽見你真的說出口, 再給我一點幻想. To all, cc 董漢美.”

23 June 2008 2:07 pm

G wrote:

“大哥, 其實很多年前日萊峰的熊已經告訴我你是個好男人. 那條路上遇到的兩頭蛇也這麼說. cc lyss, Iv, KK.”

23 June 2008 9:27 pm

Lyss wrote:

“Boston, I regret not dark love you 20 years ago. After seeing your Ang Tei Ko, now my mind has you and only you. Really enjoyed the trip and appreciate G and your great hospitality and thank you to both of you for making this reunion possible and a success. Iv, you are a great room-mate and a great friend to be with. Jeff, thank you for letting us roam around and sleep in your car plus the late night supper sessions. Opps!!! Cannot tell others right? Sorry sorry! Mr. Kok and CK, thank you for making time to join us. Truly value and appreciate your friendship and hope to see you all again."

24 June 2008 9:49 am

Lyss wrote:

“Darling Boston, I know it’s raining heavily in Penang but please don’t soak yourself in the rain cos after I saw your ATK I now dark love you. cc all”

24 June 2008 10:34 am

Boston wrote:

“今天的雨聲聽起來特別的好聽, 不知是否它和我內心已達到了共鳴? 不知你是否也會想起我們以前一起朗誦過的詩:

“清明時節雨紛紛

路上行人濕通通

借問藥店何處有

牧童遙指萬同春”

BTW, what is ATK? I have a proposal, shall we prepare a class mag? I believe it is good to have a 已經出過2008. To 我的同學.”

24 June 2008 10:39 am

Lyss wrote:

"Don’t pretend you don’t know what is ATK la. BTW can you use your canggih mia camera to take a photo of it so that we can see clearly what Chinese words are written on it?”

24 June 2008 10:39 am

Boston wrote:

“Sorry, 是已經走過2008.”

24 June 2008 10:41 am

Boston wrote:

“Now I know, ATK = ang ter ko. I thought something to do with army, angkatan tindakan khas etc.”

25 June 2008 9:10 am

Boston sent and wrote:

“我的底褲”

25 June 2008 9:16 am

Boston sent and wrote:

“Which one to wear today? Piggy or mouse? Can’t decide, better dun wear.”

25 June 2008 9:19 lyss wrote: If cannot decide whether piggy or mouse, then go for elephant la.."

25 June 2008 9:25 am

Boston sent and wrote:

“山不在於高, 有仙則名. 海不在於深, 有龍則靈. 底褲不在於有象, 有紅則ong.”

26 June 2008 9:28 pm

Motor Keong wrote:

“Hey, it was nice meeting all of you again. You all still look great after 20 years. And it was a lot of laughs too.”

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Such were the SMSes that were flying everywhere after our 5A1 class reunion. Actually before the reunion, there were also SMSes flying all over… but because the contents were not under the “U” classification and it is more of 18SX, therefore not suitable to be posted here…

Hee hee… From the SMSes, you can see that we really had a great time together and truly enjoyed each others’ company. Those were the moments that I will forever cherish and remember. It also goes to prove that true friendship is able to withstand the test of time because even after “10” years being apart, each living our own lives, we can still be so close to each other without any barrier or barricade being constructed around us……

On 23 June 2008, a day after the reunion, we were supposed to go to the National Park. However, due to the late night before, Boston having lao sai till legs soft plus the fact that it was drizzling, the trip was cancelled. Instead, KK, G, Iv and I had breakfast in the café. However, we did meet up with Boston for lunch.

After parking the car, as G and I were walking uphill towards Boston, Iv and KK (as they traveled in different cars) who were just standing at the roadside waiting for us, this Boston, you know him la huh, being exceptionally and extremely different from all MANKIND, suddenly pulled his sports pants down to reveal his “ang tei ko” (Red coloured brief). MY GOODNESS!!! Right in front of everyone’s eyes and at the roadside… what if the 老aunty 心臟病發作, how? Or maybe老aunty see already, 心痒痒, how? Boston, please don’t la torture them like that!!! Anyway, I couldn’t tahan and burst into big laughter. I laughed so kuat until I couldn’t stand, so I just kneeled at the roadside laughing away like a hyena. Later I found out from G that Boston actually revealed his ang tei kor twice, to which I didn’t notice as I just couldn’t stop laughing at that time. Anyway, I really salute him for his boldness and courage to perform such stunt in public under broad daylight… Life is never dull when Boston is around!!!

Anyway, 天底下沒有不散的筵席, so after lunch, we bid farewell to Boston and G and with that, signified the end of our 2008, “10”th year 5A1 class reunion… However, that does not connote the end of our friendship. As a matter of fact, our friendship has been strengthened through this reunion and we do still keep in touch with each other on a more frequent basis… Hey, this is a vast improvement you know, from my ZERO contact with them to today’s daily contact with them!!!

Here I would like to personally thank the committee members of the Reunion Dinner:

1. Organising Chairman, G – There were numerous time when I was discouraged by the poor response and at times, no response from our fellow 5A1 friends but G had been faithfully there to encourage me not to give up on this reunion but to just treasure and look forward to the friendship of those who responded positively to this event. Thank you G for your immense support and effort in ensuring the success of this event, your great hospitality, for the Penang tour, being our Taxi Drebar, belanjaing us and also not forgetting for your assistance in getting Kok to pay up…

2. Event Manager, Boston – Despite the fact that you keep trying and are still trying to con us into believing that you are Dato’ Dr. KBW, LLB, LLM, LLN, LCC (oh!!! sorry sorry erase! erase!) Barrister something and something like Lincoln Inn, we still love you… Cos without you, who would be there to entertain us??? Anyway, without you, we couldn’t have gotten the great venue for our reunion and without you, we wouldn’t have gotten the 50% discount on our accommodation plus an upgrade to a Grand Deluxe sea view Room in Park Royal Hotel. Thank you Boston for everything that you have done, your hospitality, for taking such “SUI” photos that are to remain forever as our treasures, for driving us to Alor Star plus showing me the “straight” way to MacAlister Road Char Kuoy Teow, which I do not know whether I will ever get there or not based on your direction and last but not least, for showing me your ATK…

3. Communications Manager, Iv – Thank you Iv for your undying passion to reunite our friends and for your unceasing effort and enthusiasm in getting in touch and coaxing our friends to join the reunion dinner. Thank you for being a great room-mate, companion and a “sister” (same 葉 family ma, 自己人, ka ki lang) and for constantly watching out and caring for me. Also thank you for your patience in having to put up with all the nonsense that I talked about and the silly things that I did… Hee hee hee, must be torturous for you to stay with me… I really treasure you as my dear friend and truly value and cherish our friendship. Though KK was not a Committee Member, but I would like to extend my appreciation to him for taking time to join us and for giving Iv and I a ride home plus entertaining us and bringing us out for late suppers... If not for you KK, we, especially me, would have died of hunger, with white bubbles coming out from my mouth and wouldn't be able to make it to the dinner... and back home...

Kok, I had faith in you despite your flying aeroplans reputation and thank you for showing up, fulfilling your promises to attend this dinner and last but not least for paying your share of the dinner. You know la, your bad debt reputation... ahem ahem sorry sorry this one cannot tell one hor, ok ok you help me to erase later ok??? Thanks.... Motor Keong, LChoo and Chun, thank you for your time and effort to come and join us, for without you guys, there would have been less laughter... You see, we needed to have certain level of laughter to hit the "success" button and you guys have indeed contributed to that. Hope to be seeing all of you again in the near future...

大家友誼萬歲, 萬萬歲!!!!

p/s Boston, don’t forget to leave a comment after readling this article huh!.... This is to ensure that I can continue to write no matter itu laut kering or batu rosak… and please don’t let me wait u wait till I heart pain, ok?

And for you and only you, Boston...天底下沒有不紅的底褲!!! 萬歲, 萬歲, 萬萬歲!!!

Da Big Nite

“Oh yes, wait a minute Mr. Postman… wait… Mr. Postman…..” Oh sorry, I wasn’t asking the mailman to stop; this was actually my mobile ring tone and yes I’m kind of “old” in the sense that I like oldies… “Hey… What are you girls doing? Ready?” it was G calling from the lobby of our hotel, Park Royal where the reunion dinner was held. “We are almost ready… Give us a few more minutes” I replied. After putting down the phone, Iv, my room-mate and I scampered to give a finishing touch to our make up and tra-da… we are ready!!! On our way down, we knocked a few times on the door of room 741, occupied by KK, just a few doors away from our 745 room… “I AM BATHING… WILL JOIN YOU ALL LATER…” KK shouted from within. Oh!!! I thought normally girls will take longer time to get ready, but this time round, the roles were reversed, KK was still getting ready. Hmmm…. Oh.. ya.. Just remembered, he needed about 3 hours to comb his hair in order to have the “Hawaii Five-O” or the "Terminator" effect, to which the rest of the guys like G, Boston and Kok were ooing and ahying for… Guys also can be jealous one, you know… Further down the corridor, we met Kok and his 5-year old “mould”, his son who looks exactly like him, hence his “mould”. We were trying very hard to convince his son that we are “姊姊” (che che, translation = just a bit older than him) and not aunty. And I tell you, his son is such an adorable boy because he really called us “姊姊”, good boy!!! Well done…Kok, you have thought your son very well!!! Walking towards the hotel lounge, we could see from far, a guy dengan gayanya yang bermutu dan berkeunggulan sitting on the sofa. And as we stole another glance at this guy, we realized that it was actually G, looking very smart in his white shirt and black pants. (Ahem…!!! G was the Organizing Chairman of this reunion, so I need to “angkat” him bit bit. But bit bit only nia, many many no… Cos he memang ada gaya ma… but please don’t reveal this to him, ok? Shhhhhhh…..!) After that, the 3 of us walked together to Tamarind Brasserie, where the actions were all going to be that night. As the waitress directed us to the table, we could see Motor Keong sitting comfortably there with his wife and son and WAIT!!!! Boston had staged a mutiny and “rampas” the “Chairman” seat that was rightfully G’s. @#%&^*^#!!! Please excuse my language… This Boston huh, really Form 3 mia student la... Everybody wear sui sui and ean tao ean tao (translation = beautipu and hensome), he only wear his form 3 black Adidas T-shirt and Bermuda pants!!! 真是成何體統呢??? 哎!!! He as a committee member of this reunion, sekurang-kurangnya, wear la tuxedo! The situation worsen as Kok strolled in, haiya… ini semua Form 3 mia students betul betul tak tau apa itu dress code, mesti hantar dia orang pergi grooming course! Sama dengan Boston, itu Kok juga pakai Bermuda pants and a cotton shirt, and worst, dia jugak pakai itu sandals, alamak… Oi!!! You two huh, kita susah susah tempah hotel 5 bintang, bayar mahal mahal, nak gaya gaya mia reunion dinner, lu dua orang pulak pakai macam ini… Haiyo… ah mama, ai yo yo… itu “ni ah sing mah yi re care” la… (Translation from Tamil = You don’t look nice, I hope I got it right!). Tak apa la… maaf saja mereka la… Itu dua memang sudah macam ni sejak “10” tahun yang lalu. 江山易改,本性難移! Next to arrive was KK, after hours of combing and styling his hair, finally he made it. Then came L Choo and Chun, all 11 of us and the dinner began…. Mid way through dinner, I was thinking of filing a serious complaint with the Management of Park Royal. You see, each time I took some salmon sashimi, they tend to go missing every time I turned around. Park Royal, being a 5-star hotel should not have any rodent especially in its restaurants, but in my case, this rodent was very rampant. So, I decided to trap this rodent by pretending to go to the buffet table to get some food but at the same time kept my eyes on my sashimi. Finally, I managed to catch the big, I meant REALLY BIG RODENT by the name of BOSTON!!! That fellow was so lazy to go to the buffet table that he resorted to stealing from me!!! Id%oT! Even though the food was just so so considering the price we paid for it but the fellowship that we had with each other on that night was priceless. Friends that we have not met for the past 10 years, so much to say and yet so little time. After we finished the main course, we moved outside to the pavilion to continue with our fellowshipping. G was brilliant to bring along his guitar as one by one, we started to sing especially songs from our era like 哭沙, 恰似你的溫柔, 童年, 新不了情, 月亮代表我的心, and lots of others which I do not know. You see, my China not good, so China songs also suffered. It was so nice of Motor Keong to order 2 bottles of wine to belanja us… but unfortunately alcohol and I do not go hand in hand. If I drink it, I would have to search for G to 救命… At about midnight, Boston aka Snow White, had to go home to get his beauty sleep or else his baju would turned into rags and his ride would become pumpkins and rats. No.. la… Boston’s stomach began to act up and so he had to abandon us and left early. See!!! I should have complained to the Management of Park Royal !!! After our friends left us one by one, there were only 4 of us left and we proceeded to the beach and had moonlight chat… G was still playing his guitar and we continue to sing under the moonlight. Romantic??? Too bad they were not our spouses. And our dear KK commented that both Iv and I looked younger than our real age. He said we looked 21… which made Iv and I rocketed to cloud 9… only to plummet to below the ground when he continued his sentence with “under the moonlight” Halo, En. KK, whether under or above the moonlight, we still look young!!! OK??? Get that?! Time and tide wait for no man… Even though it was such an enjoyable night, being under the moonlight, being with our dear friends, enjoying the cool sea breeze, singing and reminiscing the good old school days and having the school girl/boy type of feelings again but every thing good must come to an end… and so we bid each other good night and went on our separate ways…relunctantly… and that ended our reunion dinner….

Last episode coming soon……

Past... and Present

“10” years ago, I had no idea at all what was to become of my classmates or my own self. I really have not given any thought to it. But “10” years later today, I am proud to say that I have such an elite group of friends. Yes!!! All my classmates have become successful professionals such as doctors, engineers, pharmacists, accountants, bankers, investors, financial advisors, businessman and no, Boston, I didn’t forget u, lawyer… oh oh sorry… barrister. Despite their successes, the angle of their noses did not raise 45 degree or eyes looking at the sky. They are still very much the same, humble and very down to earth. Ok la, to be fair, some may have changed, but those that I still cross path with, didn’t. Continuing from farewell to 陳 Sir and our alma mater… we were on our way to Sungai Petani to meet up with our Cardiologist friend, Dr. LYC. I didn’t think about this fact up till now that I was so privileged to be traveling in a car with a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer and a super woman*. So, if I vomit, I have G to tend to me; if the air conditioning system breaks down, KK will take care of it and if both also cannot do their job properly, I can get Boston to issue them legal letters. If they counter sue me and I cannot win, super woman Iv will come to my rescue and fly me away… hahaha!!! LYC was one of the high achievers in our school, having scored the best results both in SPM and STPM. And the best part is, he is one year younger than most of us as he “jumped” from standard 6 straight to form 1 without having to go thro’ remove class. He was a quiet student. Hardly talked. Even though I sat with him the whole year in 5A1, we hardly conversed. And though he is now a Cardiologist, I can sincerely tell you that I didn’t sense any arrogance in him. When I called him out of the blue after “10” years, he could still remember me and he is still as friendly, humble and down to earth as he used to be, 真正的好人一個. I could still remember during our SPM time, when everyone else was busy studying and minding their own business, LYC would unselfishly shared his notes, his reference books and even notified me on the questions he spotted and thought would be asked in the exam. And as a result, I scored As in the subjects that he “enlightened” me upon. Though I was, am and will always be grateful for what he had done, I have never thank him personally, which is very bad of me. Therefore, I would now like to take this opportunity to thank him, “Dr. LYC, I sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart for your unselfish and gracious act of sharing and guiding me during our SPM exam “10” years ago. 萬二分的感謝和感激你的好心和好意, 我永遠都會記得你對我的恩情.” Hmmm… talking about SPM and STPM, there were a few confessions on that morning we visited our school. One of our dear friends, I won’t name names, confessed that IT (I cannot state he or she) climbed into the storeroom that stored musical instruments to “borrow” some cymbals for ITS drum set but “forgot” to return them even after all these years. Another confessed that there were a few “cooperative works” during SPM and STPM to ensure that the answers to the questions were “synchronized”. This was done, I guess, to lighten the burden of the teachers marking those papers. And then there were also some “ear pulling” and “hands exercises” during some oral exam. And I for one didn’t even realize these things happening right under my very nose… The one incident that I could remember best during my 5A1 days, was during the Chemistry practical exam, where we were given assam boi (pickled plum) in order to induce the production of saliva which would then be used for some test. What test? Errr… I just couldn’t remember, maybe litmus??? Anyway, there was this boy who sat in front of me, he was from another class. I think he didn’t read the instructions carefully because instead of smelling the assam boi to induce the production of saliva, he just took the assam boi, put it in his mouth, chew for some time and then spitted the whole thing plus his saliva into the test tube!!! After that he just sat there laughing himself away… I guess he thought that was funny… I was like huh??? Stunt and didn’t know how to react… whether to laugh or to cry… Anyway, initially we planned to visit 2 more friends in Lunas, but because we were running out of time and a bit tired, even though we are still young and the fact that we are only "28", we had no choice but to call off the plan and went right back to Penang. I was so tired that I dozed off in the car and if anyone were to dump me in the padi field or into the sea I wouldn’t have known. Heh heh!!! But I could remember vaguely hearing G and KK argued about political matters. Men and politics, there’s no ending… I must tell you that Boston is exceptionally and extremely “good” in giving directions. I asked him for the way to the famous MacAlister Road "char kuoy teow" because the last time when my family and I visited Penang, we tried to get there but because the roads had all been changed to one-way streets, we failed to locate the place and hence no "char kuoy teow". Therefore, this time round I was determined to get it right. However, to my total disappointment, every road that we were on and at every cross or T junction, he will direct me to go "straight" even if going straight meant knocking into someone’s houses or plunging into the sea. Sigh… Boston, you must really work on your vocabulary; there are other words like turn right and turn left in English one, you know??? Anyway, as long as he could send us back to our hotel, I think he’s still ok la… and indeed, he did get us back to where we were supposed to be, so NOT BAD, BOSTON!!! After reaching the hotel, we took our beauty rest in order that we might look ean tao and sui sui (translation – handsome and beautiful) for da Big Nite… (again, to be continue…)

Note :- Super Woman* - A good wife, great mum plus an enterprising business woman

Birth_Day

July 15 was my domestic helper, Susan’s (name changed to help protect her identity) birthday. Being thousands of miles away from home, I bet she must be home sick and wanting to share her joyous day with her family. Susan is a very hardworking girl and has helped me a lot in the past 7 months, taking care of my kids and my entire household, relieving me of the burden that I’ve been carrying for the past many years. Thus, I really appreciate her and truly value her presence in my family. Without her, I’ll still be doing the laundry, never-ending house chores, worrying about 3 meals, getting my girl ready for school plus lots and lots of other stuff on top of my 9 to 5 job. Indonesians tend to have very curly locks and I can see that she was having a tough time managing it. As a lady myself, I could identify with her “stress” and the “ai sui” (爱美 translation: “I wanna be beautiful”) nature. Therefore on the weekend before her birthday, as a token of appreciation, I took her to the hair salon to have her hair “rebound”. She was so happy and really appreciated my gesture. A birthday without a cake sounds weird, isn’t it? So, on her birthday, after work, I rushed to buy her a birthday cake. But birthday cake without present, also weird right? So, I proceeded to buy her a dress… a nice black dress because I think most girls would like it… plus a pair of ear-rings. Now tell me, which girl wouldn’t like that??? And as it turned out, tears of joy were streaming down her cheeks as she thanked us for that small surprise “party” that we threw her. I was also happy because my small act was able to make another person so happy… and truly, I like that feeling… Many people failed to consider the fact that their domestic helpers are also human being with feelings and emotions. They came from far and have to leave everything and everyone they love behind just to earn that minimum wages that we offer them. And for that RM500, they have to practically work their butt out. Waking up as early as 6 a.m., they have to get breakfast and kids (if any) ready, sweep and mop the floor, do laundry, ironing, cooking, washing and some even have to wash cars daily. And they only get to go to bed at 9 or 10 p.m. Some of these helpers tend to be slow because they came from a different culture and life back at home could be at a very slow pace too. Many of us, employers tend to have a number of spoiled irons, because most of the time, they were not used to operating the “canggih” electrical items. At times, communication plays a part in the helpers’ mistakes. See, bahasa Indonesia and bahasa Malaysia, though somewhat the same but the way the grammars are used are totally different. Hence, a lot of times they do not understand our instructions and being afraid of getting scolded, they tend to just keep quiet even though there are many ??? in their minds. I do hear of a lot cases where the helpers “curi makan” be it fruits, chocolates or biscuits. Some helpers are very young, some in their teens, and hence they still somehow act and think like a kid. Kids like food that is appealing to them and the helpers being like kids, curious, also tend to want to try it. But afraid of getting scolded, they will resort to many “secretive” ways of getting it… just like kids… Bottomline is, before we proceed to blame or scold our domestic helpers, please give a thought or two to their upbringing, their cultural background and most of all their feelings and emotion… And the things that they spoilt, those are material things, things that can be replaced, just that we need to spend more money replacing them. But the words that we uttered, those that hurt their feelings, they will forever remain in their minds and no amount of money can erase them from their memories. I may be naïve but I believe that if we show our kindness and appreciation to them, they will also repay our kindness with their commitment and honesty…

Back to school..... AGAIN!!!

Wonder whether is there anyone out there who likes to go to school? I, for one will answer 'NO!!!' Are you crazy? School is like a prison or rehabilitation centre for those ages 7 to 20. The teachers always punish us with lots of homework and lecture us on how to live our lives and they keep us in the school from 7.30 a.m. to 1.05 p.m. to torture us.... Having said that, my experience on 21 June 2008 was totally different... I was happy and excited to be able to step into my school compound again... Have I gone nuts??? No! That’s because I was there as a "VISITOR"!!! Haha!!! Not a student!!! As early as 8 a.m. everyone ie Boston, Iv and KK, was already in front of Evergreen Laurel Hotel waiting for G and I. We were late because I couldn't wake up and G, my Tour Guide cum Taxi Driver had to wait for me to get ready, cat some ICI paint and pakai sui sui. After some “one two tali som”, we finally decided to travel in Boston’s car. Actually the driving factor was the awesome DVD player in his Kia Sorento, number plate KBW xx (his initials), cool isn’t it?! G sat in front and together with Boston, kept us entertained the whole journey to Alor Star. They, the 4 of them, sang lots of songs in the car, mostly Jacky Cheung's songs, which i do not know. So I just sat quietly listening to them... which by the way was out of the norm considering my "chi cha" (talkative) nature ... As Boston’s slowly maneuvered his car into the path leading to the school, I began to experience the twilight zone and déjà vu feeling. Standing in front of the guard house was none other than our “楊過” (Kok) , my “former bf” from 1A Hijau class. Because of him, I was dubbed “小龍女”, which was quite glamorous during those days when the show “神刁俠侶”was popular. But today, if you call me that name, I will ambil tali, tie you up, take my parang and chop you into pieces!!!! Kok was still as youthful as ever and could even pass as a student without being noticed. He was still as playful and funny as always, nothing in him has changed; he too has stood the test of time. It was great meeting him again, after “10” years. From far, we could see our Maths Teacher, Mr. Tan SH aka 陳Sir arriving in his Toyota Altis. He also still looked the same as how I remembered him, no signs of aging. Iv was so, so very “the” excited and happy to see 陳Sir. He was her “idol” (偶像). Actually the main reason for the trip was to meet up with 陳Sir. He is our hero and all of us love and respect him dearly. All of us could remember his cool and unique teaching style. Everyday, he would walk into the classroom (ala matrix style) without anything in his hands. And as soon as he settled the class down, he would start writing on the board, all the mathematics formulas without even referring to any books or notes. He used to give free “massages” to cheeky students like Kok & TKS to relax those little muscles that they had at that time. He was a great teacher and together with our form teacher Mrs. Yee, were really concerned about the future and welfare of their students, always giving us advice, not only in our studies but also in our lives.

After “10” yrs and being a “belakang belakang” mia student who almost always fail add maths and modern maths, I thought 陳Sir wouldn’t have remembered me, but to my surprise he could still remember me (but he wasn't very nice to me, he said I put on weight liao… sob…) and even some of our names!!! Wow, AFTER “10” YEARS!!! We strolled through the school. Sad to say, many things have changed. The basketball court that used to be beside the canteen and the football field had somehow been sacrificed to make way for more classrooms. The biggest change however was the landscape surrounding the school. What was previously padi field has now been turned into housing estate with houses over 2½ storeys high. Walking towards our old classroom, nostalgia inadvertently set in … It was a pity to see all the old desks and chairs in our old 5A1 classroom in depleted state and the book shelf at the back of the class missing. Sigh… That was the classroom that I used to go 5 times per week, 4 weeks per month and 10 ½ months per year… the “Army Camp”… I could still vaguely remember the ambiance of the class; the quiet ones were mostly in front while the noisy ones placed themselves at the back. Those noisy ones included Boston, G, Kok and TKS. Most of our classmates have aliases, such as Butterfly @ Motor Keong, Mo Mo Lu, 西文欽 (Simon Kheng), Ka Chuak (Cocroach), Siam Ong aka Boston, Chicken Wee, Katak, Lampin, 關公, Lion Lee, Penyu. As suggested by the names, our class was indeed like a Zoo… “Haiyo!!! beh tahan liao, 吐白沫!!!” (copyright© by Dr. G) (translation: Aiyo!!! Cannot stand it any longer, vomiting white bubbles now!) “That one ah, you kuasa dua, I kuasa tiga, bigger than you!!!” “Huh?! You kuasa tiga, I kuasa 100!!!” “You kuasa 100, I kuasa infinity!!!” “You think I’m scared of you ah? You kuasa infinity, I kuasa infinity over your kuasa infinity!!!” (These of course were quoted from the boys, also courtesy of Dr. G) “Boyz… haiya… tak boleh tahan they all la…真無知…白痴!!!” (This comment obviously came from the girls) Phrases like these were very common during those days; the boys obviously have not mature yet at that time… Boston’s favourite pantun was and still is:

“清明時節雨紛紛 路上行人濕通通 借問藥店何處有 牧童遙指萬同春”

陳Sir explained that the education system, the school, the teachers and the students no longer have the same spirit as that of “10” years ago. People has changed, students no longer respect teachers and elders, teachers no longer have the genuine teaching spirit and academic wise, the examination passing benchmark has been lowered to the extent that it is not difficult to get 15As. From all these, my interpretation was “I miss you guys, you guys are the smartest and best students I have ever taught, it’s hard to find students like you guys now.” Heh heh heh!!! After lingering around for an hour and taking numerous photos, reluctantly we bid farewell to 陳Sir and also to our school… At this juncture, Iv couldn’t contain her emotion any longer and scurried over to hug 陳Sir. See you again, our dearly loved 陳Sir and our beloved alma mater… if not in the near future… then someday… again… (to be continue) …

Prelude to 5A1 Reunion

In my course of work, I receive lots of couriers everyday and that means lots of work. Today the office attendant, as usual, handed me a courier and I, as usual, asked him to throw it into the dustbin. This has been on-going for as long as I could remember and of course it was just a joke. I opened the courier bag. While I was taking out the content, I reaslised it was not my normal document, it was a DVD!!! Suddenly I remembered, it was the DVD that Boston had promised to send me ages ago. Loading the DVD, photos after photos appeared and memories of my class "10"th year reunion brought me back to THE DAY itself.

It was a sunny morning and after a month of co-ordination work, gathering all the contacts of my 5A1 friends in Keat Hwa, emailing them about the reunion and the program on that day, together with Iv, G and Boston trying to coax them into coming and arranging the dinner venue plus the accomodation, The Day has finally arrived. I woke up at 6 am that day, feeling excited, knowing that the hour to seeing my friends that I haven't seen for the past "10" years is getting nearer and nearer. Though my flight to Penang, the reunion venue was 9.35 a.m., I arrived at the airport at 8 a.m. It was my first time taking "Api-Api" ("Firefly") airplane from the old Subang Airport, so naturally I was a bit "lost", (didn't even know where to check in) and was hoping that Iv would arrive soon to rescue me... My "Lady" in her shinning "petticoat" came to my rescue in deed, amid half an hour later, but nevertheless, we still made it into the "Api-Api" fokker plane. I had this fear that the propellers might stopped in mid air and "Api-Api" would fly us into the sea... but after nearly an hour, my fear subsided and my courage increased as I saw the airport from the window.

G was at the arrival hall welcoming us with his 2 bare hands, thus my mind thought, mana itu hula girls and their leis??? Itu tak ada, tak pa, mana kompang or lion dance as promised??? Sigh... Probably because Penang now no longer under the rule of BN, so all these previleges pun kena scrapped... bad timing. G brought us around Penang Island, as part of our Island Tour package... before proceeding to a kopi tiam near Boston's office to meet up with him. As Boston had not seen me for 20 years, I thought that he wouldn't recognise me if i walked past him... but I was wrong, not only wrong, but wronger plus wrongest. From far, he already sniffed me out!!! I guess being a dog lover himself and spending half his time with dogs have trained him well and improved his sense of smell. So, project failed... miserably...

Lunch was at a Japanese restaurant, G's treat. He probably felt bad about not being able to deliver his promises of kompang and lion dance... nevertheless, a free lunch. After the sumptuous meal, we checked into the hotel and rested till the evening. At this juncture, KK arrived to join us and we proceeded to Boston's teahouse 天一茗茶. (Itu tempat mana, i pun tak tau...Tour Guide tak inform. Susah! First itu kompang and lion dance sepertimana yang telah diperpromisedkan tak ada, then itu tempat lawatan pun tidak diberikan nama). At the teahouse, Boston showed off his tea making skill. I wouldn't know whether he's doing it right or not considering that I normally only drink "siut char" (the 40 sen Chinese tea). Anyway, the tea was great, so I guess he did it right. Although the tea was nice, the RM1 peanuts that he served in response to my complaining of hunger tidak boleh pakai, as it was already "chow hong" (masuk angin). After that, we moved on to a hawker centre right across The Northem at Persiaran Gurney, for some Penang delights. However, due to all the excitement and being so happy just to see old friends again, I just couldn't eat anything even if I was served a meal fit for a king.

I remembered when I was in Vietnam, I had the previlege to enjoy the superb performance of a Phillippino live band, so I asked to be taken to a pub that played that same kind of music. And so, off we went to a pub, (also dunno the name, as this terrible Tour Guide never tell) in Evergreen Laurel Hotel. Ya, I got my Philippino band right, and yes there were scantily cladded girls but to my disappointment, their performance couldn't even match our own Simpang Kuala Girls... total disaster!!! However, that was quickly compensated by the fellowship that we enjoyed with each other, G, Boston, Iv, KK and of course, yours truly here. And to my amazement, there were quite a number of senior citizens there and they were ballroom dancing away in the pub!!! Kudos to all of them....

At the stroke of midnight, all the Cinderellas plus one Snow White must go to sleep and therefore we bid each other good night and parted. It was great meeting up with old friends again and I really treasure their sincere and genuine friendship. True friendship will definitely survive the test of time and the furnace of fire and I can proudly say that ours definitely had .... (To be continue) ....

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(P/S Boston, I learnt well)

Change...

Only the 2nd day, and i am encountering problems with my blog. The date on top of my 1st post was wrong, it should be 7 July 2008 instead of 7 June 2008. However, whatever i do, i just couldn't change it...

I guess the date is just like us human being... resist changes and unwilling to change. If the society is full of change adversed people, then the country will become just like.... Malaysia.... Although already 50 yrs after independence, it is still very much the same as before, only thing that has changed was the population has increased plus the vast infiltration of foreigners to the country. Sad to say, quality of leadership in this country has deteriorated to the extent that it has become an international laughing stock. With cases like the murder of Altantuya, involving the current deputy Prime Minister plus the sodomy charges against the former deputy Prime Minister, how would the world see us and what would they think of the country Malaysia? What kind of leaders are leading the country and being democratic, how could the people have chosen such leaders... Therefore, i guess that people throughout the world can't help but think that the adminstration of this country is like the "masak-masak" game, do whatever you like, in whichever way you like ...

With the rising resentment of the people towards the current administration, there are 2 things that we can expect, one is mutiny against the government, ousting the current leaders and two is everything remains the same. Sad to say, as usual, the spirit of Malaysians are often shortlived, our semangat can only berkobar-kobar for a short span of time and when intimidated, the flame would be put out right away and everyone will go about their lives as usual and the issues that was being fought for would be forgotten, if not, then sweep under the carpet... that is till the next "huru hara"....

Therefore, my conclusion is... life at this stage is like the date in my 1st article...unchangeable... but it can be changed and it will be changed, the only thing is we need to wait patiently for the right person to come to our rescue... to change it...

A new beginning ....

Today marks the beginning of a new chapter of my life... 7 July 2008. All thanks to my dear friend, Iv who encourgaged me to join this cyberspace by having my own blog. Blogging is very new to me and i have yet to figure out what to do and how to do it...but thank God i have 2 dear blogger friends who can help me out, so Iv & G, i am counting on you guys!!!! Life in the big city has more than often weigh a person down to an extent that one feels bored and meaningless to be going through the same viscious cycle each and everyday. To most of the city folks, life often revolves around getting up and going through the jam to get to work and back from work. And weekend is normally spent at the shopping mall. Is this life? I'm sure there are more things to do to bring meaning into city folks' life...

I grew up in a small town and holidays to me meant real fun as i get to go back to my maternal grandma's house in a kampung to stay. Kampung life is slower even when compared to that of a small town. I have lots of cousins, nephews and nieces (who are quite closed to my age group) staying in my ah mah's house and friends include those renting house next to ah mah's. Back then, they were like closed-knitted community where everyone knows just about everyone.

I would normally stay in my aunty's house which is next to ah mah's house and she would wake me up early in the morning to take me to the market which was just 5 minutes walk away and to the kopi tiam to buy "karena" roti to eat with kao kao (thick) kopi . Sometimes she would take me to the "chai tiam ma" (sundry shop) to buy sweets for me. Yummy!!! I called her "ah mak" which means mother, as she is the godmother of my sister and since i have no godmother, i "adopted" her as my godmother. Ah mak was a great cook, too bad i was too young to learn one or two of her culinary skill. If not, i won't only be a great maggi mee chef now...

In the quiet afternoon, laughter could be heard just about every corner of the house. We would be skipping rope, playing police & thief (兵捉賊), river crossing (過河) in the big big compound. Hide and seek was fun as there were lots of places to hide and nobody could find you.... and at night, everyone would crowd around the swings outside the house and chit chat till the cow came home...

After ah mah passed away and ah mak's sudden death, my relatives, one after another moved out of the kampung to stay in the small town. In the end, ah mah's big house was sold to make way for "new development", so they said.

I miss my ah mah, i miss my ah mak and i miss the kampung life... This blog is a new beginning for me; a new beginning to reminiscent the past in cyberspace, hopefully before my ill memory robs me of my childhood and other memories....