Ancestors

In talking to one of my aunty recently, i have just found out that my paternal (corrected per my sister) grandmother (she passed away in 1982) had 1 sister, and 4 step sisters and 4 step brothers, some of whom are still alive. I only knew about this yesterday.

My grandmother was the eldest child, and my great grandfather took a second wife. Whether my great grandmother (my grandmother real mum) was still alive when he took another wife, I have yet to ascertain. However, my grandmother and a grand aunty were the only children from the first wife. That grand aunty lived in the Philippines until she passed away about 10 years ago.

I can remember my grandmother as a small size lady who will hesitate at all in administering the rod to discipline us grandchildren. I remember lining up in the evening to receive a spoonful of Scott's Emulsion Fish Oil after our evening dinner. Whenever she was around with us, we grand kids were also subjected to reciting the times tables to her, in Hakka!! In those days traveling between the major towns in Sabah would be by sea sailing ships, and normally the trips will be days long.

It would seems i have some long lost relatives that I am completely unaware of. There are grand uncles and grand aunties, uncles and aunties, and certainly cousins in the Philippines, Singapore, Australia, and presumably a few in China as well.

I guess i should start getting names so that at least some 'family tree' can be traced and established....

Electricity..

Growing up as a youngster in the tail end of 1960s, there were a few years when we stayed in a house which did not have electricity. I remember we have to make do with hurricane lamps, kerosene lamps and early nights. We stayed in a rather large rented house; big compound, complete with a pond that was frequently flooded and therefore was an ecosystem by itself. There were fish and occasionally turtles as well.

We then moved into our own house, which my dad built on a 3/4 acre lamp, beside a small river adjacent to the airport. This house was also devoid of electricity when we first moved in in 1971.

I remember we only had electricity in 1973 or sometime then.

It was a grand occasion with the whole village ablazed with lights. for the first time, we had television, we had a refrigerator and we dont need to worry about kerosene lamps. For the first time, we can keep food more than 1 day, we can sleep and study a bit more.

My kids now take electricity for granted, so much so, that the first time they saw stars in the night sky, they were in awe... wondering what were those twinkling lights up in the night sky.

sometimes i wonder, who had more in life....

A message from HM The Queen to the USA

Message from the Queen




To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

In light of your failure in recent years to nominate competent candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas,which she does not fancy).

Your new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections.
Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.

A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:
(You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford English Dictionary.)

1. Then look up aluminum, and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it
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2. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'colour', 'favour', 'labour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut'without skipping half the letters, and the suffix '-ize' will be replaced by the suffix '-ise'. Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary').
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3. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as 'like' and 'you know' is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of -ize.
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4. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.
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5. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not quite ready to be independent. Guns should only be used for shooting grouse. If you can't sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you're not ready to shoot grouse.
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6. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. Although a permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.
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7. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left side with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables.
Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.
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8. The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it.
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9. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.
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10. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. South African beer is also acceptable as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting Nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of British Commonwealth - see what it did for them. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.
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11. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialogue in
Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.
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12. You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body Armour like a bunch of nancies). Don't try Rugby - the South Africans and Kiwis will thrash you, like they regularly thrash us.
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13. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries.
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14. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.
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15. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).
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16. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 pm with proper cups, with saucers, and never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream) when in season.

God Save the Queen!

weight loss program

A man was ordered by his doctor to lose 75 lbs.

As he wondered how in the heck he would ever do that, he ran across an ad in the newspaper for a 'GUARANTEED WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAM'.

'Guaranteed. Yeah right!' he thought to himself. But desperate, he called them up and subscribed to the 3-day / 10 pound weight loss program.

The next day there was a knock! on his door, and when he answered, there stood before him a voluptuous, athletic, 19-year-old young lady dressed in nothing but 'air', some Nike running shoes, and a sign around her neck. She introduces herself as a representative of the weight loss company.

The sign read, 'If you can catch me, you can have me!'

Without a second thought he took off after her. A few miles later, huffing and puffing, he finally caught her and ha! d his way with her.

After they were through and she left, he thought to himself, 'I like the way this company does business!' The same girl showed up for the next two days and the same thing happened.

On the fourth day, he weighed himself and was delighted to find he had lost 10 lbs. as promised.

He called the company and ordered their 5-day / 20 pound program. The next day there was a knock on the door and there stood the most stunning, beautiful, sexy woman he has ever seen in his life, wearing nothing but Reebok running shoes and a sign around her neck that read, 'If you catch me, you can have me.'

He was out the door after her like a shot. This girl was in excellent shape and it took him a while to catch her, but when he did, it is worth every cramp and wheeze.

For the next four days, the same routine happened. Much to his delight, on the fifth day, he weighed himself and found he had lost another 20 lbs, as promised.

He decided to go for broke and called the company to order the 7- day/50 pound program. 'Are you sure?' asked the representative on the phone. 'This is our most rigorous program.'

'Absolutely,' he replied, 'I haven't felt this good in years'

The next day there was a knock at the door and when he opened it, he found a muscular guy standing there wearing nothing but pink running shoes and a sign around his neck that read,

'If I catch you, you're mine!'

Bracing for tough times ahead...

For the last few weeks I have been harping to my staff that business will not be as rosy in the coming months or even years. No doubt the price of oil has decreased and still going down, but the sentiments in the business environment will be very negative.

Being so involved in high value motor bikes, which are rather high priced, we will definitely be hard hit in the coming months as consumers will defer the purchasing of high ticket items that are essentially luxury items.

Somehow, i am not looking forward to 2009...

PMR starts 13th Oct 2008

No, I am not taking the PMR examination, but the elder girl will be facing this big trial/hurdle next week.

So, it will be anxious moments for the parents next week...

Do well girl, and whatever is the result, mum and dad will stand by you. Right now, we are behind you, pushing!!