2009 - 拜年 ( Chinese New Year Song by Mediacorp Artists )

Happy Chinese New Year 2009.

May the Ox bring peace, patience, endurance, and most of all Joy.

CNY 2009

Apparently in the Chinese Lunar Calendar, 2009 is year 4706 in the Chinese calendar. It is also the year of the Ox, which is the 10th year in the 60 years cycle of the Lunar calendar system. The 60 year cycle is somewhat similar to the more familiar 100 years century system used world wide.

Next year, 2010, the Chinese New year will be on 14th Feb, which could potentially be a double whammy for a lot of people. CNY and Valentine's day. Anyway, that will have to wait till next year.

mean time, Happy New Year.

Malaysia's turn in March 2009

The world witnessed the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States of America yesterday. The hype and expectation coursing throughout the whole world is thick and immense. Here is a man of African descent, taking over as the most powerful man on earth. Here is a man, in a country, less than 150 years ago practiced slavery, assuming the mantle and beacon of the so called 'free world'.

It speaks volume of a great nation where 'all men are created equal' is enacted daily, not just in words, but in deeds. It must have taken a lot of courage to decide on such a change from the normal centuries old in grained expectation to something new and untested.

The American people (so cliche-ish!!) have spoken and the world is now watching. Let's pray the new change will bring peace to the world.

In Malaysia, we will have our own 'inauguration' comes March 2009, when the current Prime Minister is scheduled to step down and another assumed the position. The new PM will not be someone elected directly by the citizens of Malaysia to be her PM. He would be in the position mainly, supposedly, due to some back door deals, known only to a political group called UMNO. The new PM will 'take over' from the old PM.

Will we see the same kind of expectation ala -Obama? I hardly think so...

Will we see the same kind of corrupt practices? I hardly think so; it will be worst.

Will there be greater transparency and accountability? I hardly think so.. Corruption is so in grained that changes will take generations.

Will we ever see a non Malay as PM? Not in my lifetime, i dont think....

THAT time of the year.....Bonus/Increment

2008 has been a rather eventful year. There were times of great stress and there were times of fun as well, for the company, that is....

And it is now THAT time of the year when the staff would have to be informed what they will receive in terms of their share of the bonus, and going forward, what would be their increment in monthly salary.

On the whole, i think most will be happy with what has been decided for each and everyone of them. My only concern is that year 2009 will be a really tough year with little glimmers of excitement.

It is only right when the company performed well, the employees must be suitably rewarded as well. Now, if only the understanding is there as well; if company is not performing well, then little should be expected as well.....

Qi Gong

Decided not to continue the lessons yesterday night. Not because it was not interesting, but due to conflicting beliefs/faith, it will be better to discontinue.

When I started, the main focus was on breathing, techniques to breathe and concentrate on certain spots of your body. In a few of my colleagues, it would seem the Qi arrived and was felt early.

But the cruncher was really the 'lectures' from the master. It would seem one has to be committed body, mind and soul in order to achieve success. This is not in congruent to my faith as a Christian since the objective will align my commitment to something other than my faith.

My colleagues all achieved certain level, some more than other. In one, the feeling was intense; numbness of the face, tightening of chest muscles, quivering neck area.

Me? I felt a slight headache on the left side of my head!

Taiping Thiam Kee Restaurant

Last Saturday night I had pastries for dinner... And it was not because of anything but due to massive loss of appetite after a visit to the Taiping Thiam Kee Restaurant at Taipan USJ.

What started off as a perfect evening for a good dinner quickly went down hill after my 'steam white chicken rice' was served. In the menu, it was clearly stated as 'steam chicken'. What was served looked like over microwaved strips of chicken meat. It was easily distinguished as being microwaved meat. The chicken was probably steamed, a few hours ago, that is. And when a customer orders it, it was most like popped into the microwave, and zapped to be heated up. The meat was not white (darkish colour; clear evidence of microwaving), the skin of the chicken pieces can be stretched at least 50% longer!

I called the waiter and asked him if he would like to have the meal, my treat, and he smiled and said maybe another time.

I called the lady boss, and to my surprise, she had the audacity to say that it was a 'kampung chicken'!!

I grew up in a kampung; and i am pretty sure i know kampung chicken meat when i see it. And this was definitely not kampung chicken. Assuming it was supposed to be kampung chicken, it would be pretty silly of the restaurant NOT to advertise big time, that the chicken rice will be served with kampung chicken! She even said, that was how their customers love this meal!Goodness...

If you are by now wondering how the chicken looked like, well, have a look and let me know what you think this was.... chicken? or something else?



One thing for sure, I will not step in there again...

And i will certainly NOT recommend going there... unless you have a strong desire for stringy strips of what were passed off as 'kampung chicken'.

A little humor...

1. Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love and got married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was excellent.

2. A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says, "I'll serve you, but don't start anything."

3. Two peanuts walk into a bar, and one was a salted.

4. A dyslexic man walked into a bra.

5. A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm, and says: "A beer please, and one for the road."

6. Two cannibals are eating a clown. One says to the other: "Does this taste funny to you?"

7. "Doc, I can't stop singing The Green, Green Grass of Home."
"That sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome."
"Is it common?"
"Well, It's Not Unusual."

8. Two cows are standing next to each other in a field.
Daisy says to Dolly, "I was artificially inseminated this morning."
"I don't believe you," says Dolly.
"It's true; no bull!" exclaims Daisy.

9. An invisible man marries an invisible woman. The kids were nothing to look at either.

10. Deja Moo: The feeling that you've heard this bull before.

11. I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day, but I couldn't find any.

12. A man woke up in a hospital after a serious accident.
He shouted, "Doctor, doctor, I can't feel my legs!"
The doctor replied, "I know, I amputated your arms!"
;
13. I went to a seafood disco last week... And pulled a mussel.

14. What do you call a fish with no eyes? A fsh.

15. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. The one turns to the other and says, "Dam!"

16. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Not surprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.

17. A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel, and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office, and asked them to disperse.
"But why," they asked, as they moved off.
"Because," he said. "I can't stand chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer."

18. A woman has twins, and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt, and is named 'Ahmal.' The other goes to a family in Spain; they name him 'Juan.' Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, "They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."

19. Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him (oh, man, this is so bad, it's good) .. A super-calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

20. A dwarf, who was a mystic, escaped from jail. The call went out that there was a small medium at large.

21. And finally, there was the person who sent twenty different puns to his friends, with the hope that at least ten of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.

Qi Gong - Day 2

Last night was the second session.

It would seem in some people, they would feel 'movements' like ants crawling on their tummy area, tingling, warmth...

Me? uh...nothing lah

Qi Gong - Day 1

Apparently, apart from the blood circulation system in the human body, there is another circulation system in the human body. The unseen one. The one that is parallel to the blood system. And, like blood, it is vital to ensure a person is alive (!), so is this other system. However, in majority of every man and woman and child, this unseen system is rarely, if ever, develop, nurture and use.

It would seem, those points that an acupuncturist embeds needles/pins into, are known as meridian, and there are some 360 meridians in the body.

The idea of learning Qi Gong is to nurture and build your Qi until the Qi can 'orbits' in the qi circulation system. And in order for this to happen, there must be a 'break through' of the meridians.

Why all this?

I am attending Qi Gong class in the office along with quite a few of my staff... Last night was the first 3 hours session, and this will continue for 12 days. And apparently, by the end of the 12 days, we should be able to attain better well being and health.

we shall see....

Start of 2009 fishing... what a painful manner

On impulse, arrangement was made to go for a one day short distance out from Port Klang as the start for fishing year 2009. The sense of excitement and anticipation was thick when we asked for the small speedboat to be towed out from storage. It has definitely been more than 6 months since the boat was used, and we were worried since the outboard engine gave trouble before. So, we came prepared with a small spare engine.

The journey out to the spot where we anchored took about 35 minutes, and before 9AM we had our lines in the water waiting for the first bites. After a few 'ikan bulos', I caught a small little sting ray. Now, one must be extra careful when dealing with hooked sting ray. There are two barbs beside the base of the long tail, which by simple contortion can be quickly embedded in the angler's flesh.

This i found out rather painfully!! The little bugger could not have been more than 5 inches in diameter, and i was going to release it from the hooks. But, in the process of 'catch and release', the critter swung it's body and embedded the barb on my right palm. Fortunately, my fishing kakis have seen this before and knew what to do. A pair of pliers was quickly used to cut the barb, and with a quick pull, most of the barb was forcefully extracted.

The pain lingered for some 3-4 hours; excruciating pain, but not painful enough to stop fishing and go back to shore!!

Because the little bugger stung me, i decided not to let it go.

We caught another ray of about 14 inches, and while it was in the bucket, it gave birth!! (See pictures)... AMAZING.






The worst part of the trip was when we decided to head back. Tried as we did, the engine refused to start. After some hectic repairs, it still will not start.

We had to use the small spare engine, and took a very long slow limping trip back. The return trip took almost 3 hours instead of just 45 minutes! There were many tense moments when the little engine also died, and furious pulling at the started cord saved the day. We had to stick as close to shore as possible since the areas we were fishing at is the main shipping waters for large container vessels pulling in to the port, and if our engine stopped, we would be in the waters...

I guess it was a memorable trip, certainly painful for me..!