Happy New year

Year 2010 has come to an end. Has it been an eventful year for you? As we ponder over the past 12 months, let us also say a short prayer of thanks to God for His protection, guidance and deliverance.

As usual, new year comes with new resolutions. It is easy to make a list of them but exceedingly difficult to keep them to the end. We usually start with great enthusiasm, cool off after a couple of months and eventually out of mind completely. This time, my resolution is KEEP MY RESOLUTIONS TENACIOUSLY. My resolutions? Confidential!!!

So here is wishing all of you a good 2011..... a year filled with abundance of good health, happiness, peace and success.

Merry Christmas

Today is Christmas eve. So here's wishing all of you a Very Blessed 2010 Christmas !!

Morning has Broken (東方破曉歌)

Reached church quite early on Sunday. While waiting for worship to begin, I took out the Praise Song book and flipped through the pages. Came to this beautiful song which I have not sung for a long time.


This morning I just have the urge to share with you this beautiful song. I choose this video clip because it has both English and Chinese lyrics. Sit back and enjoy the song, ya.

Maiden Trip

Ann's Savvy is 2 1/2 years old. Believe it or not, it has never been out of the island !! So we decided to launch a maiden trip. ECheong, Irene, Ann & myself drove down to KL on Saturday and return on Sunday.

We left Penang at noon with ECheong at the wheels. Stopped over at Ipoh for lunch. Reached Tune Hotels, Kota Damansara at 5pm. The weather was fine all the way. Did not speed at all even though the highway was cleared, just doing 90 and 100/hour to get the engine accustomed. Altogether the journey took 5 hours.

On Sunday, exited Damansara toll plaza at 2.10pm. The weather was unpredictable this time. Rained very heavily along certain parts of the highway, sometimes drizzled and then suddenly very bright sunshine. We stopped only once at Bukit Gantang for fruits. The engine has become more seasoned now and was able to do 110 and 120/hour. Reached Penang at 6pm.

This is Ann's Savvy after the trip, looking as good as brand new after a good wash and vacuum.

Remembering

27 November : Today is my mother's 4th death anniversay. Inside every family member's heart she is the "bestest" mother and the "bestest" grandmother in the whole world.

Today I want to dedicate this beautiful song, TEARS IN HEAVEN by Eric Clapton to this wonderful, wonderful lady.

Any takers?

The above photo on the left shows an uncompleted cross stitch embroidery. The photo on the right is how the completed piece will look like. You can change WELCOME to any wordings of your choice., e.g. HOME SWEET HOME or BLESS OUR HOME.

I have decided to give it away. Anybody interested to continue with it? How about you Bee Bee, Bee Lean. What about you Gaik Bee, Lye.......

I cannot complete it because I find this project too strenuous for my eyes. This is done on small squares, using 3 strands of thread. However, the chart is printed on red paper. Most frustrating!

Nowadays I only go for small and simple designs. Must be kind to my poor eyes now. Age has caught up!! Hahaha....

Happy Deepavali

This year Deepavali falls on 5 November. So to all my friends who celebrate this Festival of Lights, I wish you "A Very Happy Deepavali".

Today, special thoughts go to my 3 very good friends from MPSP. They are good cooks and each have their speciality.

GOMATHY - She makes very very nice boli.

PUSHPARANI - She bakes the best fruit cake and only once a year for Deepavali.

PARKASH - She cooks very tasty pork curry.

Thinking of the food has already made my mouth waters. Hahaha..... looks like I miss the food more than the person !!! Just joking.

Flower tips

A former customer of Apple Tree Florist who is also a very good friend of ours called Ann to inform of her recently renovated business space in a hypermarket. So yesterday morning we dropped in, bringing with us a flower arrangement which I did myself and 2 small pots of indoor plant as gifts.

Here is one useful tip for you guys. If you intent to send flower arrangements for business openings, remember to choose PURPLE ORCHIDS. In Cantonese purple is pronounce as "chee" and money or bank notes is "ngan chee". The magic is in the word "chee". This means that by giving purple orchids you are wishing a lot of money, wishing a lot of business to the recipients.

Another favourite is SUNFLOWER. The colour yellow is pronounce "wong" in Cantonese. Busy is also pronounce as "wong". Thus, you are wishing the recipients a busy time, a bright future and good business. Sunflowers look great on flower stands.

Chinese are not only 'super' superstitious over the use of colours and numbers, they are equally fond of giving and receiving auspicious gifts, auspicious gestures on auspicious days !!

egc Green Cafe

After hearing praises from my sister Bee Bee for egc Green Cafe, I then decided to try the food there. Opportunity came last Sunday when I was at the Esplanade for the CFAL II. Ann and I sneaked out for 20 minutes to search for this place. We found it located beside Dewan Sri Pinang. Originally we planned to have a quick bite and then go off but after going through the menu, we ended up ordering the set breakfast complete with scrambled eggs, toast bread, baked beans and some greens, and rounding up with a cup of hot tea. All for only rm12.20 (service tax included). Not at all expensive.

Guys, take another look at the 2 photos. Did you notice that the glass table top is supported on a bicycle frame ? There were 6 or 7 such tables inside the shop. Real bicycles! Innovative!!

I have yet to try their meat-less lunch sets. Mei, I will drop in at your office one day and lets go to this quaint place for lunch.

Campaign for a Lane - 2nd Edition 2010

Campaign for a Lane - 2nd Edition 2010 is a cycling event. Go to website http://www.gclub.com.my/ for photos and to read about this event.

Do not be mistaken, I did not take part in the cycling. I was there to help out at howei. http://www.howei.com.my/ is an online shopping mall.

As early as 5.30am we were already at the Esplanade putting up streamers and banners and getting ready the goodies for sale. There were Ts, jerseys, bicycle paraphernalia, magazines.

Business was slow at the start because all the cyclists were getting ready for the flag off and family members were busy clicking away their cameras. Business only picked up when the cyclists return from their ride. On the whole we had a good sale that day.

Enjoyed it. Will certainly come back next year for the 3rd edition. I think it would be fun to take part in the ' fun ride ' category. So..... TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN.... I want a bicycle and a helmet for my 2011 birthday !!!! No need expensive one, just a foldie will do. ???????

Good/Bad advice

One morning while waiting for my turn to have my blood pressure taken at the Bukit Jambul clinic, I turned and talked to the patients sitting nearby. There was this guy and a lady who sat beside me. They were friendly and talkative so I became a little bit inquisitive and asked them about their problems.


The elderly guy told me that he is taking medication for high blood pressure. He started with 1 tablet per day but later increased to 1 1/2 tablets. Just recently he has to take 2 tablets. I asked him whether it was due to too much worries or late nights. He chuckled and replied "Nothing of that sort. I eat whatever I like and enjoy my food. Arr..... no need to control." He advised me to do the same!!


The elderly lady then chipped in and asked me to look at her hair. It was wet alright. She explained that wet hair will lower a person's blood pressure and advised me to come with wet hair on my next visit so that my pressure reading will be good. That is cheating!! Of course I did not say it out loud, just muttered under my breath.


Such good advices I get!! I will most certainly not come with wet hair. I will continue to be very cautious about my diet and exercise daily. I will try to maintain my blood pressure at around 130/80 at all time.

Klinik Kesihatan Bukit Jambul

Recently I went for a body check and realize that my blood pressure has gone up slightly. My doctor advised me to go to a nearby clinic and have my blood pressure monitored for a week. My first thought was the government clinic in Bukit Jambul. I came across this clinic on my morning walk. I like to walk around that area because it is high ground, off the main road and heavy traffic, quiet and shady.

So every morning for a whole week I walked to the clinic. Below are my findings of the Bukit Jambul clinic..........

Staff :

The staff at the registration section and dispensary are polite.

The Medical Assistant is friendly, polite and helpful.

The nurses are all friendly except for 1 nurse who is rather grumpy.

Management :
The layout of the whole clinic is orderly. No congestion.

Furniture, floor and walls are clean and well maintained.

Medical equipments are all up to date.

Good ventilation with adequate ceiling fans and air conditioners.
Suggestion :
If this is not already in practice, then I would suggest that nurses be transferable every 2 years. Some clinics have a large number of patients and are constantly crowded whereas some have fewer patients and are only busy during the morning, like the Bukit Jambul clinic. This transfer system will be fair to nurses stationed in busy clinics.

Well, this is my conclusion ...... "THUMBS UP FOR KLINIK KESIHATAN BUKIT JAMBUL".

Free medical services are provided to the public, so why not make good use of it. Appreciate and Support.

Hat Yai today

The last time I visited Hat Yai was more than 10 years ago. So when my son suggested that we go on a day trip, I agreed wholeheartedly.


Overall there are not much changes. The market place has not been upgraded - same layout, same stalls, same things on sale. The only changes I noticed are that there a couple of new supermarkets, more fast food outlets and the absence of street urchins (they should be adults by now. hahaha.... just joking).


Below are some photos which I would like to share with you...........


Hat Yai town as taken from the restaurant at the 33rd floor of Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel. Many high rising buildings have sprouted.










This photo was taken from inside our car. It was drizzling then. See the mess of wires? No wonder the roads in Hat Yai are in such good condition and so smooth to drive on, with no potholes. The reason is because they don't do diggings. Whatever for? All the wires are overhead!!!





I noticed that almost all the lamp posts in the town has a Thai figurine at the top. Different figurines on different roads. Sure helps to create a Thai atmosphere. I think these were put up quite recently. I am quite sure they were not around 10 years ago.







Thai motorcyclists are encourage to wear helmets but it is not compulsory, so many do not wear them. Hey, look closely at the photo on the left. The lady was not wearing a helmet neither was she wearing a head scarf. Make a guess...... Actually she was wearing a SHOWER CAP !!! Hahaha...... Did you guess correctly?

Day trip to Hat Yai

My family and I made a day trip to Hat Yai last Thursday, a public holiday (Malaysia Day). We drove off from Penang at 6.00am, anticipating large crowd at both the Immigration check points. Surprisingly there was no crowd at all and we reached Hat Yai at 9.00am Malaysia time, 8.00am Thai time.




We drove straight to the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel, parked our car there and had our breakfast at McDonalds on the ground floor. Photo on left is Mc Cafe. This counter is inside McD outlet and serves only coffee and pastries. You must try the coffee, its good. By the way, there is no Mc Cafe in Malaysia yet.

After breakfast, we took the toot-toot to the market place. Walked around for a while, shopped for some items and then back to Lee Gardens again.

It is now almost time for lunch. We had buffet lunch on the 33rd floor. There was a wide variety of food and everything tasted so delicious.

After lunch, back to the streets again for more shopping.





Return to Lee Gardens for tea. This time it is ice cream at Swensens which is also located on the ground floor. A most refreshing treat after sweating in the heat outside.


After cooling ourselves, we started our journey back to Penang, stopping at Tesco Lotus on the way out of Hat Yai. Reached home at around 9.00pm. A most enjoyable day.

Pottery class

Anybody game on taking up pottery lessons? I have a fl yer here with me. It is from Garden Ku, Jalan Kebun Bunga, Penang and it says...........

Pottery Class :
First time experience (RM50) shaping & creating (1 lesson only)

Beginner (RM120) complete a pottery with own creation (4 lessons)

Intermediate (RM500) Go through test, if pass certificate will be given (6 months class)

Advanced (RM1000) Go through test, if pass graduated certificate will be given (1 year class)
Time :
Thursday, Friday or Saturday (10am - 12pm or 2pm - 4pm)

I am interested in the Beginner course (4 lessons). Just want to have a feel of the clay and to shape something. Cannot do it in the home because it is quite messy and I do not have wheel for shaping and kiln for firing. The last time I did pottery was during my school days. I chose pottery for my Form 3 Art Paper.

I have already made enquiries and was told that clay will be provided. I was also informed that I can choose my teacher. There are 2 teachers, a guy and a lady Japanese. However, they can only converse in Japanese!!!! Hahaha.... Anyway, the management assured me that communication is not a problem. All their students are doing fine in spite of the fact that they do not speak Japanese. How about that!!!!

My favourite hobby

These are some of my cross stitch pieces. Framed and hanging in my home. I still have a few unframed pieces. Will upload them for you to see next time.









I started cross stitching way back in the 80s and until today I am still very much into it. Caught the fancy from a very good friend, Gomathy who did her pieces in the office during lunch break. The thread was only rm0.35 then but now it has increased 4 times to rm1.50









I have given away many pieces to friends and have turned out tote bags. Framed cross stitch pieces make very meaningful house warming gifts. Very personal indeed.

My latest hobby

Guess what is my latest hobby?


Right....... fish rearing. Not by my choice but my children's idea. They bought the materials and set them up. I take over from there. Nothing professional - no nice aquariums, no air pumps, no fanciful decorations. Just the basic - 2 big porcelain pots, coarse sand, small rocks and stones.




One pot is placed at one corner of the dinning area. Inside are 3 small goldfish and a small black guppy. The other pot is placed in the front balcony. Swimming inside this pot are 20 tiny assorted fishes. A packet of about 30 such fishes cost only rm2. Very cheap. Hahaha...

It is really fun to see them grow every day. However, I do have a problem here. Every time I change the water, a few of the tiny fishes will die. Could it be that I have no fish fingers? A person who is good with plants is said to have green fingers. Similarly, if a person is good at fish rearing, then he should be said to have FISH FINGERS ??!!!!

Nicknames

Do you realize that parents are very fond of calling their children by a nickname, cute and funny names and these names usually get stuck to them for the rest of their lives. Personally, I feel that parents should call their children by their real names right from infants to avoid future embarrassment. The most popular name is Boy for son and Girl for daughter.


I recalled my Shanghai tour. Among the group was an elderly lady, her son, daughter-in-law and a teen-aged grandson. When I first heard her calling Boy, I thought she was addressing her grandson. No, I was mistaken. She was calling her son who was in his 40s! My family and I were amused. I could see that he felt a bit uncomfortable.


My nephew, Sunn Huey, is also fondly called Boy by family members. My sister did not give him this name. The babysitter did. He is a handsome young man now and I think all family members should stop calling him Boy. Follow his friends and call him Sunn.

Classmates

After 30 over years, we get connected again. We were classmates right from primary school to secondary school. Some years we were in the same class and some years we were in different classes. After Form 5 we parted ways. Both of them went overseas to further their studies while I stayed back here in Malaysia. They are the brainy ones and I am the mediocre.


Recently we met up for dinner and had a lovely time reminiscing over our schooldays. We realised that there are so many of our classmates whom we have not seen or heard since leaving secondary school.


All I can remember is that many of them went overseas especially to the UK to take up nursing course. A number of them also went to Sabah and Sarawak for teaching. This was the career trend for girls in the 60s. We were wondering whether these nurses and teacher friends of ours did come back. So we decided to gather as many, and if possible, all our classmates and hold a reunion.


This is going to be a tough job. I wonder where I can start searching for them..............

Friends from MPSP

Went through some old photographs and was attracted to these 4 photographs. They were taken many many years ago in MPSP office. Ever since I retired from service in June 2006, I have not been in touch with some of them. I do not have their mobile number and email address. I wonder how they are doing now.

Hey girls, if you come across this blog, can you please give me a response?

Hey readers, if you happen to know my friends in the photographs, please inform them, will you? Thanks and appreciate.

Ways to keep mind active

Every morning I have a habit of reading a passage from "Our Daily Bread", a devotional booklet published by RBC Ministries. There is this particular passage which says that even though a person is retired from his job but his mind must still go on being active otherwise the devil will take a foothold of him. And that devil is Alzheimer. I most certainly agree to that.

Let me share with you how I keep my mind active. I read Bible verses. I like Psalms so I make it point to memorize as many Psalms as possible. To date I have managed to memorized Psalms 8, 23, 46, 86, 91, 100, 103, 121, 139, 150 and I am now in the mids of memorizing Psalm 19. Everyday I will repeat all the psalms that I have memorized and then start memorizing 1 or 2 lines from a new Psalm.

I also play online games. My favourites are Mahjong Solitaire on Yahoo, Bejewelled Blitz and Collapse on Facebook.

Whenever there is something in my mind to share out, I will write my blogs.

Currently I am learning a little bit of Japanese from my daughter Ann who attend Japanese Language class. Quite interesting really.

So, whatever the time may be now, let me wish you..........

1. Ohayoo gozaimasu (good morning)
2. Konnichi wa (gooday/afternoon)
3. Konban wa (good evening)
4. Oyasumi nasai (good night)
   

What is confidence all about?

I would like to share with you an email which I received.

The content goes like this........

A hypothetical situation where 20 CEOs from different countries board an airplane and are told that the flight that they are about to take is the first ever to feature pilot less technology. It is an uncrewed aircraft.

Each one of the CEOs is then told privately that their company's software is running the aircraft's automatic pilot system.

Nineteen of the CEOs promptly leave the aircraft, each offering a different type of excuse. The Malaysian CEO alone remains on board the jet, seeming very calm indeed.

Asked why he is so confident in this first uncrewed flight, he replies : "If it is the same software that's developed by my company's IT systems department, this plane won't ever take off !"

Now.........that is Confidence !!

People always like to make fun of Malaysian. I wonder why? Do you?

Wet Markets

I realized that going to wet markets can be fun and enjoyable (ignoring the smell, wet and sometimes slippery floor, of course). Previously I go to hypermarkets but now I prefer to buy my fresh from the wet market.

These stalls give excellent services with no extra cost at all. The chicken seller removes the skin, bones, fat and chop the chicken according to the requested sizes. The fish monger scales the fish and removes the "internals". The butcher chops the
meat according to your requirements. Hypermarkets do not provide these extra services except for cleaning the fish. Another good point is that the fish and meat sold in wet markets are more fresh.

But best of all is that I have learnt and is still learning how to choose vegetables. How do I do it? Very simple. I just ask politely the person who is choosing the same vegetable as myself and she will definitely tell you.

Let me share 2 tips with you. (1) How do you choose ladies fingers? Snap the tails. If they break easily, then these are "young ones". Take. If they don't, then these are "old ones". Throw them back onto the heap!! (2) How do you choose crunchy and sweet cucumbers? Choose the ones whose colour is light green. The lighter the better. Dark green ones have a bitter taste.

So guys, will indeed be very much appreciated if you can share some of your valuable
tips with me too. Thanks ya.

Misimformed

Let me share a joke with you...........

I was informed by my sister, Bee Bee that Rapid buses give 50% concession to senior citizens whose age is 50 and above. Just drop in at its office in Weld Quay, show the clerk your IC and a photo and he will issue you with a special pass without any cost. That easy!

So one fine morning, I boarded a Rapid bus. I placed a rm1 note on top of my IC and showed it to the driver. By the way, the fare from by apartment to Weld Quay is rm2. That means I need only to pay rm1. The driver just took the rm1 note and gave me a ticket without looking at my IC. I supposed that was because there were a few commuters queueing behind me and he did not want to keep them waiting. Happy and satisfied, I settled down to seat by the window.

On reaching the office, I went straight to the counter and said "saya mau buat senior citizen pass." The clerk then requested for my IC and photo. When it was ready, he asked me to pay something like rm60. I was taken aback and told him that senior citizen pass is for free . To that he replied "Auntie bukan mau beli season pass kah? Tak ada senior citizen pass lah. Tunjuk IC saja". See the two words sound almost the same. Obviously he had heard wrongly.

Now comes the beautiful part. I boarded the bus to go home. Did the same thing, placed a rm1 note on top of my IC and said 'senior citizen' to the driver. This time the driver took my IC. Then he looked up and said "tahun 50 bukan 50 tahun. Auntie tak layak lagi, kena bayar rm2". Only then did I realized that people who were born in 1950 will turn 60 this year and senior citizens are those age 60 and above.

Bee Bee, you did put me a very embarrassing situation.

Greetings

Blogging seems to be the trend these days. I am going to try at it too. Actually, I did wrote some blogs in Multiply some years ago when I was still working. Used to do that during my free time in the office. After my retirement, I just forgot about it. Now I am going to start again. I feel that this is one way of improving my written English.

For starters, I will just send out invitation to all my friends to read my blogs. Feel free to comment. I will love to hear from you.

In fact I wanted to post my first blog yesterday, 21 July because it was an auspicious day. It was my born day .....I mean my birthday of course. Unfortunately, I was unable to access to Internet the whole of yesterday. Let me tell you how lucky I am............I get free wi fi from the mamak shop across the road!! Save on subscribing a line. Hahaha.