I Know You 1 2

what a year it has been!(ok i say that every year!)

yes this comes a bit late but i simply hadn’t had the time…until now, high up on the hills of frasers, with the night temperatures at 17˚C and chilling morning winds. yes it’s been a while.

last year was a good year, despite a lot of things that happened, there’s a lot to be thankful for. for one, even though i did not have a car and often relied on public transport, i somehow managed to get lifts, on a regular basis, especially going back home. towards the years end, i had the blessings of a mitsubishi pajero, thanks to my brother-in-law, peter. although it is quite the guzzler, it helped a lot in saving time getting home. getting the car was another adventure though – i had to take a bus to raub(for the very first time) and almost missed the morning bus as i took the wrong stop at the lrt station!

last year also saw the passing on of mum, which was, quite a relief as she was not exactly having the best time here on earth. I take comfort that she is in a better place, one that’s sans suffering and pain. to watch her week after week in the wheel chair was heartbreaking, plus the fact that she couldn’t really communicate or move her limbs too much. have a blast in heaven, mum!

it was also the year jloh had a major operation, thankfully covered by medical insurance, all in His timing i suppose looking back now and connecting the dots.

i could see God’s hand in every incident, how He took me through the tough times and am thankful for His grace.

also, with the house and car fully paid up, it was great to finally be debt free!

2012? the word for this year is ‘change’. while i can’t believe i am going to face the big five oh at the end of the year, i’ve planned for major changes. for one, i have signed up for an online course, TEFL or teaching of English as a foreign language. secondly, i’ve had a few freelance contacts of late that i’m ready to contemplate being an independent contractor, quit my job and really concentrate on ‘the mustardseed’. i guess i really have to take a giant step of faith and rely solely on Him if i do so.

earlier this year, i lamented on fb that I did not own anything starting with an ‘i’,

if you discount the iron. then recently, nui, a former colleague from bbdo showed me her iphone that she had dropped and had shattered the front glass. she said that if i could get it fixed, it was mine, as she was thinking of getting the 4s! what a stroke of grace! i managed to get a contact to fix it for only rm80! at pertama complex, a place i had not been at for centuries. last week, i received a call, saying that i had won a contest which i entered 2 weeks earlier – and the prize was an ipad2! surely that can’t be a coincidence, right?

what a fantastic start to the year! despite the tough happenings at work, i feel a sense of peace with my decision to come out on my own. hopefully i’ll have more time to spend with the littl’ fella that’s not really littl’ anymore! he turns 11 this sunday! we are also mooting the idea of adopting a 2nd child and have made some enquiries and spread the word around, God willing, that will be a BIG change his year! have also made it a point to spend more time reading the Word and getting closer to Him this year. we were supposed to visit angie in nz last year, will see if that can happen this year as well.

all in all, i can say that i am content with all that i have and am thankful daily for the many blessings and make it a point not to ever take things for granted. so whatever the year brings, i take comfort that my days are in His hands. It is a year, may say, of uncertainty – the looming elections, the eurocrisis, economic

turmoil but still, His promises are always reliable.

2012, this is just the beginning!

the cheapest phone repair shop, bar none!(in the bowels of pertama complex though..)

The Whole Tooth

These are Gabe’s baby molars.
They decided to come out a few days apart.

I guess to me they signify the next phase of his growth – into the uncharted
waters of tweenhood.

Has it been 10 years? It was common practice for him to place his fallen
baby teeth under his pillow for the Tooth Angel to leave money the next day
but of late, when he did not find any he would say to me, “you forgot to leave
money under my pillow”.

It’s a well worn cliche but time doth fly like a G6 – and I realise that he’s
grown up so fast that I have to admit that there are some things
I really can’t control anymore.

He’s listening to all the hip stations like Fly FM, Mix, Red and regards Lite
as a boring old fart of a station.

We are constantly flipping between the choice of my or his stations in the car
when we drive(although I still have veto power at times). I’m appalled at
today’s music and the noise that pollutes the airwaves.

Then all of the sudden I realise that….OMG, I’m that old parent complaining
of the noisy music of today that makes no sense! Then I remember that I
did not make sense of any of the lyrics that came out of a Culture Club song.

Sigh.

It’s a common sigh to see kids at the dining table in restaurants busy at their
PSP or DS or iPadhand/phone tapping away furiously at their games and
Gabe is always lamenting that he’s the most unlucky kid in his class who has
neither any of these devices.(ok he does play the simple games on mum’s
handphone sometimes).

We resist getting into that trap but I wonder for how long. Already, since
getting him a Facebook account, he’s chalked up a 100 over friends and
is constantly playing Backyard Monsters, a hugely popular game
amongst his peers. Thankfully, he still loves his evening basketball/cycling
with the neighbourhood kids and we try to encourage his reading habit
with the books that I get at the Big Bad Wolf sale, a fantastic annual event
that I try not to miss as books for kids go for RM5-8 a pop!
The other day at Borders I saw a Horrible Science book I got at the sale
going at RM30 plus!

I have to face the fact that he’s beginning to form his own opinions -
he’s been very fussy about food of late and not wanting to venture into the
unfamiliar. I guess the next ten years will bring new challenges, new trials
and new discoveries.

Meanwhile he’s remarked that his incisors are a bit wobbly…

The Gang’s Old Here

last week some of my former mia classmates decided to meet up and
it was quite a good turn out. some i hadn’t seen since art school in ’83!
we had a great time of reminiscing and exchanging tales.
i guess when one reaches the late forties and early fifties, gatherings
with old friends are something to look forward to and cherish.
it’s good to see the individuals and how life has shaped them after all
these years. yet, i could tell that their inherent character and
personality remained intact.

there was christina, or as we fondly nicknamed her ‘ying char’ who
has dabbled at every imaginable field. from real estate to chinese
painting to massive cross stitching to selling jewellery in laos,

she now plans to do charity work in africa in the coming years!
plus she has a daughter who’s a multi-gold medal swimmer
destined for the uk olympics next year!
chris is ever the mother hen, calling and cajoling everyone to gather,
arranging for fantastic discounts on the beer even!then there’s chee,
now a white haired fine artist and rebel who’ll be having an exhibit
at an abandoned warehouse in penang this coming september.
his art style has somewhat evolved to twisted faces and
distorted features. “a masked political statement”, he retorts,
lamenting about how his art isn’t for everyone.kenneth tan, who has made his ambition out of talking, is a budding
writer and strategist. we used to call him ayam jan-tan after his ability
to literally ‘talk cock’. he was carrying a tummy and experiencing some
hair loss, which made everyone who saw him for the first time remark,
“eh you put on weight!”, not the most flattering of comments,
especially when you are in the late forties.(ok, it’s never a great
comment to begin with!)
i’ve known him since school and one of my most vivid memories was
of the time when i camped over at his home in tiong nam, helping him
draw and do visuals for his interview the next day!
today he’s the proud father of 4 beautiful girls and doing what he
does best. talk.

then there’s hock wah, now a successful amway double diamond.
i remember him as being a quiet, shy,  soft spoken lad back in art
school. now he’s single, balding and rolling in the moolah.
good for him! he also revealed his special side to us that night -
proudly flashing pictures of his beautiful garden on his 1phone.

siew kai, who’s always amiable, always ready to help and never
fails to raise a laugh. he’s like the glue that keeps us together.
he now stays at aman suria with his wife and 3 children -
3 silky terriers!

and of course there’s lok,(who couldn’t join us taht night)
whom i actually started out my working career with.
i remember riding pillion on his beat up motorbike to sentosa
cinema in section 17 to catch a rm1 flick! those days back
at union 45 we were know as ‘lok and loh’, visualisers extraordinaire!
but time has been tough on him, having gone thru(and currently
still entrapped in)a nasty marriage, he’s still the stubborn, always
hilarious lok i hung out with back then.the rest, well, they stayed
pretty much the same as i remember them 20 plus years ago.
a time when we were art students, enamored by the grand illusion
of the bright shiny diamond called advertising.
a time when we struggled with drawing figures, painting with
acrylics, developing photos in the dark room with lethal
chemicals. and i remember the dinners we had some weekends.
where we would share a common purpose and dream.now looking
back, i was the only one who actually am still in advertising in the
purest sense, others have moved on to related fields or even far
better ones. these were the people i identified with most, despite
having spent a little over a year with.
i have attended reunions by my former colleagues of big agencies
but never felt a stronger bond than with my faithful mia mates.

travelling this path into the fifties, it’s an uncertain journey -
people you know and family start to get frail,  fall ill or pass on.

a time where the ‘R’ word stalks in the shadows like a serial
killer awaiting to pounce on his next victim.

it’s not exactly the best time in one’s life. but still, this late
journey brings many comforting  moments like this unexpected
reunion and these are the times i cherish as i witness the
tenacity of my fellow comrades as they weather this great
big storm called life and emerge intact, some better off for
the experience.

here’s to many more gatherings to come!

i’ll drink to that! cheers!

a rather poignant and apt poem from keats that i came across:

When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain,
Before high piled books, in charactry,
Hold like rich garners the full-ripen’d grain;
When I behold, upon the night’s starr’d face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love; — then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.

Loafing on a Lazy Sunday

i buy a big bunch of bananas on sundays for my juices but i usually end up with unfinished bananas that are often over ripe. i chanced upon a banana bread recipe while working on a project and decided to give it a try. a quick trip to bake with yen and got all the ingredients ready. i took the liberty of adding walnuts and used brown sugar instead(in reduced amounts as well)

in the mix: gabe giving a hand in mixing the ingredients

greasing the baking tray makes it easier later on when removing the loaf

into the oven for a good hour, 175 degrees

voila! isn’t she a beaut?
plus the smells coming out of the oven just about an hour was heavenly!

a true work of art!(if i may say so myself….)

had it for lunch with some cheese and a glass of merlot

ok, it was my very first baking experience so excuse the volume of pics, next: wholemeal bread!

here’s the original recipe, nicely illustrated.

Cover Story

yes it has been a while since i last posted, work has been insane.

i recently recommended an ex colleague who was out of work for a bit and she got the job. she was initially, ever so grateful. after two weeks i am not sure any more, judging by the stress lines on her face! oh did i mention that work was insane? plus the fact that my couple of weeks have been turned on it’s head by major events, which are, thankfully slowly and surely returning back to normal.

but having said all this, i still feel incredibly blessed!

a few months back a friend recommended that i call up this person who was looking to fill a position in a japanese company. i did, there were chats and i was pretty sure that i was a shoe-in for the post. at the last minute i got news that they gave the job to a singaporean counterpart. i must say i was a tad disappointed as i was eager for a change, job-wise.

then a month back, jloh was having severe cramps and pains and she finally consulted with the doctors who recommended major surgery. on the 13th of last month she underwent a 2 hr op and stayed at the hospital
for a total of 9 days.

now the company i work for had insurance coverage for spouse and children but i was not really certain how much the ceiling amount was. so you can imagine my trepidation while waiting for the bill. it didn’t help that they took forever to get it out! but when it finally did i breathe a sigh of relief as the insurance covered RM14K and the total was about RM15,600. the best part was that follow-up visits were also covered! a big PHEW!

so jloh is recuperating at home and i got to use the car. and the uncanny thing about it all was that at the very same week that she was going in for the op, a friend was wanting to have someone take over his club membership(he has had the membership for well over 8 years and have never stepped into it! and he dutifully paid the monthly fees for the entire period of time!) the club as just next to the office where i worked and i had wanted to go back to the gym for so long now.

kismet? hmmm.

serendipity? probably not.

divine intervention? bingo!

so looking back, i guess the Big Guy does move in mysterious ways and i am now so glad i did not get the job. sometimes you have to look at everything as a blessing in disguise, no matter how disappointing they may seem at that moment. and when you take time to reflect and connect the dots, you’d realise that things do happen for a reason. you know that silver lining in every cloud they are always talking about?
it really exists.