Another Setback

Just when I was enjoying myself with my early morning walks and the tennis in the evenings disaster struck. I had arranged for a game of doubles at 5.30pm. We had to finish the game by 6.30pm as my wife and I had to attend a dinner at 7.30pm. Everything was going smoothly. My wife and I won the first set. During the second set I was at the net trying to poach when the calf muscle of my left leg gave way. I think they are called 'gastrocnemis' and 'soleus'.


I couldn't move as any slight movement caused pain at the calf. The muscles there were tightening. That was the end of the game for me. Fortunately there was a lady tennis player who was warming up at the retaining wall. She gladly took my place. I was carried out of the court. I was also 'carried' to the car by my wife and my lady opponent who is also a good friend.

Went home and applied a cold pack at the wounded part. Nothing else to do. Now using crutches to move around. I found this pic showing how to treat an injured calf muscle.

Missed the dinner. This means at least two weeks of rest. The orthopaedic surgeon (who was one of my opponents-the other was an orthodontist) said the key word is rest. That settles it. Back to the keyboard and the tv remote. Maybe by two weeks my fingers and arms will be stronger. heh heh..

RM 4.4 billion

Our Prime Minister has asked the people not to dispute the decision to use the RM4.4 billion raised through savings from the reduction in fuel subsidies to improve the public transport system. I wonder who is the idiot who wanted to dispute that? The world is full of idiots.

But anyway, the recent spate of demostration that was not reported in the media was about the reduction of the fuel subsidies and the glaring non-transparency in the funds from our petroleum company - Petronas and not about how the RM4.4 billion was going to be used. We do not have enough information about the dealings in Petronas and where the money earned from our natural resources goes to or goes to whom!

Most Malaysians were happy to hear that statement from the Prime Minister when he said the money will be used to improve the public transport system. Our public transport system sucks. In my city I don't think we even have one. We do have some buses plying certain routes and if the bus driver likes you he might stop....heh heh.. just kidding. We don't really have an efficient transport system like the Singaporeans . As long as we have touts we don't have a system. The proposal by the PM is in the planning stage. If he doesn't oversee this baby I am very sure it will go 'kaput'.

When the PM said public transport system I am sure he meant for the whole country. I fear the sharks have already prepared beautiful working papers of how to improve the transport sytem in Bertam, Putrajaya and the Klang valley for RM4.4 billion! At this stage they can even prove how every cent is spent. The beautiful part of it all is you don't even know who they are but they have access to the Prime Minister's department!

I bet we will see some new bus companies run by Bumiputras under this plan, some new flyovers for the Works ministry to foul up in their construction and plenty of rural roads in Kelantan for the next election. The Indians in the estates can go and watch their favourite movies arranged by their minister. Life goes on.

City of Alor Star

Alor Star is the capital of the state of Kedah which is in Malaysia. It is located in the northern part of peninsular Malaysia nearer to Thailand as can be seen in the map below :

Here are some photos of Alor Star city.

A Minor Setback

As usual, my wife and I went to the club at 5.00pm for our tennis game. We had already arranged with the other pair to meet at the club at the appointed time. When we made the arrangements the weather was beautiful. Beautiful for our tennis players means a cloudy day.
When we arrived at the courts the weather had changed. The clouds had decided to move toThailand or somewhere far away from us. It was blazing hot but that didn't deter us from having our game. It was probably the heat that made me forget to warm up and do some stretches before starting the game.

Everything was fine until the second set. I was going forwards to retrieve a drop-shot from our opponent when I felt a sharp pain in the back of my thigh. It was probably the ham strings just below the biceps femoris. That was the end of the game for me. Fortunately for the remaining three players there was somebody at the pavilion to replace me. I slowly hobbled to the pavilion and watched the rest of the game from there.

When I reached home that evening I applied a cold pack on the wounded part to control the swelling and the expected internal bleeding. I guess it will be at least a week before I can do any physical activity.

There goes my tennis and my plans to resume golf! What a bummer! The magic word now is RECUPERATE. Rest and let the body heal itself or maybe I can go to the swimming pool and just use my arms to move around... heh heh..

An Old Lady's Poem

Received this poem by email. Supposed to have been written by an old Scottish lady who died all alone in a hospital near Dundee, Scotland. Such a beautiful and meaningful poem. I just had to post it so that those who pass this way can read it.


CRABBY OLD WOMAN
What do you see, nurses?
What do you see?
What are you thinking
When you're looking at me?

A crabby old woman,
Not very wise,
Uncertain of habit,
With faraway eyes?
Who dribbles her food
And makes no reply
When you say in a loud voice,
"I do wish you'd try!"

Who seems not to notice
The things that you do,
And forever is losing
A stocking or shoe?

Who, resisting or not,
Lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding,
The long day to fill?

Is that what you're thinking?
Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse,
You're not looking at me.

I'll tell you who I am
As I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding,
As I eat at your will.

I'm a small child of ten
With a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters,
Who love one another.

A young girl of sixteen
With wings on her feet
Dreaming that soon now
A lover she'll meet.
A bride soon at twenty,
My heart gives a leap,
Remembering the vows
That I promised to keep.
At twenty-five now,
I have young of my own,
Who need me to guide
And a secure happy home.

A woman of thirty,
My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other
With ties that should last.

At forty, my young sons
Have grown and are gone,
But my man's beside me
To see I don't mourn.

At fifty once more,
Babies play round my knee,
Again we know children,
My loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me,
My husband is dead,
I look at the future,
I shudder with dread.

For my young are all rearing
Young of their own,
And I think of the years
And the love that I've known.

I'm now an old woman
And nature is cruel;
'Tis jest to make old age
Look like a fool.

The body, it crumbles,
Grace and vigor depart,
There is now a stone
Where I once had a heart.

But inside this old carcass
A young girl still dwells,
And now and again,
My battered heart swells.

I remember the joys,
I remember the pain,
And I'm loving and living
Life over again.

I think of the years
All too few, gone too fast,
And accept the stark fact
That nothing can last.

So open your eyes, people,
Open and see,
Not a crabby old woman;
Look closer . . . see ME!!

Remember this poem when you next meet an old person who you might brush aside without looking at the young soul within . ... .. we will all, one day, be there, too!

Freedom Of Expression

The recent blunder by some Danes in drawing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammed shows very clearly the great divide between Westerners and the rest of the world. They are too concerned with the individual's rights to freedom of expression to the extent they forget about the feeling of others especially regarding religious beliefs.

They ridicule anything and anyone as can be seen in the sit-coms or talk shows where the politicians of their country become the targets. When you start ridiculing religions in the name of freedom of expression you are treading dangerous ground. The Danes have found that out the hard way. Many of them will be wondering if it is safe to go on tours under these circumstances. Although many of them do not agree with the culprits who started this problem, they are undoubtedly affected by this whole episode.

The whole world should learn an important lesson from all this. We need to have mutual respect for each others beliefs. Malaysians know this and we have lived peacefully because we respect each others cultures and religious beliefs. Lets hope that this silly incident will in no way destroy what we have in Malaysia. There is a disturbing trend from some people who come back from the Middle East or Pakistan after studying there and suddenly show very little tolerence towards other races or other religions than their own. The Arabs have their own culture. The Pakistanis have their own culture. We don't need to follow them as we have our own and it is beautiful. Let us show the world how to live peacefully in diversity. We have managed so far and we can still do it for many more decades.

I Am A Christian

A good friend forwarded this to me and I found it to be so true. Many of us will be able to identify with these statements.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin'.
" I'm whispering "I was lost,
Now I'm found and forgiven.

" When I say... "I am a Christian"
I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble
And need Christ to be my guide.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak
And need His strength to carry on.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed
And need God to clean my mess.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible
But, God believes I am worth it.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I still feel the sting of pain.
I have my share of heartaches
So I call upon His name.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner
Who received God's good grace, somehow!

Sci Fi Movies

It's been along time since I wanted to comment on this topic. I don't have any friends who are really interested in science fiction movies. Most go and see the movies because of the ratings given and the fantastic marketing carried out to boost the movie into box office hits and ofcourse the special effects for which Holywood is very well known. I get very dissapointed with many of them because of the glaring lack of details. Even after spending millions the story line is weak. Take for example the Alien. They conjured up a powerful creature that has two mouths with a lot of teeth. Obviously this is related to whatever strange thing it eats. It could be at the top of its food chain.

It has what looks like legs and sometimes looks like tentacles. It lives deep in the ground and the mother alien lays the eggs much like our queen bee. So how did the science officer come to the conclusion that the alien will impregnate our heroine and lay its eggs inside her so that he can then smuggle the eggs inside the heroine back to earth without being detected by the immigration authorities back on earth. What gave him the idea that this creature will consider an earthly female as a good place to lay its eggs? Did you see the size of the alien queen when it was busy laying eggs. Earthlings do not fit into their biological environment.

Another thing which bothers me is what do they eat. What is their staple diet? Surely not humans. They are from a different zone altogether. The humans happen to invade their space and got eaten up. Obviously they are not the staple diet. So what is it? What kind of creatures roam this bleak space station? They have to be in large numbers, large enough to support all the aliens. Surely not cockroaches or rats ... blank blank blank...

And when our human mercenaries go to battle these aliens whose fluids are so acidic they can burn a hole in the floor of the spacecraft several floors, what do they wear ... t-shirts or singlets to show off their biceps, triceps or in certain cases boobs. What a bummer.

They deserve to die and the aliens should go on with their orderly egg laying lifestyle. Long live the aliens, heh heh..

Transition

Transition is defined as the act of passing from one state or place to the next. For the Christian our life here is a transitional state. We are actually on a journey to a better place. Transition is also defined as an event that results in a transformation. Exactly what we belive in. We will be transformed into a state where there is no pain, no suffering and no agony which are all associated with life here on earth.

Why am I writing about this. I just attended a wake last Tuesday. A good friend of mine (52yrs old) passed away. She died of cancer. Towards the end of her life she was in great pain as the cancer had gone to the bones. The pain killers were of no help. I believe she is now in a wonderful place where there is no pain or suffering. For those of us who believe there is life after death, this is what we believe in. We don't need proof, we only believe and have faith.

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Heb 11:1

"In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." Jhn 14:2-3

Death is inevitable. We do feel sad when someone close to us dies. We just take comfort that for them a new life has begun. Life goes on for the living. We need to prioritise and spend more time on the things that are important to us. As you can see I did not mention what the important things are as everyone has their own list of what is important. One man's meat is another man's poison. To each his own. Take care and God Bless.

New Year Resolutions

Well, Christmas has come and gone. Now it is suddenly the year 2006! Everything happened so fast, what with the flood and all. Next thing you know people are talking about new year resolutions.  It's the same story every year. As for me I have stopped making new year resolutions. I've come to the point in my life where I don't need to wait for the end of the year to make resolutions as to what I am going to do the following year. If I want something done I will go ahead and get it done. Life has been much better since.

     I read somewhere that procrastination is the thief of time. How true. We go through life telling ourself that we will do it tomorrow or next week or next month and before you know it, it is next year and we still haven't done what we planned to do. Then we go and make more resolutions.Making resolutions is not a bad thing in itself. It serves it's purpose when you fulfill your promises.

     Then there are those who set unreachable targets. They look at themselves in the mirror and make a resolution to lose 50kg in the next month so they can look like Brad Pitt or someone like him. It is possible to lose a few kilograms through exercise and dieting but set a reasonable target. You will never look like Brad Pitt. There is only one like him. Be your self and most importantly be happy with your body. The important thing is to be healthy and fit and you will look good. And one more thing, don't forget to smile as it radiates the beauty within your inner self.

     As Christians we have the peace and joy that is ours through Christ Jesus.  It helps us through trials and tribulations and we learn to accept our self as we are even as God has loved us the way we are. Now we can only improve and get better. Incidentally our neighbourhood is waiting for rain to wash away the mud from the flood. The strong smell from the mud is still hanging around. As we are living in the tropics the rain will come. It is just a matter of time. A friend sent me this new year greeting and I would like to share it with whoever visits my blog :

Faith makes things possible;
Hope makes things work;
Love makes things beautiful;
May you have all three to begin the new year;
Happy New Year.

Evacuation

The flood waters finally came into our house in the early hours of the morning while I was out surveying the neighbourhood in my wellingtons. My wife frantically called me on the cell phone to inform me of this new threat to our castle (a man's home is his castle). I rushed back or waded back as fast as I could and we gathered all our important belongings and drove through the flood waters to safety which was actually the southern part of our city.

Our close friends(husband & wife) invited us to stay at their house until the flood subsides. We are grateful to have such friends who can come to our aid in time of need. In fact we had several choices actually as we have quite a number of good friends in this city.

Anyway most of our neighbourhood was inundated with filthy, smelly flood waters. In general it was about knee high although in some places it was a few inches but neverthless once the waters gets into the house there will be a layer of mud deposited in every nook and corner. We were more fortunate than the Jitra folks who faced the water level as high as one's chest or even higher. I managed to get some pics of the flood at it's peak and also took some of the places that were bone dry just to see the contrast within the same city. The other half of the city had a better drainage system. Somebody better do something about this before history repeats itself.

We moved into our house last night after cleaning up the place for three days. It was a back breaking job. They say this flood has a 17 year cycle. I will be 73 if it happens again and I don't think I can do this type of house cleaning at that age, if I live that long that is!



Friends dropped by when the flood was receding.

More Flood Pics

Our Porch

















Side Of House

In Front Of The House



Early Morning View At the Front

Indian Temple Near The Stadium

Entrance To The Royal Kedah Club

Another Friend's House

The Southern Part Of Our City Which Was Bone Dry

Friend's House On The Right(where we took refuge)

Alor Star Tower

Alor Star Fountain

Siamese Temple

Telok Wanjah Road

Mother And Son Having Breakfast

House Flooding

I wrote about the flood in a town 20Km away. Now the flood waters from that area has come down to our city. My house is surrounded by flood waters. Just another inch or so before the water comes into the house. Have to move some of the electrical appliances to a higher place. When you live in a single storey house, a higher place would be the table top.

We are fortunate in that it has not rained for the last two days and we still have electricity. The water pressure is very low and it takes a long time to fill up a pail from the garden tap. The flood waters is still rising. Tonight we will be on vigil, watching out for the creeping water.

All the cockroaches and centipedes are coming out of the sewer system. Have to take care of them to as the wife is allergic to cockroaches. Took some pics for posterity.

Back of house

Side of house

Road junction

Front of house

Neighbourhood

Flood

Received a call from a friend this afternoon. She stays with her friend in Jitra, the town that was having flood problems. She wanted to go and check on the house as the house owner was also outstation.

I agreed to go with her and we made a few calls first to determine if the roads were passable. The highway was closed due to flooding and so was the old road to Jitra. The only other route available was the country road that went around the flooded areas but led to the center of the town. The journey was fine except for one or two places which were under water about 2 - 3 inches which was no problem for our car.

We reached the house in good time and started to move the electrical things to a higher place. Pulled out all the plugs from their sockets. Having done all that we could we started our journey back. The few short stretches that were flooded before were now much longer and more than one foot deep. My friend started praying and pressed on the accelerator. It was like driving through a lake. We could not see the road. We kept our eyes on the vehicle ahead of us until we reached dry ground. That road would have been closed to traffic by now. The flood waters from our left flowing across the road was so swift that at times we were afraid we might get swept off the road. What an experience.

The water level in the river is still rising but the rain has stopped. Hopefully when the tide goes down in the morning the river water can be discharged to the sea. Below are some photos of the flood taken with my handphone while in the car.

Rain

For the last four days it has been raining in this town. Some times it rains cats and dogs and other times it just dribbles, neverthless it is still rain. So many clothes waiting to go out in the sun. So many tennis players waiting to play in the sun. We even sang 'rain rain go away, come again another day' but to no avail. What a bummer. The 'padi' planters were very happy though as they needed the rain for their 'padi' to grow.


Some of the tennis players.
[ I am the handsome one - the far right, front row, :) ]

The damp, wet atmosphere can get you down. I am not one of those who curls up in bed with a good book during such times or any other time for that matter. I will end up snoring and the book will most probably be on the floor.

The rain did not stop our regular weekly karaoke session though. We sang all the oldies to our hearts content and hoped the singing would have stopped the rain. It didn't. We all went back in the rain.

Woke up this morning and heard the chirping of birds. That was a good sign. When I went out to look at the sky there were some blue spots and one very bright whitish spot where the sun, blocked by clouds, was supposed to be. It looked like a good day today.

Not so good news from Jitra, a town about 20Km from here. Some parts of the town was flooded and the water level in the nearby river was still rising. Hope it doesn't rain for a while and the tide recedes to allow the excess surface runnoff to be discharged into the river and straight out to the sea. I wonder how Noah felt when it rained for forty days and forty nights and then have to live with the flood waters for another one hundred and fifty days! Of course he didn't have any tennis appointment .. heh heh.

Keeping In Touch

Hi ST,
Thanks for dropping by. I agree with your veiws on relationships. Those whom we do not have much contact with tend to fade away. Whenever we meet the topic will be more or less the same. As you said, we tend to exchange pleasantries only. The real friends are those that we have contact with regularly either at work or because of common interest.

If we really value the friendship that we once had with someone, we should try to keep in touch so as to nourish that friendship even if they are far away. Friends are hard to come by. As you get older it becomes harder to make good friends. Most probably because we tend to be set in our ways and we become too rigid. When we were young we were more tolerent and 'cincai' and so our friendship list was quite long. We also don't have the time to do all the crazy things that we did that brought us together.

I am glad we(my wife and I) still have some good friends with whom we have good times. The internet has come in handy, in keeping in touch with those friends who are far away. Life is so unpredictable. We need to treasure every moment that has been given to us and be a blessing to those who come our way.

Picture

Me On Da Floor

Finally decided to publish my picture. Why? Just because .....

On Da Floor meant sitting on the floor and not on the dance floor as some people might have assumed. Just came back from Ipoh attending a college reunion - the class of '77 M.U. It wasn't my class but my wife's. I was just the driver. Listened to all their past activities at the university. What this guy did, what that girl did, a particular lecturer's behaviour and so on and so forth. Who married whom and how many children everybody had. All in all it was entertaining and a lot of laughs. Even an outsider like me was able to fit in and chip in my two cents worth once in a while.

Another walk down memory lane for some people. We need these trips to remind us of life and how fast it is passing us. Maybe it will help us see if we had made right decisions (the major ones) concerning our life. Some of us are too busy amassing wealth at the expense of our health and even our spiritual health!

The bible says what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul. This is in reference to life after death.

If we reflect on this it would help us to rethink our strategies, futuristic plans and our lifestyles and realise how temporal these things are. We need to be more concerned about the eternal life which is forever.

Keeping Fit

After all the good food at the various functions I realized that I did put on a 'few' pounds. Some people might disagree with me on the word 'few' but I am not a stickler for details. Anyway, decided to go to the gym with my son. He to do some muscle strengthening and me to lose some 'pounds'. Went well for the first two days but on the third day overdid my knee lifts and injured my left knee (the one that had the torn meniscus repaired in May). There goes my keep fit plan. Maybe things will be better after the weekend when we get back from Ipoh. Meanwhile it's back to the tv and blogging time! heh heh..

Memories

Attended an old friend's wedding anniversary - 25th. Good to see old friends from our past. Very thrilled when the power point presentation was displayed showing us when we were young. The bell bottoms and the side burns and the bermuda shorts and not forgetting the hair on the head which some of us have lost. Ah, what a past. So colourful. Of course in today's context colourful would mean dying your hair in various shades of colour and wearing gaudy coloured clothing! Whatever makes them happy. It was a fun time and a walk down memory lane for me. Hope the next 25 years would bring more colourful memories.