Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Guts or stupidity ??

Simon says its a 'language never been heard or invented" --- and I agree with him !


Monday, September 28, 2009

Meeting of helas, jony and ASH ...


So finally helas met ASH when he and jony visited her . Here are some photos.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Two of my favourite guitarists !

The great Knopfler and Clapton !





.....and just listen to Mr. Slow Hand's solo .....


What A Strange Dream !

Had a dream last night - and what a strange dream that was ! I was a student in a university listening to a lecture. It was so boring that I lay downon the bench to streatch my legs , put on my head-phone and was listening to an Irish singer, Gilbert O' Sullivan singing my favourite 'Alone Again...Naturally ". Then the lady lecturer stood up and said loudly to me..."Don't you start that all over again...I know that song ." And she started singing the song as well. 

I woke up laughing to myself and all of a sudden I wanted to listen to that song..Went to You Tube , and decided to post this.  Its like a musical ! ....a musical dream ! hahhahaha ! Wish I had that kind of dream every night !

ps. Oh I think Ice Age 3 adapted this song. I'm not sure as I have not watched the movie but there are many clips of it in YouTube.

Friday, September 25, 2009

A Walk In The Park

ASH and me.



Morning at T.T.T (thats Taman Tasik Titiwangsa)

Just love this pic. Thanks pickled herring ! ( thats Iain, ASH and me  enjoying the air )




Thursday, September 24, 2009

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

The Titiwangsa Escapade 2.

At the park, my sister met her acupuncturist , a professor from China. He was by the lake side with a woman friend. It was only when Iain mentioned 'Professor' that he turned around and of course all three of them started talking.

Apparently, the good professor had been to the market , bought 'some' frogs , brought then to the lake , and released them. True them I saw a few ( at least 10 to 15 ) of these frogs---and thus the photos !



Its blues again !

I know I'm supposed to upload more photos but I just hsd to do this first. What great blues maan ! Wish I could see these guys 'live' !!!!






Tuesday, September 22, 2009

The Titiwangsa Escapade ...

So the 2-hour morning walk has all of us a lot of good. It certainly took out what I have been stuffing my body with the last two days or so.  We arrived there at about 8.45am and it was so cooling ! I did not feel any heat at all, in fact its like sitting in the cool living room with bountiful of fresh air. It was certainly invigorating  !

Iain found some crystals on the 'beach' near the boat-house and it was so relaxing just to sit on the bench and enjoy the air ! Its amazing that each time I go there , i found something new !!

Here are the photos and I've categorized them into People, Plants and Animals !

People





Plants

Flowers of a eucalyptus tree which looked like a bottle-brush !




 
 
 
 


OK--the posting on the Animal categories will be in the next posting.


My Favourite Raya portraits !





1st pic---Mariam, 2nd pic ..Iain , 3rd.pic...Hannah and 4th pic ASH

Memoirs of 2009 Raya !

It has come and go. I mean, to me, Raya is mainly the first and second day !

This year, it was 'full attendance' because my son was with us on the eve of the Raya and also the first day ! It is always good if I have my three kids with me. Moreover the last two years my first daughter could not be with me on the eve and the first as she had to be be 'on-call' at the hospital . So in a way, this has been a good Raya.

And of course , my sister and brother-in-law are here. Over God-knows-how-many years , this is the 2nd time that we had the Raya together. It was good to visit them in the morning and have breakfast together.

 My sneezes.
However, and this is very negligible compared to what I have as stated above, I had an attack of my sinus. On the morning of the first day I was sneezing and sneezing and sneezing....( see one of my previous posts). I was red in the face , exhausted with the sneezes (they actually take up lots of energy when you forced the air out of your lungs in one short burst).So I spent a good part of the day in bed as my face was already flushed and my cheeks were turning red !

Photography
However---my photography continued inspite of my sneezes as there were too many good subject to let them pass. However, most of them were out of focus -- as at that very moment when I was about to squeeze the shutter---I SNEEZED !!!  Let me tell you ---it wasn't easy trying to suppress a sneeze when you wanted to squeeze the shutter and hold the camera steady !

Lake Titiwangsa
Took my sister , brother-in-law and their Singaporean guest who is also a photographer  (pickled herring) to the garden . Spent 2 hours there and will upload the photos later.

Minor pain in the butt
Had a conversation with somebody and went on to University studies, scholarship and PTPTN. You see, for a few times , this person had mentioned the fact that my first daughter should not have taken the JPA scholarship when she did her medical studies in UM as this would restrict her freedom to practice in the private sector. I have always ignored that remark. But this time I answered--and even then with the utmost tact and diplomacy that I could muster. I told him (1) I couldn't afford to support a five-year medical studies for my daughter, (2) Others would die to be given the chance of a scholarship and (3) whats wrong with  repaying by serving the Government even if it meant 10 years ! ! That is gratitude !

After all the specialist who did my angioplasty12 years ago is STILL in the government service ( He's the head of the Medical Faculty of UiTM now )  My family doctor (who has been practicing well over 20 years), has always mentioned about his respect for this specialist's loyalty to return the good deeds he received from the government .

Whatever it is , keep your part of the bargain and complete that 10 years of service with the government which you have so willingly signed for when you accepted the scholarship. Then after that you can go on to private practice or private hospitals, which no doubt would pay you better.

My son, a scholar of the National Petroleum Company could have left the company when he was involved in  the F1 team in Switzerland. He was 'head-hunted' by some of the big names in the motor industries and F1 teams that it would be a dream come true for anyone. But no, he told me , at that time, he will serve his 10-year commitment with the company that sponsored his studies.

Its the same with my youngest daughter who is a JPA law scholar . She will serve her part of the contract when she accepted the scholarship and will not breach that agreement .

If anything, my three kids have been trained to be loyal, to be grateful and not to bite the hand that feeds you. After all when the Government gives you the scholarship, you are already part of their man-power planning for the country and it is your promise, commitment, obligation and duty to fulfill your part of the contract.

If you felt otherwise, then one should NOT and NEVER accepted the scholarship offer/contract !

By the way the person who brought this up was a JPA medical scholar at the same university as my daughter was. He didn't complete the ' compulsory service stint of ten years' but that's his prerogative and I have never questioned it .

But---to each his own...I guess.

Malacca
Spent a day in  Malacca and its like stepping into another country. It so hot hot hot ! ...and i mean hot 'hot' !!
I don't think I can survive that place !

Anyway ---those are the highlights over the last three days !

Sunday, September 20, 2009

"Its my turn to go now.."

Those were the last words he spoke to me at Heathrow Airport when I sent him off for his holidays to Singapore sometime in early September 1982. Although he had meant that it was his turn to go back for a holiday ( because I had just had mine ), somehow the other  meaning haunted me terribly after his passing.

That was the time he turned back and walked back to me after he had   entered the departure gate and for the first time in our lives , we hugged each other.

That was the short period of time when we spent a lot of our time in London to rediscover ourselves as brothers and discard our 'rivalry' in everything !

You see ASH, when you send me first to UK to continue my studies and later  our late brother to UK as well -- it was more than just education that we obtained --- we found each other as brothers in every sense of the words - and more..

God bless you for that !

After his death, I never wanted to think about him too much---not because I loved him not or less  -- but it hurts too much.

But on reading your post-- I had and wanted to write this in memory of Akim. .

So dear brother, May He shower His 'rahmat' on you !
Mustakim bin Abdul Hamid
29.4.1949 - 21.9.1982
AL - FATIHA

Believe it or not, a few weeks before he went back to Singapore, we were listening to this song every time we were together, went to the record shops in Tottenham Road and tested the record (although we've already bought a copy) and used it as a reference song when we visited the Hi-Fi shops. I listened to it through my walkman whenever I hitch-hiked from Hull to London and back ! " Old and Wise" , by Alan Parson.

Raya....of sniffles, sinus and sneezes.....

Guess that summed up my first day raya. Woke up in the morning with sneezezes - enough to blow my nose away ---after about 150 sneezes....and a runny nose that wouldn't stop , followed by a heavy head. I must have easily used up a box of tissues to clear my nose !

Then--reprieve for perhaps half an hour, then sneezing cycle starts again.  Oh well---happy sneezing raya to me...atischoo !......atssishooo !!

Saturday, September 19, 2009

..of Tea Towels..

Here are photographs of tea towels. Apparently, we don't get tea towels in our part os the world. But you find them in UK and other countries.

What are tea-towels ? Basically they are dish towels, the size of an average 40cm by 70cm. The thing about these tea-towels that I'm crazy about, is the pictures, designs, information and drawings that may be printed on them.

When I was a student in UK, I used to buy them and blue-tagged them on the walls. I still have them and here are some of the collection.