A Second Opinion at Gleneagles

Just spoke to my sister. She felt some sensation again around the upper thoracic and took the advice of her family doctor to see a heart specialist on 29 January 2008. At Gleneagles, they conducted two procedures to ascertain her health in two areas-the cardiac and the gastro.

Thank God, both procedures confirmed that the heart and the gastro tract are in good shape and she can stop all those unnecessary medication.

She stayed a night for rest and told me she was satisfied by the treatment at Gleneagles.

So it's one up for Gleneagles!

Heartsong

Developing a Teaching English Curiculum

The very thought of developing a teaching curricula brings out unknown latent fears. A gigantic task too many will shun; a challenge few will take on;especially the uninitiated! When this task was first brought to me by Bob, I shuddered.

Onerous as it may seems, after scanning the University of Cambridge website,my fears slowly dissipated. There are 5 levels from KET to CPE and all I needed to do was to look at them and evaluate the contents taught at each level for its relevancy to my remit.

Once, it can be decided what should be taught at the various levels that we would be developing; then the evaluation tests can be developed as well as the lesson plans.

It is not as easy as it seems and it will take some planning time and putting on thinking caps to handle the task satisfactorily.

As they say, "How do you eat an elephant?" The short answer: Piece by piece!

Heartsong

As I was Passing......

My Sundays always start with a walk to the morning open air market in SS2. So yesterday, I was there too. Nearing the park, my wife and I heard a blaring horn signaling some community activities going on. A PJ Lions run was on and so was a bone density testing. I registered myself for the latter. The wife got a clean bill of health. The machine reader saw the reading ''2.2" and retorted,"Good bones". Then, it was my turn. She looked at the reading and handed me the result slip without a word. As it turned out, I was in the first portion (-2.7) of the red zone of potential osteoporosis victims. The man,selling alternative medicine told me, better take his calcium milk tablets called Moo, 5 per day and lots of exercises if I want to get better bones! Told me it was RM85 per bottle.

A walk through the market and I overhead this conversation. The yau char kueh lady, frying her stuff in a big wok was talking to a Malay lady in a tudung.

"Semua barang naik. Saya paksa buat juga. Sekarang banyak susah mahu hidup. Oleh sebab itu, kerap kali dengar kes curi samun!" The Malay lady nodded in agreement as the country was experiencing a massive almost no-one-is-spared all-round runaway inflation. There is just no brakes to this one,my friend! Everything seems to be up 20% overnight and it is definitely not because of profiteering during this Chinese New Year holidays.

Everyone, except the rich and the politicians in government are quietly suffering. The worse are the pensioners followed by the salaried workers. Students in KL/PJ are also getting the brunt of this inflation. Woe betide us if the government should remove petrol subsidies this year after the possible elections!

Heartsong

Put on a Stipend

A friend of mine, recently retired wanted to rest for a while but then he was offered a monthly stipend beginning today to draw up a course proposal for a language teaching framework. So, he has to put on his thinking cap once more to do battle with concepts and proposal writing.

He talked to me about this project and the other offers that he has been sounded. The first one was to be an administrator in a trust company. He believes the company wanted him to capitalise upon his network which they thought was a mother lode. The second offer was to run a Training for Trainers Course for a recruitment and student placement agency. Both the latter offers did not sound solid and may take time to gel.

So he took on this job which they will be paying him a stipend until the real job comes along sometime in August.

Well, at least that will keep him gainfully occupied.

Heartsong

Doing the LCCI Book Keeping Course

Took my daughter to a local institute nearby for her to enroll in a book-keeping class. Paid some RM380 for fees and registration. Hopefully by getting involved in this course, my daughter's long waiting time for the SPM results is put to good use. Never know she may find her El Dorado in Accountancy.

Interestingly she met her tuition mate pursuing the same course at that institute.

If she should find her calling in Accountancy, there is always the CAT route or we may just allow her to take an Accountancy course at Sunway.

Heartsong

An Old Face from Years Gone by............

I was shopping at the pasar malam in Section 17 this evening for fruits and vegetables when I chanced upon a vaguely familiar face of days gone by. For a moment our eyes locked and then I turned away.

There was no great benefit in feigning friendship again because there never was one with people such as these from the very start. They were the high and mighty of yesteryear dictating their narrow personal values on others. Promotion came easy to these bigots as Peter would have it, he was promoted duly to the level of his utmost inefficiency.

This time he was sitting on a sensitive post. It did not last long. His own people saw through him and got rid of him pronto. I guessed from his looks and attire, he is a pensioner and just like me,with the grace of God, eking and scratching out a normal layman living with each waking day.

Heartsong

A Discharge from the National Service

We braved the torrential rain from Kajang to Beranang in our 15-year old Proton Satria to bring our daughter back from Kem Khidmat Negara Millenium yesterday evening. Apparently the managers of the national service got cold sweet and cold feet over health issues and decided that those having asthma or even childhood asthma should be discharged soonest.

My daughter had this condition and so along with 20 other participants they were sent home pronto. So she bade farewell to her new found friends, took a couple of photos and we went on our way.

I need to contact the national service hq to have an exemption given so that my daughter will no longer be called again for such programmes in the future.

Looks like there is more thinking to be done by the planners of the national service programme to prevent such hiccups in future.

Heartsong

Every one needs a break!

Life is rather strange. Just when you think things are within grasp, it flits away and when things that cannot happen,happens-you wonder why and such things continue to have its reverberations long after the initial benefactor has had his just dues.

Case in point. A certain dean of a faculty suddenly became the fancy of a premier of a country. He was made a minister after being sworn in as a senator. When the time came for the appointment of his former alma mater's new VC, he chose his favourite student. The premier and the minister are no longer in office but the VC remains so to this day. Imagine how the wheels of fortune turns and how heaven favours some people. Bully to them!

So these days, I am no longer that adamant or skeptical about worldly impossibilities. Anything can happen and does happen!

Heartsong

The Denial Syndrome

What a wonderful photo to illustrate the phenomenon called the Denial Syndrome.

Believe me, that has always been a problem with Malaysian society. When there is a problem, they will deny it at the first instance except for that brave man, Chua Soi Lek! Politicians, community leaders and those in positions of authority all suffer from this syndrome.

When can Malaysia mature into a truly civil society that our descendants can really be proud of? Another generation?

Heartsong

The Star-Spangled Banner

Interestingly,watching many American movies, we tend to see the patriotism and compassion in the eyes and demeanor of the American audience as they responded in homage and respect to their national anthem.

I sometimes wonder what is so special about the Star-Spangled Banner compared to our Negara Ku.

Let us look at the lyrics and perhaps you may see some difference.

Oh, say! can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming;
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there:
Oh, say! does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In fully glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution!
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust":
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Heartsong

Start the Sacrifice!

Well, it's 11 days into the new year and consumers are bracing for more price increases! This imbroglio has been brought about by the relentless across the board world price increase of commodities. The culprit is the phenomenal crude oil price rise throughout 2007. Meanwhile a drought in Australia has brought up the prices of dairy products due chiefly to the imports of animal feed.

On the home front, it is indeed frightening!

Yesterday, we went to patronise our favourite curry mee in Restoran OK in SS2. Lo and behold! The price of a small bowl of the delicacy has shot up by 30 sen. It is now RM3.80 for a bowl! Looks like it is beyond our financial capacity to continue to patronise this stall for a long, long while.

Meanwhile the stall will continue to prosper at the new price because people will somehow get used to it and pay through their noses!

Expect more dizzying price increases after the elections are over!

Heartsong

First Visit to Kem Millenium, Beranang

We hopped into our car at 11 am on 6 th January and rolled down the KESAS Highway towards Cheras and then onto the SILK Highway towards Semenyih. Believe me, it was tolls galore in all directions,no thanks to Samy Vellu. Ridiculous number of Touch and Go tapping before we finally arrived in Beranang. As usual, signage are bad and we did not make to camp on the first try.

After 1 hour and 22 minutes we arrived in the Visitors' carpark and made our way into the camp. I surrendered my IC and there was a bag check of things we brought. We finally got to meet our daughter all togged up in National Service attire, with a beret atop her head. My son remarked reactively that his sister has shrunk! "Not so," I replied as the attire she had on somehow has a "big"look about it.

Mother and daughter hugged and there were tears of happiness shed. After dispensing with the greetings, we got down to business. My wife told my daughter what were the things that we have brought her. Stories were exchanged.We then wandered around the dining hall, watching other parents and their children. It rained.

We then left at 3.30 pm. We reached PJ safely at 6.00 pm and went straight away for dinner. Then I received an SMS from my daughter informing me that I have left my IC at Kem Millenium. The authorities have given it to her for safe-keeping.

The next hour was spent at the SEAPARK Police Station in making a covering report of what transpired regarding my IC.

What a day!

Heartsong

A New Year's Wedding

On the first day of 2008, we went to a Malay wedding lunch. My good friend, Mutalib's daughter got married to a Peruvian man. Mutalib looked good. His daughter is a doctor by training. Food was good. The mutton spare-ribs tasted wonderful. My wife said this was the best Malay wedding luncheon fare thus far.

Met Siok Eng, Dr. Thiru and Sharifah Khamseah. As usual we exchanged stories and relived the bygone times.

We agreed to meet again soon. Wonder if this will really take place especially if no one will volunteer to organise it.

Heartsong

The Fall of Chua Soi Lek!

Never will he forget his 2008 New Year present!

What you do in the past may come back to haunt you and it did so for this man. A DVD video filmed without his knowledge of his tryst in a Batu Pahat hotel room started circulating in the dying days of 2007. No doubt it was not graphically clear who the lovers were, this man bravely came forward to declare and admit he was the one! So like a boulder, this Minister of the Malaysian cabinet dropped.

The future is bleak for him, a psychologist by training. He did have a great political career spanning many decades. And he was one great Minister of Health. All the three MCA ministers rolled into one cannot even hold a candle to him!

That is the price we all pay for the mistakes we make! The higher you are, the harder you fall! Dr. Chua's notoriety is forever etched in the minds of all Malaysians who have watched the dastardly video! What a way to make an exit!

And so we bade farewell to one extra efficient minister.

Adios muchachos!

Heartsong

Dinner at Dato's Place

And so we got together to have dinner at Dato's place. Bernard picked me up at 7.30pm and we were on our way. After some periperi chicken, pita bread, Kentucky Fried chicken and hot buns, we had some red wine.

Since, it has been a rather long time since we last met, there were plenty of stories to trade. The Tohs came in followed by our Moses Lee and finally our Hongkong Shanghai Bank Yeoh.

We had pretzels, kacangs, dried sotong and an assortment of fruits to go along with the wine. Good time but even good things have to end as some had to go to work the next day.

So we decided to meet for dinner after the forthcoming 15-day Chinese New Year celebration.

Heartsong

Happy New Year 2008

2007 left and now we are in 2008.

As the seconds ticked away, we bade farewell to 2007 yesterday night. My friend M came by. We did the countdown and opened a bottle of red wine to celebrate the coming of the new year. A red wine from the vineyards of New Zealand circa 1999. Not bad - a full bodied wine with a slightly refreshing aroma and taste.

After a few glasses; with ground-nuts, we said our good-nights and went straight for our pillows.

May God bless us all in 2008

Heartsong