Where Is The Crowd ?

I do not know whether the traffic to our beloved blog is still maintaining at its peak or have much dwindled down. However, for sure...there has been much silent in the comments or putting up of sharing now when compared to a year ago especially nearing our 20th Reunion.

Even the most vocal commentor...Joe has been silent for few weeks already...may be his boss's boss is giving him extra pressure to handle some Hongkies..but now it should have settled as the boss's boss is no longer the Tourism Minister.

William is the next most vocal nowadays...great work with his photo blog...I like the scenery/events that he tooked. Commenting here and there !

Heroes is now too bored to handle his current work engagement also did not participate much...may be missing his Dalian frens.

Mr. Tee has just introduced us the Bittorrent but I still like the Foochow crash course....(I did laugh out very loud....)

Bravo to Sweet Ivy who still manage to put up a very interesting blog barely few weeks after her delivery...

Hansac as usual will come in to put great comments without favour or fear but straight through his mind...especially with his lots of ideas.

Pat is also very quiet now...but like the way he wrote about J in his latest blog...such a great way to appreciate a person...mungkinkah first touch ?

Ardy & Ted, mana you ? hilang macam Dato Ahmad ? Sii Jing, Dave & Mag...busy chasing dreams..

Oh..yes... WH...are your cannon balls still operational ? Miss the battle that few of us had last year where it hooked us day and night.

Even the shout box also now collecting dust...

Must get some butts moving...now...I would like to start another tag like the one we had but this round, is tagging to write sharing on our blog. Topic, anything interesting and I am sure everyone has a lot ideas/experiences/opinions to share even on your toilet bowl...

So, I tag Hansac first !

Do You Still Keep Your Report Card ?

Badges...I do not have the full collection. Uniform...long became my foot cloth (but I remember my mum told me that my prefect maroon jacket have been given to my great uncle from China who happen to visit my parents way back in 1994, when I was in West Malaysia...). On cards/letters....may have misplaced especially those sensitive ones but my wife kept well those letters written from me (I think ladies are like that....keeping score and reflecting our soft parts)...haiz..

Oh...Yes, I have still have my report cards...the blue faded colour primary report card is already 30 years old and the green secondary colour is 24 years old...what a precious item and would not trade for a million ringgit (would you believe ?) kahkekeke...

Some of the information written inside the card is really enlightening to reflect...example...my weight was 50 pounds and height was 3 feet 11 inches when I was measured on 31/3/1978. By the time I left the primary school, I weighed 55 kgs and my height was 1.57m. But in the secondary school, such vital statistics were not recorded and proabably it was not important. Anyone can tell why they are not recorded ? (Anyway...my weight doubled up when I finished Form Six in 1990 but the height was 1.84m....luckily they did not measure my waist or other vital parts...hahaha...they may have discovered Zohan earlier...hahaha)

Interesting to note also the change of title of subject taught:

Primary vs Secondary
Ilmu Hisab - Matematik
Congak - ?
Tawarikh/Ilmu Alam - Geografi

Hey, I have also studied Jawi and got a C in Primary 6. ( A,B,C - Alif, Ba, Ta : correct kah...Hansac ?)

So, Ivy...are we equal for now ? :)

Where's your school badge?

In my trip back to Sibu last October, I rummaged through my old "treasure closet" and digged out my most precious keepings - school days stuff. And amongst my "treasure" are my school badges, from primary to secondary.

The two at the top are my primary school badges at Sekolah Rendah St. Rita (it was not SRB or SRK back then, just SR). I cannot remember in which primary school year the badge changed from the one at the left to the one on the right, but the changed reflected the school's change into a non-missionary management (something like SHS' change after the LaSalle years). Oh yes, I was supposed to go to St.Mary's Primary School after kindy, but my father felt it would be "safer" to put me in an all-girls school.

The second badge is my prefect badge in Form 4 to Form 5 at SMB St. Elizabeth. Where's my badge in St.E from Form 1 to Form 3? Good question....my sister confiscated it from me and claimed that she should be the rightful owner to the badge as she is the one who passed it on to me (she's 6yrs my senior). I argued that I am the one who has been the keeper of the badge for the last 20 years....it's obvious who won the custody of the badge, although she denied taking it and claimed that I dropped it somewhere in my mum's house in Sibu (grrrr!). St. E's school badge is the hibiscus that is shown on the prefect badge.

Finally, there's the SHS prefect and school badge, and the name tag which I can't remember is for prefects or librarians. The red pengawas badge was given to me by SJ when he left Lower 6 for university.

I love my school badges, they help bring back vivid school days memories in a flash. And I'll find a way to wrestle back my right to the St.E badge from my sister, some day.

Where are your school badges.....

Let the Games Begins !

It is here and we can enjoy the next 16 days on world's best in the summer sports....live from Beijing, China...

The preparation is into the last hour...

Tonight, everyone shall be very eager to watch the live telecast on the opening of the games at 8.08 pm 08s 8/8/08 (six eights)....hmm...just to give you the preview of the fireworks...on the well-known "Nest" stadium

In Remembrance: Frankie Jeffrey

Today after I updated the SHS blog I clicked on Frankie's blog. I don't know what prompted me to do it - maybe I just suddenly remembered him.

Anyway, his sister had put up an entry on her blog on the first anniversary of his passing on. You can find it here.

........................................

The sadness of losing a dear friend still remains strong, tempered by the knowledge that he is now in God's bosom.

Welcome Isaac !

A baby boy was born into the world this morning 2am at Sarawak GH. Mother Ivy and son both are healthy.

We are all waiting with long necks now....was relieved to receive a sms from her this afternoon (probably just woke up from sleep after heavy labour in the wee-wee hours).

Hope to have his cutie look soon...cheers

Discipline

The other day, one of my friends was lamenting how strict the Chinese school that her daughter attend was. That got me thinking about my own time at SHS.

One of my most enduring memories of SHS was the good discipline its students had. Sure, there were still bad apples, but overall, the students were well behaved.

The La Salle brothers who used to govern the school played a big part in this. If you really think about it, Brother Albinus never really did cane a lot of people, but the threat of it was enough to make most people shudder and think twice about going against school rules.

This theory was proven true when, after Samuel Tan took over in 1987, discipline began to deteoriate rapidly.

There are advocates today of a non-violent way of disciplining students, and this group of people abhors the use of the cane. In fact, parents even confront teachers if their children get caned. During our time, if our parents ever got to know that Brother Albinus caned us, the assumption was that we have done something very wrong and we got another round of caning!

But I think a key difference about the way the La Salle brothers disciplined us was that they did it out of love, out of care and concern about our education and shaping us into persons of character. Discipline out of rage and hatred will only breed resentment or worse, hatred in return.

Ultimately, I believe for many of us the success that we have today is in no small part due to the discipline we gained when we were in SHS.

Girls Meet-up at Kenny Rogers

The girls had a short meet-up at Kenny Rogers' outlet at The Spring yesterday evening (11th July). Ai Ping is in town, so I thought I'd use the opportunity to round up the '88 St.E girls in Kuching. There was supposed to be 7 of us....as I said, supposed to be. It ended up with just the four of us (well, 5 if we include Leh Ning's little Josephine who was camera shy).

The other few WANTED to come BADLY, but were just unable to escape from family committments at the last minute. Anyhow, I find comfort in the fact that they WANTED to come BADLY....heh heh heh, whether I'm making this part up or not, you decide!

11th July was Leh Ning's birthday, so HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY! She told us that yesterday evening was the first time she knew that Big Apple Donuts exists in Kuching....we almost asked her to seat at the next table.

Gr8Buds sms me as Ai Ping & I were settling down at Kenny Rogers asking how come the guys didn't get informed....specifically, he meant why Heroes didn't get informed about Ai Ping's presence in Kuching. Hai ya, I meant it as an evening for the '88 girls lah....still, I did say Ai Ping "is" in town, not "was". Heroes can always make it a productive weekend!

And girls, next time give lah more support ya!

SHS Alumni, Kuching Chapters - AGM

I was at the height of giving my staff the piece of my mind yesterday....suddenly my handphone sings ' Hai Guo Tien Kong" by Beyond (Cantopop group) and I have to stop to answer the call.

It was a sweet reminder (earlier I have already received an email from Seo Kok Ing, the current president) from a lady, our Junior who is now working in KTS with Dr. Lim (who is also a SHS senior)...a reminder to me to attend the Alumni's AGM schedule on next coming Sunday...20/7/2008 at Tempayan, Crown Towers, Kuching.

I am however unable to confirm my attendance as I have another prior engagement in outstation that weekend though much I would like to mingle around. Thus, I have promised to inform all my friends who reside in Kuching about this important event and encourage them to participate.

So, folks in Kuching...please do give your undivided support by attending this important event.

Nation-building from Hansac

I have one specific post that I have been cooking in my head for quite some time, and that is race relation in Malaysia as seen from a Sarawakian Malay perspective in the Foochow-dominated town of Sibu.

There is something about nation-building, about friendship, about you and me, about all of us, that I want to talk about, talk in the open, without fear, but with some prejudice and bias.

I will readily admit, at certain times in my life, I was a racist. Whether I still am, is something we can talk about.

But I am now in my 30s going to the big "four zero" in life, and my outlook towards reality and life in general and interpersonal relationship in particular has changed quite a bit.

Gone were the days when I was a fanatic Islamist.

Gone were the days where I believed in Malay supremacy ("ketuanan Melayu").

Gone were the days where I looked down on the beliefs of others.

And I do this not to curry favor from my non-Malay, non-Muslim friends.

I changed because I believe in the change.

I believe if I do not change, others will not change.

If I continue to be a racist, others will continue to be racists.

So I sat down with non-Muslims, non-Malay friends, and share the food they eat, drink from the same cup they do (of course in light of Hepatitis B and all, this may not be the in thing to do, :P), joined them in mock military combats, etc etc...

So what say you...

You ready for nation-building?

After Today

1. After today 30th June, tomorrow is a brand new second half of 2008, that is 1st July
2. After today, we have run half of the year and definitely, we shall keep running till the final lap of 2008...hopeful for better results.
3. After today, half year performance review is up very soon...so do our own half year reflection.
4. After today, July is here and there are many friend's birthdays this month...just celebrated one in office just now. Also expecting to have another new born coming soon.
5. After today, our beloved blog is 881 days old.
6. After today, Ivy, Hansac and Heroes has not posted any blog for 80, 113 and 130 days respectively.
7. After today, I hope we all will start a better 2nd half of the 2008 season or continue the good run like the G.S (photo) running on white sandy beach facing a blue relaxing sea (what a wonderful place to be know...)

No Photo Allowed !

Last Thursday, I have lunch with Ivy after so many months (may be 3 months now) since the last one we had with Heroes. This time, Mr. Tee joined us.

A quick catch up with each other after a while as everyone was busy on their daily chores even Ivy is much expecting now...but I was not allowed to take photo (I thought so....) as my subconscience told me not to ask her...so I can only describe her...hmmm still very much the same Ivy especially with her evergreen smile though her small belly is now much bigger.

Talking of catching up with friends, it deepens on oneself whether how the person wanted to be in touch. The feeling must be of vice versa. We can have simple quick meet up or a long chat over dinner or even few drinks at our favourites cafe...the simple act is by just calling up and making appointments.

BTW, just to inform all... I have also bump into Ah Bart, our 2009 Reunion Chairman who was on the same flight to and fro Sibu on the last 17th. He did mentioned about the Reunion 2009 on the way back and hinting that the committee will need to regroup by October or so. Much I would like to join but sadly, I have also told him that I will be away for new year holiday this time round...but can ask Mr. Tee. Heroes, Joe and others to take some greater part of the organising actions.

John Fam and the rest whom had pledged to attend 2009 after they have failed to make it to 2008, please ensure your airticket is already purchase especially taking the opportunity from the price war between MAS and AirAsia.... Dun know what day the reunion ? Simple rule of thumb...it is still going to be on the 2nd day of Chinese New Year ! When is the CNY 2009 ? Frankly..I also dun know...anyone care to advise ?

I believe it will be another great reunion and better than 2008 as like the wines...our relationship will become greater as the time passes...

Impromptu Gathering in KL

At about 4 pm today, I got an sms from Eng Soon that Mr T is in town, shall we meet up with him. We agreed to meet him at Midvalley. Stephen & Eric, who were supposed to be playing snooker :) decided to join us in the end.

So we had an impromptu gathering at Nyonya Colours in Midvalley. We talked about everything under the sun - the current political situation, Justice Chia's allegations, Dr Chua's bedroom powers (!), friends updates, Sarawak happenings, Eric's love life (or lack of it!), the high oil price, old school love stories (!!), the state of public transport, etc. In the end we stayed until the shop was ready to close :)



We agreed to meet again during the weekend (unfortunately without Mr T who is going back to Kuching on Friday).

All in all it was a really good catch up session. Thanks, guys!

512 Quake In China

Over 70,000 people had perished in this 7.9 ricther magnitude and over 500,000 people injured and millions were evacuated ! Many thousands more still trap...(never thought it was so bad till few days ago....I hope they will be saved soon...)

I have just had my parabolic transferred from my old house and now watching the 512 Artistes event performed by all HK/China artistes to collect donations for the disaster rescue activities...they are indeed great and loving group of people bringing hope to people in Sichuan and sharing love of over 1.3 billion in China. These top wellknown artistes really motivate the whole country through their songs. I believe many if not everyone in this world have known this disaster and again love has proven itself to be the everlasting strength that human has...

Further, I am very touch after reading many emails with pictorial messages sent by few friends about the recuers, survivors and people (unsung heroes) around giving love without conditions. Many teachers or parents died in protecting their children...one young lady even managed to breastfed her baby before dying having using her body to withhold the wieght of rumbles from crushing her baby (this was discovered as a small note was left beside the baby when the rescuer rescued the baby).

Like Andy Lau, the HK singer said...only time will heal this dramatic disaster and Jackie Chan shared that he has never seen a unity force so strong of over 1.3 billion people in one unison...when the whole country stopped for 3 minutes mourning over the disaster with everyone pressing their vehicles/vessels etc horns !

I must congratulate these HK/China artistes for their great act as the promotion of this event really move a lot of their fans/people as they are icons to millions at least to this part of the globe ! And also to the TV stations/companies over in HK/China, they have done a great job of sharing the news and promoting love and support from everyone through such programmes.

We must re-learn from these examples, the act of self sacrifice and love for everyone..not only our family but our neighbour, people on the street, in our community...

From Malaysia, from my own place...we can offer prayers or donate through local non-government organisations....at least to connect our love to those who had suffered so much through this event. May people in Sichuan will stand up stronger than before and move on to rebuild their life and cities. Amen.

School Holiday is here again

Many of us (including myself) may now be going through 2nd cycle of school holiday in our life but this time is with our kids. Yes, the school is on 2 week holidays or Semester Break. As my wife and I are working, we just send our kids to playschool. They will play from morning till evening but under the care of their teacher whereby they will also be given 1 hour tuition.

During old times, this period of time is the best of life....no need to study ! I will wake up early and go from morning (after my dad goes to work at 7.00 a.m) till night time...just before my dad came home at 6pm.

Last Sunday, I saw in the neighbourhood, people flying kites. I recall the time I used to make my own kites and making "kaca" for "kite war". Flying kites has season same to other games like guli, coins or "zero point", fish rearing especially on "fighting" fish, fishing from longkau (getting those lehus...the stream is very clear and clean unlike today when I go back to those longkaus...it is horrible, I must admit, couldn't believe I have once bare myself there...hehehe) etc. Umm, that was more towards during my primary school time...

When coming to Secondary school...lower form to be exact, I like to venture out on my bicycle with friends to unknown places or to end of road, having picnic or swimming (swimming stops after the afternoon incident....(sigh)... if not I could be the next national champ) and of course beside spending time in public library reading Hang Tuah, Jebat, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys etc. We also have bicycle racing among us from school gate to greai kampua in Tiong Hua Road, near towards Louis' house.

In the upper form, movie, mahjong, chess, lepaking at friend's house became my favourite past time. On yes..this is also the time, we have upgraded ourself from "bic" to "bike" racing..speeding on the road....vroooom...hehehe "amateur mat rempit" of Jalan Oya...with Chee Kiong, Okui, Anthony, Ah Chai and Chung (btw Heroes, normally grab us from behind...as he has no B license..mahh). Our race track is from SHS from gate to Heroes' house...apprx..1.5 km. Most of the time...Chee Kiong is champion, what to do...he has a Suzuki 110cc ! (I am on Yamaha-88, the rest are on Honda 90).

School holiday is also a time for making extra pocket money where I work part time making bicycle bags, paper bags or working in woodworking industries with my dad and grandpa. It is a love and hate situation :)

Hmm, from the sharing, I do not think my kids will go through the similar playing route like what I have gone through...may be it is because of my own protection or worries about high risks exposure when compare to our time ? or their preference has been influence by the world of TV or friends around with new gadgets as different to our time whereby limitation of TV programme like cartoon, I have to wait for TV 1 or 2 to screen once a while...somemore in black and white in the early days. Today, my son has more DVD cartoon of nearly every series for Power Ranger, Ultraman etc.

Next week, I am sending them back to their grandparents for a week holiday and in hope of opening their eyes to more learning...it is a win-win situation..hehehe..I also will get a week holiday mah ...

Make Some Noise !

This photograph is a courtesy from Sarawak Tourism Board...showing a Dayak family in preparation for the "grandest" mid year celebration...just another 10 days away...

I used to visit longhouses during Gawai celebration and the atmosphere is fantastic with good food, "tuak", great natural music and ngajat dancing with girls. The overnight visitation also include jungle trekking and site visit to their farm, sungai and the resting places. I think the last of such visitation was way back to 1990, just before leaving SHS...

Nowadays , I have only visited Dayak friends within city boundary...a different environment of course.

Pak Ted, any special trip can be arranged ?

Happy Mother's Day

Mommy, I love you

For all that you do.

I'll kiss you and hug you

'Cause you love me, too.
You feed me and need me

To teach you to play,

So smile 'cause I love you

On this Mother's Day.

To my lovely friends who is mother, or mother to be, Happy Mother's Day...your love for us is deeply appreciated and without which most of us will not be able to as good as today...

Extra Curricular Activities

During our school days, one of the avenues of making new friends apart from those in your own classes is the so-called co-curricular activities.

For myself, there was only ever one club that I REALLY wanted to join, and that was the Computer Club. But more on that later :)

There are basically two types of activities we could join then, sports, or clubs and societies.

A "kaki bangku" like me could never really be good at any games or athletics, but I still remember Bro. Albinus trying out the entire Form for rugby when I was in Form 2. So, there I was, weighing a paltry 45 kg trying to run with a rugby ball and passing it to the guy beside me. It came as no surprise that I did not make the shortlist :P

Nevertheless, I still managed to join the cross country and the 1500 m when in Form 2. I think the route we used to take for the cross country is now covered with houses and shops.

On the clubs and societies side, the big three then were the Red Crescent, Scouts and Junior Jaycees. There were numerous smaller ones like Kelab Lukisan, Kelab Fotografi, YCS, Legion of Mary, Chinese Society, Kelab Puteri, Kelab Catur, etc. From I saw during my last visit to the school a few years ago, most of these clubs still exist to this day.

So, anyway, back to my story of the Computer Club. I was aware of the club since Form 1, back then the computer room was situated in a room next to the SHS Primary School canteen. I used to hang around outside, just hoping to catch a glimpse of what's inside whenever someone opens the door.

The club was originally open only to those in Form 4 and above, but in 1986 me and Stephen Chung made an appeal to Mr. Ong Chin Kim to let us in, and all credit to him, he did! The Form 4 boys (Alex Sim and gang) were very surprised at this, but nevertheless welcomed us with open arms. After the SRP exams, Mr. Ong agreed to let me and Stephen run a series of classes for our peers while waiting for our results. I still remember some of the members of that gang - Paul Ting, Ngieng Sii Jing, Wong Yii Chiong, Kong Lieng Tee, Frankie Jeffrey, Eng Kia Hock. Apart from learning about Basic, DBase II and Wordstar, we were also exposed to the pleasures of Fruity Frank, Commando and Bomb Jack on the Amstrad.

The exposure I had during the three years I was in the club greatly influenced me, and today, I still do not wish to be anywhere else except in the IT industry.

Which, of course, made me a natural target of being asked to set up a website/blog for our alumni. But that is a story for another day :)

Young & Sweet, yes we were (and still are!)

This was the Girls' Club trip to Bintulu. There were only 9 of us from Form 6, with Mary Wong's 2 younger sisters (Theresa and Jenny) tagging along. Don't know why only so few participated, and how come we went ahead with the trip although the number was so small. But we had GREAT fun!

Inter-class Basketball Competition

I remember I was at the basketball court just to jump up and down and scream my lungs out to support our class....so short, tak kan lah you expect me to play.