Christmas Family Dinner 2006

Sorry I was late posting this... got too distracted by all the food and sleeping. ^_^
Used Google's Picasa2 service to upload them. Only 250 Mb size maximum for free accounts but it's sufficient for now. ^_^

Click here to view.

We didn't take a lot of pics. Maybe because we were hungry. :)
The pics without flash were taken by me, because I like the dim lighting, creates the mood for it. However, the others preferred the pics to be totally brightened with the camera flash. Ugh... ^_^

Yes, it was dark after we took the pics, but that's not something we cannot fix after some brightness adjustment with Photoshop, right?


Me and my love. See? It's not that bad... ya?

From christmasdinn...

OK, hears a clear one to be fair.


Two of the three women I love the most in my life - Mama and Sharm. (My sis, Cindy, is in Japan :( )

From christmasdinn...

I have mentioned many times that I was out of shape. Many have doubted it. Here's the secret: it's all in the angles.



Here's how I really look like:

Our family dinner.

From christmasdinn...

--------

Overall, the dinner was really great, a nice buffet at Casuarina Hotel lounge restaurant, Ipoh. Sharm joined us, but I feel bad for not bringing her family along.

The food was excellent. Most of everyone left the salmon alone, so I literally ate half of the plate served on the buffet table. Other than that, the barbecued mutton and beef was juicy and nice. As with the local cuisines - ginger chicken, roasted duck, mixed veges, salad, "localized" pasta...etc. The fruits still sucks, it's the one thing that never change about this place. But the cakes... man, the cakes were fantastic. Why, I couldn't even bring myself to eat some of them because they look so nice.


U can't touch dis...

From christmasdinn...

Hope your Christmas was good too!

.... and now on to the New Year!!

Not quite right in the mind, body and soul.... But I'm blessed.

Angry Idiot: "You bastard!! You better go get your head checked or something...!!"
Me: "Well, actually I had an MRI scan last week. Thanks for your concern."

That would be my standard answer whenever somebody decide to insult me with the age-old muse of brain related put-downs.

**********

I went to the University Malaya Medical Centre to get an appointment with a neurologist in order to book a time to get an MRI scan. However the nearest date I can get is March 16th next year. That's what you get for being the best hospital with the best facilities. I was hospitalised there before when I got run down by a car years ago. Other than the poor security, that place is a cool place, one would mistake it for a hotel because of the good service.

Anyways, I went back to the clinic to see if I can get referred to another hospital for a sooner date, but no dice. Anywhere else will blow a big hole in my wallet. So I'm sticking to the booked date. And in the meanwhile, it's time I put on my running shoes again and shoot some hoops, to stay good health and hopefully keep me in better shape.

I rarely talk about my past injuries, but would gladly indulge whenever someone asks. So here's how it's like in a nutshell... for those who don't know.


This brain scan thing, is the second time I remember feeling this down. The first was when I was diagnosed with a case of slip-disc 9 years ago. Two herniated intervertabral disc, pressing against my spinal cord at the lower lumbar. I could have been paralysed from the left side of my body.

It was because I was super active in sports way back in school, particularly basketball. Did lots of weight-lifting and lots of running. Took part in "sports marathon" with my friends. (11 hours of consecutive running, basketball, soccer and swimming) I was in my fittest (and hottest) when I was 17. But my reckless weight-lifting practices and over-the-edge activity finally reached its limit. The last straw was when I was jumping for a rebound and swinging around for a behind-the-back pass on landing. That was when I hear the scariest sound ever - the "Crack!" sound of my lower back finally giving way. I remember sitting down, unable to stand, while assuring my team mates that I was OK. But I'm not. The images of the MRI scan of my back, showed me the most frightening thing I have ever laid my eyes upon.

I was in total state of anguish and self-hate. Even loathed God for my incompetent body and sad fate. Weeks later after I was discharged, I travelled 200km to Sunway Pyramid for the (now demolished) largest roller coaster ride with my godbrother. Two consecutive times. (Note: Roller coasters are forbidden for people with a weak heart or bad backs) I was hoping to get myself killed there and then. But it never happened. (Yeah, I was a real stupid teenager back then...)

I love sports, and my physical ability as the one thing I took pride in. I remember taking on 3 people at the same time in a basketball game, and beat them at it. But like Titanic, God took me down, crushing my pride to pieces. I think God was trying to teach me a lesson, the hard way. I soon reconciled with God a few years after. Right now, even though I cannot sit/stand for a long time without the feeling of pain in my back, even though I cannot lift heavy objects, even though I cannot take part in sports as vigorously as before, even though my fit and muscular physique is now replaced with a fat and undertoned body..... at least I am still breathing and I can still walk.


Now comes my headache. Possibly migraine, possibly burnout. I don't know. But I was feeling down yesterday. I tried to push my limits again, this time at work. I am the type that would give all my energy and effort to accomplish things. Will not hesitate to put up over-nighters and programming marathons if needed be. Even though for the past weeks, the office have been quiet... the side-effects of my activities for the past year have finally shown its ugly head. I attribute this NOT to genetic inheritance of my family's history of hypertension and high blood pressure. But to my excessive working hours, irregular eating/sleeping habits, and long periods in front of the computer. In short, unhealthy lifestyle. Again, my over-the-edge lifestyle have taken me down with a side Russian leg-sweep. But after all the concern and support given to me by Papa, Mama(who cried), my fiance and my boss, tells me that I don't have to be that miserable. My bad mood has lasted me less than 24 hours. I feel that I have made a significant improvement and is definitely a stronger person. (even though I don't look like it physically) ^_^

My head is not fully healthy, my body is a wreck, my soul definitely scarred... but indeed I am blessed.

Have a nice day... ^_^

Changes and Miracles

A lot of things have happened this past week and many weeks before. Life has been interesting for me, as we prepare for the celebration of the birth of our saviour this month. Christmas shopping has started, along with the usual back-to-school shopping too. I have sought to bury a dark past of mine, starting from yesterday's penitential service. I hope I have done enough to "make the path straight for the Lord".

Now then.... there were some interesting changes in my fiance that took me by surprise. First up, she drove to Subang Parade from home at Jalan Templar on Friday, all by herself with one passenger. Sound normal? Not really. She's the type wouldn't that wouldn't dare to drive anywhere unfamiliar. I have never shown her the way to that shopping complex, and her passenger do not know the way. I've driven her to Subang Carrefour before, but the traffic jam in Subang Jaya had her scared already. So it's really a pleasant surprise to see her finally taking up the challenge to commute on her own..... But then again, this could be due to the motivation power to do shopping. :)

Secondly, during an early "boxing day" event in her office, everyone went out for a hearty lunch. During desert, she and her friends were looking the menu and found an item which not one of them have heard of. And so she decided to order it and give it a try because the name sounds interesting. Another big surprise for me! Because this lovely fiance of mine NEVER try anything type of food that she had never seen, heard, or tasted before. Curiosity never make her try new things before. She prefer to shy from taking up the challenge to try something new. This is something MONUMENTAL in the history of our lives. :)

Later, she told me that it was from my influence that made her make this change. And I am so happy about to hear that. ^_^

Last Monday, we have finally submitted our application to join the Weekend for the Engaged program, and confirmed the participation on Friday. It will be a 3 days 2 nights stay-in retreat for couples getting ready to get married. I prefer to have one weekend to go over this course rather than attending weekly classes that spans to about 6 weeks. This way, we can concentrate fully on the course without any interruption in between. This will be the n-th time I join any retreat and the first for her. So it will be interesting to know what she thinks about it.


Miracles have been popping up left and right during the week. And the pessimist little me is wondering if the end of the world is approaching. Man, we never count our blessings, but this time, I am thanking the Lord for these wonderful things.

I don't know if these are rewards, as a result of our many attempts and actions for making our wedding a conflict-less, problem-less, and hiccup-less event. If it was, I have only 3 words to say - "Praise the Lord!"

There were so many good things happening these days, I simply can't write them all down. It would mean having to write a mini novel. So I'll just highlight a few.

Mama won the lottery, at second place! But since her bets are higher than normal, it counts just as much as a first place winning. The payout is still not much, but it's just about enough to sponsor her week-long holiday trip to Taiwan with Papa. Hey, we're not greedy, cos it's the placing that counts, ya know. Mama gave me a phone call to tell me how this has been one of the happiest day of her life. This news made her trip worry-free because she don't have to think about having to curfew her spendings. I am SO happy for her. Other than that, I am so happy for Papa, being able to see the Pacific Ocean line from this trip. His descriptions of his experience on this trip has told me how much he enjoyed it. My wishes have come true, that my parents are finally being able to enjoy life, after many many many years of sufferings and turmoils of maintaining our family. Although I am sad, that those money did not come from me, but I am determined to one day send them to a trip with money earned from my sweat and blood. Mama will be retiring from her business, and Papa will be retiring from work next year. So I expect them to be traveling a lot.

So what's next? A smile. :)

The "smile" in topic, came from the one person that have protested my wedding of my fiance - her mother. At first, her protest was very loud, but had died down to a complete cold war against us and all around her. But something has changed. Last month, I attended the wedding of my fiance's cousin. Needless to say, her family was there too. For the entire day, I avoided eye-contact with her mom, to avoid any sort of ... well, anything. Then later that evening of wedding reception, just about when everyone is leaving, I swallowed my pride, approached her and extended my hand to her to say goodbye for the night - just doing my part, a simple gesture of respect to an elder. To my surprise, she took my hand, and even returned a brief smile. I must say, that I am most relieved, even if it could just be an obligatory gesture.

But it happened again yesterday. My parents who came back from their holiday trip, went for the morning mass, and coincidentally (or accidentally, if you will) sat right behind my fiance's family in the pews. After the mass had ended, Mama went ahead to start a short conversation with my fiance's grandma - a fatal action in my opinion. But it happened - my fiance's mom smiled back at Mama when she greeted her.

I don't know, if again, it's just a gesture or just manners. I am delighted by the whole turn of event. I think, next year would be a wonderful year. I am blessed. Now if some share of miracle could happen to the return of Kago Ai.

I do expect bad things to happen though, the devil always come to cause problems everytime we do God's bidding and keeping our peace. But whatever it may be, come what may. Because I am sure, things will be alright in the end.

Productive Day...err... Night... I mean, MORNING!

Yeah, I'm still awake. This is my final post before I hit the bed. Otherwise I will be watching the sun rise out my window. It's crazy, but I'm really on a roll today. Or yesterday, which occurred 7 hours earlier.

On the side note, Sharm called to tell me that she will looking for some job to do while she is in Ipoh. No point sitting around the house doing nothing, she says. And I agree, but she could have done it here in KL, where she is always accessible to any sudden interview offers. But I guess she had already made up her mind. She was afraid that this will anger me, but I was calm about it and she was relieved. At this point, I'm at the stage that whatever she decided on, I will have no other choice but to offer the best support I can give. It sucks to be unemployed, and I know that too well, cos I've been there. That's why I understand how she is feeling.

However, sometimes I hoped that she listened to me earlier so that things won't be this bad at the very least. Oh well, I suppose we can't have everything our way. God has a plan for all of us, I always say.

So back on topic, it was a swell day. But it didn't start off well, cos I had a problem recording with my webcam. I'm assuming that there is a driver conflict between the webcam and the soundcard. I reinstalled the driver and webcam application, but no dice. Then I found a workaround - chuck the webcam app aside and use MS Movie Maker. As much as I hated to use it, I guess I have to. I've be using it to edit my recordings currently anyway. It will be temporary though. At least until I clear enough space to install Adobe Premier.

Afterwards, managed to finally video chat with Papa and Mama. It's really cool though we had some problems with the sound. At first I thought it was their mic/webcam having problems but further testing proves that maybe it's my microphone. We got loud noises when I speak to my mic. It's like this -> I spoke to the mic, it picked up the sound and emitted through their speaker, back into their mic and came out in my speaker, then back to my mic and it goes on and on. Sounds like hellspeak. :) After I get back home next weekend I'll check their machine out.

Later on, I video chatted with my sis in Japan. And surprise, surprise, nothing happened. No noise, no nothing. Really weird, so my mic problem is ruled out. BUT after chatting with her for a couple of hours (yeah, we can do that. Who says brothers and sisters can't get along? ^_^ ) the problem came back again - right after my Messenger app hung. So the next probable assumption that it is my webcam. You see, it comes with an embedded mic in it. So that may be the cause. However, sis says that she had the same problem while chatting with Papa and Mama. So I guess I better check by putting their mic farther from their speaker. Funny, funny.... but all in all. It was real fun being able do all this. Really bonded our family ties closer. ^_^

Next up, I'm able to record my transposition (as posted earlier) without any hiccups. Well, actually some mistakes here and there but it was close to perfect. Usually I have to do a few takes before I deem it acceptable. I thinking of doing "Furusato" next. Sounds easy, but again, it's a quality song. And like all good songs, there will be some challenges ahead.

....ahh... I spoke a little too soon. I'm at the end of this post, and I saw the sun rising up already... I guess hibernation is in the way. :)

Good day!

Peace ^_^

"Mama is Online"

That's what I'll be seeing later on my Messenger buddy status. So my parents have plugged in Streamyx, got a brand new Pentium 4 3Ghz, 80Gb HD 512 RAM machine, and a webcam with mic. *sigh* I wish I had the cash to get a new hard disk.

So what's next? Why, training time!

You see, Papa is OK with computers cos he uses one at work. Mama is a total beginner, and still having trouble navigating the mouse pointer. :) Ahh, this bring backs memories...

Teacher: Now, listen up boys... this is keyboard, this is the monitor.
Boys: Yes, sir...
Teacher: And this device is called the "mouse". Watched what happens when I slide it to the left...
Boys: OOooohhh~~~....
Teacher: And watch what happens when I do this (* sliding the mouse in circles *)
Boys: aaAAAAaahhh~~~
Teacher: Now you try.
Boy 1: Sir, the cable is not long enough. I can't reach the end of the screen.
Boy 2: Sir, my mouse pointer is gone.
Boy 3: Sir, I cannot double click.
Boy 4: Sir, the left button does not work. (tapping the left arrow key on keyboard)

With all that out of the way, Mama has learned some basics on firing the browser, the windows explorer. Papa taught her. Next, they need to get used to using the Messenger.

Yesterday, had a fun time trying to teach Mama how to surf the net, via phone. The hard part was trying to explain and translate everything from English to Cantonese. (How do you say 'address bar', 'bookmark', 'options' in Cantonese??). Otherwise it was fun, really. I guess for a person at her age, Yahoo! is the way to go. So I taught her how to type in URLs and save to bookmarks, and left the rest for her to surf around. She seems to be excited to be able to look for her stuff of interests. Mainly tourism spots and eateries.

Now these are things Papa have not got into yet. When it comes to computers, he only sticks to work related softwares like MS Office.

I guess now, during Mama's pasttime, the internet is going to replace all those TVB drama series. Wait till I start teaching her how to download torrents of TV series...no wait a minutes, that my sis... Heh!

Voice from the UK...

Really exciting news today!

My cousin Michelle from UK has sent me an email! Though she sent that last month to my Hotmail account, which I only check once in a blue moon. Thank God for the urge to check it today, it's as if He sent me a reminder Himself.

An update to those who don't know: I have an aunt (I call her Ah Koo, it's Hakka for auntie) who married a Englishman and migrated to the UK many years ago, and gave me 2 cousins, Michelle and Darren. (Michelle is the elder) Last I heard, Darren is still a mechanic, moved out to his own house with his girlfriend. And Michelle is still single and is working all over London.

Darren's situation might have changed now. And Michelle gave me a brief of her current situation. It seems that the news of my marriage plans have made its way to England, which prompted her to mail me. How nice!

Michelle is still single, and is living her life to the fullest. Job hopping from to another just like any other big city denizen. She has done just about everything, and somehow related to music and entertainment. That's something I admire, because I can never do that now, I'm all for stability right now. Music is almost behind me now.

So, I sent her a mail and I'm really looking forward to her reply. I really wish she would keep in touch often. So Michelle, if you're reading this, please respond! Pronto!!

Gramaphone me...

We got an old gramaphone in my hometown home. It's actually an electric phonograph, with two 2-feet tall speakers, standard turntable with ceramic stylus, and an amplifier-cum-radio tuner. Can't remember if it was a 75rpm or a 45rpm. Easily 30 years old. Really an antique worth keeping in my opinion, but Papa wants to throw it away.

You see, we have finally sold our old house and have been moving stuff out of the house to the new one, and also been deciding which stuff are worth keeping and which are the ones that we REALLY need to get rid of. Our family (except Mama) are a bunch of pack rats, what others see as junk we see as treasure. I'll talk about this in another topic...

So Papa wants to get rid of it, he thinks that thing really takes up a lot of space, and it's old and unusable. So don't think all our old folks are attached to inventions and products created from their era. Papa is a real Audio-Visual fanatic, and ever since the inventions of CDs, DVDs, and really cool Kenwood sound systems came about, he never looked back.

I have lots of memories with that machine, which was given to us by Uncle Victor - Papa's cousin. When I was small, Mama used to play it everyday while she does housework. I think that's mostly where my passion for oldies came from. We even also have a few Christmas, and nursery rhyme records. Songs for all occasions for the entire year. Sometimes, we would just turn on the radio. Lots of Bee Gees and Samuel Hui records there too, and I was a big fan. And Papa wants to chuck it out.

It's not old, it's just seasoned. (hmm... i think i will used that phrase once I am of age) And it's not unusable, it's just that the stylus/needle is spoilt, and they don't know where to get a replacement for it. Can't blame them, in our current age of high-tech stuff, things like gramaphone ceramic/crystal styli is just not something you can get at a local mall. So I told them to NOT throw it away, I'll take it, move them over here to my place.

Actually, there are still shops lying around still selling gramaphone records and phonographs. All second-hand items of course. The one in Ipoh is closed already, but there's one over here in Sea Park. I frequent that shop occasionally just to look at the old records. So today I asked the shopkeeper, if he has styli for sale. Here's the funny story: he was looking at me in an awkward way, as if to say "what's a young man, dressed smartly in slacks and shirt wanna get a styli for? Is it for his grandma? Does he even know how to use it??". So the grizzled old man was babbling away at me --> "Which type you want? The Kawai type? Toshiba? National? Each of them are different you know....blablabla.." So i said, I wanted the really early types, the "flip-overs", with just a standard ceramic needle will do. Stopped his long-speech halfway, looking bit embarassed, he took me to the glass shelves. I had a look, and after talking to him further, it seems that the type I wanted may be REALLY obsolete. However, he can do mods. So I'm going back home next week, and return with one of the needles to show him, and see if he can do anything.

Family Karaoke

I've always wanted to do many things with my family. You know, have a family activity or something. My parents came over to visit last Saturday, (after a long persuasion), and I've managed to go for a karaoke session together! It was a lotta fun.... I wish Cindy (my baby sister) was here.

It was something we have been talking about for years but we never got around making it happen, yet here we are last rainy Saturday afternoon, and we sang "Song Sung Blue" together.....woohoo~~~! :D

Our family was a oldie-junkie. We'd listen anything from Frank Sinatra, Marie-Ann & Tom Jones ....all the way to Carpenters, Bee Gees & Olivia Newton John. My favourite has been the 70's music. The funny thing? After years of assuming that Papa has a great hidden singing talent..... I finally get to hear him sing a full song..... and he sucks :). Hey, I've heard him singing hymms in church, and I thought he's got a Engelbert Humperdink type of low-key voice. But, come to think of it, it's been years since I've heard him sing at all.

It's one of those times, that I come to realise something...... Papa's getting old. Mama, on the other hand, took singing lessons before.... so no problem for her. Even though her age now adds a little coarseness to her voice. But it's absolutely great, to be able to do something together at least. Now I'm not gonna go about talking about how off-key and off-timing the singing was, the important thing about enjoying karaoke is --> Enjoy yourselves! And that's what we've been doing. Karaoke is about building a castle of happiness.... on top of someone else' moat of suffering. (The chinese would know what I meant there.) We've been singing and singing for 4 hours, all oldies..... well, added two modern songs to stay level headed, and I get to sing "Leader of the Band" by Dan Fogelbert to Papa. Man, it was great.

I would love to do it all again.... maybe the next time when I get back to hometown, I will..... yes that would indeed be nice. Let's not make last Saturday a "once in a lifetime" moment.