Happy Mothers' Day

I drove home yesterday evening with my wife and my youngest brother. The traffic was ok, but there was a little jam at Seremban, as usual.

I used to do this ever since I started working in KL, about 8 years ago. Every now and then, I'd take the effort to go home, especially on long weekends. Everytime I got home, my mom would be the first to greet me. After all, she's a housewife and she's the one taking care of the house. I'd then make arrangements with my friends on where to go after dinner. I was never at home at night.

It took me a few years until I realise what I had been doing is not right. I knew my 'home' has become just a 'hotel' for me to put up for the night. Slowly, I started spending more time at home on Saturday nights to chit-chat my parents, waking up early on Sundays to have breakfast with them, and then do some shopping in the afternoon, before departing back to KL.

As I was driving back yesterday, I thought of my late mother. How I wish when I reach home, she would greet me with a smile, and there would be her home cook food waiting at the table. No! She's not here anymore. There won't be any food at the table. Things has changed....

Despite all that has happened, I still tell myself to go back whenever I have time, or if there isn't any time, make some time! After all, my dad is still in Melaka. Without my mom's presence, he's more lonely than ever. I'd take the extra effort to go home, every month, even for 2 days 1 night. It does make a big difference. I'm thinking, when I'm old, I too will wish that my kids will be able to come home as often as possible.

Well, as all of us know, today is Mother's Day. As soon as we got up, we headed to the Jelutong Columborium. We did some prayers, and then visited some relatives. Later, we did some shopping at Tesco. I knew my dad hasn't had any home cook food lately, so, I decided to cook some soup and homely dishes for him. It was a nice feeling to have dinner at home with my family, altho not all of my brothers were back.

We didn't have any chance to celebrate Mother's Day with mom this year, but here are some pictures that we took on holidays with her. I can still remember her ever ready smile when we say 'cheese...'. I really wish I had taken her to more places, especially China before she left us. But there's nothing more we could do now. All we can do now is to take better care of my dad...

October 2006 - Cameron Highlands

March 2007 - Chiangmai, Thailand

October 2007 - My Wedding (Kampar)

October 2007 - My Wedding (Melaka)

The photos taken during my wedding were the few last photos she took. She wasn't healthy before the wedding. However, she told us not to worry, as she promise us she'll make sure she managed to drink our wedding tea. She did. But we did not expect everything to come so sudden. She felt dizzy in the evening, and had a minor stroke after that. I should have sent her to the hospital immediately, but I did not!!!! It was when the whole wedding reception was over, only then I sent her to the hospital. By then, everything was too late. I should have taken the immediate action to admit her, but I did not!!!! I knew during my younger days, whenever I fell sick, my mom would immediately send me to the doctor, but this time, I did not take the initiative to do the necessary. Until now, I still regret for not doing so. My advice to all readers: early detection and action could save the life of a stroke patient.

Nevertheless, I will keep my promise to my mom to take care of my dad and my brothers. This is the least that I can do now.....

To anyone reading this...remember, we only have one mother and one father. Appreciate them before it's too late. Spend more time with them now, or else when they are gone, there's nothing you can do to bring them back.

I really want to say 'Thank you' to my mom for everything she has done for us....Selflessly, she did so much for us and never complained. She's the best mom in the whole wide world.

To all happy mothers, Happy Mothers' Day....

To all unhappy mothers, it's just another day....

Funny Clip

Super-Sub

I started watching football in the early 90's. I came to know a few football terms like 'hattrick', 'bicycle kick', 'through ball', 'dummy' and many more, but the most significant for me now is 'super-sub'.

Those days, Man Utd will rely on Olle Gunnar Solskjaer to get the important goal in the last minutes of the game, and without fail, he always got it by hook or by crook. He can never play in the starting line up, because he can never deliver as a first 11. He's always known as the super-sub for Man Utd.

Last week and yesterday, I witnessed 2 super-subs for Liverpool in the Champions League semi final. In the first game at Anfield, John Arne Riise was brought in after Fabio Aurelio got injured. It was 1-1 at 90 minutes, but the 4th official called for 4 minutes of injury time. In the 5th minute, Salomon Kalou crossed a ball into the Liverpool penalty box and Riise mistakenly headed it into his own net. Well, the question here is how come the Referee did not blow the whistle at the end of the 4th minute, and amazing enough, why Riise used his head instead of a clearance with his foot? This reminds me of my schooling days, where my 5th former team lost to our opponents 7-1. In this game, our hero scored 2 own goals, one with his foot and another with his head, quite similar to Riise's goal.

Yesterday, everything was well until the 22nd minute. Martin Skrtel got injured and replaced by Sami Hyypia. Chelsea's first goal came in the 33rd minute through the 'bullish' Didier Drogba. Fernando Torres managed to score one goal in the 64th minute, making Liverpool's dream alive. The score was tied at 1-1. Then came extra time. However, few minutes later our 'super-sub' Hyypia made a wrong tackle and felled Ballack in the penalty box. It was a penalty!!! Frank Lampard converted the penalty easily, a tribute to his mom who passed away last week. At the same time, the magnificient Torres was replaced by Ryan Babel, giving me no hope that Liverpool will advance to Moscow. True enough, Drogba score another goal in the 105th minute. Ryan Babel surprisingly shot from ourside the D, and managed to pull one back, but all is over when the referee blew the final whistle. It ended 3-2.

Chelsea advances to their first ever final of Champions League, a feat they never achieve under Jose Mourinho. I'm not saying Avram Grant is good, but the result speaks for itself. They have 81 points in the English Premier League, with 2 games to play, same as Man Utd but trailling due to goal difference. They have been very consistent of late. No doubt about it, but in the final, my money is on Man Utd. Go go Devils.....

As dissapointing as I may be, I'm still thinking with my rational head. What has Liverpool achieved since their last League victory in 1990. Other than their Champions League success in Istanbul in 2005, they have never justified the amounts of money they spent on players and managers. The fans are starting to get fed up, and the new generations no longer support the Kop. I asked some teenagers lately, they told me they support Man Utd and Chelsea. What happened to the glory of the 80's? Someone please do something!!!! We have a good captain in Stevie G, (only) a good stiker in El Nino, a few dependable midfieldiers in Xabi Alonso, Xavier Mascherano and Ryan Babel, (only) 2 good central defender in Jamie Carragher and Martil Skrtel and a good goalie in Pepe Reina. I'd throw the rest into the transfer list. But I bet no teams will bid for them. That's the situation the Kop are facing now. Let's just face it, fighting for 4th place in the League every season is not what we want. Imagine slogging it out against Everton, Aston Villa, Man City in the winter? WTF??? Altho they managed to secure 4th place, it's not enough. Their game is like a women's mood. Sometimes they win, sometimes they loose, even to much lousier teams.

What can be done? Change the owners, change the manager, change half of the players. Who can do that? I don't know...DIC, maybe?

Un-Happy Labour Day

1st of May, it's the day when all labourers around the world celebrate Labour's Day. Well, not all actually....

I'm one of the exceptional ones....
Like I used to say, cari makan susah....especially when I'm in this project in Langkawi.
We used to be the client/developer; but now we are the sub-con. How fortunes can change in a short period of time.

Well, to those on holidays, enjoy your holidays. For those who are forced to work, don't 'ular' 'cos you won't know who's watching you......

The Star vs New Straits Times

I have been reading The Star all these while. There is no particular reason, but I guess ever since I started reading The Star, the then NST was double the size of Star, which makes Star a better choice for reading and carrying. The arrangement of articles and colour might have been another reason. But today, I found out one thing. From page 1 to 40 (mid page), there are 28 full pages of advertisements in total, made up of full and half pages. I start to wonder, what am I paying for all these while. For the advertisements, or for the news?

As for the advertisements, sometimes they are useful, but most of the time, we just flip through without thinking twice. As for the news, I totally agree with my friend(a fellow blogger) that they are biased, and anti-opposition. But lately, I do find news which are pro-opposition especially news in the newly formed state-gov of Penang, Perak and Selangor. Not much have been heard about Kelantan and Kedah. Nevertheless, I will continue reading The Star, especially their weekend issues, 'cos if you compare theirs and of NST's, you can see the difference. They definitely have more things to read, which can keep me occupied for the whole morning.

Anyway, I believe many of you are slowly changing to NST....am I right? Any particular reason?

Langkawi...nice?

I've not blogged for almost a month now. The reason being I'm busy setting up my new base in Langkawi. Another new project, Police Training Camp in Padang Matsirat, near the airport.

An overview of Langkawi:

- weather : damn hot with dry sea wind, seldom rain

- people : mixture of malay 75%, chinese 15%, others 10%.

- religion : Islam

- places of interest : hilltop view/cable car ride, Pantai Chenang, Makam Mahsuri, Telaga Tujuh, Galeria Perdana, and many more

- others : duty free island, but only applicable to liquor, cigarette and cars

I've been here for 10 days. The place I like the most is Pantai Chenang. There is a Water Fest ongoing now, which started on the 3rd. There are games and competitions like beach volleyball, beach soccer, sand castle building, drawing, etc.

Overall, if you wanna visit Langkawi, I'd suggest 3 - 7 days...not more. It's quite a boring place especially when you overstay. Luckily I'll be here for 6 - 8 months...and hopefully, our maincon really stick to the schedule.

Edison Chen - You're THE MAN!

It's the talk of the century! Who doesn't know what's going on in Hong Kong thesedays? Call me 'Kaypoh' if you want to, say whatever you wanna say, but it's big news, and I'm not gonna miss a single tiny bit of it.

If I were Edison, I'd come out of hiding, and do the 'Chua Soi Lek' style. Have a press conference, admit publicly, and leave the rest to God!!!! After all, there's no point crying over spilk milk. The harm has been done, be a man and face it.

If I were the girls, come out together and face the public. It's not like your photos are gonna stop spreading if you keep hiding. You have to swallow the pills, be it bitter or sour, or even if it tastes like shit!

Something hit me today, and I wanna share with all of you.

It's Edison's ex-flames.

2000

Maggie Q - she was actually dating Daniel Wu, but broke up, thanks to Edison

Elva Hsiao - hung out at nightspot

Amanda S - through filming

2001

Gillian Chung - former colleagues, fought with Shawn Yue over her

Rain Lee - met through public event

2002

Bobo Chan - infamous girlfriend link but later broke up

Niki Chow - through movie filming, caught catching a concert together

2003

Cecilia Cheung - dated Edison soon after first broke-up with Nicholas Tse

2004

Stephy Tang - met at a Taiwanese night spot, acted in a movie together

Cherrie Ying - through filming

Rosanne (2R) - she courted Edison instead and had many secret meetings

2005

Jolin Tsai - through MV filming

Miriam Yeung - older woman, young boy relationship

2006 - now

Vincy Yeung - niece of EEG boss, Albert Yeung

He's really a Romeo of Hong Kong. Now you know why I call him 'THE MAN'. How many HK star has dated so many female HK celebrities and at the same time, slept with him and filmed together having kinky sex? And those 'naive'(as mentioned by Gillian) girls willingly let him do his amateur video directing.

Initially, there were only a few photos circulating. But after denial from most of the girls, and the fans strongly agree that these pics are a hoax, the person who circulated these pics got pissed-off and circulated more. There are many many more photos circulating....but I'm only gonna show you a few 'more decent' ones.....

Rumour has it that Gillian attempted suicide, but a few days ago, she appeard in front of the press saying that she was young and naive at that time. She has suffered once when her topless photo taken while changing in Genting was circulated a year ago. Just GIVE HER A BREAK, OK!

Candice Chan, a not so famous actress, also featured in this scandal.

Who doesn't know the cute Cecilia Cheung when she starred alongside Stephen Chow in 'Shaolin Soccer'. Let me tell you, she has the most pictures of all.... A reliable source said that she has had bad times with hubby Nicholas Tse, who wanted divorce, but his dad adviced him not to do so. What makes a couple strong, is to stay together during difficult times. If you ask me, I think they wouldn't last 2 months.

Taiwanese celebrities are not spared. But does this pic looks like Jolin? I dunno! You are not sure too huh? But I'm sure Edison is pretty sure who this 'lil lady is.

Next on the list is Bobo Chan. She is reported going to get married soon, to a rich guy called Philip Jin. But the marriage was called off. Sigh....

Sometimes, I think this world is not fair. Guys like Nicholas can get married (to Faye Wong), divorce, then remarry and I don't think it really bothers Cecilia, but when this scandal pops up, Nicholas tends to get blown out of his mind and look for the easiest way out.

"Nic, you should know that the victim of this scandal is not you, BUT YOUR WIFE!!! So, the right thing a hubby should do now is to stay by her side and walk thru this shit and get back together stronger than ever!"

Women always ask for equality. This is your chance. Come out together, face it, and let's all forget and forgive. After all, it's still Chinese New Year.

By the way, how's your CNY? Not so happening, eh? Mine was so so only la. Didn't really celebrate 'cos we can't, in due respect to our belated mom. We only had a reunion dinner and spent most of our time at home. Anyway, it's still not too late to wish all my friends "Gong Xi Fa Cai...." This year no angpow from me, wait till next year ok....

You'll Never Walk Alone

If you have read my previous post, you will agree with me that this is indeed a sad month...at least for Liverpool fans. LFC suffered another defeat, but this time, it's not only the bitter encounter at Upton Park, but it's yet another bad season for them in the EPL. Even Captain Marvel Stevie G and 26 million pounds Fernando Torres couldn't save the Kops. Rafa Benitez's rotation system is screwed, as we all know, even from the start of the season. Everyone would condemn Rafa now, as the result shows for itself.

To be honest, I think they are just not good enough. Nevertheless, deep down inside, I'm still a Kop, through and through. Hopefully, one day, they can bring back the glory of the 80's.

Man Utd fans, don't ask me to stop dreaming...'cos dreaming is good...especially day dream. It makes my time pass faster, and without realising...it's already 4.00pm. YOoohooo..... 2 more hours to go....

R.I.P.

Such a sad month, with a few good people gone back to where they came from...heaven, I supposed.

Firstly, Mr Cheng, Elpha's dad. We have yet to hear from Elpha, but we sincerely hope she's coping well from this sudden tragedy.

A few days ago, I came to know about Sir Edmund Hillary's death. He had a heart attack. He was 88. I believe most of us know who he was. He was the first known person to have climbed Mount Everest, together with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, in 1953.

Yesterday, I heard of another shocking news. Heath Ledger was found dead, head-down on his bed, in his apartment. Many suspected the cause of death was overdose of sleeping pills. We'll hear more of this, in days to come. Nevertheless, he was a fine actor, who acted in a few good movies including Brokeback Mountain and as the Joker in the new Batman.

For all who have departed, may you rest in peace. You will always have a place in our hearts. Amen.

Elpha, Our Sincere Condolences

Our sincere condolences to Elpha and family for the demise of her beloved father.

This is another shocking news this year. It happened so suddenly. Well, I really know how she feel...and I do also know what she has to go through for the next few days. It is indeed a very very sad and painful moment in one's life.

If you say, everyone who come has to go. Yes, I agree. But there are a lot of things which are beyond our thoughts, imagination and control. Everything just happened so fast. It reminded me of my late mother. I'm having goosebumps now.

Anyway, I hope Elpha will be strong enough to go through the next few weeks of her life.

"Uncle, down here, we will pray for you, may the merits gathered will bring you to the higher planes of existence. Amithofo..."