At a gift shop in the Aeon Cheras Selatan Mall during the CNY holidays on Jan 27, 2012.
I noticed my daughter bought a few strips of assorted colour paper at the store.
I knew these strips are used for folding paper stars. Not too long ago I too folded paper stars from strips that I cut out out from white A4 paper, an activity which which gave me many hours of enjoyment.
Nevertheless, I asked her about the paper strips. "It's for making lucky stars," she said with the hint of a smile.
I knew that she wanted to make lucky stars for someone special. Knowing the identity of that special person in her life I conveniently chose not to ask her. That special someone is certainly not me, her dad nor her mom. Later she bought a fancy glass bottle from another shop.
As the threesome, me, wife and daughter continued our stroll along the the aisles of the shopping mall I started to think about folding lucky stars for that special someone in my life too.
I wonder where among the maze of folders in the pc hard drive that I had downloaded and saved that forgotten YouTube video clip on origami star folding. You see, I've already forgotten how to fold paper stars.
As today the family is still celebrating the CNY holidays, and that we had some free time to ourselves I, my wife and daughter decided to entertain ourselves in the TGV cinema watching a movie. So last night I made an online booking of today's 11.10am morning show of the movie "Viral factor" at TGV Cheras Selatan Cineplex for 3 persons.
Viral factor which was shot mostly in Malaysia and starring two of the big names in Chinese cinema, Jay Chou and Nicholas Tse is an action packed movie with non-stop fighting actions from the start to the finish.
Even my wife who normally sleeps through a movie session stayed wide awake for the whole duration of the screening. The familiar scenes of KL city and the fast-paced actions depicted in the movie got her excited enough to follow the storyline and the plot of the movie. My daughter later told me that her mother kept on asking her the identities and locations of some of the KL scenes depicted in the movie.
One thing unique about this movie is that the dialogs are multi-lingual. You can here the actors and actresses speak an assortment of languages eg English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Bahasa Malaysia and Arabic. Even the Cantonese dialogs have distinctive Hong Kong and Malaysian flavours. Malaysians watching this movie will feel quite at home with the dialog as they are familiar with all the languages spoken, except Arabic.
Alas! I hear the beautiful sound of silence. The construction work which has been winding down during the last three days had stopped completely.
For the past three weeks prior to the start of the CNY celebrations my family had to put up with the jarring noises and dust coming from my next-door neighbour who had been busy remodeling his house.
Not a day went by without the peace being disturbed by the the sound of construction activities eg knocking, demolishing, grinding, sawing, hammering, welding, and hacking works. Apart from the noises, we had to clean the floor and the furnishings at least once a day when construction dust, cement and sand particles blown by the wind would invade our home.
While I accepted the situation with equanimity my wife, being less charitable with the situation was quite upset with the noise and dust intrusion. She complained loudly why she had to clean up stuffs left behind by other people.
There is nothing much that can be done about the situation other than to learn to live with it the best way you can. You can't stop the guy from doing renovating work within his property. That is his right as the owner of the property.
As for the sound and dust they are the by-product of construction activity that is hard to control. Sound is easily transmitted through the air and if there is a strong wind blowing in addition to sound the wind carries the dust particles from place to place along its path.
If you stop for one minute to think about the situation his family was worse off than mine because the family had to deal with the inconveniences and disruptions to normal life daily as they had to live in the house while the chaotic renovation work was happening all round them. Just imagine how many times a day the family had to clean up and rearrange the furnishings to make way for the construction work.
While maintaining my equanimity I did what I could to relief my wife's emotional anguish by being available to listen to her woes calmly without being judgmental or critical.
In the end we also received some benefits from the neighbour's house renovation work. He has extended his car porch roof to cover ours and as a result our car porch is now completely sheltered from the rain where before in a heavy downpour some rain carried by the wind would inevitably enter our car porch through the open space under the roof. The new curb that was constructed at the edge of his driveway extension had stopped the rain water runoff from overflowing into our side of the boundary. He had also cut down some branches of the tree so there is more headroom and space to park our second car.
My body has started to rebel against the abuses to my digestive system accumulated over the past 4 days of CNY binge eating. Had to evacuate my bowels twice the first thing in the morning to expel the toxins. Am expecting to go again for more cleansing.
I never enjoy eating 7-course dinners but because of CNY when family members get together for reunion dinner tradition and courtesy dictates that I go along with the feasting. Including drinks,cookies and other CNY tit-bits you tend to eat more than your normal requirement no matter I much you try to restrain yourself.
The family has just arrived home, exhausted but happy from a day trip to Ipoh for a CNY family reunion gathering. Then when we were stepping into the car porch we were immediately overwhelmed by a pungent smell. In the darkness some of us had stepped onto dog poo. I imagined that a street dog had come by the house while the family was away and depositing his poo by the gate was his way of wishing the family Gong Xi Fa Cai. What a memorable CNY celebration!
Annual family CNY reunion dinner in Ipoh Sun Lee How Fook Restaurant. A memorable occasion as you can see the natural smiles and joys reflected in the faces of the family members.
The family was was selecting Tambun pomelos at one of the row of stalls near Sam Poh Tong Temple in Ipoh. Every CNY we go to this same stall to buy pomelos. The friendly aunty vendor (dressed in bright red) doesn't seem to age with time because she looks the same year after year.
How do you reciprocate sms Gong Xi Fa Cai greetings from friends who don't celebrate CNY and at the same time show your deep sensitivity, appreciation and gratitude of their continuous friendship? It seems inappropriate to wish them back Gong Xi Fa Cai because they are non-Chinese. After giving some thoughts I decided to reciprocate all my non-Chinese CNY well-wishers as follows:
TQ for your CNY greetings. Wishing you and your family happiness, good health and prosperity in this year of the Dragon.
Tossing "Yee Sang" at a Sushi King restaurant with family members. As there were only four of us eating we ordered a plate of mini "Yee Sang". Surprisingly the crunchy dish is quite tasty and not as sweet as the local varieties. The local Yee Sang is so sweet that the sauce tends to completely mask the taste of the raw fish.
Ilike simple meals like this bowl of steaming hot mee hoon or rice vermicelli soup served with bitter gourd slices, meat balls and meat shreds. It is not only tasty, nutritious, non-greasy but also light on the wallet.
Wishing all my family members, friends, fellow senseis and students of Aikido, readers of this blog and not forgetting everybody else in the planet Happy New Year of the Water Dragon.
Wishing all INTi Aikido Club members Happy Chinese New Year and Gong Xi Fa Cai. The first INTi Aikido class immediately after the CNY will be held on 30/1/2012.
Not a single drop of water from the taps. My wife complained that the water supply had stopped since 4.30pm yesterday.
She is upset that she can't wash the laundry. She had to use the water from the water storage tank for cooking and washing the dishes. Let's hope that the water supply will be back before the water storage tank runs out of water, hopefully by 6.30am in the morning before people go to work.
Instead of using the shower I had to bathe using the hose which gets its supply from the water storage tank.
Ludicrous marketing, and bordering on the bizarre.
On the label the current price of the canned drink is billed as RM2.59 while the old price is RM2.60. If you do your maths correctly the saving is only 1 sen. Even after buying 10 cans you save only a miserable 10 sen.
Nowadays with the escalating cost of living even 10 sen is useless because you can't buy anything or services with 10 sen. Even a visit to pee at a pay public toilet will cost you at least 20 sen, if not more to be paid to the operator for the use of the facility
The family is stocking up on groceries ahead of the long festive holidays in about 8 days time. The bulk of the items are canned drinks and mandarin oranges for the CNY celebration.
Most consumers wait until the last week before the CNY to shop because it is during this period that merchants will offer the best price discounts and other buy incentives.
For all these items purchased the family received a RM35.00 cash voucher to be used for more purchases at the store. However there is a time limit on the validity of the voucher. The voucher must be used for store purchases before the end of next week.
Saw this interesting CNY dragon theme created by the staff on the wall of a bank. If not for the dragon head and the tail the absence of the dragon claws make this artistic creation look more like a snake than the mythical dragon. The words printed on the red ang pow packets which form the body of the dragon represent the Chinese character "fu" which means good fortune.
You know CNY is round the corner when businesses hike up the price of services. This morning my regular barber increased the price of haircut by RM1.00 over the regular price of RM10.00
Iwas getting ready to leave the office at 5.30pm when the phone rang. "Low Sensei has been promoted 5th Dan by Hombu!" The caller was Dr Leong Sensei who broke the good news to me. He told me that Hombu had also announced Low Sensei's promotion in its official web site.
Just 4 days ago during the EXCO meeting on Sunday we were wondering quite pessimistically if Low Sensei's 5th dan promotion would go through as the association has not yet received any communication from Hombu Dojo.
I immediately fired a sms congratulatory message to Low Sensei. I had also wanted to send a congratulatory message to Low Sensei via Facebook but decided to hold until Dr leong Sensei officially announced it in the MAA website first. Proper protocol and etiquette require that the announcement must first come from MAA before others do the same. The official announcement came via Facebook at 11.10pm. After it became official I sent the congratulate message to Heaven & Earth Dojo FB Group and also posted it on my FB wall.
Except for my weight which has gone up by 0.5 kg from last month my blood pressure, and blood sugar level readings are satisfactory. Based on my BMI reading the good doctor told me that I'm slightly obese and advised me to shed a few kgs.
Pleased with the results I stopped by a mamak shop on my way back to the office from the clinic for a little snack. I rewarded myself to reinforce the good feelings by ordering a plate of roti canai and a glass of plain hot water.
I resolve to shed at least 2 kg of my weight when I visit the clinic in Feb. However, with the CNY celebrations just round the corner I have to be extra vigilant with my food intake.
Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah of the High Court today acquitted and discharged Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim of the charge of sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.
With this verdict leading to the closure of the long-drawn sodomy trial, let's hope there is no Sodomy 3 on the way.
The first class of Aikido in INTi for the new year will kick off at 8.00pm tonight.
How many people can I expect who will show up for training? From FB postings I know that students are returning to the campus to resume their academic studies today.
I have no idea. Based on past experience maybe only half the class will come although I am hoping that all of last year's batch of students will resume their regular training.
After the long holidays I am looking forward to welcome all the Aikido members back to warm the floor with me.
On my way back to my Kajang home from a meeting in KL I stopped by the Saujana Impian Pappa Rich Cafe for a drink. This cafe is located about 2 km from my residence.
I have heard so much negative comments about this cafe from my family members that I was curious to find out what it is all about.
The built-up area is large compared to typical cafes like Old Town. The cafe also provides free wifi service. The menu is a fusion of western and local cuisine, similar to what Old Town is offering.
Pricing wise I must say that it is similar, if not even lower than what you will pay for similar fare in Old Town. For example other than the 10% service charge there is no government tax to pay. Old Town imposes both service charge and government tax on the customer.
The ambiance and the decor are quite comfortable and relaxing. The cafe appears well patronised. Even in the hot afternoon sun, I noticed a sizable group of customers eating there.
I ordered a cup of non-sweet Ipoh White coffee which I must say tastes better than Old Town White Coffee. The bill for the coffee including service charge is RM3.50. The Chinese woman cashier who accepted my payment appears to be the lady boss as she is the only personnel there not wearing a house uniform.
This CNY decorative paper lantern looks easy to assemble until you try it yourself.
The package contains more than 20 separate paper segments and it doesn't come with an instruction manual. The sales assistant who sold us this lantern took almost 20 minutes to assemble it, and even that he had to do it twice because he mixed up the parts on his first attempt.
Pos Malaysia will offer the flat rate of 50 sen for mailing CNY cards to all parts of the country.
However the offer is for cards weighing not more than 50 grams and the offer ends on Jan 31. Pos Malaysia advises that consumers should not send the cards later than Jan 17 to ensure the cards reach their destinations by Jan 21.
The annual dinner organised by the Sports Club was held at the banquet Hall of Chorus Hotel, the same venue as last year. A committee member told me that this hotel was chosen because the price of the dinner was the cheapest compared to similar class hotels elsewhere
I counted about 15 tables in the hall. However, unlike last year some tables were not fully seated. For example there were only 7 guests at my table (including myself).
The food served was the typical 8-course Chinese dinner. However the traditional sharks fin soup was substituted by crab soup. Generally the quality and taste of the food was acceptable.
For entertainment some members went up to the stage to sing karaoke songs and played some games. Naturally prizes were awarded to the winners.
Beside the singing and games other events of the evening were the usual presentation of awards to long-serving employees, prizes to winners of sport activities, speeches by the company directors, word of thanks to the outgoing committee and introduction of the incoming committee and two lucky draw sessions.
I didn't win any prizes at the lucky draw sessions. However at the door on registration our attendances the organisers gave each guest a Jaya Jusco cash vouchers worth RM220.00. The cash vouchers would come in handy as my wife is eying a Cornell induction cooker at one of the Jusco stores.
The dinner which started at 7.30pm ended at 11.00pm. On the way home to Kajang I gave a lift to a co-worker who has just moved her family from Ampang to Semenyih.
My hard breathing due to a blocked nose made it difficult to get a good night's sleep.
As a last resort getting off the bed in the middle of the night to do "zhan zhuang" deep breathing and relaxation qigong exercise for about 20 minutes helped open up the nasal airway a bit. With the easing of the blockage I was able to resume my interrupted sleep till the next morning.
The weather is so hot and dry these few days that the potted plants have started to turn yellowish and shrivel, a sign of withering; in spite of watering them at least twice a day.
A reader suggested spraying the leaves with water in addition to watering the soil.
According to press reports PKR deputy president Azmin Ali had announced on Tuesday that the Pakatan Rakyat will be mobilising 100,000-plus people in support of federal opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Monday Jan 9 2012.
The 901-Free Anwar Campaign is being held to coincide with the High Court delivering its verdict in the sodomy II trial of Anwar.
Most people already think that the court will deliver a guilty verdict for Anwar in the sodomy II trial. Irrespective of the verdict result I hope the authorities would not lock down the whole of KL like what they did during Bersih 2 in July. Instead they should allow the rally to proceed peacefully.
The old man in the clip is O-Sensei Morihei Ueshiba, the Founder of Aikido. At the advanced age of 78 years old O-Sensei moved with surprising vigor and agility, that put much younger men, including myself to shame.
O-sensei's Aikido is the aikido style that I have been studying and practicing for more than 15 years. Each time I watch these old black and white video clips of Aikido I see different aspects of O-sensei and his art which I had not noticed before.
It has been my good fortune to study a martial art whose lineage goes back all the way to the Founder. In his youth my late Aikido teacher Seeich Sugano Shihan was one of O-Sensei's many uchi-dechis (direct students). And through learning from Sugano Shihan, all his present day students are linked to O-Sensei through a continuous line of unbroken lineage.
Iwas thinking of paying Low Sensei a visit next week to sort out the 2011 expenses of MAA, when I received a email from him today.
In his email reply to my earlier request for information Low Sensei clarified all the expenses of MAA for 2011. After two weeks of no communication I was getting quite pessimistic if he would reply my queries. That is why I have been mulling about a personal visit next week to sort things out face to face.
Now that I have received a response from Low Sensei, I could at least resume the work of balancing the books.
Cock-a-doodle-doo. My hand phone suddenly activated the alarm.
Everybody in my family was taken by surprised, including myself at the sound.
Earlier in the day I saw the alarm icon in my handphone and tried many times to deactivate it but to no avail. At that time I didn't even know that the clock symbol is a alarm icon. After many attempts I decided to ignore it. I never knew that the alarm ring tone is the sound of a cock crying cock-a doodle-do. I didn't even know when I had set the alarm.
Everyone had a good laugh after we realised where the sound came from.
Anyway, I come to like this ringtone and I have decided to set this as the alarm ringtone to wake me up at 6.30am every morning.
