Hungry Ghost Festival

Offering prayers, incense, hell bank notes and food to the hungry ghosts who are roaming in the realm of humans during this time of the year.

Sold

Common traits of a good sales representative are excellent product knowledge, positive attitude, friendly personality, a sense of humor, self-confidence, honesty, attentive to customer needs, and good communication skills. Encountered two s
uch persons during the weekend. One is a woman who is dealing with sanitary wares and the other is a man selling home furniture. Watching quietly from the sideline I witnessed how these two used their soft-sell skills to successfully close deals with two very fastidious lady customers.

traditional therapeutic massage

Batu 14 Pekan Hulu Langat Chin Family Chinese Traditional Bone Specialist and Therapeutic Massage.

I and my wife had to wait from 10am in the morning until 1.30pm in the afternoon in this popular centre (a pre-war shop house building) fo
r our treatment, because there were just too many people waiting for their turns in the queue. You can't make an appointment through the phone but have to go there personally to take a number, and there is no queue jumping.

In the no-frills and utilitarian waiting room you are a nobody but just a patient with a number tag. They don't care if you are rich or poor, man or woman, male or female, old or young, Malay, Chinese, Indian or whatever. While majority of the visitors walk in some disabled persons come in wheel chairs and walkers. Irrespective of who you are you will be attended to on a first come first served basis. The only exception is when the patient is so seriously ill that he needs immediate attention. Many people from the well-heeled group who are accustomed to 5-star reception and who have no patient to wait just return the number to the rack and leave the premises.

Altogether there are usually 7 sifus on duty. You can't choose whom to go. As soon as your number is called you are directed to the next sifu who is available. If you miss a call you may have to wait for at least three more calls before they admit you because there are other people waiting in line for their treatment.

The treatment normally lasts from 30 minutes to 60 minutes, depending on the seriousness of your orthopedic ailment. For an average 45 min of hands on massage therapy the fees are reasonable ranging from RM40 to RM100.

I went there to treat the painful condition of my knees, heels, and misaligned feet while my wife needed some therapy for her sore back, stiff, inflamed and misaligned knee and elbow joints.

On this occasion the sifu who attended to me was a lady (the only woman sifu in the group) who had a vice-like grip and incredible strength and power with her hands. Mentally I had to consciously breathe easy and redirect and spread the pain to all parts of my body to soften the pain intensity as she worked methodically, relentlessly and mercilessly on the muscles, tendons, nerves and ligaments of the limbs digging, slapping, twisting, kneading, rubbing, stepping, drilling, pinching, pulling, compressing, flexing, stretching and alternate tensing and relaxing with her powerful hands.

I paid RM50.00 for the 40 minute treatment including herbal medication and massage ointment while they charged my wife RM40.00 for massage only.

Chat with an old friend

My Toast Cafe, Mid Valley

Had a chat with LTL, an old friend over black coffee and toast. The last time we sat here, in this cafe was two years ago in Nov 2010. There was a lot of catching up on what was happening to ourselves and our fami
lies since the last time we met. I remembered LTL also ordered the same black coffee and toast meal during the last meeting.

What do old guys talk about when they sit down? The usual stuff eg career, family, health, lifestyle, economy, politics, I guess not much different from what old gals talk about.

After finishing the chat including the coffee and the toasts we went separate ways, each intent upon accomplishing the most critical mission of the day : tracking down the whereabouts of the wives who were probably wandering alone who-knows-where around the mammoth mall doing their favourite thing-shopping.

Beep! Toot! Honk!

The last place where I want to be is to get stuck going no where for hours in a traffic gridlock with a bladder going to explode. I won't be contributing to the traffic congestion this coming Hari Raya festive holiday because I ain't going any where except staying at home. For people who have to travel during this festive period may you have a safe journey. Berhati-hati memandu di jalan raya.

Parking blues

Came home from work to find a goods lorry reversed-parked in front of my opposite neighbour's house, and occupying half the width of the street carriageway.

The lorry, with the cab sticking out into the street and the rear inside the neig
hbour's car porch, was not only hindering the smooth flow of traffic but also obstructing me from parking my own car in front of the house.

To avoid creating more traffic obstruction I opted to temporary park the Kancil beside the road side table down the end of the road from my residence. Only after the lorry operator had driven his vehicle away one hour later was I able to retrieve the car and parked it in the regular spot by the main gate in front of my property.

Old age is just a number

In my way of thinking the often seen phrase "old age is just a number" means that to someone who may be old but feels, acts and think as a young person actual biological age is not important.

I just found out today that my old age number
is No #9. Here's the story.

I and my wife were at the bank this morning. After filling up some forms the petite lady customer service officer told me that I need not take a number nor queue up for service and directed me to go straight to counter No #10 to complete my banking transaction. At counter no. #10 the bank officer said I should go to counter no. #9. So off I reported dutifully to counter No #9.

The big metal plaque put up at counter No #9 has the following words stenciled oi its surface in bold red letters

"Special Counter No #9 for senior citizens. disabled persons, and pregnant women only"

So now I am reminded by the world, no less the bank, that my number is No #9, sharing the same honour with disabled persons and pregnant ladies.

Loose gear stick

On my way to work in the morning rush hour the gear stick of the manual transmission system of the Kancil suddenly came loose without warning. A most worrying experience. Although the car was still moving shifting gears became uncontrollable and unpredictable. Alarmed that the gear box might be breaking down, at the nearest traffic junction made a u-turn back to Kajang and drove straight to my regular auto workshop.

The mechanic there told me that the metal pin that locks the bolt connecting the bottom of the gear stick to the gear stick cable was broken and nothing wrong with the gear box mechanism. It took him less than 10 minutes to fit a new pin although he had to crawl below the car's undercarriage to get the job done.

"How much?", I asked the mechanic with relief that the gear box wasn't the problem..

"FOC. it was just a simple procedure of inserting a new lock pin to replace the broken one." he said cheerfully.

"Thank you so much."

As I pulled away from the garage I was filled with gratitude at his honesty and that he didn't try to rip me off many hundreds of ringgits by suggesting a gear box repair or replacement.

Baby of the company

E
ngaging in a casual conversation with S, a colleague who is leaving the company during the farewell lunch this afternoon organised by the staff in his honour. He told me with some pride that he had served a total of 30 years as an employee with the company. Thinking that I am also a long-service employee like him S asked me how long I have been with the company.

"Only 8 years! Compare to you guys who have put in decades of years here I am just the baby of the company," I told him modestly.

Nothing to do with me

The meeting between the developer and the various building sub-contractors this morning was to track and resolve out-standing building defects matters prior to handing over the units to the house buyers and has nothing to do with structural
engineering matters. My presence was not required and even the people there wondered why I had bothered to come. Scratching my head I also wonder why my boss had asked me to attend the meeting.

Cameron Highlands Holiday

Brinchang, Cameron Highlands. 4/8/2012 to 6/8/2012

Spent three wonderful days and two nights with relatives in Brinchang, Cameron Highlands. Altogether there were 9 persons in the group. Including myself the others were my wife, daughter, Nicholas, Chin, Mei, Tuck Man and his wife and daughter.

We stayed in an apartment building located on a hill in Brinchang called Parkland Apartment. From the balcony of our room we could enjoy the beautiful view of the surrounding buildings and landscape. The views in the morning at sunrise and in the evening at sunset were spectacular.

On Sat we went up the hill resort via the old Tapah road and came down on Sun by way of the Simpang Pulai-Cameron Highlands highway.

The most memorable vist was to the Boh plantation at Sungai Palas. From the Tea Centre at the top of the hill we could see acres and acres of rolling hills covered with tea shrubs as far as the eye can see. To get to the Tea Centre we had to drive through a narrow and winding track with many sharp hairpin bends constructed along the hill sides. At certain sections the track was so narrow that it can only accommodate one vehicle.

Over steamboat dinner on Sat we also had the opportunity to watch on a giant TV screen the exciting match between DLCW and Lin Dan for the badminton Olympic gold medal being played in London.

Monday was the last day of our stay. Before departing the hill resort we spent the morning taking pictures at the Smokehouse and later buying strawberries and vegetables at the Kea Farm farmers' market.