A general feeling of desolation and pessimism

Expectedly Christmas has come and gone with little or no fanfare.

I reckon it will be more or less the same pessimism for the upcoming New Year and CNY celebrations.

Bombarded on all fronts by the escalating rise in the price of essential goods and services few people save the well-offs with deep pockets are in the mood to splurge and celebrate.

Yet amid the general pessimism life has to go on and will go on.

Wishing everybody Happy New Year.

Nothing lasts forever

Time to replace the worn out solar tinted film.

Air bubbles are appearing on the surface of the 6-year old film at the front and back wind screen and also the four glass windows. As a result the air bubbles sometimes obscure my driving vision when on the road.

Three workers took about two hours to install the new tinted films after removing the old.

Paid RM380 to the shop for the service. In return I get a three year warranty against future defects. I was told to bring along the official receipt to show evidence of the date of purchase whenever I make a claim against defects in the newly installed film.

One last fling

When I retired from work I couldn't wait to congratulate myself for getting out of the building construction and engineering industry, a love-hate relationship that spaned about 40 years of my working career.

Due to circumstances and the unseen hands of destiny I am being drawn out of retirement and back in again.

I don't know what lies ahead waiting for me in the shadows but I do know that the coming days, weeks, and months will be particularly challenging. One thing that I do know for sure is the final outcome. 

This will be my last fling at this love-hate affair as I am not getting any younger.

Using the mind and body language to control and lead the attacker

Sun 1/12/2013 Inter-campus combined training Cyberjaya dojo

Katate tori kokyu nage technique.

One girl was puzzled why when she extended her hand forward and started to initiate the tenkan movement the beginner Uke who grabbed her hand just stood there unmoving and frozen stiff. As a result Uke created so much resistance that Tori was stopped from rotating her body by the frozen Uke.

I told her that Uke had no incentive to move because Tori had allowed her partner to grab her hand before starting to tenkan. I told her that she had to provide the incentive for Uke to chase her hand by spinning her body together with her extended hand first before allowing Uke to even touch it.

Aikido is preemptive and not passively waiting for something to happen before taking action. This is what I mean by using your mind and body language to control and lead Uke.

A nifty kitchen tool

This mini manual chopper helped me to prepare one week's supply of chopped garlic safely for cooking and with little hassle.

The old way of doing the same job will require the use of a sharp knife and a chopping block and also mental alertness lest you accidentally cut your fingers with the blade.

Glad to give it away

Uncle Chong,the paper lama man paid RM10.00 only for about 40 kg of used papers, plastics, cans, card boards, fliers, magazines, news papers, etc. Although it is a small amount still we are happy to be able to dispose of unwanted things from cluttering the house.

After the first call in the morning it took many calls later to reach Uncle Chong. We wanted to know when he would be coming over to the house. At first we thought that Uncle Chong was not interested because he did not respond to our many calls.

Later when he came in he explained that he did not response earlier because his hand phone battery was dead and he had to run around to get a new battery replacement.

A feline companion

It was an ordinary morning on a quiet spot along a side lane if not for the presence of a feline companion.

The black and white fur street cat perched on the top of a rubble wall watched with great interest my every move as I performed the Wu style tai chi chuan routine in slow motion. 

It made no attempt to move away probably because it instinctively sensed that this human has no ill intention towards animals. It was still there sitting smugly on the ledge and gazing in my direction after I had moved on. 

I wonder how the readers here are doing this morning?

So forgetful

I left the house about 5 hours ago forgetting to take along my hand phone.

I left the phone plugged to the live charger the whole time I was away.

Some people said that if you overcharge your phone for too long the overheated battery may lead to explosion or fire. Fortunately nothing untoward has happen to either the phone, battery, charger and the house electrical system.

Lost and found

As it was getting late and dark and in my haste to get to my son's wedding dinner on time I didn't bother to note down the surroundings. 

So after the dinner had ended when it took me more than 20 minutes of walking around the block with my irate wife in tow to find the spot where I had earlier parked my car, I began to entertain the unpleasant thought that perhaps my car had been stolen.

The happy ending is that relying on my instinct I finally found the car in the vast open car park.

Selling Memories

The main entrance archway of Memory Lane

The bold capital letters "MEMORY LANE" written in English mounted at top of the quaint archway says it all. It is a street bazaar where vendors peddle second-hand and antiquated goods to the public on Sunday mornings. I suppose long ago somebody in Ipoh City Hall decided to associate the sale of old stuffs with selling memories, hence the quaint and incongruous very English phrase of "Memory Lane" superimposed against the more contemporary "Selamat Datang ke Bandaraya Ipoh banner written in Bahasa.

All kinds of old stuffs eg magazine, CD, calendar, coins, shoes, vases, knives,
watches, containers, books etc laid out on the street

My wife and her sister told me that there was nothing worth buying except junk. I suppose to their way of thinking junk is useless stuffs. To me each item on display has an intrinsic historical value, a memory of a distance past and they are definitely not discarded junk. Many of the items on display are so absolute that they no longer exist in modern time.

There were more male than women visitors. Maybe men appreciate the value of
old stuffs more than women.

While most of the vendors were peddling old items there were also clothing, herbal medicine and some food stuffs on sale. Just as most of the visitors were men most of the vendors were also men, among them I saw many retired senior citizens.

With the scorching sun overhead the iced syrupy drink looks enticing.

The wide range of old goods on sale was so fascinating that I could easily have spent three hours just browsing and going from one vendor to another. But mindful of an appointment at 10 am and other errands to run I reluctantly made my way out of the bazaar. As I was not done yet I made a mental note to visit this morning flea market the next time I come to Ipoh.

Goodbye and have a safe journey Mr Bug

Iwas sitting on a toilet bowl trying to evacuate my bowels in the bathroom when I was startled by the sight of a tiny brownish object slowly inching its way across the wet floor. Instinctively I retracted my legs a bit because I didn't want the thing to crawl up my lower limbs.

The slimy object of my fascination was a 5 cm long millipede. The bug was crawling on the floor at the junction of the floor tiles and the tiled wall in the bath room.

I noted that the millipede was crawling and stopping intermittently and turning its head left and right and top and bottom as if looking for direction with its two antennae. To my relief it made no attempt to move towards the direction of the toilet bowl where I was sitting.

My wife would have freaked out if I had mentioned there was a creepy and slimy bug in the bathroom. I would imagine that the next thing she would do would be to squash the bug with a piece of toilet paper and flushed it down the toilet bowl. No, I would not tell any body about my find. I would rather honour the right of the little fellow's existence rather than to send him to bug heaven.

After finishing my business I returned to the toilet with a plastic box to look for the millipede, half hoping that it would have crawled out of the bathroom. I found it lurking behind the bathroom broom. After gently drawing him out from the sanctuary of the plastic broom with a gentle sweeping motion of the plastic lid I coaxed it to enter the box compartment.

Once inside I closed the box with the lid and headed straight to the drying yard, which is overlooking the back lane at the back of the house. Extending my hand into the air space through the metal grills I turned the box upside down and opened the lid. With a gentle tap on the box the millipede slipped off the box and descended into the air down to the back lane below.

Goodbye Mr Bug and have a safe journey. It was all I could do for you to save you from a quick extinction of being squashed into a pulp and flushed down into the toilet bowl.

Despite the sugar subsidy cut this mamak is holding fast to his old food prices, but for how long?

Waiting for the mechanic to complete the scheduled lubrication service to the MyVi the fragrant smell of curry spices and hunger pangs lured me to the mamak stall next door.

"Berapa?" I asked the stall operator after finishing my order of a piece of roti canai bread and teh o kosong. The mechanic had signaled me that he had finished the lub service job, so I had to collect my car from the workshop.

"Dua ringgit." I paid the same amount for the two items during my last lub service here about 3 months ago.

Since the government has cut sugar subsidy I wonder for how long this mamak is going to hold his price steady. Meanwhile today the Chinese vegetarian restaurant in town lost no time in charging me RM5 for a plate of mixed rice. I remember the last time I went there I paid about RM4 for similar fare.

Skinning garlic cloves

Sitting beside the dining table peeling the skin off the garlic cloves I notice that the flimsy midget kitchen knife that I am using is more suitable for cutting open envelopes rather than peeling garlic skin.

But then my family has been using this small knife with a plastic handle for peeling garlic cloves for a long time. The few rusty spots on the side of the blade are telling of a history behind this cheap knife that my family bought in a time long past.

Since I already have a knife for opening envelopes I shall continue to use this one for peeling garlic skin.

Stiff shoulder treatment

Patients waiting for their names to be called
at the registering counter

The Physiotherapy Department, Serdang Hospital.

Because I and my wife reached the hospital early at 8 am we were able to find parking inside the outdoor parking lot. On previous visits we had to park our car by the roadside and walk a distance to the entrance. Once inside the hospital we quickly made our way to the main entrance. As we are regular visitors we now know the ground floor layout of the hospital by heart.

A showcase of prosthetic limbs greet
the patient at the waiting area

The small entrance to the physiotherapy department opens up to a spacious waiting area. There are at least 6 rows of seats for patients to sit down while waiting for their names to be called. Once seated you can't help but view a glass showcase exhibiting a range of prosthetic limbs. After sitting down for about 15 minutes the nurse then called my wife to go to Room F6.

The small entrance opens up to a
spacious waiting area

There are separate rooms for different types of therapy and Room F6 is for patients with general pain ailments, considered as low frequency treatment. My wife who is suffering from pain due to a stiff shoulder probably belongs to this category of patients.


As I am not a patient I was not allowed to accompany my wife into the room. Looking in from the outside I saw some beds with curtains drawn and the inside appears to be clean and airy.

Room F6 where my wife underwent
therapy for pains in her left shoulder

After my wife was ushered into the room I took the break to walk along the aisle. I noticed many different types of rooms for different types of trauma treatment. Some rooms appear to be equipped with gymn type equipment. One room even has hydrotherapy facility.


While my wife was inside the room I chatted with a 60 year old man and later a middle aged woman.

The old man was there to seek treatment for his painful neck and shoulders. He told me that he had taken a lot of medication prescribed by doctors and consulted healers but all their treatments did not resolve his health problems except for physiotherapy which is giving him much relief. That is why he is repeating his regular visits to the clinic.

As for the middle aged woman she was here to look for relief for her painful spinal problem. However before I could find out more of her condition my wife was discharged from the room.

Asking about her treatment my wife told her a medical therapist demonstrated specific exercises to stretch and relax her shoulder and back muscles. The therapist asked her to do the specific exercises three times a day by her self and gave her a drawing illustrating the different types of exercises that she should do.

The next follow up appointment is in three weeks time.

The Gift of Time

The greatest gift that you can give someone is your TIME because when you give your time you are giving a portion of your life that you will never get back.

Dear Mommy thank you for giving your TIME to the family.

On this special day the family honours you with happy birthday wishes and may you always stay happy and healthy.

Wet again

While last evening's one hour downpour caused flash floods and brought traffic to a standstill in many parts of the city the storm brought rainwater into the master bedroom.

After returning home from a shopping trip found a pool of water on the floor beside the table lamp and also signs of water mark on the ceiling of the master bedroom. Fortunately only a pool of water on the floor and not the whole room inundated with rain water. So it was quite easy to remove the water with a mop and a pail.

Apparently the gale force wind must have had forced rain water to penetrate some gaps in the roof covering or lifted the zinc flashing causing the rainwater to fall into the room. From past experience the roof only leaks if the rain is accompanied by strong winds. However, last evening's wind was exceptionally strong.

This morning at the first opportunity spoke to Pak Argus the friendly Indonesian contractor who is currently renovating my next door neighbour's house about the leaking roof. Although in his 50s and not feeling particularly well today he climbed up the roof with the aid of a ladder to inspect the roof covering. After the inspection he found the cause of the leaks ; 5 pieces of cracked tiles.

"Call me again if there are further leaks", Pak Argus said cheerfully after replacing the 5 damaged tiles and descending from the roof. I was lucky because he was using the same type of roofing tiles as my house in his renovation work and there are some spare ones lying around unused.

"How much should I pay you". I asked as I wanted to make a payment in gratitude to his service.

"Twenty Ringgit", Pak Argus flashed me his toothy smile before returning to his work.

Good customer service is a gem

Good customer service is a gem and hard to find nowadays.

The shop assistant called up to explain the delay in the delivery of the kitchen table cabinet, which was due last week. When we ordered the kitchen table cabinet the shop promised to make and deliver the item within two weeks. When the two weeks were up she called to ask us to collect the item from her shop, which had been delivered from the factory.

Then the next day after her call we received another call from Nur, her colleague apologising for not able to deliver the cabinet because the quality of the item delivered from the factory to the shop was unsatisfactory. Rejecting the item she asked the factory to make a replacement cabinet. She assured us that the replacement cabinet would arrive at her shop in a week's time and that she would notify us immediately upon its arrival at the shop.

One week passed with no calls from Nur. My agitated wife was already thinking of asking the shop for a refund of the RM50.00 deposit that was paid to the shop. Heading off a potential impending storm I was counseling her for a little bit of patience. Then when we were wondering whether to ask the shop for an explanation, the first shop assistant called. Apologising for the delay she told us the factory needed another week to complete manufacturing the new replacement cabinet.

Gratified that instead of keeping us waiting in the dark she called to explain the delay we then agreed to give the factory more time to complete making the replacement cabinet.

Good customer service means keeping the customer informed of any problem arising.

Buying frenzy

At 10.30am in the morning as I was approaching the Aeon shopping mall in Cheras Selatan I was surprised to see that the open car park of the shopping mall was full.

Today is Thursday, a working day and I would expect that most people should be working in their offices and factories. Where did so many customers come from? I could only conclude that many working people took their day off from work to come here for the Aeon members day sale.

As I drove past the toll gate into the compound, I saw a "car park full" sign and an attendance waved me in the direction of the 2nd floor indoor car park. With the open car park full I would expect that the indoor car park would also be full. In fact I remember mumbling to my wife that we were going to park our car on the open roof top car park.

However I was wrong. As I entered the building I noticed that the indoor car park was only 1/4 full. On a normal day motorists would only park their cars in the open yard when the indoor car park is full. This strange anomaly means that shoppers had already invaded the mall even before Aeon had opened its indoor car park to the public.

Once inside the Aeon store another surprise was in store for me and my wife. I saw big crowds of shoppers many with supermarket push carts snapping up merchandise at the various stations and also long lines of shoppers queuing at the cashier counters to make payment for their purchases.

I thought supermarket push carts are for customers to transport their purchases of groceries and not general merchandise. The fact that the supermarket and the trolleys are located at the opposite end of the mall did not deter shoppers from pushing the carts for the long walk from the supermarket to the department store.

Aeon members day sale is truly a phenomenal event even though it is usually held on a week day. So attractive are the discounts offered that many working people take one day off from their annual leave to attend the sale. Who could resist discounts of up to 70% of the regular price of the merchandise on this day. To entice shippers to spend Aeon even rewarded customers with cash vouchers worth RM10 for every RM100 of general merchandise purchase and RM5 vouchers for every RM100 worth of groceries purchase?

Eying the pile of ladies underwear my wife quickly snapped up 3 pieces priced less than RM12 each. Those were the last pieces of her size left in the pile of apparel. The normal retail price for these items are RM39.00. At RM12 the store is offering a hefty discount of 70% off its regular price. Few people would pass this chance to acquire quality apparel at such a discounted price.

Joining other shoppers we also grabbed a trolley from the supermarket and filled it to the brim with our purchases of clothing, bedsheets, groceries and other daily necessities. As I pushed the trolley along the crowded aisle towards the department store where my wife was shopping I passed by a few people pushing not one cart each but three carts piled end to end in a row like a train of carts.

A pleasant encounter with the bridegroom's father.

Kuan Yoow and Septa's Wedding Dinner

The Diamond Ballroom, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.

6.30pm. By the time I stepped into the ballroom, there were already about 30 guests there sipping cocktails and engaging in small talks with each other within their circles of friends. As I don't know anyone in particular there, except for the bride I helped myself to a cola drink and some tit bits and then mingled anonymously in the crowd. Surveying the mixed crows of people I noted that most of the male guests there were formally dressed in suits while their female spouses were elegantly dressed in evening gowns.

Nobody seemed to be manning the long reception table and except for a plan of the table arrangement I didn't see any guest lists around. Looking at the table arrangement plan I counted 26 tables, with the VIP table in the centre and next to the stage.

Finally a distinguished looking gentlemen wearing a necktie and a black suit accompanied by a few ladies came over to the empty reception table.

"May I register my attendance?" I asked the gentleman. "Sorry I am still looking for the guest list", he replied sheepishly as if in embarrassment with a broad smile. "It's OK. I will register later", I assured him as I retreated from the table.

Then when the guest list arrived I approached the same gentleman there again because at that time he was the only person standing there at the head of the reception table. After scanning through the guest list he could not find my name. "Septa invited me to the dinner", I said trying to be helpful as he was fumbling awkwardly with the name list. Septa, the bride who invited me to the dinner was a former Aikido student when she was studying in INTi College about 10 years ago. Finally as both of us were going through the names someone handed him a sheet of paper with more names printed on it. My name was registered on that sheet of paper. "You table number is 14", he pronounced with an air of relief and triumph.

It was later when everybody was seated at their tables that I realised that the distinguished looking gentleman who registered me is none other than the bridegroom's father.

Old men chess masters

From my first floor hotel room the sound of animated chatting and laughter coming from the side lane below attracted my attention.

Two groups of old men were playing Chinese chess on makeshift tables. Surrounding the players were other men following the chess games with much interest.

Playing chess is a great way to stimulate one's mind. These senior citizens look like retirees who are still mentally active despite their advancing years.

The afternoon heat didn't seem to bother them nor affect their concentration.

U3A Carnival 2013.

Celebrating our golden years carnival.

Saw this ad in the SeniorsAloud page of Facebook. When my wife said she was interested in going with me to this event l looked for a number to make an enquiry.

The poster says that tickets costing RM5.00 are on sale to the public and those interested should contact some people for the tickets.

I see a couple of names with mobile phone numbers appended to their names. The first contact person at the top of the list is a Ms Lily.

So I called up Ms Lily for the tickets. After introducing myself and an exchange of some small talks I found out that Ms Lily is the author of the SeniorsAloud blog.

What a pleasant surprise and a coincidence. I have been reading her blog since I accidentaly stumbled upon it one day and even contributed some comments on some of her stories.

The layback lifestyle in a quaint town that I once knew is no more

Bentong is the town that I lived in for two years a long time ago.

During that time I was working as an employee of Sato Kogyo Co Ltd, the Japanese contractor responsible for the construction of the Kuala Lumpur - Karak Highway.

Before the Karak Highway the road from KL to Bentong was a just a narrow two-lane road that twisted and turned as it climbed up and down steep hill slides, much like the steep, narrow and windy hill road to the Cameron Highlands.

Although I was just an ordinary employee I was among the many who bear witness to the construction of this important highway.

Bentong is also the birth place and home town of my wife.  I never knew nor met my wife during the two years that I was living there. By a strange twist of fate It was in Klang after my Bentong stint had ended where I met a Bentong girl who was to become my future wife.

In those days when I was working there Bentong was just a sleepy hollow of a town. Today the traffic in the town is so dense that you will consider yourself lucky to find a box to park your car without driving around the town more than a few times.

The construction of the KL-Karak Highway has brought tremendous development to the town. Along with development the highway also brought a huge surge of traffic volume bound for Gua Musang and Kota Bahru in the East Coast that passes through the the heart of the town. Hence the serous traffic congestion during weekends and public holidays.

Because I have many relatives from my wife's family who are living in Bentong I am a regular visitor to this town. Today I and my wife came here to attend the wedding dinner of the son of a brother-in-law on Sunday.

Each time I come here I get the impression that the town is suffocating from an ever increasing traffic gridlock of East Coast bound traffic. If nothing is done to construct a bypass to divert the Easr Coast bound traffic I won't be surprised that in a couple of years time one will see a complete lockdown of the town by traffic congestion.

A first indication of better things to come for the visitor?

After so many visits to this government clinic for my monthly medical check ups I have become familiar with the arrangement of the building and its compound.

There is a big signboard inside the compound beside the main entrance announcing that the clinic is undergoing renovation work. On the signboard the clinic management even appeal to the visiting public to bear with the inconveniences caused by the ongoing renovation work.

This signboard has been there since the first time I first visited this place four months ago. I never fail to look at the board because it is erected in such a prominent location that it is the first structure that greets you as you drive your vehicle up the ramp and past the main entrance to park your car in the compound.

All this time up until this morning I have never seen any sign of refurbishment work being carried out though I did see small piles of sand dumped here and there in the compound. The interior of the building and the compound where the public park their cars look the same then as they were before.

However this morning as I was queuing up behind about 30 people ahead of me waiting for the clinic to open its doors I suddenly became aware that the tarmac that I was standing on had been resurfaced. Surveying the environment I saw bold white lines being painted on the black tarmac to mark out the individual car parking lots in a herring bone type of arrangement.

That explains why today the cars were so orderly parked. Previously motorists parked their cars haphazardly as they like with no consideration for other users. There were many instances when some car owners resorted to asking the clinic management through the clinic's PA system to appeal to owners whose cars were blocking others to remove their vehicles.

The fresh tarmac and the new car parking boxes that I saw today are the first real improvement that I have seen coming.

The next change that I would like to see is a makeover of the interior of the clinic which has seen better days.

Kihon Waza: back to the basics

K ihon means "basics" or "fundamentals." The term is used to refer to the basic techniques that are taught and practiced as the foundation of your Aikido training.

The practice and mastery of kihon is essential to all advanced training, and includes the practice of correct body form and breathing, While practicing basics such as stances, locks, projections, rolls and breakfalls, body movements and footwork it also includs the basic representative katas.

Kihon is not only practicing of techniques, it is also the martial artist fostering the correct spirit and attitude at all times.

Hence we take our kihon waza training seriously and practice them for life. If at any instance in your practice you have a doubt you will find the answer to your doubts in the kihon waza. So let's always never neglect to practice the basis every time you step into the dojo.

As Bruce Lee said “I do not fear the man who has practiced 10 000 techniques once, I fear the man who has practiced one technique 10 000 times".

Uncooperative car

With the air-cond system out of order the stifling heat inside the car was almost unbearable. Instead of cool air the blowers were blasting my face and body with hot air.

Suffocating from the heat I had to drive the car all the way from TPJ to Serdang Hospital with the window wind down. With the window opened the wind from outside provided some relief to the stifling heat inside the car.

After the hospital appointment I told my wife that I wanted to check out the ailing air-cond system of the Kancil in Kajang.

Then immediately after I turned on the ignition switch as if by magic the air-cond system kicked in at full blast.

How to expect the air-cond mechanic to diagnose the system's problems when the air-conditioning is operating normally. Decided to abort the trip to the air-cond mechnic's shop. For the rest of the journey back to our house the car's air-condition system was operating perfectly.

I am going to Kajang again for some errands tomorrow. Let's hope that the car behaves itself by not turning on the air-con so that I can get the foreman to fix the on and off air-conditioning system.

A nostalgic visit to the sold family property in Kajang

The months of speculating whether the old family house has been abandoned by the new owners have finally come to a happy ending.

We are glad that the new owners have finally taken possession of what used to be the family's abode for 30 years in Kajang.

Although this 14 ft x 53 ft freehold property is a small house, it has provided the necessary shelter and security for me and my wife to raise our small family of 4 through the years. For this we are forever grateful to our former house.

Some minor renovation work is being carried out to transform the house to suit the new owners' preference. Note the little pile of sand on the floor in the car porch. The absence of construction debris indicates that the new owners are interested to do only the minimal remodeling work to the existing house.

Part of what used to be the main entrance has been bricked up leaving a small opening for a window. The main door has been relocated to the right, in line with the brick fencing wall. The window and door frames have been given a new coat of green paint, as if to match the green colour theme of the house next door.

With the view to the road being blocked by the brick fencing wall I believe the new owners relocated the main entrance door to afford some privacy. Where previously anyone can view the living road from the road now the view of the entrance is a little bit more discrete.

I wonder why the minimalist transformation to the property and the green painting to the window and door frame? Knowing that the new owners are a Chinese couple, green themed paintwork is generally not the preferred colour choice for the Chinese community.

Maybe the new owners are not the ones that are going to live in the house. Perhaps the owners are renting out the house to some tenants and the renovation work is carried at the tenant's request. This could explain the most basic of alteration to the existing design of the house and the green colour painting of the metal window and door frames.

A brief respite

Silence. Not a sound coming from the renovation work of my neighbour's house.

A brief and welcome respite.

Making friends with the pneumatic hammer

The sound of pneumatic drill and other hacking work coming from my neighbour's house that is undergoing a major renovation work is irritating to say the least. There is noise and unpleasant things happen, but if I become averse to them then I am creating hostility within myself. So the real suffering is not the noise but the stuff that I create in my mind.

The only way to stop the incessant din is to ask the neighbour to stop his renovation work, which is impossible. After all every thing is happening within is property.The other way is to adopt a realistic attitude towards the way it is.

I may not be able to stop the noise but controlling how I should feel is within my capability. When I start to accept the unpleasant situation as something temporary the noise ceases to be as disturbing to my mental state as before.

Applying the finishing touch

Ding dong!

Someone is ringing the door bell and interrupting my conversation with my wife.

It is one of the Indonesian workers who are engaged by the next door neighbour to renovate his house.

He pointed to the unfinished brickwork on the common brick fencing with my neighbour's lot. I knew instantly that he wanted to plaster the bare brickwork on my side of the common wall. I knew because I had been pestering the Indonesian contractor for weeks on when he would send his workers over to plaster my side of the common wall.

After letting him and another worker in he went straight to work. Earlier I had placed some old newspapers on the floor to shield the flooring from being damaged by the plaster debris. However he came with a big piece of plywood that he used as a protective barrier to mount a wooden platform for the plastering work.

Working alone he finished the job within 30 minutes. On inspection I noticed that the workmanship was satisfactory.

Yesterday this was the same guy who replaced a broken roofing tile with a new piece. Last week he broke a piece of roofing tile while stepping on the car porch roof to plaster the common wall. I was glad that he owned up to his fault without kicking out a fuss after I spoke to him about the cracked tile.

Before he returned to my neighbour's lot he said to me that he would come back to apply the finishing touch, remove the staging and clean up the floor after the wet plaster had dried up.

Back to planning a wedding dinner guest list

Iremember the trials and tribulations that I had to go through when planning for the guest list for my daughter's wedding dinner in Kuala Lumpur. It was in June 29 2013 that my family had to organise a wedding dinner for my daughter's marriage to Nicholas.

Now 3 months after that event I have to go through the same exercise to plan the guest list for my son's wedding dinner in November.

However this time the planning should be much easier and faster as the I have the experience of doing the same work the last time to guide me.

I started work this morning using the Excel template for my daughter's wedding dinner guest list that I saved just for this occasion.

Learning from the previous experience my family has decided to invite less people than before. This time my family has decided to invite only immediate relatives and close friends. Cousins and nephews are excluded from the wedding guest list.

Nevertheless even with a shorter guest list I do not anticipate plain sailing. On the other hand I would expect many revisions to the first list before it is finalised.

I have a young man's bone quality and strength

Just to go along with the wife's insistence signed up with her on the spot for the Anlene Bone Health Check. 

After analysing the result of the bone density scan of my right foot my wife was ecstatic to hear from the Anlene inspector that at my age I still have the bone quality and strength of a young man. 

As for the wife her scan analysis shows that her bone health is in the medium risk category of osteoporotic fractures and was advised to consume high calcium milk eg Anlene to maintain her bone health. 

Of course we already know the status of our individual bone health and all these scan test results are old news to us and only serve to confirm what we already knew.

Ipoh Bean Sprout Chicken Rice

At 3.00pm in Ipoh city with my wife, son and two relatives at the famous Lou Wong Bean Sprout Chicken Rice and Kuetiau Restaurant.

As usual this local celebrity restaurant was packed with customers but our party of 5 were lucky to find a vacant table. The steamed chicken, bean sprouts (taugeh) and fish balls that we ordered came in large portions, ample enough to feed 5 adults. As we ate our meals we noticed groups of people disembarking from tour buses and streaming into the restaurant.

In the vicinity of Lou Wong other restaurants serving similar fare were also well patronised by hungry customers.

It seems to me that the success enjoyed by Lou Wong sprouted a booming bean sprout chicken rice food tourism industry all located in this small corner of the town centre.

Back to basics

Basics are the foundation of advanced material. The lessons from your first class, those that you never outgrow, contain a huge amount of material that keeps giving and giving with more practice. 

Simple broken down structure and body movement work is the foundation of moving with power. When you dissect the most advanced practice you know you will see the basics. The advanced techniques are simply the basics done to perfection. 

As Musashi wrote, "your combat walk should be your everyday walk." Keep on practicing.

An unlikely place

Tthe things I like about this self-service cafe situated in the most unlikely location is its clean and brightly lit environment , quiet ambient, reasonable price and the food menu. This cafe is actually a staff canteen located in the basement of the TCM Department of the KL Tung Shin Hospital. Though not serving exclusive vegetarian fare, it has a large variety of vegetable dishes in its lunch time menu to choose from. For lunch I ordered stirred fried Chinese spinach, stirred fried mixed bean and nuts and stewed tofu while my wife also ordered two types of vegetarian dishes.

I accompanied my wife to visit the hospital for acupuncture treatment for her stiff and painful shoulder condition. She had been complaining that she could not raise her hand above her head without feeling excruciating pain. I should think that some people would call this type of shoulder ailment as "frozen" shoulder. The 40 minutes of laying on the bed with needles stuck on her shoulder and hand brought immediate relief to her painful condition.

Since it was about 1.00pm after her treatment we adjourned to the cafe which is located next door to the TCM acupuncture clinic for our lunch. After so many repeat visits to the hospital for acupuncture therapy we have grown quite attached to this cafe.

Practicing Wu Style Taijiquan to get back to good health.

At first I thought that learning taijiquan from a book is next to impossible. However with persistence and patience I believe I am getting some where.

After about 3 weeks since I decided to embark on my quest to study this type of taijiquan I have learnt about 50 percent of the 37 postures Wu Style taijiquan from following the text and instructions in the book. My previous background in Chen Style taijiquan probably probably help me to learn the movements in double quick time.

Perhaps the greatest motivation in learning this type of extremely slow motion taijiquan is my desire to improve my health through some form of physical exercise.

My sedentary lifstyle since my retirement from work in June had caused my blood pressure, blood sugar levels and heart beat to rise alarmingly. Sometimes I even experienced shortness of breath, head ache, dizziness, bloated stomach, excessive stomach gas and flatulence, diarrhea and even constipation. Taking too many medicines, watching TV and surfing the internet made me sleepy and lethargic all day.

Alarmed at the worsening state of my health, then one day in July I decided to do something about it. I decided to start with taijiquan exercise first thing in the morning as I felt that the slow, continuous and gentle movements accompanied by deep breathing and relaxation would not tax my low energy level too much.

After only about a month of doing taijiquan in the mornings with some sessions in the afternoons and evenings, I am beginning to feel that my strength, energy and vigour have recovered tremendously. Nowadays I don't feel so tired and sleepy as before. My blood pressure, sugar level and heart beats are now under control.

Seeing the positive effects of taiji on my health I am greatly motivated to learn the complete set by the end of Aug. In addition to taiji I am also adding other forms of physical exercises to my daily life.

Other than practicing this art to regain my health I am also paying more attention to my diet. Gone are the days when I used to load my body with all kinds of toxic foods eg red meat, coffee, tea, milk, sugary beverages, pastries, pasta, deep-fried,oily and spicy foods.

A new look

Strangely I get the feeling that people I am in contact with are paying particular attention to my looks.

My hair, or what's left of it is the first topic of conversation. It is not that I am out to make a fashion statement with my current military style hair cut.

It is just that when I asked for a short hair cut, the barber took the request literally and sheared off all the hairs at the back, the sides and the crown almost down to the skin save for the remaining 3 mm sticking out. I console myself that I won't be needing a comb and hair gel at least for the next two months.

A pleasant surprise in the mail

Apleasant surprise awaits me when I checked the mail box

Inside an envelope from Petronas Dagangan I found a Petronas Mesra Card and a refrigerator magnetic sticker attached to the envelope. Petronas Dagangan is the vendor who delivers cooking gas to my family on a regular basis.

We are happy with the home delivery service provided by this vendor. Since the day we ordered cooking gas from this vendor the company has provided uninterrupted and friendly service whenever we run out of gas. Sometimes even before we run out of gas their customer service will call inquiring if we want them to deliver gas to our house.

Where security is concerned it is everybody's business in the local community

With the implementation of the 24-hour gated and guarded community security scheme on July 27 residents of PUJ 7 are turning out in droves to register their house addresses and vehicles and pay the monthly fees at the makeshift booths set up on the road shoulder beside the playground and opposite the Petronas petrol station. The pengurusi of Persatuan Penduduk PUJ 7 and his volunteer committee members are on hand helping the residents to register, collect the monthly fees and also to distribute car stickers. Looking at the good response it appears that most of the residents of PUJ 7 are supportive of this security arrangement.

Getting rid of clutter

There is a lot of history and old memories of my life gathering dust in all those old books and magazines. However as I have no use of them now, I am selling them for a song to the surat khabar lama man for recycling.

Setting up of a gated and guarded security system for the residents

In response to frequent incidences of snatch thefts and house break-ins, recently residents in the area where I am living got together to set up a residents' association.

A community meeting was held on July 14 by the organisers to discuss and formalise the setting up of a protem committee and also a residents' association. During the meeting all the participants unanimously agreed to implement a gated and guarded security system for the residents.

Following the inaugural meeting the protem committee has taken the following actions:

1) Approached MPSJ for approval to register and set up the residents' association
2) Set up a monthly newsletter
3) Set up a Facebook page for the benefit of the residents
4) Distributed flyers to inform the residents of the activities of the association
5) Finalised the design of the association's official logo
6) Engaged a security company to manage a gated and guarded security system to be implemented with effect from Julai 26

Although the check-points of a 24-hour gated and guarded security system will restrict some freedom of movements to visitors and residents alike it is a necessary evil to combat increasing incidences of house break-ins and other criminal activities. Although no security system is not 100% crime-proof, nevertheless it will go a long way to address the security concerns of the residents here.

It will definite be a big improvement to the present system where the residents pay a monthly fee of RM30 to an unauthorised person to patrol all the 630 houses in the area. We don't see the security man going on daily patrols and the only time when we see him his when he comes to collect the monthly fee. In contrast in the new system the residents don't mind paying out RM50 per month for the 24-hour gated and guarded security arrangement.

Happy 95th birthday Mr Mandela

Thank you for your profound teaching of how to attain freedom by leaving bitterness and hatred behind.

Happy 95th birthday Mr Mandela

What to expect in a 1-Malaysia Clinic

The sign board says this government run 1-Malaysia Clinic (Klinik 1-Malaysia) opens seven days a week, from Monday to Sunday. Must be a very busy and public service oriented clinic, or so I thought, operating every day of the week.

However, what I saw behind the tinted glass panels was not what I had expected of a normal operating clinic. Inside the comfortable and air-conditioned clinic the rows of blue colour fibre-glass seats and the electronic ticket counter board does give an appearance of a regular clinic. However appearance aside, on the morning of I and my wife's visit the clinic was practically empty of people except for one male visitor, the two of us and the three nursing staff that we saw. Perhaps more people would come in after noon time, I found myself rationalising the cause of the empty clinic.

Although the only visitor at that time there was leaving the premises the staff insisted my wife to punch a number. So she went through the motion of punching a ticket and sitting down to wait for someone to usher her into the consultation room for taking her blood pressure measurement.

Although there is a tag at the counter reminding the visitor to ask for an official receipt, the clinic didn't charge my wife for the consultation.

The name 1-Malaysia Clinic is a misnomer. Except for the male and female nurses the clinic has no doctor in attendance. It doesn't provide basic medical diagnosis and treatment nor prescribe medicine. It seems the only service the clinic provides is to take your blood pressure readings. Now I recall how a government doctor told me that 1-Malaysia Clinic doesn't even provide the service to measure your blood sugar level.

I could be wrong, but that was what the staff in this particular clinic told me. Maybe other similar 1-Malaysia clinics elsewhere do provide some basic medical services. As I have never visited another 1-Malaysia Clinic other than this one before I couldn't verify the medical services available in other similar clinics.

As we push open the glass door to exit I waved and said bye-bye to the staff at the counter. As the counter staff was busy chatting among themselves, with no visitors to attend to I didn't expect an acknowledgement of my friendly greetings. Looking at the image of the empty clinic in the rear mirror as I drove away from the parking lot I then understood why this clinic is so underutilised; the absence of even the most basic of medical diagnosis, treatment and medicine prescription services are discouraging the public from visiting the clinic.

In contrast at the bigger and better equipped government community clinics (Klinik Kesihatan Kerajaan) scenes of huge numbers of patients overcrowding the waiting area and enduring long waiting times to get medical treatment and prescription are the norm every day and at all hours of the day.

2 short hours at a government clinic

Lining up to get in

A line of patients had just formed when I and my wife walked into the compound of the Seri Kembangan government clinic at 7.30am for my medical appointment.

At 7.30am the clinic staff had already opened its door for patients to take their numbers though officially the clinic is supposed to open only at 8.00 am. I reckon some people were already standing in the line from as early as 7.00 am.

My number was 6006 and my wife's 1034. Like everyone else we sat down on a row of fibre-glass seats in the waiting area to wait for our numbers to flash on the LED screen counter. Unlike private sector institutions eg banks the numbers are not flashed in accordance to sequence, but in a random fashion. Thus if your number is 6006 and you see the number 6005 being announced in the electronic board don't assume that the next number will be yours. Likewise don't assume that the clinic has called your number when you see the number 6210 in the electronic counter. I suspect this situation is because the person responsible for collecting the numbers delivers the numbers to the registration clerk in random batches.

Although my wife took her number a few persons after me hers was electronically called ahead of mine. In contrast I finished my blood tests before she was summoned into the doctor's examination room.

By the time both of us finished our business two hours have lapsed. Considering that the clinic has to attend to hundreds of patients a day, the two hours that we had to spend inside the clinic in relative comfort is acceptable. Some times in the more established private clinics where there are many patients you may have to wait up to one hour to see the doctor and get a medical prescription.

For a nominal fee of RM2 per person for medical consultation and medication(senior citizens 60 years and above get free treatment) you get all the basic medical treatment that you need for a steal. Even the medicines are prescribed in large quantities, at least a month's supply I guess. In my case during the previous visit the clinic prescribed me two months supply of medicine. I guess they do this to space out the frequency of repeat visits for each patient.

In contrast, in a private clinic the general practitioner will charge you at least RM40 for treatment of simple ailments like sore throat and give you at the most 1 week's supply of medicine only. If you see a medical specialist be prepare to cough out at least RM100 for consultation, and extra for medicine.

A depressing sight of what used to be our former home.

Athough the family had sold our old Kajang house, I and my wife occasionally still think about our former home of 30 years.

Never mind about its small size of 14 feet x 55 feet only. The 2-storey terrace house was the home that we had successfully raised our son and daughter from babies to adults. Before moving out to our new house on Christmas day 2012, this humble abode, that we called home was the only house that we had ever known and lived in.

When the chance came to visit Kajang this morning for some banking transactions, we couldn't resist the idea of visiting our former home, just for old times sake. So after completing our business we detoured to the taman where our former house is located.

What we saw of our former house was quite depressing.

The house looks abandoned, unkempt, with magazines and mail strewn on the driveway. The post box is stuffed with unopened mail and flyers, all addressed to my family members. I sometimes wonder why our mail is still delivered to the old house. Haven't we not informed all the banks and government institutions of the change of address months ago? The space in front of the main gate has become a convenient parking lot. A neighbour has parked her MyVi in front of the main gate. The pad lock on the front gate looks exactly the same as the last time we had locked the gate which was about two months ago. The TNB and the water meter that had been disconnected upon termination of our electricity and water service accounts have not been reconnected by the new owners.

I wanted to enter the house to clean up the driveway, but then I do not have the house keys anymore. There was no way that we could enter the compound other than to scale the main fencing and the entrance door. I have already surrendered all the house keys to the solicitor of the new owners a few days before they they took house possession.

Since the house title has been transferred to the new owners' bank and the house keys surrendered, then legally the house does not belong to us any more.

I wonder why the new owners who are servicing their bank loans now are not anxious to move into their newly bought property, or at least changed the locks and reinstate the TNB and water meters.