My daughter's wedding dinner

A big thank you to all my relatives and friends for their kind support in attending the wedding dinner of my daughter, Amy. If not for them the event would not have succeeded according to plan.

When we planned and budgeted for a 20 table dinner function we had some misgivings if all the dinners in the guest list would come and whether the angpow receipts would be sufficient to pay for the cost of hosting the dinner. We were not interested to make money out of the function. We would be happy if the receipts would be sufficient to break even with the cost of the dinner.

By 7.00pm, the schedule time of the start of the dinner only half the tables were filled and we were wondering if we should cancel some tables. Then after 7.30pm more guest started to trickle in and we became more hopeful as the guests started to fill up the vacant seats.

It was only after the dinner had started that we realised why so many guests arrived late, after the scheduled time. The severe traffic congestion in many parts of the city due to the FA Cup finals being held at the national stadium in Bukit Jalil had delayed many of the guests from coming to the restaurant. No wonder I received sms messages informing me of impending delay in arrival by some guests due to the horrendous traffic congestion. Some even had to abort the journey to the restaurant in frustration mid-way because they had difficulty entering the city.

As we could not wait indefinitely for all the guests to show up we gave the green light to start the dinner at 8.30pm. Thankfully by this time we estimated that more than 95 percent of the seats had been occupied.

The dinner ended at 10.00pm. As a contingency measure I had brought along my cheque book in the event that I was required to issue a checque to the restaurant to cover any short falls in the cash receipts. After tallying all the angpow receipts we were delighted that although the cash that we had collected from the paying guests were insufficient to cover the operating cost of hosting the dinner, the deficit was minimal.
Incurring a total deficit of RM195.80 for hosting a 20 table dinner the figure translates to only a deficit of RM9.79 per table.

We were very happy that after accounting for prepayments to the restaurant the cash receipts were more than enough to settle the restaurant's bill.

Crunchy croissant lunch

The Loaf Bakery, IOI Mall

While waiting for our daughter to finish her makeup at the second floor restaurant in IOI Mall Puchong I and my wife were getting hungry looking for some thing to eat. Since morning breakfast we had not eaten any food.

After wandering around the ground floor of the busy shopping mall I saw a bakery cum cafe located beside the drop off. It seemed a nice cafe to rest our legs and also to enjoy some light snacks.

The cafe is known as The Loaf. It has a small open air sitting area located just outside the store. Inside were shelves with an assortment of eye-catching western style pastries neatly displayed for customers to select their order.

Mixed nut croissant

Among all the different types of pastries the mixed nut croissant looked appealing to our taste buds. So at the suggestion of my wife I ordered two pieces of the croissant at RM3.60 each. We then sat down in the open area to enjoy our snack and also watched the shoppers pass by the shop. At that time there were only two tables were taken. We chose the table furthest away from the driveway because we wanted to sit in a cool environment.

Although the croissant was cold it was still crunchy and had a rich nutty taste. Even though the portion was small it was filling enough to satisfy our hunger pangs.

My wife asked if I wanted to order coffee to go with the croissant, which I declined.

Looking for a Maybank ATM

Couldn't believe it but it is true. I could not find a Maybank ATM machine in such a big shopping mall as IOI Mall Puchong.

Perhaps there is a terminal somewhere but because the mall is so huge I looked in the wrong place. I looked for the terminal in the new wing but didn't go to the old wing to check it out.

Anyway, tired of searching I decided to use the CIMB ATM machine to withdraw cash. Then when my turn came to insert the ATM card into the machine the lady who came before me exclaimed that the machine had no cash to dispense.

Luckily there is a RHB Bank machine placed adjacent to the CIMB machine and at that time there was only one customer using it.

A poem to celebrate the return of blue sky and fluffy clouds after enduring days of pungent haze permeating the air

The view of the sky above in TPJ

Clusters of white fluffy clouds floating in a blue sky.

What a magnificent sight after living with depressive days

Caused by the haze turning the sky into a canvas of grey.

Friendly customer service makes for a pleasant banking experience

I and my wife went to Public Bank in Seri Petaling to open a new joint fixed deposit account.

The customer officer who handled our application was friendly, knowledgeable and attentive in his work. Best of all he was always smiling as we carry on our conversation. After getting all the particulars from us he practically filled the application forms on our behalf. We only needed to put down our signatures on each page of the joint agreement and on the dotted line on the last page of the documents.

After signing all the papers we were then directed to a special counter set up for handling new account opening. Unlike the other counters this particular counter does not require the customer to get a number from the ticketing machine.

In contrast, the service at Maybank was decidedly customer unfriendly.

Earlier we had visited the Bandar Kinara branch of Maybank to open a new account. Instead of a dedicated customer service officer to advice us on the procedures and the paper work, we were attended to by an officer whose only duty (as far as we could see) was to hand out queue numbers and to dispense forms. After listening to our inquires the lady nonchalantly handed us an assortment of application forms for us to fill up, and no explanation on what information to enter in the forms.

Although we are not illiterate still it took us quite a long time to fill up all the forms because we had to peruse the documents line by line. Imagine how difficult it would be for illiterate and old people to handle the forms without the staff's assistance

Folding paper trash boxes from product catalogs

These colourful Aeon Big product catalogs are ideal for making paper trash boxes. One page of the catalog can be used to fold a square box measuring 10.5cm x 10.5cm x 5cm. 

Instead of placing the food waste on the table and wiping the table with a cloth you can save a lot of cleaning work by putting the food waste into these paper containers. After a meal you then crush the box together with the contents inside and dump it into the refuse bin.

I fold these paper boxes for storing food wastes after a meal. Whenever I am free I fold lots of these paper boxes and store them in a plastic box for later retrieval. 

Now my wife is so used to these boxes that she asks me to replenish the stock whenever we run out. 

I just made about 10 of these paper containers from 10 pages of catalogs .

Determination

INTI Aikido. Mon 24/6/2013 class
The bad haze situation in INTi Nilai is no hindrance for members to come to the dojo for training.

I was impressed that two very determined girls who refused to be affected by the haze chose to don face masks for training rather than to skip class. And in spite of poor visibility Nigel drove all the way from Puchong to come to Nilai for the aikido class.

Very dense haze. Poor road visibility. No people and few cars on the road. This was the creepy scene that confronted me as I drove back from Nilai alone to my house in Seri Kembangan after the Aikido class ended.

I shuddered when the thought of what was going to happen if the car broke down in the night crossed my mind. Then the image of the two girls wearing face masks to train in the bad haze calmed my anxiety some what.

Staying hydrated

With the pungent haze swathing the whole nation I am never out of reach of my drinking bottle. I keep a 1 litre water bottle containing drinking water handy on my desk so that I can stay hydrated, even when indoor.

The PM declared emergency status for Muar and Ledang after the API (air pollutant index) readings in the two towns touched 750

As the haze situation originating from forest burnings in Sumatra worsened at 5pm Sunday the authorities have declared that all schools in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur will be closed tomorrow. the Ministry of Health has also ordered all government hospitals to provide face masks to the public.

I know about the bad, but I look for good things

Alice Herz Sommer, the world's oldest survival of the Nazi Holocaust and author of the book "A Garden of Eden in Hell" says " I know about the bad, but I look for good things." 

She wrote "A garden of Eden in Hell" when she was 104 years old. Through the horrors she has witnessed and the mental and emotional anguish that she has experienced during her internment in a Nazi concentration camp she attributes her love for music that saves her life.

“When you are optimistic, when you are not complaining, when you look at the good side of your life, everybody loves you.”

Today at age 110 Alice lives quietly in England. An accomplished musician she continues to play on her piano three hours a day.

Grey canvas

Coughing a bit due to throat irritation caused by the acrid smell. Then it dawn on me that the morning haze has transformed the sky into a big canvas of grey, blanking out the images of buildings and trees in the back ground.

The ongoing raging forest fires due to land clearing in Sumatra has affected much of Malaysia and the whole of Singapore.

Better to stay indoors until the haze clears unless there is pressing matters to go out of the house.

Coffee adventure on a hot and hazy afternoon

My wife is never a coffee connoisseur. She has no preference for any particular type of coffee. Most of the time she drinks the regular 3 in 1 types that you can buy off the shelf in any store.

However today while sitting down in the air-conditioned comfort of the Inhouse Cafe in Sunway Giza Kota Damansara she surprised me by ordering iced vanilla flavoured coffee. She seldom take cold drinks because iced beverages don't go well with her stomach.

Perhaps the hot and hazy weather had affected her mood. Or perhaps she wanted to try something adventurous for a change.

As I don't like iced beverage I ran my fingers down the colourful menu to look for something that suited my taste amidst the bewildering range of coffee drinks.

One item caught my eye: caramel coffee. I have never tasted caramel coffee before and I thought why not?

As we sat down to sip coffee and enjoyed the ambiance, all around us we noticed a lot of shoppers hanging out around the mall's concourse. Even the Inhouse Cafe was half full of patrons.

At 3pm on a Fri afternoon we wondered why there were so many visitors there. Shouldn't most people be at home or working in their offices?

As for both of us we have retired from full time work and therefore have plenty of spare time to occasionally indulge ourselves when the opportunity arises.

Today was such an opportunity. We didn't drive so far all the way from our home in TPJ just to taste the coffee. Anna had to go to a bridal shop in Sunway Giza for a fitting out of her gown for our daughter's wedding dinner do. After we were done at the bridal shop we found ourselves some spare time to chill out.

With about one hour to spare before the parking ticket ran out of credit time we savoured every moment of our time to enjoy each others coffee and company. It was a most pleasant experience as both of us had never tasted vanilla and caramel flavoured coffee before.

Updating postal address information at Maybank Taman Maluri

Ithought that updating the postal address information for the accounts of my wife, son and daughter would be just a breeze. After all, none of the account holders are withdrawing money from their accounts.

So after finishing our business with our solicitors in Taman Maluri I and my wife walked over to Maybank which is located one block away from our solicitor's office.

At the reception we informed the counter officer the nature of our visit. With a knowing smile she gave us a number and ushered us to the banking hall on the first floor. So far so good.

Our problem started after we approached the counter with our application forms, photocopies of the account holders' identity cards and the account holders' passbooks. Even after the account holders have signed the application forms, provided the thumb prints and attached photo copies of their identity cards, the counter officer insisted that the account holders must be physically present to do the change of address application.

It was only after some negotiations that the officer relented and directed us to speak to the assistant manager of the bank.

After hearing us out and checking the documentations the assistant manager then confirmed that the amendment to the postal address could be done even if the account holders were not physically present except for my daughter's case. She pointed out that my daughter's application form did not have her signature on it. We accepted her explanation for my daughter's case. In asking my daughter to insert her thumb print on the application form I must have forgotten to ask her to sign the documents.

On second thought I should have checked all the documents before presenting them to the bank. Acknowledging our carelessness we then made the decision to come back to do the change of address for my daughter's account on another day.

So as not to waste the opportunity we then decided to go ahead with the amendment to the postal addresses of my wife and son's account without doing the same to my daughter's account.

Ikuhiro Kubota Shihan Semina June 15 & 16 2013 Dewan Sri Putra, Bkt Jalil

Sensei taught a kumi jo set consisting of only 4 movements. From these 4 movements you can use the jo to counter jo gedan tsuki, jo choku tsuki, jo jodan tsuki, jo shomenuchi and jo yokomenuchi executed by your partner.

With this kumi jo set multiple pairs of partners can practice at the same time. Eventually Sensei got all the 40 odd participants to form a human chain in a big circle in the hall and everyone then uses his jo to hit the one in front and the other at the back of him in the giant circle.

Compared to previous seminars Sensei did not do much empty hand Aikido this time. On the other hand he used the jo to express empty hand Aikido movements. It is as if he wanted to stress the close relationship between weapons applications and empty hand techniques of Aikido.

On the last day we found out that he was going to touch 70 years in two days time. Although we didn't have a cake on hand we celebrate his 70th birthday by singing the "Happy Birthday " song after presenting gifts to him in appreciation and gratitude to his teaching.

Visibly touched Sensei executed a hand somersault on the floor to the delight of those gathered in the hall.

It pays to ask around

This 1m long crooked metal rod looks like a tree branch.

It is the gear shift lever arm removed from the undercarriage of my son's Proton. Although only the knuckle head joint at the end of the rod is damaged, you have to replace the whole assembly because there is no separate replacement just for the knuckle joint.

My son complains that the gear stick of his Proton has large slack movements that are not noticeable before when he disengages and shifts gears. I agreed to lend him my MyVi so that he can go to work while I will take his Proton to check out the problem at the local motor service workshops.

At the first workshop that I went to the burly foreman said that the slack was due to some gear box malfunction and can't be fixed unless the whole gear box is removed. A reconditioned gear box costs about RM2000.00 while a new Proton gearbox can cost more than RM10,000.00. He said that I could still operate the car with no danger if I choose to ignore the slack. Of course I didn't take his word for it. If the gearbox is damaged how can I still shift gears and drive the car on the road? Dissatisfied with his diagnosis I then went to another workshop.

At the second workshop the shop's boss said the loose slack was probably due to one of the two gear lever rods being worn out and it has nothing to do with gearbox damage. His explanation appeared to make more sense than the first guy's.

The boss said he would check out the car, identify the cause of the slack and agree on the price before carrying out the rectification work.

After the whole assembly was dismantled from its mounting in the undercarriage and laid out on the floor for inspection the boss told me that the knuckle bearing joint at one end of the crooked metal rod has worn out. He told me to pull and push the knuckle bearing joint with my fingers. Sure enough when I did that I could sense and see the some displacement of the bearing inside the joint housing. He said that there was no separate replacement for the damaged knuckle joint but to replace the whole assembly.

I promptly paid him RM280.00 for replacing the damaged gear lever rod with a original Proton part.

Maxis to Digi

Switched mobile operator, from Maxis postpaid to Digi prepaid.

Did the switching at the Maxis and Digi service centers at Metro Kajang. Coincidentally the two operators are situated next to one another.

The change was quite straight forward. I just needed to settle the outstanding payment amounting to RM30 with Maxis and stepped over next door to Digi who would take care of the rest of the transaction.

I bought the Digi@Best Prepaid call plan as it is the most economical for my modest mobile telephone service needs. Besides this plan has a feature called Super Long Life where the talktime validity period is stretched to one whole year. The fee for this feature is only RM30.00.

The sales girl told me to wait 24 hours for the SIM card to be activated. I was also given a new reload coupon with the value of RM100 for the top up. I understand RM30.00 will be deducted from my credit talktime of RM100.00 upon subscribing to the Super Long Life feature.

However within about 5 hours of the switch I received sms messages from Maxis and Digi seperately. Maxis messaged to acknowledge the switch. Digi messaged to say the SIM card has been activated.

Gratitude to the toilet doorman

The scene at a public toilet in a park.

"Tidak perlu bayar! Gunakan tandas sekarang dan boleh bayar besok." ("No need to pay! Use the toilet now and can pay tomorrow") the affable Indian doorman told me and my wife as we approached the counter to pay the 20 sen entrance fee.

"Mengapa?"("Why?") I asked him.

Another surprise awaited me. Flashing what appeared to be a perpetual smile he told me that the toilet has no running water because the contractor has not completed repairing the defective pumps, all the time speaking in very fluent Chinese mandarin. He told me that he has not had a Chinese schooling before but picked up the language when he was living among the Chinese community in Cheras.

I thanked him for his kindness with profuse gratitude. You see at that time I had only RM10 and RM5 notes in my wallet and no small change. I was expecting the doorman to turn me and my wife away as he might not have collected enough coins and RM1 bills so early in the morning to exchange for RM5, the smallest denomination note that I had to pay for the entrance fee. Besides there was only a handful of visitors in the park at that time.

Married in Putrajaya. Selamat berbahagia (wishing a happy marriage)

The Registrar of Marriage at Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara was packed with couples together with their entourages by the time my family walked into the waiting area at 9.30am. I estimated at least 200 people had already gathered in the reception hall.
 
Nicholas's family comprising Mr and Mrs Fan, Nicholas and May Fam, Nicholas's sister had arrived half hour before us. As for my family there were only three of us, myself, my wife and daughter Amy. Compared to others who were accompanied with big entourage of relatives and friends, including photographers our group of 7 was probably one of the smallest. 

May Fam clutching the DSLR camera was obviously assigned as the official photographer for the event.

12.00pm. Finally after enduring about 2-1/2 hours of waiting for our turn an officer finally ushered our two families into the marriage ceremony function room on the right side of the hall.

Once inside the we were amazed by the enormous size of the room. By my estimate the room measuring about 36 sq meters can easily accommodate not less than 30 people. I know because in one of the ceremonies before ours I counted at least 28 people entering and leaving the room. With three rows of chairs for the guests to witness the ceremony the room even has enough space for three different designs of backdrops for photography taking.

The solemnization ceremony which lasted only about 15 minutes was a simple affair with a smiling officer reading out the marriage citations in Bahasa Malaysia and witnessing the exchange of wedding rings. Both myself and Mr Fan sitting on opposite sides of a long table signed the papers as witnesses.

The next 15 minutes were spent taking photographs. Of all the shots the one I consider the most significant is the group photo taking at my request in front of a wall with the "Selamat Berbahagia" signboard mounted on it and the Coat of arms of Malaysia (Jata Negara) emblem standing sentinel above it.

After the marriage ceremony ended and in a quiet moment while driving to Puchong for lunch with the in-laws I reflected on my own marriage in Sep 19, 1979 in Kuala Lumpur. On reflection I thought how blessed Nicholas and Amy are in comparison to my marriage.

On that day only 4 people attended the marriage ceremony, me, my wife, my rent lord and the rent lady acting as witnesses. There was no fanfare, no photography session, both my parents and my wife's parents were not present and after the ceremony ended we went straight back to work. 

After so many years I have no memories of that day except for that "Selamat Berbahgia" signboard guarded by the Coat of arms of Malaysia emblem bearing silent witness to our happy and enduring marriage of 34 years. That is why I requested for a group photo to be taken in front of that "Selamat Berbahagia" signboard.

Awesome steps

Awesome long and steep steps built into a forested hill slope to exercise the body, lungs and legs. 

The thick overhead canopy of trees and the sight of monkeys, birds and squirrels made the climb a pleasant experience.

Along the way encounter many people, young and old jogging along the many winding and tree lined hiking tracks in the park.

Saw a group of about 15 people, men and women mainly senior citizens moving their bodies and limps to music on the grass. Found out that they were doing line dancing for exercise. Though with no knowledge of the steps joined the fun with this group of people doing the dance exercises.