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.
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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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| Paper Tantos |
These colourful objects are not candy bars.
They are The Star newspaper pages bundled together in rolls. Each bundle is made up of 24 sheets of papers rolled and binded together by cellophane tapes. I intend to use them as tantos for Aikido weapons training in INTi when the new session starts next Monday.
Individually paper may be a soft material but when bundled together they can be turned into a hard object.
Measuring 4cm in diameter and 30cm long they fit snugly into a human's hand. Although not as hard as wood nevertheless they are stiff, strong and quit unbendable. After testing them on myself I found such improvised weapons just right for weapons training.
Best of all they are non-lethal, easy to make from newspaper pages and inexpensive. After training the students can keep these paper tantos in the store room without worrying about theft. I doubt if anyone would be interested enough to want to steal these paper objects. Even if they are stolen it is quiet easy and inexpensive to make new ones.
Hope to see the members turn up in full force on Monday for the aikido workshop. Try to persuade the interns to try out the art. And do note the new training time from 7.00pm to 8.30pm. Please come in at 6.30pm to lay out the mats so that the class can start at 7.00pm sharp.
This used to be a small opening in the cement screed on the driveway slab outside the main gate. It started life as a 12 cm dia hole. Then after two weeks the 12 cm dia. hole gradually turned into a big gaping hole measuring 25 cm x 25cm. It is definitely getting too big to ignore.
Working with the wife we patched up the hole using a paint scraper with a small quantity of cement paste mix that we procured from a friendly Indonesian worker who was mixing cement sand paste in a nearby house that is under renovation. We asked only for a small quantity but received more than our request. After patching up the hole we then leveled the side of the driveway slab with the excess cement paste .
Taman Bukit Jalil public park.
Visited this public park for the first time with my wife. Never imagine such a beautiful and scenic public park can exist so close to the city centre.
It has lots of shady trees, undulating jogging, paths, bridges, ponds, pavilions, playground equipment, par course stations, foot reflexology stations, well maintained landscaping and concrete steps built into steep slopes. Beside the greenery, there is also a colony of monkeys to entertain the visitor with their antics.
Saw lots of visitors of diverse types, from senior citizens to youths and school children. All of them went there for one purpose, that is to exercise their bodies.
Showed the wife how to use the parcouse equipment to do simple exercises like push ups, leg stretching, sit ups, etc. Despite her stiff limbs and uncoordinated movements she managed to work out some sweat on the equipment. We also tried our hands on the playground equipment eg seesaws, swings and climbed up and down the slide stations.
Encountered a big concrete staircase constructed on a steep slope. I had to guide my wife on the climb up the staircase step by step and asked her to hold on the hand rails as she has weak knees. Despite the strain my wife managed to ascend to the top of the flight of stairs without stopping.
Both of us enjoyed the walk and the exercises very much. Definitely will make this park our favorite place for our morning exercises and walks.
First day of retirement.
My wife dragged me to Aeon member day sale because she said I am "free" all day long.
Now I am busy all over again. Instead of working for a company I'm now working for the wife, with no salary.
Last day of work in the office.
After 40 years of working as an employee in various capacities with many companies in the building industry it's time to call it a day.
Thank you to the management and staff of Zaidun-Leeng, not forgetting the farewell gift of an assortment of 5 shirts and chocolates.
I'm not crazy, but it's just that I have retired from work but not from life. My post retirement plan is to make the rest of my life the best of my life.
Feeling the strain with sore shoulders, aching back and muscular cramps in the right leg from carrying two bags of books.
After weighing the stuff with a bathroom scale found out to my surprise that I had been lugging around the combined weight of 15 kg of books on my shoulders.
Tomorrow have to endure the final round of carrying all the heavy stuffs from the office to my house. However I expect that tomorrow's payload should be much lighter than today's
In the meeting room I was trying very hard to conceal my drowsiness by dozing off with my eyes open.
That is why I dislike attending meetings that drags on for more than 1-1/2 hours, especially at meetings where I am just a passive listener.
Folded a family of four paper tsuru or Japanese cranes. I folded the paper cranes for leisure but in 1955 a desperate young girl did that with the belief that it could cure her of her illness.
Sadako Sasaki, a Second World War Hiroshima atomic bomb victim, believed that if she folded 1000 paper cranes she would be cured of radiation sickness from the atomic bomb. However she managed to fold only 644 paper cranes before she succumbed to her radiation illness and died on the morning of October 25 1955. The picture on the right is a stature in memory of Sadako Sasaki erected in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park depicting her holding a golden crane.
Peace to all beings
Attended a TTC meeting at Low Sensei's Puchong Dojo to review the MAA Aikido grading syllabus.
The syllabus was first drafted in 2000 and since then it has stayed the same through the years. As MAA has been given permission by Hombu Dojo to conduct Dan grading locally up to 4th Dan level starting from 2013, the TTC committee feels that it is timely to review the 13 year old syllabus.
The outcome of the meeting was the removal of many of the repetitive techiques in the 2nd and 1st kyu grading syllabus. The committee felt that lower kyu techniques eg 5th and 4th kyu techniques need not be repeated in the higher level tests. Because of so many repetitive techniques in the current syllabus, the grading for 2nd and 1st kyu candidates can take more than 1 hour to complete. The committee felt that there is scope for shortening the grading time at the same time maintaining the essence of our aikido training. On the other hand with the removal of the lower grade techniques the committee felt that more advanced techniques could be introduced to enhance the higher grade tests.
The committee also deliberated on the 1st to 4th Dan grading syllabus.
Naturally being the person who was responsible for compiling the original syllabus in 2000, I was asked to compile and publish the new syllabus. Just submitted the first draft of the new syllabus for peer review.
Wesak Day Celebration.
First time attended the Wesak day open house celebration in Taman Puncak Jalil where my family is now residing.
Found out that this particular Buddhist organisation is the local chapter of Fo Guang Shan, the international Chinese Buddhist Mahayana monastic order founded by Venerable Master Hsing Yun and originated in Taiwan.
I and my wife went there because I wanted to check out the place after seeing a few roadside banners publicizing the Wesak Day open house celebration and it is so near my house. Actually I am not partial to any Buddhist tradition whether Theravada, Mahayana or Vajrayana as the core Dhamma teachings are the same.
Happy Wesak Day. May all beings be well, happy and free of sufferings.
Low Sensei's yudansha class.
Two months of inactivity has made my mind and body rather sluggish and lethargic.
Before I stepped into Low Sensei's H&E dojo I was wondering if this oldie could hold his own against the vigor of youth of the young yudanshas. Ten minutes into the 2-1/2 hour training I realised that I was worrying for nothing.
The aftermath... a tired body drenched with sweat but mind and body completely invigorated
Seri Petaling morning market. Saw a big crowd of housewife type shoppers gathered around a vendor who was hawking some kind of manual juicer. Curious, I joined the crowd to find out what the fuss was all about.
The male vendor, speaking in mandarin was demonstrating how to use a small plastic hand-held juicer to extract juices from all kinds of cut fruits eg apples, oranges, pineapples, lemon and limes. He said the juicer called Shimono Universal Juice Press is a Japanese made product and can be bought from the upmarket department stores at RM49.00, but in the open market he was promoting a limited stock of them for only RM20.00 a unit.
Even my wife who is normally quite a discerning buyer was impressed with the demo. It is easy to use as it doesn't need strength to operate the machine, but just a screwing motion of the hand will do. Best of all it doesn't require electricity to operate, easy to clean practically and maintenance-free being made up of only three plastic components. My wife agreed that it was a useful product to have in the house and we paid the vendor RM20.00 for the machine.
More shoppers joined the crowd as we were leaving the stand. Looking at the demand I was quite certain that he would be able to sell off all his stocks by noon.
I
am using Excel to draw up a wedding dinner guest list. Even with its cut and paste features it is quite an enormous task to arrange the seating arrangement of the guests in the desired configurations. It is hard to imagine how much more difficult and time consuming if done manually using pencil and eraser.
It is in times like this that you appreciate the advantage of modern technology.
Two more weeks to retirement. Not particularly looking forward to retirement because I don't have a retirement plan.
However I don't see myself sitting around the house doing nothing other than watching TV shows. Told my colleagues that my retirement plan is to teach Aikido full time and that is what I am going to do.
This year bough my new motor insurance policy from Amgeneral Insurance Bhd. Bought the policy from the Seri Petaling Am Bank branch.
Since moving to the new house in Puncak Jalil last year I found it extremely inconvenient to travel to my old insurance company located about 20km away in Kajang to renew the annual insurance policy.
Tying old books into bundles with raffia strings for easy handling. Starting with a bowline loop and finishing by securing the assortment of books with two half-hitch knots.
Just the thing I needed to do to fire up my sagging spirits from the doldrums of a depressing day.
When you are down instead of brooding and sulking the greatest gift that you can give to yourself is your presence; in this case just paying attention to bundling books into easy to carry packs.
The time has come to start planning for relocating our residence from Kajang to Puncak Jalil.
The auspicious day to settle in to our new house has been determined after my wife's consultation with the temple medium. It is on Christmas day 25/12/2012.
I have already started the whole process by drawing up an inventory list of furniture and other house items for the big move. The next task is to identify what company to engage for the big move.
After living in a 15ft x 55ft double storey terrace house in Kajang for the last 30 years I am leaving with a heavy heart. No doubt the family house is such a small abode but nevertheless it has provided the shelter and protection that enables me and my wife to raise our children. However over the years the house has outlived the ever growing needs of the family to the point that we need a bigger house than what the current one can provide.
Today the real estate agent came to take some shots of the house. The pictures are required by the potential purchase to secure a bank loan for the purchase of the house. I hope that I and my wife can sign the sales and purchase agreement with the buyer before we move out. We have no intention to rent out the property nor keep it vacant for too long.
My son collected the keys from the developer to his newly completed semi-D house this morning. He is only 28 years old.
In a similar situation 30 years ago at age 31, I remember how happy and full of gratitude I felt as a house owner when I collected the keys to my first house in Kajang.
That house is only a 15 ft x 55 ft 2-storey terrace house. A humble abode (only 875 sq ft) no doubt but to me grand enough to provide shelter and protection that enabled me and my wife to raise a family and where the family is still living there today.
With my son owning his first home I feel life has turned a full circle for me and my wife.
All our children are grown ups with their careers and life partners. I feel the time has come to relinquish our parenting role and let them go out into the world to find their own destiny and build their own nests.
Mines Shopping Fair. Parking experience
When you insert your ticket into a self-service parking vending machine you would expect the vending machine to flash the amount of fee that you are required to pay before making the payment. Looking up and down and to the left and right side of the colourful machine I couldn't find any indicator to tell me the amount to pay. So I just inserted a RM5.00 bill into what I presumed was the payment slot and hoped for the best. Out came the parking ticket with the parking fee of RM3.00 printed on the ticket and also RM2.00 change.
Actually there is a small panel with a touch-screen menu like those you see in a bank ATM machine located off-side to the right and a little behind the main machine. I presume that you are supposed to poke around the screen menu options and make the appropriate selections before you make your payment. I only saw it after I backed away and walked past the machine to look for my car.
Shouldn't the machine designer simplify and automate the whole process by eliminating the need for a screen menu selection process and place all the indicators in one place on the main panel ?
Electrode-acupuncture therapy at Tung Shin Hospital for heel pain.
After the initial consultation that included reading my wrist pulse, blood pressure and examining my tongue the TCM physician inserted needles on both my heels, feet and kne
es to sedate the inflammation in the plantar fascia (the band of tendon that runs from the ball of the foot to the heel) and then to stimulate more blood and chi energy to flow to the affected area.
The physician said the inflammation of the plantar fascia is causing the heel pain and the electrode-acupuncture treatment is to reactivate the body's natural healing response. Feeling the warmth of the electric current energy circulating in the legs the 1/2 hour treatment was so relaxing that I almost fell asleep on the couch.
The TCM physician told me to return to the clinic for a few more sessions if the pain persists. No herbal medicine nor pain killers was prescribed. At the payment counter the cashier billed me only RM18.00 for the needle treatment.
Since my childhood preschool days growing up in a remote New Village in Perak it has been a long long long time since I played with a tanglung. I have forgotten how it felt lighting up and parading a lantern with my childhood buddies in celebration of the Mid-Autumn festival. Am I missing something here? By the way no Angry Birds tanglung for me please. Happy Zhongqiu Jie or Mid-Autumn Festival.
Some of us think holding on makes us strong,
but sometimes it is letting go
~ Herman Hesse
That's why I'm getting rid of the past; residual bits and pieces of memories imprinted in the old books and documents gathering dust, stuffs that is of no use to me in the present and the future.
Bye bye past. It's over. Got to move on. As for the future it probably won't be like what I think. So why hold on and worry?
Have a happy weekend.
Roti bakar and hot black tea make for a good combination on a cold and rain-drenched morning of Malaysia Day. Time to leave the kopitiam as the rain at the market has petered down to a drizzle.
Selamat Hari Malaysia
Happy Malaysia Day
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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..jpg)
The scene at a public toilet in a park.
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. 
The thick overhead canopy of trees and the sight of monkeys, birds and squirrels made the climb a pleasant experience. 
Taman Bukit Jalil public park.
Saw lots of visitors of diverse types, from senior citizens to youths and school children. All of them went there for one purpose, that is to exercise their bodies.
Last day of work in the office. 
In the meeting room I was trying very hard to conceal my drowsiness by dozing off with my eyes open. 
Folded a family of four paper tsuru or Japanese cranes. I folded the paper cranes for leisure but in 1955 a desperate young girl did that with the belief that it could cure her of her illness.
Seri Petaling morning market. Saw a big crowd of housewife type shoppers gathered around a vendor who was hawking some kind of manual juicer. Curious, I joined the crowd to find out what the fuss was all about.
I
Two more weeks to retirement. Not particularly looking forward to retirement because I don't have a retirement plan. 
