Old People are Worth a Fortune !

Here is a humorous sms I received from my wife today. I believe this is also dedicated to Mamalim and SunnyPerth.

Don't be afraid to grow old. Old folks are worth a fortune. They have silver in their hair. Gold in their teeth. Stones in their kidneys. Gas in their stomach. Kencing pun manis. Darah pun ada kelas: Tinggi (high blood...).

Light at the End of Tunnel at Last

I was away today to Tawau to attend the progress meeting of a project that has been on-going for the last 40 months and is still only 95% completed. It was supposed to be 22 months but delayed and delayed and delayed for a further 18 months. From the look of it, we are likely going to be stuck with it for another 2 more months!

The annoying thing is that a RM36m project is run by 1 man only. He is trained as a QS but has to also assume the roles of project manager, site engineer, QS, purchasing man, foreman, liaison man, finance man all in one. He is a nice chap but the work load is just too much for him to handle. It is really ridiculous. The sad thing about some of Malaysian contractors is that they hope to make maximum profit with minimum overhead and management cost! So far, this is the kind of scenario we see in Sabah. Not very promising as far as construction industry is concerned.

We had a fairly hard drilling on him in the meeting and hoped that he could at last get his act together and mobilise whatever resources within his grasp and finish the project once and for all by the end of March.

All of us want to move on from this project which has been dragging on far too long. Wish me luck!

3 Wins in 4 Matches

I did well in my badminton game tonight. 3 wins in 4 matches. That means a net win of 2 tins of 100 plus. By the way, no frustration and no throwing of racket!

Thank God, I seem to be regaining my old self. But, I know I must be careful, no rigorous smashing lest I might injure my spine again.

The Airlines Have Gone Nut

Sam left for Melbourne this afternoon after a fairly dramatic change of flight plan. He was supposed to have left on a 3.30pm direct flight to KL. Then in the morning, I received a call from the travel agent informing me that the 3.30pm flight has been delayed and rescheduled to 7.00pm in the evening. As recommended by the travel agent, his fight was then changed to 1.40pm via Brunei.

We left home and sent him to the airport reaching there at 12.45pm. Just when I was about to park the car, I received a call in the hand phone from my wife telling me that Sam has left his passport and air ticket at home. Without a thought, I sped and rushed home as fast as I could to pick up the items. Half way of the trip, my hp rang again and my wife told me that the flight has been delayed to 2.10pm. That gave me a bit of breather. Still, I was back to the airport in 35 minutes!

After sending him off and upon reaching home, we received a call from Sam telling us that the flight would be further delayed to 3.00pm. He gave us another piece of "shocking "news. He left his digital camera in the car. By then, it was too late. We just have to think of a way to get the camera to him, somehow.

We expected him to reach KL by 7.00pm the latest. Finally, he sms'ed and told us that the flight was also delayed in Brunei. He finally arrived KL at 8.00pm. He told us that the flight to Melbourne would fly as scheduled. We really hope so. At this moment, we just pray that he is comfortably seated in the plane and on his way to the country down south.

By the way, this flight delay and mess-up was not only experienced by Sam. Paul did experience the same thing. In his case, he was supposed to have arrived Sydney by 7.20am on 17 Feb. Somehow, we discovered later that he actually arrived at 9am caused by flight delay in Brunei.

Our airlines have gone nut !

Chap Goh Mei 2006

Sunday 12 February 2006 was Chap Goh Mei. We had another family reunion dinner to end this year CNY celebration. This dinner was held at our home at our suggestion. As far as I could see and feel from the atmosphere of the gathering, all enjoyed it and the conversation was cordial and relaxed. My 2nd brother has grown more sober as year is catching up on him and there appeared more tolerance and understanding between him and the wife.

We also took the opportunity to celebrate my Mom's 78th birthday. That was the first time the children and grandchildren sang the Happy Birthday Song to her after she blew out the candles. In the past, as far as I could remember, there was no singing after the cake cutting which was held in her house. I also couldn't really explain why. Probably, the setting and atmosphere was not so conducive!

When they finally left for homes, we extended a wedding photo of MH and Serene to each family which was long long overdue. To be exact, more than 13 months overdue.

I was glad that our house turned out to be a good venue to further enhance the bond between the siblings. I hope this gathering can turn into some kind of annual tradition wherein the brothers, sister and the next generation can get together for bonding and sharing. I was glad my children get along well with their cousins as I believe this is also important for the family to survive as a unit in the years to come.

The Book of Ruth

The last three nights, I attended a teaching session by Pastor Benny Ho on the Book of Ruth. He opened a totally new approach in looking at this book in the Old Testament.

It would be too long to record all the teaching in this blog. I would just highlight an interesting part of it : How he ended the teaching at the final night.

The Book of Ruth ends with the following in Chapter 3:18-22.

This then is the family line of Perez:

Perez was the father of Hezron,

Hezron the father of Ram,

Ram the father of Amminadab,

Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,

Salmon the father of Boaz,

Boaz the father of Obed,

Obed the father of Jesse,

and Jesse the father of David.

Benny just could not believe that such a profound book should just end with a series of funny names. It would be an anti-climax of sort if it is the case. He analysed the meanings of these names and found these :

Perez : breach

Hezron: enclosed

Ram: high or exalted

Amminadab: my noble kinsman

Mahshon: enchantment

Salmon: garment

Boaz: in him is strength

Obed: servant

Jesse: one who is

David: beloved.

The hidden message based on the meanings of these names Benny told us is this :

"The breach is enclosed by my high and exalted Noble Kinsman with enchantment in His garment. In Him is strength to serve the one who is His Beloved"

Amazing, don't you think ?

I Lose a Staff Member

The other day when office resumed work after the Chinese New Year break, one of my engineers whom I consider to be most promising tendered his resignation. I was significantly shocked by his decision since we just had a performance review with him and offered him a very substantial salary increment.

He explained that when he was back home in Penang for the CNY holidays, he was bombarded with strong words by parents and relatives who pressurized him to return to West Malaysia to work so as to be closed to home. They even said something like..."If you continue to remain away from home leaving your aging parents alone back home, this is considered not filial". He told me that his other older brothers are working in various parts of West Malaysia and that leave him to take care of his parents.

Secondly, he told me that his teacher-girl friend is now posted to Johor and he wanted to be closer to her. On whether he was afraid his gf might be "won" over by another man, he said that anything could happen and it is better that he stays closed-by to pre-empt any such change of heart. I was thinking - If there is true love, distance doesn't matter. But then, everyone views relationship differently. Statement of this nature would not necessarily help.

One thing I was very pleased to hear. He told me his gf is a strong Christian and he has also decided to be a Christian. I assured him that that was a very important and wise decision and such decision would ensure them an enduring husband-wife relationship if ever they ever decide to become husband and wife.

Already, he told me that he has started facing unfriendly gestures from family members because of his decision to become Christian though he has not officially announced his conversion. As usual, his parents were worried that their son would not be there to hold the joss-stick at their funeral.

I assured him that the best way to convince the parents of his filial piety and love for parents is by his continuous respect and love to his parents and other members of his family. God would work in a special way to open up minds and change attitude.

I have heard many beautiful stories of how from one member of a family becoming a Christian and ultimately all become Christians because of what they saw in the person's total changed life.

I was very sad that he is leaving the company. But life goes on and it is normal that people move on and begin another phase of lives elsewhere.

I pray that his new found faith will be a blessing to people whom he comes into contact with just as he has been a blessing to our company.

Yee Sang for Farewell Lunch

Eating Yee Sang is always fun because it requires team effort to get the disc well done. We had one in Serene/Meng How farewell lunch. Guess whose hands are these. Yammy!

CNY 2006 Reunion

A moment captured in time that is not easy to come by !

You Raise Me Up : To More Than I Can Be

A song that came to my mind when the reality sank into me that my father was no longer on this earth with me..................

When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;

When troubles come and my heart burdened be;

Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,

Until you come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;

You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;

I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;

You raise me up: To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;

You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;

I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;

You raise me up: To more than I can be.

There is no life – no life without its hunger;

Each restless heart beats so imperfectly;

But when you come and I am filled with wonder,

Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;

You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;

I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;

You raise me up: To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;

You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;

I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;

You raise me up: To more than I can be.