Re: Thanks for the invite

Dear team

Haha this emailing reminds me of 'The Bitch' club - we were 3 trainee girls sharing the same room in Istanbul- Luciana, Mishu and myself. We used to share about our 'girly' concerns ie men, weight, clothes etc

Today will only join u Angie about 8.00pm? Roughly where'll u be then? Think I want to leave my car either in office or at SPK.

Sarah - yes it was a very profound message from the novel. What novel is this? Looks like the reading habit is catching on for you:) Yes I agree that true friends accept each other as they are - as they say love is patient and kind - so is friendship which is a kind of love....and so I think of my 2 ex-roomates from Istanbul - girlfriends who are now somewhere in the UK and Romania- I wish them well and know that they're somewhere in this world.

And I also thank God for my 2 current friends who are near me and sharing my life with me at the moment...Where would women be without other women to support each other?

Pondering life's mysteries....

Fiona

Thoughts...

Who believes in the power of thoughts? Many people advocate that what you think is the most important thing there ever was. I came across this principle again in the book "The Science of Growing Rich" by D. Wallace Wattles. It goes;

"There is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which in its original state, permeates, penetrates and fills the interspaces of the universe.

A thought, in this substance, produces the thing that is imaged by the thought.

Man can form things in his thought, and by impressing his thought upon formless substance, can cause the thing he thinks about to be created"

Lately I have been permeated by many negative thoughts and I've been pretty depressed lately - also for the past few months also I've also seen the results of these negative thoughts. It's power is pretty destructive and my mistake was that I underestimated it's lethality.

If that is the case, then I am armed and ready to destroy these crocodiles of the mind. Shouldn't we all?

I leave you with my favourite cliche on thought which goes like this:

"Watch Your Thoughts; They Become Your Words

Watch Your Words; They Become Your Actions

Watch Your Actions; They Become Your Habits

Watch Your Habits; They Become Your Character

Watch Your Character; It Becomes Your Destiny"

Fraser's Hill Trip

Though Fraser's seemed pretty boring but here I take the liberty of writing down the 'minutes' of the last 2 days meeting.

OK, so there's nothing much to do at Fraser's but we seemed to entertain ourselves pretty well ...see below

Saturday

Mid-afternoon : Picnic @ Allan's Water

-armed with our picnic basket of eggs, taboule, sandwhich bread, tomato, cucumber, cheese spread, grapes, pepsi twist and apple juice, we sat by Allan's water under a nice 'pondok' and discussed about history, culture, politics. In between, we were entertained by a 'national' boatrace by the locals which only costs RM6.00 per 15 minute for the participants - free for us though - how entertaining - I was vouching for the most outstanding participant which I name "Tudung In The Wind".

Evening : Season 3 of '24' @ Silverpark Apartments

- then we finished 3 episodes (or was it 4) of '24' in our home-made cinema at block B7-6-1. Pretty good achievement huh?

Late evening: Dinner @ Ye Olde Smokehouse

- yes, wonderful English "hospitality" shown by the staff of the olde smokehouse. I like the ambience of the place -our sour-pussed host fits the description for being the most 'english' thing in the Smokehouse- snobby, bland, blockheaded maitre-d.

I liked the Crepe Suzette and Kidney Steak pie though.

Later evening: Stargazing@ Brinchang Bungalow

- the moon was new and the sky was clear. What a better night than to watch the stars at Fraser's Hill. Brings back memories of my days in Frasers holiday with my cousins when I was in my teens. I managed to witness 2 shooting stars! Philippe saw 1 and then the stargazing ended when the owner of the bungalow came back and wondered why there is a Kenari parked outside. He must have thought he was seeing some stars too

Side events for Saturday - the lock in our door which only wants to be opened by the Silverpark Mat Motor.

Sunday

Morning : Elite Modelling Phone Call

- This was the highlight of my morning here in Frasers. I got a phone call by a Sex-Party Recruiter purportedly representing a firm "Elite Modelling and Event Management" based in Singapore who claimed to be doing a 5-10 minute survey looking for models for a high class party aka orgy. I don't know if I'm interested but I can recommend a few girls though....Philippe wonders why they never call him.

Late Morning: Final Episode of '24' over breakfast@ Silverpark

- this is the best! What's the best breakfast but to eat it over an episode of '24'. Agent Jack Bauer chopping his partner -Chase's hand while we eat Tuna Sandwhich and yesterday's taboule? Ooh la la.

Afternoon :Trek on Rompin Trail

- Romping on the Rompin - a 200meter trail which ended in some ugly squatter apartment. The walks to and from the trail along the Fraser's road was nice though - I managed to get a few specimens for my pressed-flower collection. We even saw a black and white monkey peeing in a tree.

Evening: Devonshire Tea and Cream

- yes, once again we subjected ourselves to the "english" way of entertaining your guests - which includes not giving them enough tea and explaining to your guests that the reason why you cannot have more is because 'The pot is Big Enough For Two'. The weather was typically English though - gray and wet. Though I must say the scones were excellent with strawberry preserves, butter and cream.

Late Evening: Jerai Waterfalls

- Walking to the waterfalls playing word games is quite pleasant - pretty butterflies fluttering here and there amidst the gushing of the Jerai river, the occasional Japanese birdwatchers with their super-large telescopic cameras.....

-Philippe was attacked in the right eye by a bug at the Jerai Waterfalls. Fortunately his eye killed it via suffocation. Complication was, the dead bug refused to be removed and insisted on staying in the eye rather than be eaten by the numerous and various birds of Fraser's hill.

-The Frasers Hill country club is approximately 5 km off the roads of Fraser's aka 'in-the-middle-of nowhere' -it closes at 4.30pm which explains why everyone is dying to get in. The guy at the pro-shop is quite friendly too. He let us know that price for green fees are RM73.50" on weekdays and "RM94.50" on weekends and best of all, allows us to use the toilets which we badly needed to (me to pee and for Philippe to extract the dead bug from his eye)

Evening: Journey Home

- Here's a tip - don't use the normal roads going home unless you like to sit in the car in the traffic jam. If you're heading back to KL, use the NorthSouth Highway from Tanjung Malim -saves you 30 minutes travelling time at least.

The Bibliosopher

Bibliophobe I'm not!

Recently Chiam's email made me realize that I've read more books than I ever had since I could remember. Thanks to my innate goal to read 2 books a month, it's surprising what your mind motivates you to do whether consciously or sub-consciously. I've also to thank the people that motivated me to want to read in the first place, mainly my uncle Vincent (since I was small, he never fails to buy me books ), then Terence who got me more, Florence (my sister whom I sometimes borrow her books without asking), my initial book club members - Pooi Ling, Ju Lin, the fictionandfriends book club people(though I've been guilty of not attending the past 2 meetings) - Chiam and Monisha for the discourse.

So here's my book list for the year 2005

Books Read So Far (Up till June 2005)
1. The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
2. Northern Lights - Phillip Pullman
3. Subtle Knife - Phillip Pullman
4. Amber Spyglass - Phillip Pullman
5. The Two Sisters - Tagore
6. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency - Alexander McCall Smith
7. Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azhar Nafisi
8. He's Just Not That Into You -Greg Behrendt & Liz Tuccillo
9. The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster
10. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

Now reading:
The Piano Teacher - Elfriede Jelinek
Harmony Silk Factory - Tash Aw

According to the National Literacy Survey conducted in 1996, the average Malaysian reads only 2 books a year -this was an improvement compared to 1982's survey which reported a mere 2 pages a year on average -shocking!

No wonder books sales are bad -I was in the Rent-A-Book shop in Central Market last week. I offered to sell some of my books to the shop-owner since I had my bulk of 'already-read-books'. He said "Sorry ma'am, even the books I have now are slow-moving and I have too many already. Business is not so good" Now you know why there are discounts all the time at bookstores and why there are bookstores like Pay Less Books etc.

I wonder why people don't read. Someone said to me "I don't like to read because I don't do anything" - 'Don't DO anything?' - He continues " I'll only read when there is really nothing else to do"

So I ask myself why do I read?

I read because I like to read - because I like to curl up on a couch under the ceiling fan with my book and munch on chips while following a story in my head.
I read to support the book business - because I like the arrangement of the books in MPH and Kinokuniya and how nice and new the books look on the shelf and later on in my bag.
I read because I gain words - because I like to listen to the author's voice and their play with language
I read because I gain knowledge - I hear opinions and learn new things about people, life, myself.

Hence, I read because I like to read!

Lessons from Mount Kinabalu

Upon popular request, I shall now blog down my Mount Kinabalu experience.

Mount Kinabalu- conquered at 0455h, Saturday, May 14, 2005 by me, the first 2 climbers to reach the top for the day.

Whoever said Mount Kinabalu is an easy climb was bluffing. And its even harder if you haven't done your homework about the equipment you need to bring. I remembered laughing when Kaynis said I needed a tracking pole for Kinabalu - now I know why. Thanks Kaynis, I'll take ur advice more seriously in the future. Walking uphill in the rain, jungle, mud for five hours to Laban Rata is no joke. Vincent and Ahpua had cramps even halfway up the mountain. As for me, I was just glad that I wasn't carrying my backpack too as it was almost 90% all uphill climb all the way.

Lesson 1: Prepare !
Lesson 2: If the going gets tough, just focus on your breath and keep walking- don't stop.You will be surprised that you can go further than you thought you could.

I remember on the way up there was a young lady travelling alone with her porter. I wondered how did she feel travelling up alone without any friends. What drives her to climb Mount Kinabalu?



I reached Laban Rata at 5.45pm before the rest -dishevelled, wet, out of breath and glad to finally, finally be at the rest house. The climb seemed never ending - and there was more to come after this! The rest house was already full of climbers having their food at the restaurant, lounging, talking, laughing. Though I knew no one, I could sense a caramaderie among 'us', the people at the rest house - "Yes, we too have climbed the five hours up the hill to reach here. We know how you feel now do come in and rest". Within the hour, all my other 5 comrades reached the rest house. We were really hungry for dinner by then....By then it was already pouring with rain again outside.

Farewell Pope John Paul

Pope John Paul the 2nd returned to the house of the Father on April 2nd 2005 - he was 84.

I remember a time when I was about 8 or 9 years old - a little Convent school girl in blue pinafore attending Cathechism on a Friday afternoon. I always looked forward to Cathechism, not because I was actually interested in the content of the class but because just after school ended (it ends at about 12.05 noon) and just before Cathechism (it starts about 1pm) -there is always a window period to play with my Cathechism mates who also so happened to be friends which i enjoyed playing with. Also I enjoyed class because I always knew most of the answers to the bible questions that Sister so-and-so asked and this of course made me feel very goodla.

One particular Cathechism class I remember was on a hot Friday afternoon in the room behind the Primary CBN Chapel. In the room there were a few chairs, some cupboards and a faded photograph of a man in a white dress and skull cap in the act of blessing a person. Sister Theresa (I still remember her) was our Cathechism teacher for that year and there were a few of us (4 or 5 little Convent girls in blue pinafores)

Sister Theresa began the lesson by posing this question: "Do you know who this person in the white dress is?", she said gesturing to the man in the white dress and skull cap.
-Silence -
"This is The Pope," she said. "Pope John Paul"
- At this point I am a little confused, this little 9 year old girl thinks "I know the Pope, and he doesn't look like the man in the picture and his name is Pope John Paul the SECOND" But of course, me, I never say anything or speak up in class so I let her continue.
" This is Pope John Paul the FIRST. There is now a new Pope who is also called Pope John Paul -that's why he is called "The SECOND"".
All of us little girls come forward to scrutinize the picture of the man in the white dress. Satisfied with Sister's explanation, I too, look at the man in the photograph. At that point I decide, 'Hmmmm...I don't know this guy. He looks like a slimmer and handsomer pope- but I still prefer the Pope John Paul I know"

That's my earliest and fondest memory of Pope John Paul II.

Farewell father, you were the one and only Pope John Paul for all of us!

Book Clubs and Such

Yesterday I attended a very interesting book club who call themselves "Fiction and Friends". Previously I think I posted some updates on my starting a book club and this is the follow up on that story.

The meeting was in Bangsar on a very quiet hill. Not knowing what to expect, I went up to the apartment where the gathering was the be held. The door was ajar already, expecting the coming of guests....and that set the mood of the meeting. I felt of course a little out of place and awkward as it's not everyday I step into a strange person's home, among strangers, to discuss about of all things, books. I was even more abash when everyone started off at the dinner table - not only am I invading someone's house, I was going to eat their food too!

But everyone was just lovely. Not overbearing, polite and friendly - they were genuinely interested and concerned about helping me in my own book club. 8-10 ladies, one gentleman and all sincerely enthusiastic about books. Again I felt a bit embarrassed that my knowledge on fiction and well-known authors was so poor. Nevertheless, they were all very positive and encouraging - there was never any pressure and that's how I think our book club will be.

Sharon, Muntaj, Jessica, Sandra, Monisha, Krishna, the pretty lady with short hair, the quiet lady next to her, the young Chinese girl who reads a lot, Sarab, Shashi - thank you for the wonderful evening and for sharing your love for books!

Sports Mania

Besides the normal gym routine, I've been dabbling into several different sports for the past few weeks. Like golf -I met up with my trusty friend Lau and good ole Canadian Jamison (who inherited what he calls 'crappy'clubs from his wife's customer) at the KLGCC driving range. My parents are golf maniacs who tried to 'convert' me since 1995. However then, I couldn't really hit the ball and golf never took on somehow. Last Sunday's driving session however changed my perception - I can drive the ball up to min 50 metres - and I'm hooked!

Then there's bowling - I went bowling a few times with different bunch of friends. This is not really my forte though -my average pin per bowl is like 5? So my average score for one game is around 50....definitely some room for improvement.

This Saturday, I'll be joining some friends for another round at the driving range and then to a squash game straight after. This will be my first time playing squash. My previous experience with 'racquet' sports eg tennis, badminton have not been very favourable - somehow I'm not so good with whacking things with a bat so we shall see this weekend.

Till then!

The 3 Past Weeks in January 2005

Happy New Year!

Oh well, its the 18th of the month so its not really the new year -better late than never. Highlights from the past few weeks(Chronologically):

Week 1
New Year's Eve Celebration
With Sarah,Kajai Gang, Angie and Pooi Ling
Sarah was my partner in crime from Point A in the Rennaissance dinner with the Kajai Gang, moving on to Point B in Pacific Regency with Pooi Ling and the MC gang up to Point C with Angie and Swedish friends in Thai Bar. What a nite! Thanks Sarah for company -you're the best!


Week 2
Kung Fu hustle Experience
With the Slovaks who had a shock (esp Zuzka)
I love this movie that I watched it twice- hilariously funny! Can't call me a banana if I like this film!

Ocean's Twelve
With Terence and Sarah

Zuzka and Laco's Housewarming
With a whole lot of other people

Week 3
MPO New Year in Vienna Concert
With PLing, Zuzka, Laco and Philippe
I love Strauss!

Run Up Bukit Nanas hill with KK Roadies
With Hui Yee, Yoke Li,Vincent, Ah Pua, Pooi Ling
It was a very nice Sunday morning on Pineapple Hill - green trees, clear morning skies and black mosquitoes. The highlight of the morning was of course the breakfast after at yut kee's - kaya toast, kopi o, chicken chop, mee rojak and half boiled eggs

Hmmm....not bad for the first few weeks of 2005! Looking fwd the the rest of the 49 weeks of the year!

"Plan Your Day, especially the use of free time. Unplanned time often becomes wasted time. Make variety part of the planning" - Rev. Joseph Gallagher

Past 3 weeks in December

Ok I'm guilty of "Blog-Sloth" - not putting up a post for the past 3 weeks. Well who can blame me? I had a life instead of writing something online.(see my theory of blog vs free time correlation)

This week is Christmas week for me - I want to listen to all things Christmas. Heck I feel like I'm on holiday right now. Next week I'd really be on a holiday with 4 days of annual leave right up to New YEar's Eve. The eve is a half day but I'm still coming to work in the morning. Go figure....I ran out of annual leave to cover from the 27th to the 31st.

Yesterday I watched the Phantom of THe Opera - and I'm not ashamed to say that I enjoyed it. I thought the actors were all lip-synching but was pleasantly surprised to know that they sang their own songs. My favourites were "Think of Me", "Music Of The Night" and "All I Ask of You" I have yet to meet a person who doesn't like Phantom's music -at least everyone I know does. Ok now I feel like banging on my piano for a bit.

Chicken Made Lonely

Kuala Lumpur, December 8 - Three people were discovered in Bedara apartments yesterday evening eating Chinese food and learning French. The three identified as Yeow Pooi Ling, 26, Philippe Fritsch, 24 and Fiona Wan, 26, were discovered enjoying chicken in tomato sauce, cucumbers, onions and tomatoes. Sources say two of group were attempting to learn some quirky form of French from the Frenchman whilst eating the food.

A lonely chicken - the victim of the event claimed "Je suis seul parce que les tomates, des oignons et les courgettes tous ont été mangés. Pauvres je"

Towards the end of the occurence, it was also purported that a pretty neighbour knocked on the door to ask if she could climb over the balcony of the apartment belonging to the Frenchman as she claimed that she had forgotten her keys. No other witnesses were recorded.

It was also purported that there were other accomplices involved but sources say that they bailed out on the last minute.

Some of the remains of the chicken were discovered this morning in the fridge sans oignons, courgettes e tomates. No arrests were made.

Tree felled to stop addiction

The Star, Nov 29 - SOME 43 policemen, with the help of local villagers, chopped down and destroyed a ketum tree which had stood tall for 60 years in Kampung Badariang, near Grik, on Sunday.

It was not because the 30m tree – the only one of its type in the village – had posed a danger or harboured a nasty hornets’ nest.

The reason it was wiped out: the police felt it had contributed to the increasing number of drug addicts in the Hulu Perak district. For many years, addicts would pluck its leaves, brew them and drink the concoction to get a “high”.

“We destroyed the ketum tree to prevent the emergence of a new type of addiction among the young,” Hulu Perak deputy district police chief, Dept Supt Ismail Deraksa told Utusan Malaysia after leading his men and the villagers in cutting down and burning the tree late Sunday.
The paper reported that in Perlis and the interiors of Kedah, the ketum drink is easily available and can be bought at RM1 a glass.

'Gema' of the Lemma

I'm half-way through reading the Chinese Dilemma.Very interesting book. Not very objective but definitely very interesting.

I was just reading a news article today on www.nst.com.my about theplight of the chinese widow who's rubber tapper husband committed suicide after being cheated of a piece of land for RM30,000. It says of the widow named Koh and her deceased husband,Pang:

"Koh, who earns RM600 a month tapping rubber, said she just wanted to forget the episode and get on with her life.Pang's mother, Liew SiongYin, 72, said her late husband had purchased the land for RM14,000 inthe 1970s."We worked hard selling vegetables and eventually managed to save enough money to buy the land."It is the only property we ever had and we later gave it to our eldest son who sold it," she said. ""

The next interesting article was the 7 appointments of the Federal Court Judge and the Court of Appeal. It says;

"According to a source in the Judiciary, three names have been submitted to the Conference of Rulers for positions as Federal Courtjudges, and four for the Court of Appeal.Those listed for the Federal Court are Court of Appeal judges Datuk Arifin Zakaria, Datuk Richard Malanjum, and Datuk Nik Hashim Nik Abd Rahman. Judges listed for the Court of Appeal are High Court judges Datuk James Foong Cheng Yuen, Datuk Azmel Maamor, Datuk Wira Low Hop Bing,and Datin Paduka Zaleha Zahari. According to the source, as of last Friday no name had been submitted for the position of Chief Judge of Malaya, to replace Tan Sri HaidarMohd Noor, who retired on Nov. 8. When contacted, Chief Justice Tan Sri Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halimsaid the appointment of the Chief Judge was "in the process". The list was put together by the Chief which meets tomorrow."

What strikes me on these two articles is whether the New Economic Policy has fulfilled its objectives of equitable distribution of wealth for the Bumiputras and elimination of economic and political function by race.

On equitable distribution of wealth - The story of the Chinese rubber tapper shows that ignorance and poverty strikes all races whether Chinese, Indian or Malay. The Malay people are no longer the poor villagers, the Chinese no longer the cunning business townsfolk and the Indians no longer the rubber tapper railroad workers. As we move forward into the future, would the policies upheld by the NEP be relevant today and if yes, for how long?

On the subject of elimination of economic and political function by race, it is evident from the 2nd article that the racial function still exists today. Non-Bumis are still very uninvolved in governing and civil occupations where as Bumis are slowly and currently doing very well economically - we can tell who is who among the leading businessmen in corporate Malaysia today- CEO of so and so company, Managing Director of so and so holding company... and good for them. But it is evident that although we as Malaysians and are so called 'Bangsa malaysia', supposedly share equal responsibility in the development of the country - be it governance or economic growth etc - there are still some issues not ironed out no matter what everyone says. Why does racial function still exist today and what are we going to do about it?

MSNBC - Humans were born to run, scientists say

Thank God for Big Buttocks.

MSNBC - Humans were born to run, scientists say

Blog-in Your Sorrow for Your Successors Tomorrow

Blogs.

I'm pretty excited about my first blog. (What a word - blog blog blog - I like how it sounds)

Its amazing what people would invent next. Frankly speaking, I find most blogs terribly uninteresting -random unremarkable thoughts belonging to someone translated into squiggles of html. Normally I'd screen through the first few lines and I'd get lost there-on.

But then again, if you want to peer into the person's mind - look into his blog. And what you write can be a pretty powerful thing . Writing reveals a lot about a person - what can be more baring than writing your daily thoughts down, what more on the net a.k.a. the WORLD Wide web.

Malaysian culture does not encourage one to express one's opinion lest weaknesses are revealed. It is said "if you want to bring your enemy down, take advantage of his weakness" So would that mean that whilst writing a blog, you're at risk of exposing your vulnerability online? -In this part of the world, I would presume that blogs are a rarity then. (Ha -someone go look this up)

OR it could be said that if you want to know how 'free' a person is, look at his blog entries. The amount of leisure time one has would have a high correlation with the number of blog entries. So if you want to know whether some one has too much time on his hands, look at the number of blog entries.

Well that's my half-baked ideas for the day.

"Watch your thoughts; they becomes your words.
Watch your words; they become your actions
Watch your actions; they become your habits
Watch your habits; they become your character
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny"

ps. Look at more opinions on blogs

Choon How's Wedding

Choon How's Wedding
Originally uploaded by fwmching.

Here's Foong Lin, Fiona and Pooi Ling at Choon How's wedding in Jade Palace, Penang

Raya on a Tue with Nothing to Do

Its the 2nd day of Hari Raya and a Tuesday. I honestly thought it was a Sunday and even told my ole american friend Matt on MSN Messenger-"It's now a Sunday morning and it's a holiday" That would make the time-difference between Malaysia and US by a good 48 hours. Hooray talk about living in the past.

Today I'm currently finding internet surfing very entertaining - you should do what I do:

1) Get a book on current issues
2) Start highlighting stuff you don't know about.
3) Then, start 'search'ing it on Google.

My 'diggings' are as follows:

Source of info : All from Thomas Friedman's book "The Lexus and the Olive Tree"

What I'm curious about? "Word Search"
1) Why would they call bonds Sally, Ginny and Fanni Mae? "Sally Mae Bonds"
2) Where is the Golan Heights and what is the issue with Syria? "Golan Heights"
3) Since when did Britain & Argentina have a war? Where is the Falklands? "Falkland+map"
4) Where is Palestine? "Map of Palestine"

Happenings in the Homefront, Malaysia and the World:
Nov 14 Malaysia celebrates Hari Raya
Nov 11 Yasser Arafat Dies - plunging the Middle East into uncertainty
Nov 11 I went to Penang to attend Choon How's wedding



"To be curious and be killed is better than to be asleep and unfulfilled"