Strange But True

I must share this experience with you guys. 

Just yesterday, I lost my phone while paying for my breakfast at the restaurant pay-counter. I was very sure I put it on the counter right in front of me, on top of the book I was reading. A few guys were just queuing behind me. Without realizing it, someone took my phone while I was busy getting the change and put them into my wallet. As I go off from the counter, a few steps away, I realized my phone was gone. I turned to the cashier and inquired about my phone. She was blank and had no idea. The few guys behind me was gone. She asked the workers and waiters, none aware of it. I knew my phone was stolen. *panicking....

I was in dismay. I was heavily relied on the phone. Lot's of work info, appointments, schedule and others were saved in there. Loosing the phone was like loosing an assistant. Worst still, the phone was a gift from my wife only four months!!! 

I called the phone from the office, just to check if it's still on. Normally, if the phone is stolen, the thief would turn the phone off. However,  my phone got connected but no one answered. I tried another twenty times or so, it rang but no one picked up. I did the same at noon, and then in the afternoon. Still, no one answered. The thing is, why didn't the person shut the phone off?

This morning, I went to the same restaurant for breakfast. After my meal, I went to the counter to make payment. Then I asked the cashier (not the one I talked to yesterday) about my phone. Surprisingly, she said someone hand in a phone to the cashier yesterday noon, almost 4 hours after i left the restaurant. The person said that the phone was left on the table. By then, there was a change of work-shift and no one knew the morning incident. The cashier locked the phone in the drawer and passed it to the restaurant owner at night. And now, I got my phone back!  I would not have got it if I didn't ask the cashier. 

The thing is, why was my phone hand to the cashier 4 hours after the incident? Probably the thief was guilt driven? or his conscience was kicking? I have no idea, but I really thank God for this. Lesson learnt. Always put phone into pocket. 

The moral of the story, there're still good people out there after all. The indonesian cashier didn't even give it a thought to keep the phone for herself. The person who 'claimed' to saw the phone left on the table pass it to the counter. 

God, there're blessings in disguise, and i thank you :-D

Life Begins at Forty?

Originally, the phrase 'Life Begins at Forty' gave meaning far different from what we comprehend now a days. Well, at least according to this website.

I turned 40 last November, and indeed, tremendous change happened in my life. I began to look at life differently. And just about a week ago, I look at things differently. Via a pair of glasses, that is :-D

But frankly, I was uncomfortable with them and had tried hard to get used to the 'through the glasses' vision. Like it or not, I need them. I find it hard to read nowadays. In my profession, I just can't run away from reading. I read tons of books, articles, journals, and of course, National Geographic Magazine. Reading was a pleasure until recently, when i eye sight begin to deteriorate. A single visit to the optometrist had resulted in getting this pair of glasses.  

At least I still look good, even with the glasses. Kan? :-P
I love the humour of Kak Ja when she wrote this in my Facebook status:

bulong kakak tua
hinggap di jendela
ah josh sdh tua
matanya tambah dua..

I got to admit, I'm getting old. But, life begins at forty? I guess it's true. Great things happened when i reached 40. And being able to spend quality time with baby Justin and family at this age is really a blessing too. 

Yah, life begins at forty. How many of you had joined this 'club' of forty? :-D

Clearing Up My Accumulated Annual Leaves

Resignation of my current job requires me to give two month notice. It's kinda long, but it does not matter much to me. Over the years working here, I'd accumulated 54 days of annual leaves. Even if i take leave for the entire two months of resignation notice, it's only 42 days (Rugi tak ambik cuti sebelum ni :-P ). This also imply that I'm already on leave :-D

Though on leave, I'm not in a hurry to look for other job, just yet. Instead, I spent time on things that requires my attention and matters that I enjoy doing. Here're the list:

1. Spending quality time with Justin Boy.

I got the chance to spend more daytime with him and to join him in his daily activities. He explores the house from the moment he awake from his sleep, all the way to the moment he close his eyes as he goes to bed at night. He picked up new words everyday. Now he's under a stringent training program. The potty training :-P (Boy.... it's though to potty train him.)

2. Monitoring the renovation of our new house.
The renovation is due to complete this month. The built in cabinets and the kitchen furnishing is on the way. The water feature is also in the process of completion. Lots of checklist to be completed. But my wife and I are enjoying every single bit of it.

3. Completing the Banana Monograh.

My colleagues and I are in the final stage of completing the banana monograph that we're working on since February 2011. It's a tough job and rather mind exhausting. But we are enjoying the process. Each of us do our part, and we meet up every week to compile and to edit them together. We called ourselves the Banana group, and I'm certainly gonna miss the team members after this. Hopefully we'll have more collaborations in the future.

Beside the activities above, I also do shopping and a bit of cooking. Ahh........ I'm enjoying my life now. Can i be a house husband? :-P

A Decision That May Change My Life

Though my life seems to be calm and happy, I didn't enjoy working at my current work place after an event that caused me to be in a period of silence last year. I'd promised myself to persevere and stay on until mid of this year, for the sake of my students.

After working in this place for the past 7 years, I'd learnt the value of true friendship and had seen the dark side of people hungry for power and fame. Along this journey, I'd gained many friends and had produced many students that had and still make me very proud. I called this a bitter-sweet journey.

Somehow, there's this strong urge within me to end this journey and move on to a new one. I listened to my inner voice, and prayed to God for guidance. Abraham showed his faith to God and in return He blessed him with a great nation. As I pray for guidance, God said 'have faith in me, just go, and I'll bless you'. With that, I made my decision to end this journey, and walk into a new one. Somehow, I felt calm and comforting as I make this decision even though my future is still uncertain. I think I'd made the right choice.

However, there're some responsibilities and tasks that are still pending. My colleagues and I are in the middle of writing a book. There're still lots of work to be done. I give myself another two months to complete the job.

Meanwhile, Justin Boy is fast growing up. He is more independent now, and would spend time doing things that he enjoy, all by himself. Justin has always been one of the factor that influence my decision making, especially pertaining to my future career.

It's final, I'm gonna hand in my resignation letter today, giving my institution a two-months notice before I leave. Where would I go? It's still an uncertainty.

The Walk Begins

Two months ago, when Justin boy was 15 months old, prefers crawling then walking. Walking was a great challenge for him. Yet he found walking very fascinating.

And now, 17 months old, he roams the house, walking. Putting on his red backpack is his favourite :-D

Time really flies. Justin boy is learning new things (and practice them) everyday. With the stress at work, coming home to play with him is a good remedy.

Tongue

Justin Boy is building up his vocabulary very fast. He learnt new words everyday. Recently, papa taught him the word 'tongue'.

Every time papa ask him, "Where's your tongue Justin Boy?", he'll happily stick out his tongue and do this

or this, touching his tongue with two fingers.

 Then starts his activities with his tongue out, for as long as he can handle.

So far, the body parts that he can recognise, and understand, include 'head', 'face', 'forehead', 'fingers', 'hand', 'feet/foot', 'leg', 'ears', 'nose', 'mouth', 'eyes', 'thumbs', 'toes', 'tummy' to name a few.

His other vocabs include of that of animals, household utensils, name of books, annotations for all family members, and of course, the name of all his toys.

So, where's your tongue?? :-D

CNY 2011 in Kuching

My family and I went back to my hometown Kuching for the Chinese New Year celebration. Grandpa and grandma was excited and in great joy to have their grandchildren back home. My second brother's two little girls and our Justin boy. The other grandchildren came back during Christmas and now in their paternal grandparents' home.

As always, Kuchingites like to have their CNY eve in style. Each family put up their very own firework display. I was told some family would spend more then RM30,000 for that single night. Gosh.... i wish they could spend them on needy people.

As for our family, we didn't spend a single cent on that. We chose to sit on nice lazy chairs in our front yard and enjoy the fireworks by the neighbours while sipping some nice tea :-D

And for grandma and grandpa, they're fully occupied by their grandchildren. Baby Justin was literally spoiled rotten by grandma and grandpa. Every single thing that he demanded was gladly fulfilled by grandma and grandpa.

I can foresee our CNY next year when baby Justin will be running around the house and in grandpa's orchard, grandma and grandpa will not have the energy to chase after him while papa and mama will have to do the job of keeping an eye on him. 

I better take care of my health and keep fit. Justin need papa and mama in his growing up years. 

Happy Chinese New Year everyone. 

Yummy Chips

CNY is just a few days ahead. My best friend dropped by my place two days ago, with a huge bag of arrowhead in his hand. "I got three kilos" he declared happily.

Talk about this arrowhead thingy, it's only available in Malaysia during Chinese New Year. It look like the bulb of the onion, the different is, it look like potato once the skin were peeled off. So the two of us starts our 'mission' of making arrowhead chips by slicing them into thin slices. 

Heat the oil, then put the slices in. Fry until the chips are slightly brown.

Removed them from the boiling oil, let them cool down before storing them in a jar. 

Ahhh... so yummilicious that I could eat the whole jar if no one stop me. :-D

The chip tasted much better then the potato chips. Really.

Now i have plenty of these chips for CNY. 

Happy Chinese New Year everybody :-D

Our 6th Anniversary

It's been six years. Six wonderful years. With all the ups and downs of a married couple, our relationship had grown stronger. And with God's blessing, He put a gem into our family, our baby Justin.

Years ago, our wedding anniversary was celebrated in style, just the two of us. Some how, baby Justin had changed our lifestyle. We're very contented with moderation nowaday. This year, our anniversary was celebrated at a cheap but yummy restaurant, the Little Penang at Alamanda, Putrajaya.

Our husband-and-wife relationship had grown to another level. We can read each other's mind by merely looking at each other's subtle body language. Cook for our partner his/her favourite dish is just another way of saying 'I love you deeply', beside the usual morning goodbye and evening goodnight kisses. Wedding anniversary is not just a-day-in-a-year celebration, it's a life time celebration since the moment we said 'I do' and pronounced as husband and wife.

Now I got two gems in my heart. My wife, a gem that God had prepared for me, to be the companion of my life, and baby Justin, a gem that God gave to us for the celebration of our love.

Happy anniversary, precious.

A Period of Silence

My last entry was a month ago. I'd gone through a period of silence in this blog. The truth is, too many things happened within a month and I was completely drown in it. 

Thing has turn bad to worse in my work place. It's not about workload, it's not about piles of paperwork and upcoming international event that I got involved in. Many of us are already acclimatized to tight schedules and heavy work load.  It's the management and their unethical moves that had tarnished staff's respects toward them. Worst still, many staff had lost their desire to work there. Going to work is like dragging yourself to a place that you hate. 

Imagine this: 

You're forced to move, you were given many beautiful promises. You moved. No promises ever come true. We persevered. They don't even care.

Then they forced us to merge. No respect shown. Then forced us to move. No mover provided. No support of anything given. No humility shown. We got to get our own boxes, pack by ourself, moved the things all by ourself. Those who don't have the physical strength to carry things by themselves had hired mover, with their own pocket. Those people couldn't care less.

It has been a nightmare for many. I tried my best to stay positive, but failed. I seek refuge under God's arms but I just can't get over with myself. I prayed. I grudged and struggled through. 

I was bitter at times, and grudged over what had happened. Somehow, God gave me this advice: 'Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good' (Romans 12:21). This verse stuck in my mind and God have repeatedly telling me this over and over again. I find it difficult to do good to them. Honestly, I hated this feeling. But God had assured me, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.." (Romans 8:28)

I shall persevere. I believe God is preparing something great for me. Amen.

See, light-light!

Justin turned 11 months old yesterday and papa brought him to i-City. I'd heard so much about the place and had seen tons of photos of this place in FB friends' photo Album. I'd never set my foot on i-City even though i used to work so near to this place.

It's used to be free entry, but we were charged RM10 per car last night. No doubt, the i-City was filled with lights. Light-bulbed artificial trees and giant cactus in various colour were on display. It may seems beautiful but we spent only 15 minutes there. Here're the reasons:

1. To my dismay, the place was over-crowded with limited space to walk. Probably it's weekend.

2. The place was entirely unfriendly to people with baby on stroller, let alone elderly people with difficulties to climb up stairs. My mum-in-law had difficulties, ended up standing on one spot while we hurriedly snapped some photos. Justin's stroller was basically not usable. No ramps or slope, instead, lots of staircases and multi-leveled path.
3. The major attraction was not even properly paved. Un-even pebbles and mud instead of leveled pathways.

4. A small air-cond room filled with white lights was given the name as 'cold-room', with entrance fee RM2. Sucks.
5. Car-park was dusty. The dust raised in smoke as the car passed by.

Nevertheless, Justin was in awe with the lights. We managed to snap some family photos, thanks to our church friends Mr. Wan and family who went together with us.

If you were to ask me if I would go again, my answer is a straight NO, unless improvements are made.

My First Trial Using iMovie

I'd been using Mac for years but never came into my mind to click the iMovie icon, let alone using the software to create movies of my own. Then one fine day, out of boredom (due to some work place matter, I lost my mood to work :-P) I clicked the icon. I was hooked.

It's kinda fun to create my own movie, really. Just drag the video clip into the box, click here and there, the movie is done.

Justin is growing up fast. Those were the nights when we got to wake up in the middle of the night to feed him every two hours. Now he's a big boy, playing his toys by his own. But that smile remain the same, as charming as ever.

Soon, he'll be running here and there, demanding every bit of your energy to be with him. As the ancient Chinese saying goes, “三岁定八十”, the first three years of a baby will shaped his personality for the entire life. We do always pray and hope that God will grant us more wisdom to raise him up as a gem to the society.

Justin's First Mid-autumn Festival

It's Mid-autumn Festival (a.k.a Mooncake Festival) yesterday, and Justin turn 10 months old today. For the occasion, mama bought him an electric lantern, though he doesn't even know how to appreciate it. 

We invited some close relatives and friends to our house for a dinner and enjoy the mooncake thereafter. Lanterns are compulsory in this festival. Kids love them. 

Still unable to stand up on his own, Justin was seated on his baby chair. There he was, holding his lantern, and anticipated excitedly as the rest squatted around him lighting up the lanterns and the candles. Nampak macam Tauke. hehehehehehe 

We hanged over two dozens of lanterns in our garden, and the children were excited. Justin loved the environment. 

This photo shows Justin with his favourite auntie, Auntie Helen. He grabbed the lantern firmly but never even stare at his own lantern. Hahahahaha....

It's a memorable night.

Surprises Everyday

Everyone love pleasant surprises, but nothing beat the surprises that Baby Justin gave to mama and papa. At only nine months old, he surprised mama by climbing up the staircase even before he know how to stand up straight. A week later, he started to clap hands, thanks to the educational video that he watch every now and then. And a few days later, of all the words that we taught him, he chose 'mum mum' to be his first words while we gave him his favourite biscuit.

The Raya holiday gave me chance to snap more picture of his 'daily life'. He gave me more surprises. While still struggling to walk and constantly demanding to be 'freed', he would roam around the house by himself, refuses anyone to carry him. He's constantly active. Then papa took him to the garden, and let him sit on the grass. To my surprises, he started to examine every little details of the grasses, leaves, and small creatures that came along his way. 

Justin love gardens. I think he loves greenery like his papa. Everytime when he refuses to eat at the dining table, we would take him out to the garden and he would finish up the bowl of porridge in no time, grinning. 

Today, he decided to scrawl under the dining table and chairs. I let him. Then I grabbed my camera, ready to get some shots of him crawling. Suddenly, he grabbed the grill of the window, stood up and started making sound..'oooo, oooooo..... ooooooo.....' Apparently there was a cat out side. 

Suddenly, he grabbed the grill firmly, lift his right leg, wanting to climb up the window. Ooooooo NO, no time for photo snapping. I quickly got behind him and said 'Becareful Justin'. He grinned, stepped down and hugged me. That's another surprise. His feet are not strong enough to stand up by himself just yet. 

Well, the holiday is spent entirely at home. But it's definitely a well spent one. 

:-D

Half Naked at Icy Cold Waterfall!

Well, I reckon the title would attract some attention. hahahaha....

One activity that was so memorable to me during my last visit to Kota Kinabalu recently was the day trip to Mahua Waterfall. The fact is, I haven't been to any waterfall nor mandi-manda at streams for ages. The last time was probably twenty years ago, during my varsity days. Thanks to Dr. Shah and Abg Yazid, my sweet memories of splashing and swimming at streams was rekindled.

The journey to this waterfall from KK took us approximately one and a half hours. But the one and a half hours drive was not boring at all, as we passed by many scenic views of the mountains and valleys, like this one.

Together with our blogger friend Wahaza Extra, and Dr. Shah's friend Iskandar, the drive was filled with laughters.

One was required to hike for about 30 minutes from the entrance (RM3 was charged per person per entry) of the area to this magnificent waterfall. No, the hike was not tiring at all, as the park was filled with wonders of God's creation. Huge trees, shady path, interestingly unique ferns, serene view.... ahh.... I would love to spend hours there again if i got the chance.

The fall was approximately 20m in height, and the water was ICY COLD! It's like taking a dip in a pool of water that had just retrieved from the fridge! I would say it's around 10 degree Celcius or lower. The roar of the waterfall was hypnotizing. I love the view.

Then we took off our shirts (err.... only two of us), and I put on my sexy and tiny triangular-shaped swimming trunk before dipping into the cold water. Ooooooo.......it was cold! We spent roughly 10 minutes in the pool before some starts to shiver.

The trip was memorable. Thanks to Dr. Shah's water-proof camera, we took tons of sexy photos. hahahahaha....