Sleepless in PJ

In ICU

2011-08-03T00:55:00.002+08:00

My FIL was admitted to KLGH thursday and was moved to icu yesterday evening. Visited him today and he seems to be in good spirit. Much better than the news which I got from mrs chief which was rather alarming.
Brought back some old memories. My dad was in icu for a while before he passed away.
Had a chat with a nurse there. sometimes nurses have wise words to say, must be coz they've seen how helpless one can be when all the power, money and contact in this world is of no help.
I find them to be very kind and helpful as well, going about their work with some v low tech.
Low tech coz in front of every icu patient there is a desk for doctors to review reports and scribble note on them. Charts of patient's readings are charted manually or printed and glued to the reports.
And all these next to some of the most sophisticated medical equipment I've ever seen.
I digress.... My FIL is not saved yet and friend from church have come to share the good news with him. His answer was no, but theres hope as he is allowing us to pray for him. A far cry from the days where mrs chief was chased out of the house for being a Christian.

walk the talk

2010-08-30T14:34:00.002+08:00

it's easy until you have to walk it.
1Cor gives a whole chapter to it and yet many a times even when we know it, we do not do it for wanting to assert our rights.
all that we do will amount to nothing if it's not motivated by love.

Unpleasant phone call

2010-08-04T23:57:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I got an unpleasant phone call
Nope, it's not a prank call or one of those sales calls. It's from office ( I can hear you say why didn't I think of that ). It the equipment I'm working on. There's been a hard disk failure. The main drive where all the work files are kept went down. They called to check if I've backed up everything.
Well almost everything, I told them with a cold sweat running down my brow. About two months back the back up drive had failed and we were given a smaller backup disk. Due to space constrain, certain files were not backed up. I had to choose what I considered important.
Needless to say I was negligent in this and did not chose some of the important files. Also the daily habit of backing up everything became backing up control files and later on, I'll do it tomorrow. What can possibly happen in 12 hours with computer switched off.
Well, one of my colleague power it up and the disk will not come up. So after trying several time without success, he called me to let me know the bad news.
There was still hope that it need it's rest just like us. Came into office early this morning, power up the computer and … the disk is still dead. As I write this now, my engineers are busy fixing / consolidating the remaining disk.
Lessons learnt - 
Do your backup daily even when you don't feel like it.
Back up everything when job is ongoing, you'll have time to clean up when the project's done.
You are most probably not the only one who suffers the consequence of your slackness. Although you should be the one who suffers most.
Routines are boring but it saves lives.

night shift

2010-07-21T21:47:00.002+08:00

i'm on night shift again. this was decided only yesterday. i'm ok with night shift, i'm a bit of a night person, just like my mom. my dad is a morning person but none of us (his children) is a morning person, which is quite strange.

mrs chief is a morning person and where i'm strugelling to wake up, she's already up and about and have done ~~a couple of~~ lots of things. at night i'll be wanting to discuss things with her and she'll be like, can we talk in the morning, my brain's gone to sleep and i'm on auto pilot mode.

opps i got distracted. when i'm on night shift,i do get to spend a bit of time with my children when they get back from school,which is good, plus there are less distractions at night.

well, back to work

it's raining in kl

2010-07-20T18:54:00.001+08:00


i'm now back to editing and it's been a while now. am still enjoying it but cannot command as much as when was in admin. Editors or so call editors are now a dime a dozen. as long as you can use an editing software, you're an editor.
as with all things there are good and bad. The good ? There are more editors out there. The bad ? There are more editors out there.
This is where your interpersonal skill comes in. with so many editors in town, what makes you stand out from others ? my x director of operations told me long before, and I think it's true. I'm just not that kind of person.
wanna know what he said ? well ? . . . to be continued

just don't lie die

2010-07-18T23:04:00.002+08:00

i was walking my son to school the other day and told him that i wanted to do paragliding and asked him what he thought of it. he asked me what it was and i explained that it was being on a parachute with a big fan on my back.
he thought for a while and said, ok, just don't die. ( that's what i heard ) Puzzled i asked him why did he said that. i know i'm mention this before but have not got round to doing it but this time it's for real.

just don't DIE, he stressed. ooooo... i heard wrongly the first time.

the things that they can think off.

i should really spend more time with them.

Sundays

2010-05-13T10:45:00.000+08:00

How time flies especially on Sundays.
Church starts at 10.00 but from 9 to 10 there's Sunday School. Today is especially long as there was Cell Leaders meeting. Finished at 3 & half hour to get home. A quick nap ( which I always oversleep ) makes it 6.
Dinner and some chill out time makes it 9. Winding down & off to bed by 10.30 so that can start the day fresh tomorrow.
I am sure most of people keep a more hectic schedule. Anyway it's a Sabbath day and we're to keep it holy for the Lord with rest, so 10.30 is pretty good.

15th Wedding Anniversary

2009-12-17T18:44:00.004+08:00

Yep, it's been 15 good years since i got hitched. there were of course ups and downs but we've survived and looking forward to many more years together.
Didn't do much,in fact i had to work today. my chairman is down and 1 of the editors is on leave.

Happy Anniversary Mrs Chief !

it's been 15 years
there were laughter and tears
but
i'm looking to more good years together

having you beside me
helps me see
beauty in the ordinary,
strength and grace in difficulty.

Thank you for enriching me

in limbo

2009-03-01T00:50:00.001+08:00

it's a funny place to be. you cannot move on and can't wrap thing up.

passion

2009-02-18T00:48:00.002+08:00

vision and passion - of course you can live without them but how much better with them. i have come to realise that i've lost them both. :( and mrs chief is stuck with me.
they're actually not lost but buried deep in there somewhere waiting for all the clutter to be removed, to be discovered again.

horror movie

2009-01-31T23:10:00.004+08:00

when we visited my sister during CNY, she told us that one day while she was taking a hot shower, she noticed that someone had written 'HELP' on glass of her bathroom door. gave her a fright. she felt like being in one of those horror movies.... till she figured that is must be one of my sons who did that.

phew.. good thing she didn't pengsan or anything like that. we last visited her quite some time back but she did not notice the 'writing' till recently when she began taking hot showers as she has just given birth.

when you have kids around, your life is full of excitements !

back home

2009-01-23T00:14:00.003+08:00

after about one and a half months, we're back home. home is now very dusty and messy. things are still in boxes and dust are everywhere. but it sure is good to be home. our water bill is super high as there are lots of cleaning and the frustrating thing is when you have ~~everything~~ most things cleaned. in comes another contractor to mess it up again.
there are still things coming in. this will stop a while for cny and but will continue after that. now they've discovered a wet patch on one of the walls and might have to hack it to see the problem =0. this is after all the hacking, putting in new titles and painting. one can just loose heart over it.
mrs chief have been super busy cleaning, getting things back into place, looking for things.... everything related to moving - you get the idea.

waiting

2009-01-12T20:47:00.002+08:00

sometimes my job entail lots of waiting, like now i'm waiting for a client to come in. he said he'll be here 45 mins time and that was more than an hour ago.

my wife and children are at home waiting for me. and to think that i was hopeful that i would be able be able to go back not so late today.

these are the things i won't miss if i ever leave the industry.

sigh...

An invasion

2009-01-05T23:28:00.002+08:00

we are going on a herping trip, all 14 adults and 6 children under 12. if you do not know what a herping trip is, not to worry, i don't think too many people knows, and we like to keep it that way. basically its an escapade to go look for reptiles (mainly frogs). It's an interesting activity and i like it coz it allows me to indulge in my other hobby – collecting flashlights.

we you do need a good light so that you can spot frogs easily. the way you spot them is very interesting . bring the flashlight to eye level and scan the area around you. Not too near but a good meter, meter and a half onwards. you will then see lots of reflections (hopefully) and most of them will be blueish in colour. these will be the spiders, but if you go out after the rain, most probably raindrops.

reflection from frog's eyes are usually red. same goes for cicak* (gecko). so far in all my herping trips i've not come across any snakes so i won't be able to tell you the colour of their eye's reflection. Other than frogs and toads, we have come across glow worm and a soft shell turtle. leaches, .....have not but was told they're in season this time round.

will blog more after the trip.

Rubbish Dump

2009-01-03T20:23:00.003+08:00

i'm renovating my house and as a standard have a big rubbish dump across the road in front of my house. this is our 3rd rubbish dump ( which gives you an idea of how extensive the renovation is ). in every one of the rubbish dump, there's bound to be rubbish that we don't know from where. i'm always very surprised by it. i would like to think that i live in a nice neighbourhood where noighbours would never do such things. guess i'm wrong.

when the 1st 2 rubbish dump was around, there was another house nearby that was doing renovation as well, so I figured maybe the unscrupulous workers threw some of the rubbish into my dump coz it's only a few things and perhaps they didn't feel the need to get one (btw they cost rm250/load).

well, there are no more renovations going on nearby so mr sherlocks here says it must be one of the neighbors. being a fellow malaysian, i shall not get angry but shall dumps some rubbish into my neighbor's rubbish dump next time when they get one during their renovation.

the heart does not change

2008-10-18T01:53:00.003+08:00

so someone says.... can't remember who. when put through various situations, it'll reveal what's really inside it.
wow, isn't that a scary thought. guess what the bible say is true. the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

1 more week

2008-08-23T23:30:00.003+08:00

today i really miss mrs chief. she called a few times this week while i was in the office to catch up a bit. hmmm.. must be coz we go out for breakfast together every sat and after that sometimes go buy flowers for the house. i've not been home much and the children have been taken care by family or friends. come monday i'll be the househusband. still i would not need to cook and cannot help the children with their chinese homework.

away for 2 weeks

2008-08-16T22:10:00.002+08:00

yep, that's how long mrs chief will be away. the house is kind of quite without her around. anyway this is only day 1 and i'm alreaady having to arrange multiple babysitter for today and tomorrow. just wondering how next week will be like.

Ouch

2008-06-12T01:23:00.002+08:00

it should be said with like 40 percent louder that you normally would. this time i guess everyone's feeling it. i had my car filled to the max last week and it's still got 3/4 way to go, but my the other car, the one i'm buying part by part.....well i didn't get to fill it.
guess chinese will get hit by this worse than most think coz......

~~we cant~~ i cant go around in bike ! not allowed. tried to convince my wife that i'll get a very nice looking scooter, the envy of the town. the answer was still no.

i could take the lrt, which would mean waking up like 2 hours earlier and she might have to pick me up at the station, or catch a taxi home....nope, doesn't matter... no scooter or bike.

i'm sure i'm not alone in this.

does all this make sense ? coz i'm a bit sleepy.

Done but not finish

2008-05-13T02:06:00.002+08:00

sent my car the other day to the mechanic. gave him a bit of an advance notice, like about a week. I then called him again the day before. There were so much communication as it was to be a major work. i'm having all 4 springs and suspensions of my car changed. made all the necessary arrangements and car was sent.

all was well till he called to hand the car back to me. "your car is ready for collection, but you'll have to send it to the tyre shop to have them aligned". i was cought by surprise and requested that he sent it over for me. "i can't,....bla, bla, it's late, bla,bla...." i can't really remember what the excuse was. no big, i thought if he would drive the car, it must not be bad.

boy was i wrong, when i drove the car home it felt like i shouldn't have changed anything. to have spent a big sum of money and now have to wait further to see if the car is now driving properly is really frustrating.

how can a mechanic do the repair and not complete it. sure the work was done but the job was not complete. i had to take it to tyre shop to complete it.

so instead of having me feel like my money was well spent with the mechanic, i now feel that i should not go back to him again as he leaves things hanging.

Long Break

2008-04-29T01:26:00.002+08:00

It's been almost a year and much have happened. Most notably BN has been denied 2/3 majority in Parliment.
Will try to ease myself into this again.

15 may

2007-05-10T22:59:00.000+08:00

come 15th may, my daughter will be 10 years old. wah already feel very old.
for the children's birthday we always try to go somewhere. for her 'birthday' we went to the elephant sanctuary at Kuala Gandah. had lots of fun.
got to feed, ride and 'bathe' with the elephants in the river.

i recommend it for a day trip, only around 1.5 hours driver from KL.

discovered again

2007-04-26T22:14:00.000+08:00

another person from church found out that i'm blogging. must be my son's photo that is giving my identity away.

anyway this is not a controversial blog so no worries.

today is a good day to go to work, no traffic. i realise that i'm not as tensed as on a regular day. must be because i don't have to fight and jam my way to work. if that is the case, traffic jams are costing me more than just my time !

anyway i usually pray when stuck in jam but i must say it's not as easy as it sounds as there are may who jumps queue and cuts in front of you thinking they're on a motorbike. of course you'll also have to pay attention to the traffic in front of you and the trickiest part is you'll have to pray with your eyes open.

lame excuse

2007-04-11T22:22:00.000+08:00

we've use mr & mrs chief's house for cell for years, that's why we're buying them lunch. what a lame excuse to buy someone lunch. i'm saying this in a good way.

we've been hosting cell in our house for more than a decade now and this is the first time anyone's use this excuse to buy us lunch.

thinking back i just gave God a 'big' offering. it's in ' ' coz to sme people it's
no big deal. and God bless us with a free lunch. how about that.

sometimes when we have something, we just want to withold it from God and hang on to it to make it last. but this episode reminds me that it's always better to give it to God.

we're always late

2007-04-03T23:42:00.000+08:00

well this video pretty much speaks for itself.

new old camcorder

2007-04-02T22:29:00.000+08:00

after scouting around for the longest time (also deciding to buy or not to buy), i'vefinally bought a camcorder. a canon mvx 430. very good feature but focusing in low light is a problem especially when it's in 'zoom' mode.

but there's lots of things to like about it. first of all it's 1k off the regular price. it was display model, apart for the 2nd hand stigma, everything else is intact, even the 1 year warranty. the battery is not even out of the packaging.

bought a 1G SD card for Rm59 and 2 Mini DV for Rm40. i've thought my children to record to the SD card. it only produces a 320x something pic but good enough for computer & e-mail.

i'm still very excited about it, will soon think of projects to do with it !

Slow blogging

2007-03-29T22:49:00.000+08:00

Yep, i get home around on average around 8.30 pm - 9.00 pm. after spending some time with wife and children, do some reading, it's time to sleep.
anything else is a effort, so slack on blogging-lor.

all else is good though. seeing God answer prayers is fantastic, even though it's not in the way you expected.

lots of things to write but won't do it tonight.

Surf safe

2007-03-01T22:54:00.000+08:00

there are all kind of things not out there anymore but at home. internet have brought all that right into your living room.

well adults have nothing to worry about as we are well 'educated' and know better about the danger of visiting the 'wrong' sites.

children however are not so expose and should be kept so. i guess the few simple we can do if surf together with our chidren once a while and take an interest. show them some fun sites and tell them you're avaliable if they run into any funny sites. children knows when they've gone a place they're not suppose to.

i guess the thing is be around and avaliable

hair cut

2007-02-14T23:12:00.000+08:00

what a thing to do on valentine's day. but i'm chinese and with Chinese New Year this weekend, i went to my usual indian barber. they're convenient and cheap, but i must say the rm 12 quick cuts are also very good but they're mostly located in shopping complexes.

my barber today was a teenager. i was expecting some older barber around but there were none, too late to turn about and run. (guess the seniors have all gone out to celebrate valentine's day and had left this most junior barber to hold the fort.) i was already in the shop and he had shown me the chair. he put on his favourite song on the cassette player ( i suspect they're instructions in tamil ) a went to work. you can hear the scissors snipping rapidly but without my spects, i could not not see the 'damage'. when the hair cut is done they'll usually give one a twist of the head, to loosen things up, i was so tense that he'll have to snap my neck to loosen it up. i bet you i was the perfect model(if they practice on that before graduating) not movements except when directed by him. i didn't even scratch my itchy nose till he was changing scissors. this must be the longest haircut i've ever taken.

good thing it turned out ok. if he made any mistake that requires me to go for a marine style hair cut, it'll take me forever to grow my hair back !

guess next time i'll do a reece 1st before going in.

Love story

2007-02-08T21:01:00.000+08:00

Since we're in the 'month' of love. the sacred romance is about love. do you know that we're wooed by God ? doesn't that make you feel special ?

during cell the other day, we were discussing if we've done anything that pleases God. certain people were not sure if God are please with them. some of us are.
the point is this... while we were yet sinners, God sent His Son to die for us. we did not do anything & have not done anything. so don't think we can do anything to add to His love for us.

we're to give our heart to Him in love in return !
easier said than done, yes, difficult, yes but we know the end already !

sacred romance

2007-01-31T01:02:00.000+08:00

have not read a good book for a long time. i'm reading sacred romance by Brent Curtis and John Eldredge.

a sneak peek

Life is more than chores, and Christianity is more than duty. It is a Sacred Romance--a great love story set in the midst of a life and death battle.

you'll have to read it. will comment on it late

it was the worst of times,it was the best of times

2007-01-25T00:02:00.000+08:00

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times",
borrowed it from a tale of 2 cities by Charles Dickens (although mine is 'terbalik'*). i'm sorry but i have not read it, i've read great expectations though.

i'm sort of going through the worst of time although i sure many will not agree as it is due to my onw doing, but i've also found it's the best of time, being able to see God's hand in all that's going on.

it's not escapism but as i ponder on it, i know surely God's hand is in it and am able to give thanks.

i'm sorry it's very fragmented as i do not want this place to be a place where i rant and complain, there's already enough blogs doing that.

this is for me, when i look back i know God did not leave me all alone to face the difficult times but that He showed me He knows what i'm going through and provide me with much encouragement.

* terbalik = upside down

7 year olds

2007-01-15T21:31:00.000+08:00

i'm teaching them in church, in Sunday School. i must say they're a good age to teach. follows instructions well and very excitable (which can sometimes be bad). there are around 15 in class and every sunday i get to spend around 20 to 30 minutes with them. after classes i wish the classes were slightly longer or more frequent.
on the frist sunday only 1/2 turned up and last sunday i had to go through lots of things with them again - letter to parent, cost for material and well as list for memory verses.

most of them don't even have a file to keep all these things. maybe parents see this as a 'baby sitting' class.

i have wonderful helpers which i've yet to make full use of (hehehe....). i'm excited about the class although i think i've not been too successful getting the lesson across. i try to do object lessons so that they can remember better.

on work front, things are moving along, we're not operating at full or even high capacity only one dept is doing that. i sometimes like not being too busy at work can be worrying.

God have been very gracious to me, providing me encouragements at the correct moments.

Happy New Year

2006-12-31T20:35:00.000+08:00

happy 2007.

funny how i'm living a stone's throw away from a major celebration area but have no intention to join in the countdown. must be due partly to the fact that my church is holding a morning watch at 6.30 am.

i'll be going to watch the fireworks. thought this year we'll make them sleep now, wake them 1/2 hour before midnight and walk over to the park to watch the fireworks.

have not really prepare for 2007, but then again how many are. this is not to say that we've not planned anything for next year. we have, on the big scale, when it comes down to dates and time, it'll be a bit more difficult.

well, wish you all a wonderful 2007.

short updates

2006-12-18T22:21:00.000+08:00

all will have to be in point forms.

my wedding anniversary came and went, it zipped past us, we only managed to spend some time together (read - not enough). and of all places, my wife want to go to ikano power centre. what to do, have to brave the jam-lor. after 1/2 hour in parking lot, still no car park. my wife prayed for car park. i was like, dear, keep the miracle for something bigger-lah. you know what, as we were going to pay the parking ticket at the autopay station, 2 couples went into their car and left, leaving not 1 but 2 parking lot, next to each other, for me to choose. i immedietly repented !

my modem died-ed on me. bought a new one, tried to get online for two days, can't do it. called tech support, can't do it, want to scold people from streamyx, terus can. Have to appologize to all involve.

my wife took my car for repair, the mechanic sat in the car, drove round, no problem, so refused to do anything to my car. as soon as my wife turn out to go home, the noise came back !

is God trying to tell us something ?

volunteared as a teacher for VBS, 3 day of picking up children, trying to get their attention and sending them home tired, phew, praise God i survived.

had Board of Directors meeting, survived it.

pay came in and went out just as fast !

new year is 2 weeks away and i haven't plan for next year yet !

been busy

2006-12-05T22:06:00.000+08:00

Dec is going to zip by v quickly. Tons of things happening, for time being mostly not work related. there's the brother in law's wedding, VBS happening now, mrs chief's training, office's charity Christmas party, cell Christmas dinner, children church's Christmas party, wedding anniversary, birthdays, church's Christmas dinner, then there's the new year.

so light blog ahead.

new addition

2006-11-16T00:02:00.000+08:00

she was born yesterday, no official name yet !

Hehehe....i'm now a Tua Ku !

searching

2006-11-01T23:08:00.000+08:00

have been doing some soul searching. well, not very much but i guess enough to keep me moody.
the smog has managed to keep my spirit low and i've actually been lethargic and restless and not performing at work. in spite of all this, i must say my boss have treated me with lots of patience.

told my wife it's the mid life crisis but she's not buying it as i've been going through this quite regularly.

sub plot
i'm moving this to the beta version and will also try out the new template, so if it goes missing don't blame me.

what do you really want to do ?

2006-10-21T00:05:00.000+08:00

i once asked one of my x staff, gave him a hard time and 'forced' him to think about his future. tonight it's my turn.
good question to ask oneself. especially as the 'career window' gets smaller with age.
it's difficult when you don't really know the answer to the question or are 100% sure of it. well, i used to be more sure, but now not so. God has a funny way of doing things.

sub-plot
an x colleague came for a visit and lunch. it's nice to catch up on friends, chit chat, share some thoughts and 'gossips'.

on a lighter note - i sms-ed my friend for his e-mail add, knowing that i'll be sending him a happy deepavali greeting, he replied with his e-mail add but add - please don't wish me happy deepavali. it's against the religion.

well to all my hindu friends out there Happy Devali

slack a bit

2006-10-13T09:40:00.000+08:00

my company's on a company trip to bangkok. i didn't go. have a wedding to attend this weekend, so slack a bit-lah. go in office late and leave early. i thought i could escape from going into office, but since company trip is a compulsory thingy, the trade off is that i'll go into office.

things get back to normal on monday.

can you hear it ?

2006-10-03T21:11:00.001+08:00

this was done as a teenager 'repellent' but as with all things nowadays, was converted into a ring tone and became one of the top seller.

i've tested with my children and they can hear it.

i cant.

another sign of old age ?

can you hear it ?

here it is, sorry i don't know how to upload onto my blog.

enjoy - those of you who can hear it

Fainting Spell

2006-09-28T16:57:00.000+08:00

woke up today and it's everything was fine, got to work, got down from car and i had fainting spell. actually, come to think of it, not really spell but felt very light headed. like you're brain's all gone and it's filled with helium. a bit tipsy, cannot walk straight, a bit like drunk.

too bad it's not being filled with the Spirit. anyway... i soon began to imagine all sort of funny thing, like maybe there's a growth in my brain-lah, or something wrong with my ear-lah (that causes imbalance), and so on.

quickly drove back and went to the doctor. if it's something severe, i'll be dead already. had to wait 1 hour before i get to see the doc. and only spent 10 mins inside. temperature's ok, BP's ok , throat's ok, everything's ok...

doc says that i have a virus attack and this is a prelude to a fever or cold. funny coz i feel just fine (x'cept for the mabuk feeling of course).

what else to do but get home and rest. apa lagi, tidurlah.

now feeling much better.

house husband

2006-09-13T23:33:00.000+08:00

yesterday i had to wake up early and get my daughter ready for school. i also did what my wife would do every morning, that is, wash up the dishes and do the laundry. actually, just throw the laundry into the washing machine. make breakfast for my daughter, get her tea time munchies ready and walk her to school.

later hang the clothes, do a bit of this and that, and get ready for work.
quite a bit of thing to have gotten done in 1 hour.

this got me thinking if i'm cut out to be a house husband. then i realise there's more to do than the above. there's lunch to prepare and cook, pick up and drop children from school, coaching of children's school work, dinner to prepare, floors to mop..... and the list goes on.

guess i'll stick to work.

wireless

2006-09-09T20:05:00.000+08:00

wah....such freedom....blogging wireless from my sister's computer, can sit comfortably at the hall and blog. no more sitting in front of a desktop, staring at a screen that's not at eye level, not able to shift from place to place

wow.....

still don't know what to write. wireless's block !

S'kali

2006-09-08T22:12:00.000+08:00

just got back form the premiere of S'kali, quite terror leh, when i went to pick up the movie pass, my name was listed under special guest. hehehe..... well, i know Arvind for quite a while and was suppose to edit this one for him but didn't happen.
straight to the point.

it's one of the raw-est 'digital movie' and the fact that it was shot on HDV did not show up at all. I've seen better colour from stuffs shot on DV. there were a few off focus shots,(not to worry, PGL had some as well) and certain 'feel' did not come across. although one can argue, and it's the content that's number one, it should meet up to a certain level of expectation.

ok guess you already know what i'm getting at. I hope it's the fault of the projector and someone's fixing it. there are complication when one is shooting on video (especially DV) and certain 'defects' are expected, like a white washed sky and high contrast on indoor shots that have some outdoor scenes in the background.

the team have much to learn technically, for future productions, it would be wise to get one who is technically sound, and learn from him/her. i think the indie community is a small, tight one and many will be willing to lend a hand.
having say all that, please don't think that the quality is bad, but it can and needs to be better.

the story's good but i feel a bit let down by not being able to get a glimse of the background of the characters. since this is a movie about teenagers by 'teenagers'
it'll be interesting to see the environment they're growing up in and how theyr're coping with it. perhaps then it'll make sense for parents to watch it to know what teenagers are into nowadays.

the issues that are brought up in this movie are good issues but i feel it's being given a too on the surface treatment. after having the boldness to bring them up, they are given an either black or white treatment. the audience should be made to look at themselves deeper/harder.

there's however no short talents in this movie, i feel they all did very well.

i know having said all these, i've not made a movie or write a script for one. these are my sincere thoughts and i've written them not as a critic or with a i'm better than you attitude but with the hope that the next movie will be a much better one.

school holidays

2006-08-21T23:16:00.000+08:00

it's school holidays again, only for 1 week but very good for people who are always stuck in jams. 1 week of relief from jams on the road. i always wonder, why does it make so much difference in traffic between schooling days and school holidays. i can't be that all of the parents with school going children going on leave at the same time.
well i'm not going anywhere. my wife is taking my children for baking class at Grand Blue Wave Hotel in Shah Alam. it quite fun, last year they learned how to fold napkins and baked muffin and chocolate chip cookies. they didn't get to try baking them a home though. guess it's a bit to much work (the cleaning up).
i'm trying to get home early one of these day and take everyone out jalan jalan a bit.

sub plot
last friday i went for a digital movie screening by one of my x staff. tamil movie. but it's got english sub-title. thank God for that or else i would have to had it interpreted to me by my friend who went with me. i haven't watched any tamil movies that have been produced locally but during the Q&A session, many positive comments were given.

what do i think of it ? the movie could have been tighter and more focused. the built up is a bit too long (to build up the characters), the ending a bit too rushed. most of the shots were normal and expected, for me there were only 2 memorable shots, one was when the hero was having a talk with a potential wife in her room, and the other was a tunnel shot which was wonderfully framed, it brought out the mood intended beautifully.

why do i post my comments here ? coz i'm a bit chicken, it was not the right time and he had put in a lot of effort ~~but the lack of crew~~ financial backing took a toll on this film.

it's a very commendable self financed movie. i sincerely hope that he will find a buyer who will buy the movie at a good price. this will help him to continue in his passion.

i've also got an invitation to go for a pre screening of Skali. a movie by perantauan pictures. i know the director. he's also very passionate about making movie and this is his first. he's blessed as he has financial backing and crews. well after watching the film, i shall post my comments here as well. as you would have already known by now, i'm a bit of a chicken, the time won't be right and i know how much effort they've put into it.

taxi drivers

2006-08-10T22:34:00.000+08:00

this happened some time back, in fact lots of things happened some time back. accesing the blog through my home computer is a bit slow and me being quite tired from working long hours have shorter patients. this have resulted in irregular posts.
i've not taken the taxi for quite a while now.... must have been around 4 years, i'm always amused by the 'dispatch' girl's voice that seems to be talking to some individuals and i always feel like i'm eavesdropping on them.

my first taxi ride after a long while was to catch a bus to singapore. bus departs from old KTM station at 7.30am. I woke up early, got ready and before you know it it's already 6.40. called the taxi company, you can usually get one in 5-10 mins (or should i say, you used to be able to get one in 5-10 mins), the taxi came at 7.00am. i'm thinking ok, it's still early, no need to panic, 30 mins, is plenty of time.
got into taxi, and the driver was not behaving like a taxi driver. they're re not as fast as they used to be. we were just cruising along. to make matters worse, the legendary Damansara jam was building up. suddenly i doesn't look like i'll be catching the bus, i'm already drawing up plan b in my head. i've never had to deal with this jam as i leave for work at 9.,by then the jam is still there but i guess not as bad.

the taxi driver upon seeing my panic stricken face (turning very pale), asked me what time is my bus. when i told him 7.30, i could almost hear a snigger. this is bad, i told myself. much to my surprise, the driver sprang to 'life', it's like i've given him a purpose and he began to drive like a taxi driver again. jumping q and using alt routes which i did not know existed.

to cut the long story short. i got to the bus station 7.32, the bus was still there. i was the last one on. 2 minutes later i was on my way. feeling good that i did not miss my bus and that the KL taxi drivers are still there for me.

the other taxi ride i took was from Bangsar to KL. this cab driver is the most courteous taxi driver i've met. he told me the route he was going to use to reach my destination and asked if it was ok. me not wanting to look like i did not know what he was talking about just said ok. he tried to make small talk, but i was not in the mood, he saw that and was quite for the rest of the journey.
when i got down, wished me a good evening. how's that. who says there are not good taxi drivers in KL ?

firsts

2006-07-28T00:04:00.000+08:00

first time blogging from office ! well if it's not the first time then it's the first few times, i have not done this more than 5 times, quite difficult to blog anonymously in an open space.

had lunch with some ex-colleagues today a well. they've receive an increment ! a first for both of them as well.

i'm also staying v late in the office, a first as well. late in this office means pass 10 pm if you're 'admin' staff.

wow....what can i say.

one door

2006-07-21T22:32:00.000+08:00

it's been some time, i've been busy and have been going through some funny times.
it all started with a call from well known producer running a v successful production house. they do mainly long formats, ie tv programms and such. she is looking for someone to run the post side of things (meaning the editing, sfx, audio, dubbs and such) and asked me if there are ways we could work together.
i like long formats, it's lots of hard work, the money's not there but you get to 'air' your side on issues. i was really considering it, but to move on with just less than 3 months in my present company is a crime plus my current boss is also a good friend.
anyway for a week or so, the thought of moving was in my thoughts and everytime it gets a bit though at my present workplace, i feel like quitting and move on.
one day a very funny thing happened. God brought to mind a children bible song. it goes something like this

one door and only one, yet the sides are two,
inside and outside, which side are you ?

does any of you know this song ?
as i was humming to this song, i felt God asking me, if i'm inside or outside my present company. i know there and then i would have to make a decision, still i tried to brush it off, could be a coincidence, could be i'm reading too much into the song.
i reached my workplace, checked my mail and my friend has sent me a chain-mail. i usually trash them. this one has some good advice as it's heading. so i read it. the first advise is, do more than you're suppose to and do it cheerfully. ok God, i now know you're on my case....... but the statement is really too general, after all it's not biblical.
guess what, the morning devotion for that day was entitled "the Lord our God hath shewed us His glory." (yes it's KJV) and part of the devotion say "...They who navigate little streams and shallow creeks, know but little of the God of tempests; but they who "do business in great waters," these see His "wonders in the deep."
ok God, you win. i'll stay.

subplot
you know, having another job offer can really be distracting, instead of wanting to work things out, i just want to throw in the towel and move to the other company. especially when you'll the 'big fish' there.
guess it's like when you're able to have more than one wife. when things don't go well, instead of working it out, we'll go look for another.

update from x colleagues

2006-07-13T22:09:00.000+08:00

had lunch with my x colleagues. wah! more trouble than i expected in x office. sure made me glad i left. however there are good things happening there as well, it just depends on how adaptable and how far up you are.
subplot
so far, 3 hermit crabs have died and 1 escaped. guess i've move on to fishes. they're cheaper and at least i know they eat. with hermit crabs, i don't know if they died of starvation or stress or something else. quiet stressful on me (more like my wallet)and my daughter as well (2 of the 3 are her's).

half year gone

2006-07-05T22:52:00.000+08:00

well we're into July, doesn't time just fly ? it's especially true when you're having fun.
it's been quiet in the office but i still get home late, average of an hour's jam if i were to leave office at 6++ to 7++.
what to do, my children wants me home a bit earlier as they get to be d by 8.30 to 9.00. i seriously must find an alternative. i can't stand the jam especially people who jump queues coz they want to get home earlier. they're the one causing the jam, not to mention rude.
ok enough of that. time to sleep.

hermit crab

2006-06-26T22:27:00.000+08:00

last week my children went out and bought 3 hermit crab. one for each of them, courtesy of the sister. she spent 20 on 3 hermit crab, 3 empty shell, some pebbles and a ~~big~~mid sized container to house 3 of them.

so far we've not seen them eat anything. hope they don't die anytime soon.

last weekend was spent going out training people to sharing gospel. one interesting person we talked to was a pretty teenage girl. she's very intellectual and came from a wealthy family. as we spoke we found that she has lots of strive and perhaps under pressure to perform academically.

looks indeed can be deceiving, and in the world of superficial things, lots are not revealed coz we don't take time to look deeper.

this has thought me to speak less, listen more and think things over before judging someone.

running a slight fever + my report's not done. yep it's 10 days overdue. as soon as i log this i'm diving straight into it.

....unless there's something more interesting..

sigh....

i want to change my mom

2006-06-19T23:41:00.000+08:00

my wife told me today, as usual one of my son was asking for food. he had had 2 slices of cheese and wanted another one. mom said no, and went about cooking dinner. he continued asking for various food, of which mom did not hear as she was busy cooking.

after a while, my daughter shouted to mom. mom, did you hear what brother just said ? mom said no.. my daughter repeated - he said, in frustration after so many of his request was rejected, i want to change mummy !

what are they learning now a days ?

report

2006-06-17T15:55:00.000+08:00

well after 2 months of working, i'am expected to come up with a report. yesterday my boss sit me down and had a long chat with me. chief....you have to play a bigger role. we know you can do it but you must remain focus. we know there are things that are not running smoothly and some can be improved upon. your main job is to tell us our short falls and recommend solutions for it.

wah... big wok* already, i've been taking down notes and writing down many things but have gotten down to put down all into a report. as you can see from my posts, i'm not a long winded person.

when you're in operations, it covers a lot of areas, trust me. almost everyday i'm penning something down. of course you don't get to be top post house in the country if things are not properly. i'm there to just to 'oil' everything. things are getting done but i guess many feels there's a better way.

guess my eyes will be red but hopefully not bengkak* tomorrow. from staying up late finishing report, not crying or watching football-lah.

*big wok = big problem
*bengkak = swollen

basic life seminar

2006-06-15T23:21:00.000+08:00

i went to this seminar 10 years back and am doing a refresher course. good value for money. pay for 1st time and free for life.yep, you can go as many times as you want.
very good value for money and life.
one of these days i'll blog about some of the things thought at the seminar. very interesting plus it's basic, so have to get it right.
ok, just a short post to let ppl know i'm still around. ;)

i should be somewhere else

2006-06-12T20:36:00.000+08:00

i should be at basic life seminar !!! it been 11 years since i went and i can't wait to go again.
instead here i am waiting for my colleague to return from a meeting at another place !
sigh.....mondays......

world cup fever

2006-06-10T23:51:00.000+08:00

stayed up late yesterday nite ( this morning to be exac) to catch the opening match of world cup. the next match that i'll purposefully sit and watch will be the final.
there.....that's my contribution to the audience statistic for world cup. ; )

busy gila

2006-05-30T22:38:00.000+08:00

wonder when will all this end, guess most ads are trying to rush out before the world cup.
but such is the industry, in the last week of April, we were worried that may would be a slow month but it turns out we are busy.....
now a days i blog from home and coming home late means there are a few other people waiting for your attention before you can settle down to blog.

so.... in order of priority, blogging is now last...

maybe when i'm not so busy gila, my postings would be more regular.

just a moment ago, met up with 2 x colleagues that started off introducing some VoIP stuff but diverted to trying to get me to invest in gold and be their 'down-liner'. telling how great is the income from it.

well, if it sounds to good to be true...... you can finish the sentence.
i wish they would just concentrate on what they're good at.

update

2006-05-22T22:38:00.000+08:00

the equipment's ok, manage to recover the data and am at home now.
Phew....what a great relieve. anyway all the family members are asleep.

still in the office

2006-05-22T20:25:00.000+08:00

what a bummer, one of the equipment is down so here i am waiting for the support guy to come 'jump start' it. if it stays down, it will mess up tomorrow's schedule big time.

marriage vow

2006-05-19T22:19:00.000+08:00

groom
i ( ) take thee ( ) to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part.
bride
i ( ) take thee ( ) to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part.

actually i can't remember my marriage vow. but the above should be close. funny how the other day God reminded me of it. not so sure what it's for.

maybe it's just so that my commitment to her remains strong, since it was made in front of God and these witnesses (i'm sure the sentence is in the wedding ceremony somewhere but just not sure where).
i've been busy and living like i do not have a better half. gave up a 9 to 6 job to 'chase after a rainbow'.

or that i'm to be love, cherish and obeyed, which is hard when you're not around or leading the family. hmmm...guess there's still work to be done, in my marriage i mean.

whatever it was, it was an 'eye opener for me. after 10 years, you tend to forget some things and need to be reminded again.

might as well

2006-05-15T22:10:00.000+08:00

since i'm waiting for a prog to download ( which after subscribing to streamyx i shouldn't have to be doing ), i thought i might as well blog a bit.

today my tyre had a puncture. i drove a short distance before realising it. it sounded like something in my booth was banging around. i thought to myself, i don't have anything in my booth, where's the noise coming from ?, quickly found a parking space, turn into it, got down and check on my tyres. it was a puncture all right.
opened my booth take out the tool and the spare tyre, change the tyre over and lower the jack.

as the car was lowered, the tyre got flatter, till finally it stopped (thank God). not as much air as i hoped but was enough so i proceeded to drive slowly (no faster than 60km/h). my eyes were scanning for a petrol station, i only found not 1 but 2 at bukit damansara ! after that, turned into a mad driver to make up for lost time.

the super flat tyre is still in my booth and i'll have to go get it fixed tomorrow morning.

boy is streamyx slow ! guess in Malaysia, www still stands for World Wide Wait.

long time no update

2006-05-14T00:05:00.000+08:00

wah, 2 week ago, guess this has been the longest with out even any short update. guess the honeymoon month is over and now it's get down to the 'real' work time. we're really really busy, there are lots of people wanting to get their ad out in time for the world cup. the tv stations must be raking it in !!

I'm project managing a project ....... hmmmm... doesn't sound right but nevermind. It'll run for 3(we hope) to 4 (realistically) months. quite a huge sum of monie involved, juist hope i don't mess it up. my boss is already giving me a hard time as he wants things to move at a faster pace.

besides that, on the family front, i was out with my wife for the Ali Khan & famiy Sarod performance. it was wonderful but i think the MPO guys could not get the sound system to work properly as i find it a bit too loud. monday would be my daughter's birthday, so yesterday (friday), we took her and her best friend to Petrosains. fun place to bringkids and very good value for money. lots of things to see, touch, pull, press, you'll get are very involve, but understanding all of it is another thing. it would be most benificial for kids in early teens.

well, someone from church have discovered this blog.....so......it's quite amazing how people can still spot your blog eventhough you're not in the top 10 or even 100 blogs list. no worries, all are welcome to have a read.

well, it quite a long blog as i don't think i'll be updating it so regularly as i would like to. usually by the time i get home, eat a bit, have shower, say good night to the children, i'm ready to hit the sack myself. i'm waking up at 7 to walk my daughter to school, something i'm still not used to as i'm a night person, but from 7 in the morning to 11 plus 12, every night every night ??.... can't handle it anymore, not on a long term anyway. so certain days i just want to do what i need to and hit the sack....... a bit like now

tomorrow's gonna be another long day. and i already know that i'm having a meeting at 7pm monday. monday blues even before moday. how's that?

record time

2006-05-02T22:19:00.000+08:00

today coming home from ampang.......... 13 minutes !
left at 7.29pm reached home 7.42pm

not that i drove like Alonso, but traffic was extreemly light. how i wish the traffic is lke this everyday.

don't ask me to move to Kedah or somewhere like that !

kena tag !

2006-04-29T13:06:00.000+08:00

Well, oklah, since I didn't 'play' the last time i kena tag....

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn on page 18 and find line 4.
no book around me, only directories and magazines

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can.
wow, it feels longer now !

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?
atomic betty ntv7, this morning.

4.Without looking, guess what time it is?
must be arpund 1 pm, my stomach's growling.....

5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?
1.10pm (oh no, almost time to go back home)

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
my colleague's playing soundtrack from emmily and footsteps of a bunch of guys walking down from upstairs for lunch.

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
have not stepped outside since i came in this morning.

8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at?
Reading babysmooches's blog (that's when i found out i kena tag....long one some more.

9. What are you wearing?
T shirt and torn jeans

10. Did you dream last night?
Can't remember, slept soundly after heavy exercise.

11. When did you last laugh?
yesterday nite.

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?
2 huge charcoal sketches, very nice.

13. Seen anything weird lately?
my wife (hahahaha...... just kidding) i'll get back to this. here it comes - fridge magnet inside a kancil.

14. What do you think of this quiz?
Quiz?!

15. What is the last film you saw?
Master & Commander

16. If you became a multimillionaire overnight, what would you buy?
land for my church

17. Tell me something about you that I dunno.
i'm turning 40 in Dec !

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?
wah...have to think very hard leh..........
people's eyes..... equality for all !

20. George Bush.
He the man

21. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
Zhi W..

22. Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?
Zhi Kai/Khai ? ....my wife miss carried, but we always consider him a boy.

23. Would you ever consider living abroad?
once when my dad was contemplating it.

24.What do you want GOD to say to you when you reach the pearly gates?"
Matt25:21 His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'

25. Five (5) people who must also do this meme in their journal.
ok-lah...i'll spare the rest.

slow saturday

2006-04-29T12:27:00.000+08:00

not much happening in the office today, most probably due to the long weekend.
if you don't get to go off, there's one more long weekend on the 12 of next month.

it's a bummer to have to work on saturday, even if you don't really work. hehehehe.....get what i mean ?? suppose i'll get use to it.

well time to make like the banana and split !

not well

2006-04-28T09:38:00.000+08:00

in other words sick-lah. sigh.....it's been a long time since i fell ill. must be the vegetable juice my wife put me on.
went to the doctor and was slapped with a Rm65 bill. is this rate 'normal' ? boy it sure is expensive to fall sick now a days.
i did get a mc, but not the take mc and go shopping type of mc. it's rest at home kind of mc. you do miss quite a lot by being at work. my wife did revisions with the children, quiet time, read them stories and play, that's besides the usual laundry, hang up clothes, pick up clothes, send children to school, pick up children from school, cook and keep house clean !
guess now i know why she's so sleepy by 9pm. but with afternoon nap, she can last till 11 to 11.30pm. hehehe......ya, i know, staying at home is a tough job.
back to work yesterday, catch up with work and today came in a bit earlier so can blog a bit.
this weekend will be a long week end ! Happy Labour's day.

as my boss will say, you're not a labourer !, get back to work !

just found out in china, the get 1 week off.

free lunch

2006-04-19T22:32:00.000+08:00

well, you know what they say, there's no such thing as a free lunch.
it's sort of true. my present company provides lunch and dinner, breakfast is diy.
it's partly the no such thing as a free lunch thingy and partly tradition.

in this industry, lunch used to be provided to those who had to work through lunch hour, the client usually 'works' through lunch as well coz the charges were like rm800/hour. not everyone in the company does so but a majority does that. this led to the company providing lunch.....what rm10 compared to rm800 (if the guys take an hour's break for lunch which usually means 11/2 to 2 hours).

now a days, the work is not so hectic anymore, but there will be times where one will have to work through lunch. since the company already have a coo, might as well get her to cook for the staff (food's limited,1st come 1st serve basis). keeps them in the office, and available all the time + most people see it as a benefit.

so there you have it. this is a strange industry.

light posts ahead

2006-04-17T21:50:00.000+08:00

driving to and fro from work (kl traffic) have made me a hot tempered guy while driving. everyone who drives slower than you is an idiot while everyone who is faster than you is a maniac !

guess i'm the only perfect driver in town. guess every other driver in town must be saying the same thing !

been busy at the office, so light posts ahead till everything settles down.

double back

2006-04-13T00:27:00.000+08:00

after yesterday's holiday i was ready to get back to work again. determined to find a faster way to office i set out for office using federal highway, passing through town. the jam was minimal but i had to travel further distance. in the end it takes about the same time as if i would have used tun razak way. the only good thing about this way is that you're moving all the time.

as i stepped into office, i remembered that i was to be at a demo in menara ibm at 10. i had to travel all the way back to tmn tun. good thing the jam's on the other side.

the demo was about blade, an ibm product that consolidate several servers into a nicely packed 6u rack. me not coming for 'it' background had some difficulty following 100% but got quite a lot out of it. good session. won myself a torchlight during a Q&A session ! yahoo !!

10 to 8

2006-04-09T00:34:00.000+08:00

most ppl here work 10am to 8pm. those in 'admin' side will arrive around 9ish, but they're the minority.

things really starts moving only at around 10.30 but is still busy after even 8pm. makes me feel bad for wanting to leave early. anyway, in the staff handbook it says the official working hours are 9 to 6, i nearly fainted when i saw it. hahaha...... so far i've only seen 1 person that keeps to that hour and it's the girl in the accounts dept.

my old place, a bit like gomen dept-lah,so now getting used to working hard for the money again. sometimes i wonder (only after 1 week, not a good sign) if i've made the right move. but when i talk to the seniors there (not senior in terms of age..., rank), i feel right at home, and want to make it a better place.

i still have not got my own computer yet, so i've been doing lots of walking. how's that again ? ? well, no computer, cannot surf, cannot read or send mail, don't feel like writing stuff, coz cannot insert and move things around... wah, we are really spoilt now a days.

anyway it's good coz i'm doing operations and it gives me a chance to poke my nose into things and get to talk to some people.

new office

2006-04-04T22:17:00.000+08:00

today, second day in office. got me a place to sit but no pc yet. most ppl just share their pc and it's for work purpose only (no posts from office). a cultural shock! not only pc wise but the size of the company, working hours, interactions between departments and a whole lot more.

yesterday when i arrived at the office at 9.35, i was probably the 5th or 6th person in the office. i'm used to be one of the later ones to reach the office. this place doesn't start till about 10-10.15 but most people end at 8-9pm. traffic is not as bad a i imagined it to be (10 mins extra compared to travelling to my old place), just need to keep my cool when someone cuts infront of me without signalling.

i really need to get myself up to speed quick. lots of things to remember during the orientation sessions and getting used to.

this place is like a deep river, on the surface, very little movements, below, everything is just rushing through. when i walk in, i know there are lots of things happening inspite of the seemingly calm outlook and small size but the amount of jobs going through is just amazing.

they set up an e-mail for me - chief@___.st, but today i got it changed. hehehe.... only the more senior staffs calls me that.

ching ming

2006-04-01T23:01:00.000+08:00

burning joss sticks and candles are part of the ching ming but guess someone overdid it.

last post from this place

2006-03-30T20:02:00.000+08:00

well it's kind of a weird feeling, this being my last day. true to the malaysia boleh spirit, everything is done last minute. which means there will be things left out.

such is life, you think that it's still far away and before you know it, it's upon you and your rushing around like a headless chicken trying to get all the things sorted out before you leave and hope that you've done a good enough job so that whoever is taking over will not curse/swear at you for not handing over things properly.

right just a short post, will probably continue from home..., yes you guessed right, more things to get done before i leave

walking my son

2006-03-28T16:07:00.000+08:00

walking my son to school is slightly different from walking my daughter. he's in afternoon session and we usually take and umbrella for shade. he likes to wear a cap and will hand it back to me once he's in the school compound.

when you walk with him, you'll want to hold his hand tightly as he will sometimes trip and fall. good thing he does not carry the bag himself.

being the second child, he really enjoys this time where he is the focus of attention, he'll talk and asks you things and will be surprised that you know the answer... makes you feel like the smartest dad in the whole wide world.

it's different walking both of them, one will ask you concept questions and the other 'curiosity' questions. it's nice walking them both to and fro from school. guess i enjoy the time spent alone with them too.

we (my wife and i) used to take them out individually, give them a treat and chat with them like they're adults - sort of like get to know you sessions, they really enjoy it. you'll be surprised how different they can be when they're alone with you. if you have not done it, i recommend it.

enjoy

name change

2006-03-28T10:29:00.000+08:00

as i move on to another company, i'm contemplating a change of name for this blog. i was considering - 'walking on the moon' as my new blog name. you see, the company i'm moving to have 'moon' in it's name and i thought it'll be a cheeky thing to do. but being in the advertising line (a small part), i should know better than to do it.

i shall cyber-squat 1st and perhaps will maintain 2 blogs (as if i don't have enough to do already).

Holding hands

2006-03-27T17:03:00.000+08:00

During the 2 and a half days of my wife resting, i had the un-envious task of waking up at 6.15am,6.20am and finally at 6.25am to get my daughter ready and walk her to school.

the 6.15, 6.20 and 6.30 you see up there is me waking and telling myself 5 more mins, then i'll get up. my 4 year old son refuses to wake me up early on saturdays, coz he says 'pa always says 5 minutes more', sometimes i just show them my hand with my fingers outstretched, signing for another 5 more minutes. sigh.... what kind of dad am i. hehehehe...

making her breakfast and packing her water and tea ready is a breeze but not tying her hair. the 1st day she was most ambitious and handed my 2 units of sophia's twist (as seen on TV) to tie her hair up into a nice bun. after a few tries, she settled for one, a simple pony tail. on the second day, she tied it herself with a rubber band.

the 1st day we walked out of the house without the bag, i later found out that mummy's the one who takes the bag out and backpack it to school for her, (which i already know). so if any of you guys want to safe some gym money, you can come help us.

the walking to school part is very enjoyable, you get to make small talk and when crossing the road, she'll automatically reach for your hand. you get to feel like a daddy, protecting your little girl from the danger of on-coming cars. when we hold hands, i like to squeeze her hand a bit, she'll then respond by doing the same ( i learned this through a focus on the family audio recording ), it's our little secret code, not seen or known by everyone but the two of us.

as it is still very early, i'm usually dressed in shorts and an old t-shirt and i'm sure looking a little funny as people who are not a morning person would look. she don't mind at all, she didn't like, try to walk faster to sat in front of me or tell me it's ok, she'll walk the rest of the way (guess not yet anyway). hehehe...it's nice to be accepted as you are no matter how shabby you look.

it was a nice 3 days, but today i tried to wake up early and tak boleh... coz my wife is ok already. think i'll make a deal with her and walk my daughter to school ever other day.

ok post my walking my son to school experience tomorrow

last week here

2006-03-27T12:28:00.000+08:00

my last day here should have been tomorrow but due to the EL taken so that my wife could rest at home, it's moved to thursday.
would be starting to fill in my handover form after lunch and continue to distribute some of my stuff that i do not want to take home.

will be getting the IT guys to reformat this computer before handing it over to one of my staff. it's precious as it has a video input/output card and is used to for converting promos to be sent to clients for approval. the last thing you want is a unit that is unreliable and slow.

i think i shall do a bit more posts today and perhaps this week - till thursday as i'm now reduced to a rubber stamper. hehehe....

cuci hidung

2006-03-21T18:22:00.000+08:00

hehehe..... how ironic that my previous blog is about breathing easy.
my wife went for an operation to clear her mucous. she have been having infection and her nose was blocked, causing her cheek and gum to hurt(not to mention smell).

so after last weeks follow up consultation with a specialist, it was recommended that she does a 'flush' to clean up all the yucky stuffs that are stuck somewhere.
all in all the bill came up to 4K plus. i wonder why they don't just show the bill to the patients before operations, that way they can save on the anaesthetic !

it's good that my company covers medical for family as well, so it's all paid for. the insurance company handling this is also very professional and fast. my wife had checked in for surgery on Monday morning and but the paperwork was only fax over to the insurance company by 4pm (don't ask, long story). by 5.30 everything cleared and my wife was on the way home.

so she's resting, feeling dizzy, side effect of GA. and i'm sort of a house husband since monday. tomorrow i get back to work again. maybe just 2nd half of the day.

breath easy

2006-03-14T12:32:00.000+08:00

yesterday i officially announced my leaving the company to my staff. the announcement is about 1 week too late as the HR guy/girl slipped his/her tongue and let the cat out of the bag.

i had told a few closer colleague earlier, but was disappointed that the news did not come from me. i had a short q&a session and i was pleasantly surprised that they had arranged a small makan for me.

these days, i'm breathing easier...., i don't know.... maybe it's coz i don't have to worry what the new management will be up to next. there are still work to be done but i don't feel as pressured.

all the KPI, EBITA, EPITA, whatever-lah. this place will soon be turned into a factory (i sure hope not). whatever it turned into, i hope my staff will do well.

series of unfortunate events

2006-03-13T12:06:00.000+08:00

that's how my last two weeks have been. but not all the events happened to me but to my friends.

a child suddenly have convulsion in the car and pass out for two hours. was hospitalised for 3-4 days but thank God he's now ok

someone who had a bone marrow transplant was ok for 3 months but later have a relapse.

friend's parents went for holiday and was involved in an accident. mom passed away, dad in critical condition.

wife's sinus problem have persisted since chinese new year even after taking anti-biotic, changed doc and will be going for follow up treatment.

will have to stay up late to finish up video prog., deadline thurdays.

reasons for light posting

PONR

2006-03-08T17:30:00.000+08:00

nope, it didn't spell short for pornography wrongly. it's suppose to stand for Point Of No Return.
Got the letter from the other side, so everything else is a go. Wow... a very long wait for 4 extra days of leave and flexibility on Saturdays.
last day shall be on 28th.
my wife's already planning how to spend the 3 days break she has (yes you read it correctly,I get baby-sitting duty) before i start at the new place on....
April 1st. sort of an orientation. no joke.

do you miss anybody ?

2006-03-06T12:06:00.000+08:00

my wife asked me that over dinner, the children were not with us.
i thought for a while and could not come up with any names. i don't really know if that is good or not.

my wife thought for a while, hit me and said, if i died, you'll just move on and not miss me would you. me ~~being silly~~ feeling extreemly brave said, i'll probably miss you for two, three years, then move on... ( censored, censored ... )

some people never learn...

she misses her x boyfriends, i actually kind of miss my friend who recently due to marital problems had ran away. i maybe don't miss her but miss not being a friend to her, instead of getting news about her from here and there.

manual auto gate

2006-02-27T13:12:00.000+08:00

my auto gate konked after 11 years. not too bad, just got the motor replaced. 1K. hopefully it will last another 10 years.

my dad was the one who advised me to put in an autogate. good advice too, when it rains or when we get home at some ungodly hour, just tekan* the remote and the gate opens. we've only had some problems with it opening by itself in the earlier years when there were lots of constructions going on. after that, it worked well till last week.

i could hear the motor spin but the gate didn't move. called the guys who installed it for us (yes, they're still around). he gave me his brother's number and the next day came and had a look. something's broken and i've adjusted it. if it happens again you'll have to change the motor.
guess when they say that it just means better put aside money for it, coz after 2 days it died on us. happened on a weekend, so we had a manual auto gate over the weekend.

good thing it didn't rain when we had to go out or when we got back from somewhere. i was getting used to pulling and pushing the gate, in fact i was beginning to see some muscles developing.

today they came and got it fixed. there goes my workout.

tekan* - press

Spurgeon's morning & evening devotions

2006-02-23T16:30:00.000+08:00

spurgeon have never failed to inspire me. i subscribe to the morning and evening devotion by spurgeon from crosswalk.com but since my msn messenger kena block, i have not been checking my hotmail regularly. still, every time i check and read the devotions, it speaks to me. what a powerful ministry he must have had !

you can read the online devotions by spurgeon here http://www.crosswalk.com/faith/devotionals/morningandevening/

God bless

why move ??

2006-02-22T12:05:00.000+08:00

as i enquire about my remaining leave days, the hr girl asked me, why do you want to leave ? not that i'm very close to her, but within these 2 months since the VSS and takeover, there have been over 30 resignations. for a company now left with 200+ people, this figure represent more than 10%.

there have been of change in protfolios and increase in workload (as expected), but there's also a change in the climate, culture and unseen structures torn down. without new directions from new CEO and HOD, work goes on, with much uncertainty. there are still rumours of retrenchment going round.

for myself, it's to move on to a cutting edge company with huge potential for growth. it's run by people who value talent more than bottom line (this is not to say the botton line is not important, they have targets and incentives when financial targets are met).

it helps that i've worked with them before and know the culture and expectation

cross road

2006-02-21T12:26:00.000+08:00

well, yesterday i went to for a quick interview and saw the offer letter ! the dollar and cents part does not look too good (i'll be taking a 'pay cut'), working hour is worse (5 1/2 day week instead of 5) and the location is horrendous (ampang area).

my wife is really upset about it. it's actually the working hours that she worries about. I've been down this road before (well, different role, same industry), working really long hours and sometimes throughout the weekend as well.
she's worried as i'm not as involved in the family as she like.

we had a chat about it yesterday and basically she thinks that i'll still move no matter what she said.

looks like we'll need to sit down further to work things out some more.

auto lock

2006-02-17T14:01:00.000+08:00

every morning after my son gets up onto the car, i would lock the car doors before driving off. yesterday before i could do that my son reached his and over and locked the door for me.

must lock doors right, he said. ya...., i replied if not, papa can fall off. aha..... , and i started driving.

guess sometimes it's not too good to 'scare' your children by telling them some urban myth when you want them to so something.

when he was smaller, he used to pull at the door handles when the car was moving, so our back doors have child lock on them. sitting behind makes you feel like a VIP coz the driver or whoever is sitting in front will have to open the door for you. .....unless of course you're in a hurry to rush to the toilet or something !

ok....., i know you have a driver !

2006-02-15T19:12:00.000+08:00

i've been meaning to post this for quite some time now, but never got around to doing it, then i see a car with the front passenger seat pushed right to the front i would say to myself i'll blog about it.

yep, guess we've all seen it. a big car, the person driving it is obliviously a driver, but just in case you miss all that, the front passenger seat is pushed right to the front and the reclining angle of the seat also tilted like 75 degrees to the front.

aiyo.....come on, if you think the big car that's ferrying you (which is most probably company owned) is not big enough, go demand for a bigger/longer car !

how big can one's ego be !

been busy

2006-02-10T17:10:00.000+08:00

Sorry, been busy, working on church anniversary video. will blog regularly again probably after 25th.
however i'm still 'kacau'ing some blogs

jam - no jam ?

2006-01-26T09:29:00.000+08:00

tuesday was THE jammest (if there is such word) day of my coming home from work drive in this company. it usually takes me 20-30 mins to get home but tuesday it took me 11/2 hours.
on wednesday, it was back to normal and although i still complained when it took longer than expected to reach home, yesterdays jam was like 'dream jam' (if there is such thing), jam but moving.

works calls.....

MPO

2006-01-23T17:29:00.000+08:00

malaysian philharmonic orchestra, i went to watch them yesterday courtesy of one of my sisters. traffic there was light and parking was easy (v expensive though). perhaps most people have enough of the traffic jams during weekdays, so they avoid KLCC during the weekends, making it totally jam free and jam up places like 1U and Ikano instead.

walking up to the lobby, it was indeed spacious, but there were lots of attendant to help you out. 1st thing i did was to check out if i over or under dress. i only wore a long sleeve shirt and docker. looks like i was save, a short sleeve shirt would do.

a quick round of intro whit my sister's friends and we were ushered away. what a pleasant surprise! our sittings were not the normal sitting but we had a corporate hospitality suite. there were quite a number and each one had an attendant standing by to assist. when we reached ours, we were shown our sitting... che wah, like in the movies pulak (balcony sitting), then back to the room. sitting for 8, with a tv set, in case you don't want to be out there.

we were told when the performance starts the doors to balcony would be locked and there's no way to get back in. so the ladies made their was to the wc first.

the acoustic for the hall was excellent, just before the performance starts, there was a moment of silent while waiting for the conductor to come out, it was so quite it was deafening. i've only experience such 'quietness' in voice recording booth but they are normally 12' by 8' or slightly bigger.

being the first time, we (maybe it's just me) clapped when only when other audience clapped. kampung a bit mah, if clap at wrong time, malu-lah.

after 2 performances, intermission for 15 mins and then the rest of the show. all in all the show was only about 1 hour + but it was quite an experience. maybe when they play pieces from my favourite composers i'll go watch again.

we got to find out quite a lot about MPO,
you'll get to watch a performance from only rm 10 pengsan, better than watching a b grade movie. ......most expensive tickets are at rm 500. was told in overseas, at least 70 Euros, some more probably must wear jacket.
all the musicians are foreign nationals (i might get this wrong coz now malaysia boleh already wat).

the hall was squeeze in, an after thought, that's why it's relatively small.

the ceiling is retractable moved higher when there is a session with pipe organ

largest pipe organ in south east asia.

ok already, ppl will think that i'm promoting it.

eat this

2006-01-19T09:00:00.000+08:00

Ewww......when my colleague passed me this, it's like i was expecting it emit some foul smell....you get what i mean.

nope, no smell at all. of course if you're any decent malaysian you'll know that it's asam jawa. i have not seen them sold like this before, it's usually in processed form.

break the shell (pic on the right) and eat it's contents minus the root looking thing. it's nice, not as nice as if you cook it with prawns, asam prawns - my mom used to cook that, it's one of my favorite dish. yum...yum.

i did a search on the net and found that it is claimed to be able to cure quite a lot of ailments. Asthma, dry cough, fever and a few others.

no will do

2006-01-18T13:45:00.000+08:00

sometimes just a simple "no, we can't do it, but we'll help find someone who can." is better than a 30 min beating round the bush.

i told one of my friends of a 20k project and asked if they (their company) can do it. hmm...we don't really have the facilities to do that but i'll find out for you. later when i called to check he asked me out for tea to talk about it.

so i went with high hope....why else would he want to talk further about it. so we met up, had a chat, he didn't say no, but gave lots of example where 20K jobs doesn't cut it anymore.

hmmmm.....i know you're trying not to offend me by not telling me no,.... but i guess beating around the bush for 35 to 40 mins to do it really upsets me.

it's a 'business' proposal, i thought of them coz i thought they could make some money out of it, not because i thought they're 'hadap'* for jobs or that they're low on business or that i was going to take advantage of them. plus the beating around the bush, telling how some others with such low budgets were told off..... it's like telling me,'if you are not my friend, i would have given you the same treatment!'

phew.... good thing got blog to lepas geram ** .....

all said they're a nice guys, and guess they just want to break it to me 'gently'....i suppose sometimes we do not how to behave when we need to say 'no' to people we're close to. we fear they will take it the wrong way and we end up making an enemy.

1 john 4:18 - ...but perfect love casts out fear...

(sub plot)

these editing 'job' are/will be taking more time than i expected. things are not as easy as it looks and lots of stuff to sort out quickly. how did i end up with all these again ??

* hadap = begging
** lepas geram = lash out

no more msn messenger

2006-01-17T13:52:00.000+08:00

my company has blocked the msn messenger even though only a small number of people having it. Yahoo messenger is still ok. ??

was going to say what's the point but better be thankful we still can use it.

do people spend a lot of time chatting on messenger ? i do it mainly for work. saves on phone bill and you know when they're there or when they're away.

another good tool gone down the drain.

scales fell

2006-01-16T13:05:00.000+08:00

last Sunday's message by Rev David Shearer was indeed a wonderful one.
it's a simple expounding of Rom 7: 1-6 followed by the 1 Sam 25 story.
of course i would not be able to do as good a job of telling it like Ps David but i still would like to try as i think it's something every Christians should know.

he started off by getting us to identify the 3 'persons' in Rom 7:1-6
the wife = israel / the other man = Christ / husband that dies ? = Adamic nature in us, not the law as thought by many !

If Scripture declares in 1 John 3:9 "Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.", why do Christians continue to sin?.

i've always wanted to know the answer to this question, don't you ?

well it turns out, our nature is now of God but our MIND is still stuck to the old !
our new nature does not sin but our mind is still getting used to the new nature and therefore we're almost always of 2 minds.

that's why in Rom 12:2 / Eph 4:22-23

i've always read 'the old man' not as the mind but as the old nature. so when this was explained i felt as if scales fell off my eyes. that is why suddenly Romand 12:2 came jumping at me !

i know it's terribly compressed, but hope you guys are blessed as well.

(sub-plot)
went for a chat with partners of a post house and it's coming along well. the shoot for a short film that committedited to help edit is near completion which means i'll have to start work on it soon. apple is sponsoring the editing equipments, so i get to put in my wish list ! and am rushing like mad to help put together my church's anniversary video.*
everything is 'moving' except work, it's picking up but still not there yet.

suddenly i'm press for time !

* please ok, i'm not free-lancing, the commitment to help edit the short film were made 3 years ago (yes it's that long) and they've now come to 'claim' it. i'm a man of my words. church anniversary ? my humble contribution to the work of God.

let go and let God

2006-01-13T12:50:00.000+08:00

it's always easier said than done. but this morning i did it.

it's no secret that i have not been myself lately due to the VSS and all. so today i resolve to 'pick myself up'. give thanks for all that has happened, affirming that i believe He has my best interest in mind, and put in my best in whatever i do / wherever i am, that it'll all be to His glory.
all these were done while driving to work as it's a good 25 mins drive.

(sub plot)
i've been wearing shades everytime i drive to work but today i did not do it. it's a beautiful day, not too gloomy or bright. everything looked brighter ! (of course not wearing any shades helped, duh??..). and it's just refreshing. guess sometimes we just need to look at thing from a different perspective (miche).

well.... i must say after this morning, things are 'moving'.

romantics

2006-01-12T13:30:00.000+08:00

my wife have been watching lots of korean drama series, some japanese as well. i sometimes sibuk* and will sit and watch for a short while.
i wonder after watching all these series will she expect me to be more romantic and sweep her off her feet. i'm not the romantic type,....more of the 'if i told you i love you once, i've told you a thousand times so don't expect me to repeat it a few times a day kind'.

still....maybe a should put in a bit more effort now with her watching all these shows. just the other day we watched pride and prejudice, nice show. guys, if you want to score points with your loved ones this is the show to take them to watch. plus show-lah you're a bit cultured. it's an adaptation from the classic writing by Jane Austen.

lost

2006-01-11T10:12:00.000+08:00

feeling a bit lost this new year, there’s no real change at workplace (was expecting one) except that there are less people. not much jobs to look after even though it’s near CNY, the way i see it, the whole ‘old’ system of channeling jobs through to us is down and no new ones to replace it. no news on new job offer although everyone were positive about it, which is ok with me as I was not really expecting very much out of it.

guess the ‘transitional period’ is longer than i expected.

at least i’m not on some island with a bunch of people and some mysterious creatures running around.

fresh and crisp

2006-01-05T13:50:00.000+08:00

earlier in the week there were a feeling of newness in the air. could be i woke up early and the rain had cause the air to be fresh, and the good old sunshine made it nice and crisp as well. i'm glad it doesn't rain in the morning anymore. it always spoil the day for me.

this year 2 of my children will be in school and another in kindergarden. my wife still don't get some time by herself as 2 are in the morning and the other afternoon. the good thing is all 3 of them now sleeps early as they need to wake up early for school.

after a long holiday, i really feel like slacking off big time. it doesn't help that some of the 'regular' colleagues are not around anymore. things are still quiet in the office, which is a bit worrying as soon it'll be CNY. sometimes jobs come in 'last minute' and we have to rush it through, i was hoping it would be a thing of the past but maybe it's the malaysian way of doing things.