My father plays the old Chinese guitar and the violin, he has been playing that for years to entertain himself whenever he is happy and feeling good. Whenever his children come home and gather in the house for the festive season and family celebration, his complacency and happiness are very much expressed and manifested by this act of playing those musical intrument. My dad's skill in playing the harmonica is better when compared to the other two instruments. But it seems he does not like to play with the harmonica that much!
And it is true that musician plays music first started with the intention of entertaining and enjoying himself and then next only come the audience. To me, my dad is a better singer especially for those old Chinese opera songs that seem to be more popularly sung in Hongkong and mainland China instead of in Malaysia. He sings with a loud and good voice! Only my brother CM Lee inherited his good voice in the art of singing!
He used to play his violin with one of his good old buddy by the name of Ah Too, who used to come to our house fairly frequently for the so called "old men jamming session" . This good musician friend of my dad passed away years ago. My impression until now is that this uncle Ah Too played extremely well violin. He played with such passion that he seemed to have fully absorbed and submerged himself into the music whenever he pushed and pulled the string over the instrument. The graceful motion of the play and the expression of his face told it all!
Somehow my brother CM Lee and myself are very much influenced by my father on the liking of playing musical instrument. When I was in standard one and two, I played the recorder. And I learned to play the Chinese flute by myself. And when in secondary Pei Yuan school, I joined the school band and played the Clarinet. While in form 4 and form 5 in ACS Kampar Methodist school, I picked up guitar and played my rhythm guitar fairly well. Guitar becomes the favorite instrument both for my brother and myself. Later part I started to try on the bass guitar and play it in the church band just for the fun of it.
I have to admit that I am not so talented in music and musical instrument though I played above average compared to many people. My brother CM Lee had progressed much better than me in this musical hobby; without going through any formal training, he plays his guitar and piano well, almost half professional I would say!
My son does not seem to develop the liking for playing musical intrument very much though my wife and I tried very hard, even to the extent of buying a drum set at home to lure him into it. Contrary to my son, my daughter really likes music a lot and now she plays violin, piano and also learns on classical guitar. Her passion for music would one day enable her to become a good musician, a dream which I myself could not fulfill, but I hope one day she could do that on my behalf!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
My stamp collection hobby
One of the small time hobbies that I had put it at the very remote far end corner of my memories was the collection of stamps. I did not remember exactly how I started it. Most probably rooted from some kind of student newspaper that I subscribed when I was in the primary school. It was some cross words puzzles or quizes, upon filling in the right answers and then sent to the publisher of the newspaper, prizes were won in the form of little gifts. Initially my standard 4 and 5 class teacher Mr. Kong Ying Peng helped me with the solving of those puzzles. However at the later part when I gathered enough knowledge, with better command of the Chinese language, I answered those puzzles on my own and submitted to him for final review or correction before I sent off by post. A lot of the times, my school mates did the same and they managed to win more impressive prizes than me. On one particular occasion, the prize I won were beautiful stamps that portrayed some famous ancient Chinese poets, pioneer in the field of Chinese medicine such as Mr. Li Shi Zhen etc. Those were really very attractive stamps which I kept inside a very nice stamp album I bought specially for keeping them. Inside the album, there were also other stamps from then the Malayan states and also those from China taken out from the envelopes of letters sent all the way from my aunty in China etc. Then one fine day I brought the album along to tuition class and showed off to some of my friends. Unfortunately, during the recess time of the tuition class, portion of the very nice stamps were stolen. Though this was just a minor incident in my life during my primary school days, I still remember it till this day. This is because I really like those first collection of my stamps very much!
In the same tuition class, there was also this mischievous case of lost photo from our then little lady classmate Miss Wan Yin Fong, her personal photo was somehow taken out from her pencil box and passed around the class. It was at the instant that the photo was passed on to me, she eventually discovered the loss of her photo, and she cried and thought I was the culprit. I was somehow stunned and remained speechless and did not manage to explain myself the actual situation. This was probably because it was my first experience confronted by a little girl crying in front of me. Many years later I heard she migrated to New Zealand and I have never seen her again!
Coming back to the collection of stamps, I am not sure eventually where had that stamp album gone to, if I am wrong, I might have passed it on to my younger brother KM Lee long long time ago. Being my younger brother I liked to pass him things, I remember very well that I had passed on to him my boys scout log book with many hand drawn nice pictures inside it.
In the same tuition class, there was also this mischievous case of lost photo from our then little lady classmate Miss Wan Yin Fong, her personal photo was somehow taken out from her pencil box and passed around the class. It was at the instant that the photo was passed on to me, she eventually discovered the loss of her photo, and she cried and thought I was the culprit. I was somehow stunned and remained speechless and did not manage to explain myself the actual situation. This was probably because it was my first experience confronted by a little girl crying in front of me. Many years later I heard she migrated to New Zealand and I have never seen her again!
Coming back to the collection of stamps, I am not sure eventually where had that stamp album gone to, if I am wrong, I might have passed it on to my younger brother KM Lee long long time ago. Being my younger brother I liked to pass him things, I remember very well that I had passed on to him my boys scout log book with many hand drawn nice pictures inside it.
Monday, August 24, 2009
My first hobby
I had quite a handful of hobbies which I gave up over the years. It is not because of I am no more interested in those hobbies anymore, it is mostly because in life sometimes we made practical choices instead of doing things according to our own liking. Or we are simply more preoccupied with something else that are driven by this materialistic world! Sometimes think of it, how pitiful humans could be when come to making choices even on hobbies!
When I was a kid, my first hobby was gardening and I remember how I planted roses, which my father brought back from the Malay Kampung. He was then selling fishes to those Malay villages in Tapah road, Air Kuning and probably Langkap areas. I had stolen two more other floral species from someone else's garden. But foolishly planted one specie on the path near my home where the original owner passed by that way everyday!
It was the feel of my first touch from nature, how bud-grafted branch sprouted young leaves, the wonder of life embedded even in seemingly dry and lifeless twigs, how small buds grew into full blossom of flowers, and the fragrance of it filled the air and attracted bees and butterflies. The real wonder of God's creation!
My parents home is always full of flowers because it happened that my mum and me shared the same interest in flowers and gardening. The oldest vegetation that was planted in the family was the cactus, that is still standing tall at the back of the house. We treasure it so much and it symbolises the common interest and the love of nature for my mum and myself. We had move the cactus twice, one time because it was planted too close to the building site when we built our new house and the second time was, it stood on the way when the town council authority wanted to broaden the road.
My mum had a big quarrel with my dad when he trimmed off a big portion of the branches of a yellow flower plant near the fence just next to the external toilet of the house. From that incident, one would be able to tell the kind of passion of my mum on her plants!
My wife also likes gardening very much. So much so that we filled the compound of our semi-detached house in Kulim with plants that looks like a jungle. That seems to be quite an appropriate discription of it, other than we had planted the vegetation in a more orderly manner.
Now my family stays in a condominium in Kuala Lumpur, and my wife only has a limited space in our home to practise this hobby!
When I was a kid, my first hobby was gardening and I remember how I planted roses, which my father brought back from the Malay Kampung. He was then selling fishes to those Malay villages in Tapah road, Air Kuning and probably Langkap areas. I had stolen two more other floral species from someone else's garden. But foolishly planted one specie on the path near my home where the original owner passed by that way everyday!
It was the feel of my first touch from nature, how bud-grafted branch sprouted young leaves, the wonder of life embedded even in seemingly dry and lifeless twigs, how small buds grew into full blossom of flowers, and the fragrance of it filled the air and attracted bees and butterflies. The real wonder of God's creation!
My parents home is always full of flowers because it happened that my mum and me shared the same interest in flowers and gardening. The oldest vegetation that was planted in the family was the cactus, that is still standing tall at the back of the house. We treasure it so much and it symbolises the common interest and the love of nature for my mum and myself. We had move the cactus twice, one time because it was planted too close to the building site when we built our new house and the second time was, it stood on the way when the town council authority wanted to broaden the road.
My mum had a big quarrel with my dad when he trimmed off a big portion of the branches of a yellow flower plant near the fence just next to the external toilet of the house. From that incident, one would be able to tell the kind of passion of my mum on her plants!
My wife also likes gardening very much. So much so that we filled the compound of our semi-detached house in Kulim with plants that looks like a jungle. That seems to be quite an appropriate discription of it, other than we had planted the vegetation in a more orderly manner.
Now my family stays in a condominium in Kuala Lumpur, and my wife only has a limited space in our home to practise this hobby!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Wonderful family members in my early life
Of a few close family members in our life I would always want to be thankful for what they had done for me, if not for them, we would not be what we are today!
The first person I want to be thankful is my uncle, the younger brother of my father, during those younger years, he had helped my family a lot and I still could remember very well how he bought school books for me. My dad and mum respected him a lot because he is a generous person and really does what he means. My mother did not enjoy a very pleasant relationship with the relatives from my father side except this uncle of mine. She felt very much indebted to this uncle for all the help that he rendered to us when our family was in need while we were still at tender age.
He used to be working overseas in countries such as Brunei and Indonesia etc. Whenver he returned home, he always gave me generously some pocket money. Whenver there was any family disputes, he was always the arbitrator and all of them respected his decision and advice. Today happened to be the "full moon" celebration of a baby girl given birth by my niece, I could not make it back home for the event because I am far away in Kemaman Terengganu. And I had written this message to remind me of this special occasion and also to remember the good deed of his father, my beloved and honorable uncle. I wish him strong and healthy always and may God bless him abundantly.
Another person I wanted to remember dearly in my heart is my grandmother from my mother's side. She had worked much of her life and put her saving to buy 5 acres of rubber plantation (eventually my mum sold them for some cash), bought a house for my family to stay until this day, and also gave my dad the money to get his first car as taxi. I used to visit and stay with her during my school holidays while she worked in the tin mine company as the chief cook. I had some wonderful time with her as a young boy.
When she slipped and fell one day and had broken her pelvic bones that she could not walk and therefore could no longer work as a cook; then she had started to stay with my family for the rest of her life. During her stay with us, despite her physical handicap, she took good care of my two younger sisters, cooked our meals and roped up water from the well, and did all the household chores. What a wonderful woman she was! I had never seen such a determined, good tempered and hardworking old lady and I want to take my hat off for her!
I want to give thanks to God for the grace of giving all these wonderful persons to bless us and my family in our earlier life!
The first person I want to be thankful is my uncle, the younger brother of my father, during those younger years, he had helped my family a lot and I still could remember very well how he bought school books for me. My dad and mum respected him a lot because he is a generous person and really does what he means. My mother did not enjoy a very pleasant relationship with the relatives from my father side except this uncle of mine. She felt very much indebted to this uncle for all the help that he rendered to us when our family was in need while we were still at tender age.
He used to be working overseas in countries such as Brunei and Indonesia etc. Whenver he returned home, he always gave me generously some pocket money. Whenver there was any family disputes, he was always the arbitrator and all of them respected his decision and advice. Today happened to be the "full moon" celebration of a baby girl given birth by my niece, I could not make it back home for the event because I am far away in Kemaman Terengganu. And I had written this message to remind me of this special occasion and also to remember the good deed of his father, my beloved and honorable uncle. I wish him strong and healthy always and may God bless him abundantly.
Another person I wanted to remember dearly in my heart is my grandmother from my mother's side. She had worked much of her life and put her saving to buy 5 acres of rubber plantation (eventually my mum sold them for some cash), bought a house for my family to stay until this day, and also gave my dad the money to get his first car as taxi. I used to visit and stay with her during my school holidays while she worked in the tin mine company as the chief cook. I had some wonderful time with her as a young boy.
When she slipped and fell one day and had broken her pelvic bones that she could not walk and therefore could no longer work as a cook; then she had started to stay with my family for the rest of her life. During her stay with us, despite her physical handicap, she took good care of my two younger sisters, cooked our meals and roped up water from the well, and did all the household chores. What a wonderful woman she was! I had never seen such a determined, good tempered and hardworking old lady and I want to take my hat off for her!
I want to give thanks to God for the grace of giving all these wonderful persons to bless us and my family in our earlier life!
Friday, August 21, 2009
The story of my grandfather
I gathered the stories that was mentioned to me by my uncle and my father, and I piece up a picture of what life was about my grandfather. He died when I was in standard 2, he remains one of the dearest person in my life who had showered me much love when I was a small kid. I remember to this day how he cycled my brother, my sister and me to the market place in one big robust bicycle for breakfast. The kind of old bicycle was not equipped with cable control braking system but rather with iron rods mounted in front of the handle, acted as levers to pull and release the brakes. My tender little hands used to get stuck in those rods that caused me excruciating pain when grandpa pulled the brakes, and my mum always reminded me repeatedly of not to get that stupid act of holding the handle with my fingers, avoiding that particular functioning portion of the braking system whenever grandpa gave us another ride again. I always wanted to take the front seat despite my younger brother and sister should have seated in that position instead, which is relatively a bit narrow and tight for my size to sit in that bucket seat made of rattan.
My grandpa was not a farmer but rather someone who came from a cultured family that wrote and performed rituals for funerals in China. They were considered as literates and people of knowledge in the village back then in Qing Yuan of the Guangdong province in China. The opium had wrecked many families to bankruptcy in China and there was this exodus to look for greener pasture that took place perhaps about 80 years ago. My grandpa just got married and he joined the exodus and came alone to peninsular Malaya. Before long my grandma was brought over to Malaysia by her brother to meet up with my grandpa in Kampar, Perak. My grandma came from a rich family and my grandma would not want to leave a good looking beloved husband in a strange land. According to my father, so far non of us in our family had inherited the good look of my grandpa. The brother of my grandma stayed briefly in KL and started either a coal or iron ore mine, and we did not know for what reason that he eventually returned to China. And now the contact with this family of my grandma side is totally lost, though I tried hard to find his descendents while I was in China, but to no avail.
My uncle told me that my grandparents were staying near the now Eastern Garden of Kampar, cutting firewoods to be sold in the market place. It was not an easy task for my grandpa as a person who had never done such hard manual work in his life to start earning a living from this kind of work. Firewoods in bundles of two need to be carried with a long stick on a shoulder, to be brought in to kitchen, stacked and arranged properly, before the wage was paid.
Life was not easy when my grandparents had more children and I was told then the Japanese had offered salary in advance to build railways from Malaysia to Thailand. My grandpa accepted the money offer but after subsequent discussion with my grandma, had made the wise decision of returning the money to the Japanese authority. And he was fortunate enough not to participate in the deadly railway project, history had revealed that there were little survivors! My grandma did a great job in persuading my grandpa on this, she mentioned that no matter what hardship, through the thick and thin, she wanted a family to be always together.
Things got better when my father and his sister (My aunt) were amongst the first to learn how to tap rubbers to collect latex, and they earned a very good living by the standard then because few knew the technique of mastering the skill of tapping rubbers. Of course, the skill was later learned by many others. My grandpa also worked in the tin mines half way between Mambang Diawan and Kampar, it was supposed to be owned by a French company.
My grandpa after work from the tin mine would cycle all the way to Kampar and bought me Angel fish and gold fish! That was really a distance after a hard day work. Come to think of his act at this age, I am still touched by his great love for us as his grand children; he is always the greatest grandfather!
He was sick and always dozed off near the side door of the house near to his room. He suffered pain and took on opium to relieve the pain and subsequently was admitted to Tapah hospital. When the hospital informed us that there was no more hope for him to live on, my family engaged a truck to take him back home when his life supporting system was pulled off upon leaving the hospital.
That was the saddest and most sorrowful moment of my life as a kid. And that was also the first funeral that was held in my family! I saw my father cried the first time in my life on the day when my grandpa body was proceeding to the burial ground! All these happened as though it was just yesterday!
My grandpa was not a farmer but rather someone who came from a cultured family that wrote and performed rituals for funerals in China. They were considered as literates and people of knowledge in the village back then in Qing Yuan of the Guangdong province in China. The opium had wrecked many families to bankruptcy in China and there was this exodus to look for greener pasture that took place perhaps about 80 years ago. My grandpa just got married and he joined the exodus and came alone to peninsular Malaya. Before long my grandma was brought over to Malaysia by her brother to meet up with my grandpa in Kampar, Perak. My grandma came from a rich family and my grandma would not want to leave a good looking beloved husband in a strange land. According to my father, so far non of us in our family had inherited the good look of my grandpa. The brother of my grandma stayed briefly in KL and started either a coal or iron ore mine, and we did not know for what reason that he eventually returned to China. And now the contact with this family of my grandma side is totally lost, though I tried hard to find his descendents while I was in China, but to no avail.
My uncle told me that my grandparents were staying near the now Eastern Garden of Kampar, cutting firewoods to be sold in the market place. It was not an easy task for my grandpa as a person who had never done such hard manual work in his life to start earning a living from this kind of work. Firewoods in bundles of two need to be carried with a long stick on a shoulder, to be brought in to kitchen, stacked and arranged properly, before the wage was paid.
Life was not easy when my grandparents had more children and I was told then the Japanese had offered salary in advance to build railways from Malaysia to Thailand. My grandpa accepted the money offer but after subsequent discussion with my grandma, had made the wise decision of returning the money to the Japanese authority. And he was fortunate enough not to participate in the deadly railway project, history had revealed that there were little survivors! My grandma did a great job in persuading my grandpa on this, she mentioned that no matter what hardship, through the thick and thin, she wanted a family to be always together.
Things got better when my father and his sister (My aunt) were amongst the first to learn how to tap rubbers to collect latex, and they earned a very good living by the standard then because few knew the technique of mastering the skill of tapping rubbers. Of course, the skill was later learned by many others. My grandpa also worked in the tin mines half way between Mambang Diawan and Kampar, it was supposed to be owned by a French company.
My grandpa after work from the tin mine would cycle all the way to Kampar and bought me Angel fish and gold fish! That was really a distance after a hard day work. Come to think of his act at this age, I am still touched by his great love for us as his grand children; he is always the greatest grandfather!
He was sick and always dozed off near the side door of the house near to his room. He suffered pain and took on opium to relieve the pain and subsequently was admitted to Tapah hospital. When the hospital informed us that there was no more hope for him to live on, my family engaged a truck to take him back home when his life supporting system was pulled off upon leaving the hospital.
That was the saddest and most sorrowful moment of my life as a kid. And that was also the first funeral that was held in my family! I saw my father cried the first time in my life on the day when my grandpa body was proceeding to the burial ground! All these happened as though it was just yesterday!
A place where you come from!
One could always move to new places you called homes because of jobs, change of schools, spouse preferences, want to stay close to children where they are studying or working, even migrate to other countries etc or for whatever other reasons! Many of us, because of circumstances, have no choice but to follow and move to stay on for years, in a particular place where our parents, ourselves or at the later part of our life, our sons and daughters, could find a means of living or livelihood. Do you know that it always stays very dear in the very depth of their hearts where they come from? In my case, Mambang Diawan, Kampar, Perak is always in my mind.
It is not how glamorous, how convenient with all those supermarkets, facilities, stores, schools or hospitals, how nice are those architecture of buildings or housing estates that count. It is about a place where you were raised, where there is your family ties, your root where your grandparents were buried, your childhood and your primary school etc. that add up altogether. It is beyond words to express how dear all those things that mean to us as we go through life, especially when we approach our retirement age.
In my younger days I yearned to live in big cities, maybe from Kampar to Ipoh, then to Kuala Lumpur, subsequently to Taipei or even Los Angeles. Now I am following a reverse path, I always wanted to go back to the village where I come from.
It might be for practical reason that I would not be able go back there eventually! But if follow my heart, that is the place I wish to go back to when I retire!
It is not how glamorous, how convenient with all those supermarkets, facilities, stores, schools or hospitals, how nice are those architecture of buildings or housing estates that count. It is about a place where you were raised, where there is your family ties, your root where your grandparents were buried, your childhood and your primary school etc. that add up altogether. It is beyond words to express how dear all those things that mean to us as we go through life, especially when we approach our retirement age.
In my younger days I yearned to live in big cities, maybe from Kampar to Ipoh, then to Kuala Lumpur, subsequently to Taipei or even Los Angeles. Now I am following a reverse path, I always wanted to go back to the village where I come from.
It might be for practical reason that I would not be able go back there eventually! But if follow my heart, that is the place I wish to go back to when I retire!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Flying and height phobia
The first time I flew on an aeroplane was when I studied 2nd year Mechanical Engineering in year 1979 and took a German proficiency course in University Malaya. With the arrangement of Herr Fleischer from the German Embassy through the help of my German language teacher Herr Volkmar Sturm, I was offered a 2 months training program (Ferien Beschaftigung) in Daimler Benz, the headquarter of Mercedes Benz in Stuttgart Germany. In Germany, in a train I met Mr. Wolfgang Wolber and subsequently her daughter Beate Wolber, who visited me in Malaysia with her friends many years ago and subsequently we lost contact. I only remember their home address was somewhere near Danziger strasse 3, Feldkirchen, Munchen!
I have height phobia since I was a small kid and my mum always had problem to persuade me and grab my hand tight just to cross a bridge above the Kampar river to a place called "Wah Loong" or "Wah Seong Kok", where one of my aunties lived ! Flying at such great height is definitely a no no to me. Whenever I fly I have to put my fear or phobia for height behind my mind and under my seat, and I always prefer, if possible to drive than to fly! In year 1991 I flew first time to US and during the landing in Chicago airport, it was snowing and the airport was filled with white snow all over, sitting inside a narrow body plane, it was a 737 I think, was a scary experience for me when the plane landed jerking violently and trembling all the way down the slippery airport runway, one could only see snow from the window and nothing else!
Another time was I returned from Shanghai to Penang while I was working in Suzhou, the plane already with its landing tire extended out, on a downward landing position and suddenly the pilot pulled up the plane away from the airport. I felt as though my heart was dropping out! The latest in year 2007 was when I flew with my colleagues from KLIA to Shanghai while taking on a position in Shandong province, and the plane pilot announced that the plane landing gear was having technical problem! We told ourselves that this is going to be the last time we fly if we ever have any other choice! Thank God that we eventually landed safely!
The furthest that I ever flew was from Malaysia to Mexico, that was 23 hours on the sky from KLIA to HongKong, Los Angeles, and El Paso Texas and it normally takes two days to arrive at the final destination, Juarez Mexico.
By the way, I spoke better Spanish than my German after my 3 years stay in Mexico though I had completed my 3 years Advanced German Proficiency course in University Malaya.
I have height phobia since I was a small kid and my mum always had problem to persuade me and grab my hand tight just to cross a bridge above the Kampar river to a place called "Wah Loong" or "Wah Seong Kok", where one of my aunties lived ! Flying at such great height is definitely a no no to me. Whenever I fly I have to put my fear or phobia for height behind my mind and under my seat, and I always prefer, if possible to drive than to fly! In year 1991 I flew first time to US and during the landing in Chicago airport, it was snowing and the airport was filled with white snow all over, sitting inside a narrow body plane, it was a 737 I think, was a scary experience for me when the plane landed jerking violently and trembling all the way down the slippery airport runway, one could only see snow from the window and nothing else!
Another time was I returned from Shanghai to Penang while I was working in Suzhou, the plane already with its landing tire extended out, on a downward landing position and suddenly the pilot pulled up the plane away from the airport. I felt as though my heart was dropping out! The latest in year 2007 was when I flew with my colleagues from KLIA to Shanghai while taking on a position in Shandong province, and the plane pilot announced that the plane landing gear was having technical problem! We told ourselves that this is going to be the last time we fly if we ever have any other choice! Thank God that we eventually landed safely!
The furthest that I ever flew was from Malaysia to Mexico, that was 23 hours on the sky from KLIA to HongKong, Los Angeles, and El Paso Texas and it normally takes two days to arrive at the final destination, Juarez Mexico.
By the way, I spoke better Spanish than my German after my 3 years stay in Mexico though I had completed my 3 years Advanced German Proficiency course in University Malaya.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Happy Birthday!
Today is my birthday and I am passing the birthday night in the Homestay hotel in Cukai Kemaman of Terengganu. I did not have a sumptous meal, but rather had a full papaya that was bought by my wife in KL and brought all the way here. She bought 3 papayas and they are starting to get too ripe and I have to consume them as soon as possible. Like a lot of the earlier birthdays, it is just an ordinary birthday that I go through. I received phone calls from my wife and the 2 children saying " Happy Birthday " to me. This year is a bit unusual and it got me really a big surprise to receive the SMS birthday greetings from my 2 sisters, first time in my life, especially my sister from KL. She happens to have a son that has birthday just one day earlier than me, that might have reminded her of this. This unusual greetings stirred my heart that I am really getting older each day and my siblings are feeling dearer in their hearts towards this big brother as years go by!
Since when I started to celebrate birthday? Frankly when I was kid, we did not celebrate birthdays like what we do now. Only my mum remembered my birthday on the 14th July of the Chinese Calender! That happened to coincide with the starting of the Ghost Festival of the Chinese. According to the Chinese belief, the host of devils or ghosts were set free during that period of time, with special permission from the chief in charge of hell, the hell went loose! And in superstitious Taiwan, no one would want to get married during this particular month!
My mum would cook some eggs for me and that was it, a simple celebration for the birthday! In the traditional Chinese village, every one used to have big family and we did not remember the birthdays of our own siblings and it was not common practice to celebrate birthdays at all. Big birthdays were celebrated only when one reaches the age of 60, 80 etc.
I started to celebrate birthdays only after I married my wife, mainly with the kids! For many years, I worked overseas and celebration was just a phone call. This year as I am away in Kemaman Terengganu, we celebrated a few days earlier when I went back to KL for the weekends to be with my family.
Birthday at our age is not something exciting but rather a ticking clock that constantly reminds us of how many more years to go before we retire! Though I am always young at heart, however this event did reminded me of my real age! I suddenly feel the body parts started to age and the greying of hairs instensifying, a natural process that one could only try to slow down but could not be prevented at all. I want to be gladful and thank God that He holds the key of our life and He has kept me going this far all these years and still continue the going! We all should be glad and joyful in everyday of our life.
Happy Birthday Martin!
Since when I started to celebrate birthday? Frankly when I was kid, we did not celebrate birthdays like what we do now. Only my mum remembered my birthday on the 14th July of the Chinese Calender! That happened to coincide with the starting of the Ghost Festival of the Chinese. According to the Chinese belief, the host of devils or ghosts were set free during that period of time, with special permission from the chief in charge of hell, the hell went loose! And in superstitious Taiwan, no one would want to get married during this particular month!
My mum would cook some eggs for me and that was it, a simple celebration for the birthday! In the traditional Chinese village, every one used to have big family and we did not remember the birthdays of our own siblings and it was not common practice to celebrate birthdays at all. Big birthdays were celebrated only when one reaches the age of 60, 80 etc.
I started to celebrate birthdays only after I married my wife, mainly with the kids! For many years, I worked overseas and celebration was just a phone call. This year as I am away in Kemaman Terengganu, we celebrated a few days earlier when I went back to KL for the weekends to be with my family.
Birthday at our age is not something exciting but rather a ticking clock that constantly reminds us of how many more years to go before we retire! Though I am always young at heart, however this event did reminded me of my real age! I suddenly feel the body parts started to age and the greying of hairs instensifying, a natural process that one could only try to slow down but could not be prevented at all. I want to be gladful and thank God that He holds the key of our life and He has kept me going this far all these years and still continue the going! We all should be glad and joyful in everyday of our life.
Happy Birthday Martin!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Border Check and immigration of USA
Today the news on Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan was detained in New Jersey airport for 2 hours with the intervention of the Indian Embassy before he was allowed to clear the immigration. This has become big news simply because he is a Bollywood star.
After the 911, US is probably the strictest country in the world, in the way they control the entry and exit of foreigners. It causes a lot of convenience to genuine visitors, but considering a country at stake, any right minded person will do the same. I really feel safe to be in America because of such tight screening!
I was in and out of US almost every weekend from the Mexico border and during that period of time, it was common to get stucked in the immigration for 3 hours before one was allowed to pass through, so Shahrukh Khan just waited for 2 hours, he should not have complained. Of course the Americans do not watch Hindi movies therefore they could not recognize his face as a Bollywood superstar. When passing through the US border, Malaysian passport holders regardless, are considered as from sensitive country. And we were finger printed (both hands 10 fingers) and photographed, with scanners, web cam and input into computers, together with passport information were then checked against immigration records, after this procedure was cleared, and all the necessary information need to be sent again to FBI for final clearance. This last clearance procedure took longer time, perhaps the FBI centralized the screening in very few secret locations and was extremely busy over the task to be performed.
As we crossed fairly frequent enough, some of the officers, even the more senior ones could recognize our faces and things got a little bit easier, and those officers who dare to make decision will let us go without having to go through this tedious checking procedure. Most of the officers are nice and friendly and occasionally we did bump into 1 or 2 nasty ones; and the experience with them was not pleasant at all.
Crossing the border from inland is subjected to a more comprehensive checking compared with flying in by air. All incoming flights to USA, the list of international passengers information needs to be submitted at least one day prior to the flight for their screening. Therefore, upon arrival to LA airport, the immigration is normally smooth and without much problem.
It is good to be back in Malaysia, we feel really at home, the feeling of you are in your own country makes you feel at ease! Our smart immigration officers used to utter a few words in Bahasa just to test out whether you are genuine Malaysians. Nowadays with the chip based passports, the automatic immigration clearance is state of the art, and world class, and I am really proud of Malaysia on this!
After the 911, US is probably the strictest country in the world, in the way they control the entry and exit of foreigners. It causes a lot of convenience to genuine visitors, but considering a country at stake, any right minded person will do the same. I really feel safe to be in America because of such tight screening!
I was in and out of US almost every weekend from the Mexico border and during that period of time, it was common to get stucked in the immigration for 3 hours before one was allowed to pass through, so Shahrukh Khan just waited for 2 hours, he should not have complained. Of course the Americans do not watch Hindi movies therefore they could not recognize his face as a Bollywood superstar. When passing through the US border, Malaysian passport holders regardless, are considered as from sensitive country. And we were finger printed (both hands 10 fingers) and photographed, with scanners, web cam and input into computers, together with passport information were then checked against immigration records, after this procedure was cleared, and all the necessary information need to be sent again to FBI for final clearance. This last clearance procedure took longer time, perhaps the FBI centralized the screening in very few secret locations and was extremely busy over the task to be performed.
As we crossed fairly frequent enough, some of the officers, even the more senior ones could recognize our faces and things got a little bit easier, and those officers who dare to make decision will let us go without having to go through this tedious checking procedure. Most of the officers are nice and friendly and occasionally we did bump into 1 or 2 nasty ones; and the experience with them was not pleasant at all.
Crossing the border from inland is subjected to a more comprehensive checking compared with flying in by air. All incoming flights to USA, the list of international passengers information needs to be submitted at least one day prior to the flight for their screening. Therefore, upon arrival to LA airport, the immigration is normally smooth and without much problem.
It is good to be back in Malaysia, we feel really at home, the feeling of you are in your own country makes you feel at ease! Our smart immigration officers used to utter a few words in Bahasa just to test out whether you are genuine Malaysians. Nowadays with the chip based passports, the automatic immigration clearance is state of the art, and world class, and I am really proud of Malaysia on this!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Making of hot-rolled steel plates - 2
The reheating furnace is an important part of a steel plate mill. So-called reheating because slabs of higher thickness are procured in and then reheated from room temperature to temperature above 1200 degrees C. Using the more technical term, probably this is the austenitic region of the steel, whereby because of the microstructures of the steel in its Austenite form when heated to this high temperature, the thick slabs of 48mm, 58 mm, 68mm, 160mm, 200mm, 220 mm etc are "soft" and could be readily rolled into various smaller thicknesses such as 6mm, 8mm, 10mm, 12mm etc. to the limits of 45mm, 48mm, 50mm, 55mm etc. depending on the equipment used at the steel mill. (Mill stand and hot leveler)
The furnace is a well insulated enclosure where the internal temperature is raised through the burning of fuel. There are different types of fuel such as natural gas, diesel etc. Why is it that at our home, the burning temperature could only be raised to a certain extent/degree and no more? Is this something interesting for us to note? Theoretically if we burn natural gas with air, for complete combustion and without any loss of heat, the adiabatic frame temperature achievable is 1950 degree C. Due to losses through the surrounding atmosphere and other conductive, radiative, absorption losses etc, the furnance temperature could reach probably in the region of 1200-1350 degree C without much of a problem.
The construction and design of the furnace therefore is meant to minimize heat losses, make use of recycled energy etc so as to provide an efficient heating at the most economical cost. The walls are tiled with refractory bricks, insulation material etc to make it to be really good in heat insulation. In addition to that, rail structure is built inside to support and transport the slabs, and these rails are water-cooled so that under the heavy weight of such slabs, they are not deformed or melted by the heat. Because of this cooling requirement, the cooling pipes under the rails are sealed with refractory cements to protect them from severe heating, and therefore a cooling water recycling system has to be in place to cool the rails (sometimes they call it the skid).
The running of a reheat furnace is expensive and needs to be continuous as it takes up a lot of energy and time before it could reach that high temperature. Therefore a furnace need to run, if necessary non-stop though for practical reason and also for scheduled maintenance work to be carried out periodically, that this is not possible. When a furnace is shut down and it takes 5 days to cool down to room temperature and a lot of the insulating cement and refractory tiles will crack because of the contraction caused by this big drop in temperature range. Therefore, repair of such insulating material and the lining of the furnance is necessary to be carried out for every long shut down of the furnace.
The furnace is a well insulated enclosure where the internal temperature is raised through the burning of fuel. There are different types of fuel such as natural gas, diesel etc. Why is it that at our home, the burning temperature could only be raised to a certain extent/degree and no more? Is this something interesting for us to note? Theoretically if we burn natural gas with air, for complete combustion and without any loss of heat, the adiabatic frame temperature achievable is 1950 degree C. Due to losses through the surrounding atmosphere and other conductive, radiative, absorption losses etc, the furnance temperature could reach probably in the region of 1200-1350 degree C without much of a problem.
The construction and design of the furnace therefore is meant to minimize heat losses, make use of recycled energy etc so as to provide an efficient heating at the most economical cost. The walls are tiled with refractory bricks, insulation material etc to make it to be really good in heat insulation. In addition to that, rail structure is built inside to support and transport the slabs, and these rails are water-cooled so that under the heavy weight of such slabs, they are not deformed or melted by the heat. Because of this cooling requirement, the cooling pipes under the rails are sealed with refractory cements to protect them from severe heating, and therefore a cooling water recycling system has to be in place to cool the rails (sometimes they call it the skid).
The running of a reheat furnace is expensive and needs to be continuous as it takes up a lot of energy and time before it could reach that high temperature. Therefore a furnace need to run, if necessary non-stop though for practical reason and also for scheduled maintenance work to be carried out periodically, that this is not possible. When a furnace is shut down and it takes 5 days to cool down to room temperature and a lot of the insulating cement and refractory tiles will crack because of the contraction caused by this big drop in temperature range. Therefore, repair of such insulating material and the lining of the furnance is necessary to be carried out for every long shut down of the furnace.
The temperature control of the furnance is a function of gas flow rate, pressure, air suppy etc. If the temperature is getting too high, the slab surface is oxidized and produces scales which are not desirable for good quality steel sheets. And if the temperature is too low, the descaling process using high pressure water in the region of 100-200 bars will cool down the slab too much, and that becomes too hard for the rolling process, it might cause warpage or damage to the work rolls.
The reheat furnace and its temperature control is crucial to the making of quality steel sheets.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Making of hot-rolled steel plates - 1
It is interesting to note how steel sheets are being made. As the name implied, the steel plate is rolled to its desired thickness while the steel slab is heated to red hot temperature. The equipment that is used to roll the steel slabs is called a mill stand which consists mainly of work rollers, top and bottom; usually the top roller could be screwed downward or mechanically gear-driven to decrease the gap or distance between the two rollers to achieve the thickness by stages. The downward movement of the top roller or screw down is, at a progression of 7-8mm and subsequently when near to the desired thickness, the decrease is more gradual, say 5mm or less.
To start with, slabs of various thickness dimensions are procured in, cut to the sizes which fit the inside dimensions of the furnace, and the slabs are raised to temperature in the region of 1250 degree C. And the heated slab is then discharged onto a conveyor of rollers, and these rollers will carry the heated slab to a primary descaling station, whereby high pressure water jet in the region of 120 bars are sprayed onto both the top and bottom surfaces of the slab. The force and the cooling will crack and peel the scales of the oxidized layers of the slabs.
The descaled slab is normally subjected to a secondary descaling process where water is blasted against the surfaces to get rid of the remaining scales. Then the work rollers will start to roll the slab back and forth until the desired thickness and length is achieved and then pass on to another station called the hot leveler.
The hot leveler is an assembly of rollers that flattens the surface of the plates so as to meet the industry standard requirement. Without going through the hot leveler process, the surface of the plate is wavy and uneven.
After this leveling process, the steel plates are then sheared or cut to standard sizes for delivery to customers.
This is a simple layman description on the hot rolled steel plates processes. Of course running a steel mill is more complicated than this. If there is chance I will go into the technical details of it.
To start with, slabs of various thickness dimensions are procured in, cut to the sizes which fit the inside dimensions of the furnace, and the slabs are raised to temperature in the region of 1250 degree C. And the heated slab is then discharged onto a conveyor of rollers, and these rollers will carry the heated slab to a primary descaling station, whereby high pressure water jet in the region of 120 bars are sprayed onto both the top and bottom surfaces of the slab. The force and the cooling will crack and peel the scales of the oxidized layers of the slabs.
The descaled slab is normally subjected to a secondary descaling process where water is blasted against the surfaces to get rid of the remaining scales. Then the work rollers will start to roll the slab back and forth until the desired thickness and length is achieved and then pass on to another station called the hot leveler.
The hot leveler is an assembly of rollers that flattens the surface of the plates so as to meet the industry standard requirement. Without going through the hot leveler process, the surface of the plate is wavy and uneven.
After this leveling process, the steel plates are then sheared or cut to standard sizes for delivery to customers.
This is a simple layman description on the hot rolled steel plates processes. Of course running a steel mill is more complicated than this. If there is chance I will go into the technical details of it.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Working Life
As we graduated in the 80's and it is a long time that we work. Most of the time work is fun especially when we were young, energetic and curious when exposed to new things. We equip ourselves, move on the corporate ladder, face the ups and downs of life, the dealing with all kinds of people, and then you will come to a time where you feel working is just trading your limited time of your remaining life with money so that you could further support your family. It is no more fun, not because the job is no good or boring but rather you seem to know too well and a lot of things about the work that you are doing or need to be done, by your past experience gained through these working years. It is beyond words to describe how you feel about working life at this age when you still need to stay the specified hours in a particular working place because your employer pays you a salary for that!
We all toil for a living, not for ourselves but mainly for our family especially our children. Come to think of it, we do all this with our own life, just for them! One day when they become parents, they will know what I mean.
If my son and daughter complete their studies, I will call it a day for this working life and do something more meaningful. If God willing, I will serve Him and the people, so that I could make an impact in the life of others. If God wanted to take my soul, I will tell Him wait, I still have a job undone for you and your people.
One fine day, I hope I could proudly say: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished my race, and I have kept the faith!" May God always bless me with a strong and healthy body.
We all toil for a living, not for ourselves but mainly for our family especially our children. Come to think of it, we do all this with our own life, just for them! One day when they become parents, they will know what I mean.
If my son and daughter complete their studies, I will call it a day for this working life and do something more meaningful. If God willing, I will serve Him and the people, so that I could make an impact in the life of others. If God wanted to take my soul, I will tell Him wait, I still have a job undone for you and your people.
One fine day, I hope I could proudly say: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished my race, and I have kept the faith!" May God always bless me with a strong and healthy body.
Susu Cap Junjung (Nestle condensed milk)
I suddenly remember the time when the condensed milk and not the milk powder was the norm of the day for us all. We did not know so much about the importance of nutrition and also the benefits of breast feeding etc. At those days in the 50s and 60s, if children got enough supply of condensed milk were considered fortunate.
I am not here to talk about this issue of milk, somehow we did manage to grow up as what we are today despite the lack of the more nutritious milk powder! In some of the MBA papers or sessions for group discussion, there are topics related to how Nestle company handled the situation when modern day consumers were complaining about how mothers were brain- washed or deprived of the knowledge of the importance of breast feeding while the company did a thriving business and promoted milk powder as a substitute of natural mother milk etc.. Never mind about all that concerning the tussle between the consumers and Nestle, what I remember and impressed me the most was how this company came out with a very creative program whereby the wrapping label on every tin of this "susu cap junjung" was with some pictures of fishes and birds. One has to buy the tin of milk, unwrap the label cautiously in order to see the hidden picture of it on the other side of the label. Everyone in the household was crazy over this collection of pictures to paste and complete an album of fishes, and subsequently Nestle came out with another album on birds, which was equally successful as the first one. Practically this strategy had wiped out the sales of all other brands for a few months to half a year in my village before the condensed milk market got back to its normal situation. By that time our house had an over stock of condensed milk! Nestle had done a great job in this sales campaign and a very innovative way of promoting its milk products.
Until today I still could remember very well how some of those pictures look like, I wonder if there is anyone out there still keep those pictures or albums.
I am not here to talk about this issue of milk, somehow we did manage to grow up as what we are today despite the lack of the more nutritious milk powder! In some of the MBA papers or sessions for group discussion, there are topics related to how Nestle company handled the situation when modern day consumers were complaining about how mothers were brain- washed or deprived of the knowledge of the importance of breast feeding while the company did a thriving business and promoted milk powder as a substitute of natural mother milk etc.. Never mind about all that concerning the tussle between the consumers and Nestle, what I remember and impressed me the most was how this company came out with a very creative program whereby the wrapping label on every tin of this "susu cap junjung" was with some pictures of fishes and birds. One has to buy the tin of milk, unwrap the label cautiously in order to see the hidden picture of it on the other side of the label. Everyone in the household was crazy over this collection of pictures to paste and complete an album of fishes, and subsequently Nestle came out with another album on birds, which was equally successful as the first one. Practically this strategy had wiped out the sales of all other brands for a few months to half a year in my village before the condensed milk market got back to its normal situation. By that time our house had an over stock of condensed milk! Nestle had done a great job in this sales campaign and a very innovative way of promoting its milk products.
Until today I still could remember very well how some of those pictures look like, I wonder if there is anyone out there still keep those pictures or albums.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Kemasek, Kerteh and Paka
Last Friday, I took the opportunity of the day off in Terengganu state and went up north of Kemaman. I went to the Mesra Mall in Kemasek, all the way passed through Kerteh and Paka.
Drove into some side lanes and explored the river mouths and beaches of these towns. Finally I dropped into the Awana Kijal hotel where it is a popular staying place for the tourists.
Below are some of the photos taken:
Paka
Kemasek
Awana Kijal hotel
Kerteh
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Trip to USA - An American dream
My daughter wanted very much to go to USA as she always watches American movies and admires the life style depicted, good education, innovation and high end technology etc available in this most advanced nation of the world. She learns piano, violin, guitar and ballet; and she hopes one day she could have a chance to study music or even ballet in the US. One day when her school teacher asked the whole class about who had been to Genting Highland, and surprisingly my daughter was the only one in the class shamefully that had never been to that common and popular Malaysian tourist spot. But she was brought to America together with the family while I was working in Juarez Mexico, just half an hour drive across the border city of El Paso Texas. For that reason, she became probably the only girl in class that had gone visiting so far away to America and also the only student that had never been to the "yet so near" Genting Highland resort. I wanted her to be "in par" with the other classmates, so finally we brought her to Genting Highland at the early part of this year 2009, a record fulfilled for her; she was 14 years old and it also means my family had never been to Genting at least for the past 14 years or so.
I did not like Genting that much because to me that is a place where people just go there for the sake of gambling, which is an activity that I dislike, though when I was younger I used to gamble with my cousins especially during Chinese New Years. Gambling then was sort of like a culture during the Chinese New Year period, a mean of socializing amongst relatives and friends, adults and children alike were allowed to gamble with their "Ang Pow" money, solely permitted by parents for that limited, legitimate period which is otherwise an unlawful and not so encouraged activity. Nowadays, Genting is not a bad place if one just wants to bring family members to a theme park for the weekend, which is comparatively nearer and cheaper. Since I had been to Disneyland in Japan and my family had also gone to Disneyland and Universal Studio in Los Angeles, we were not that keen afterall for all these years.
In year 2006, My family and I had obtained L1 visas from the company and that entitled me and my family to stay and work for 3 years in the US. I had got everything done up for my family, applied and received my social security number, tendered our termination letters to the schools etc, just fell short of buying the air tickets to go, I was given the sudden and abrupt intruction to be transferred to China beacause the Chinese operation was suffering from huge losses in the region of millions ringgit per month.
An American dream that is not fulfilled for my daughter and until now I still feel very sorry for her because she was very disappointed at the last minute changes.
I pray that if God willing, one day she will go to America again!
I did not like Genting that much because to me that is a place where people just go there for the sake of gambling, which is an activity that I dislike, though when I was younger I used to gamble with my cousins especially during Chinese New Years. Gambling then was sort of like a culture during the Chinese New Year period, a mean of socializing amongst relatives and friends, adults and children alike were allowed to gamble with their "Ang Pow" money, solely permitted by parents for that limited, legitimate period which is otherwise an unlawful and not so encouraged activity. Nowadays, Genting is not a bad place if one just wants to bring family members to a theme park for the weekend, which is comparatively nearer and cheaper. Since I had been to Disneyland in Japan and my family had also gone to Disneyland and Universal Studio in Los Angeles, we were not that keen afterall for all these years.
In year 2006, My family and I had obtained L1 visas from the company and that entitled me and my family to stay and work for 3 years in the US. I had got everything done up for my family, applied and received my social security number, tendered our termination letters to the schools etc, just fell short of buying the air tickets to go, I was given the sudden and abrupt intruction to be transferred to China beacause the Chinese operation was suffering from huge losses in the region of millions ringgit per month.
An American dream that is not fulfilled for my daughter and until now I still feel very sorry for her because she was very disappointed at the last minute changes.
I pray that if God willing, one day she will go to America again!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Talking about H1N1
My specialist doctor school mate told us that the H1N1 virus is relatively mild compared to Dengue fever, where the fatality rate is much more higher than H1N1. But this Dengue fever fatalities are reported in a very low profile manner in the country. Our Malaysians always adopt a could not careless kind of attitude and hide our heads in the sand.
I traveled frequently in China and also had home trips every 2 to 3 months while I was posted to China. Looking at how China as a less developed country compared to Malaysia coping with the H1N1 situation, we Malaysia is no where near them in the effort and determination of stopping the spread of this virus. Consider a 1.3 billions population country they have no choice but to curb the spread of the virus in a more careful, strict, effective and comprehensive manner. It is evident from the fact that when the first outbreak was detected, they quarantined the entire flight of the Mexican passengers regardless of such abrupt, seemingly rude and ruthless effort would even offend Mexico as a country state.
Imagine that the Chinese health officers go on board of arriving planes and scan every passenger, and upon arrival to the immigration gates, all passengers are need to be scanned another round before they are allowed to disembark on the land. You thought you are clear from all this mess, but upon arrival to the hotel, the entrance of the hotel is also equipped with temperature sensor to scan every in-going persons before you are allowed to enter.
Contrary to what China had done, when I arrived home in the airport, there is practically no scanning as though H1N1 is not there in Malaysia at all. This is the kind of attitude that we Malaysians have. From this, no matter how much actual effort that might have put in by our government or individuals of the public, I could only deduce that our home grown Dengue outbreak is not taken serious enough by anybody to put a stop to this spread of the infection. The preventive measures taken is merely by random house to house checking of larvae, and occasional fogging AFTER when a Dengue case was discovered. Would someone verify my statement here?
I traveled frequently in China and also had home trips every 2 to 3 months while I was posted to China. Looking at how China as a less developed country compared to Malaysia coping with the H1N1 situation, we Malaysia is no where near them in the effort and determination of stopping the spread of this virus. Consider a 1.3 billions population country they have no choice but to curb the spread of the virus in a more careful, strict, effective and comprehensive manner. It is evident from the fact that when the first outbreak was detected, they quarantined the entire flight of the Mexican passengers regardless of such abrupt, seemingly rude and ruthless effort would even offend Mexico as a country state.
Imagine that the Chinese health officers go on board of arriving planes and scan every passenger, and upon arrival to the immigration gates, all passengers are need to be scanned another round before they are allowed to disembark on the land. You thought you are clear from all this mess, but upon arrival to the hotel, the entrance of the hotel is also equipped with temperature sensor to scan every in-going persons before you are allowed to enter.
Contrary to what China had done, when I arrived home in the airport, there is practically no scanning as though H1N1 is not there in Malaysia at all. This is the kind of attitude that we Malaysians have. From this, no matter how much actual effort that might have put in by our government or individuals of the public, I could only deduce that our home grown Dengue outbreak is not taken serious enough by anybody to put a stop to this spread of the infection. The preventive measures taken is merely by random house to house checking of larvae, and occasional fogging AFTER when a Dengue case was discovered. Would someone verify my statement here?
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
My Son went to the PC fair
My son, a 19 years old young man decided to go to PC fair to be employed for 3 days @RM80 per day. As parents, we had reminded him not to go to crowded places where H1N1 is rampant and lately this virus seems to be taking its toll on people and lives were lost due to complication when the influenza struck. Even if he did not go to the fair at all, it does not mean that he does not stand a chance of exposing himself to the risk of any virus or bacteria which are present everywhere such as college, shopping centres, hawkers stores etc. As understanding and concerning parents, we did not want to stop him to go but explained to him on the risk of such virus for him, telling him that it not worthwhile just to get that hard-earned meagre sum of Rm240 and get himself exposed to such risk, and we also reminded him of his asthmaic background which could further complicate the symptom etc. Finally we had sort of forced him to buy a few masks just for the sake of preventive protection. He took the masks along half heartedly and we are not sure whether he really did wear the mask as one of the exhibitors in the KLCC. We could only pray to God for him to be protected from such risk factors.
Nowadays It is hard to become parents because grown-up teenagers have their own thoughts and friends and they do not consider the feelings of worrisome parents when they decided to take on certain activities. Perhaps one day when they become parents themselves, then they would be able to understand how parents feel for their children. We want them to learn more about the world and we also do not want to be over-protective of them.
I told my son many times, wait till one day he becomes a father, then he will only realize the burden and the responsibility of a father. I am glad that I am given a chance to become a father before I could appreciate my own father more. When we were young, my dad used to be going outside of the house to earn livelihood for the family; my siblings and I tend to be closer to our mum because she was always at home with us.
Nowadays It is hard to become parents because grown-up teenagers have their own thoughts and friends and they do not consider the feelings of worrisome parents when they decided to take on certain activities. Perhaps one day when they become parents themselves, then they would be able to understand how parents feel for their children. We want them to learn more about the world and we also do not want to be over-protective of them.
I told my son many times, wait till one day he becomes a father, then he will only realize the burden and the responsibility of a father. I am glad that I am given a chance to become a father before I could appreciate my own father more. When we were young, my dad used to be going outside of the house to earn livelihood for the family; my siblings and I tend to be closer to our mum because she was always at home with us.
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