Much Ado about Road Names

I used to think a rose by any name smelt just as sweet....Until these recent spate of events...

On Jalan Alor/Kejora
Extracted from The Star (18/10/08)...
"Jalan Alor’s name was changed at the request of the National Economic Action Council following decisions made in its exco meeting.
With regard to that, DBKL’s Road Naming Committee concluded in its meeting that the name of Jalan Alor be changed to Jalan Kejora to go with other roads in the vicinity named after the stars.
The change is also to meet requirements under the road naming guidelines."
So surprise to see that we have a road naming committee to do things in accordance with requirements under road naming guidelines! Dun play play....

On Chinese/Jawi/English/Malay name of Penang street
Extracted from The Star (28/10/08)...
"Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said that multi-language road signs would disunite the people."
Err... How??? You mean the ppl will beat each other up if someone name a certain road Jalan Keldai or Donkey's Road??? Scared lor...

Extracted from New Strait Times (28/10/08)
Shafie, who was urged to streamline the use of the national language in road signs by the ministry’s former minister, Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim, said the issue would be endless if Penang decided to use the three languages.“We live in a multiracial society and I’m sure other races will question their rights.
Err... What rights is that, and why would any race protest? Who will protest, questions against Jalan Keldai aka Donkey's Road aka Ass Road?

Btw, since we are in the topic of names, how about our Capital City, Kuala Lumpur ( the Muddy river mouth if you dun know) Err.... How does it reflect on our country??? We are muddy and murky? Hahaha

On Penang road names, by the way, there's 3 Jalan Zoo in the Air Itam (Black Water) area... 2 of them is seperated by Sungai Air Itam and the other one is in Farlim (Bandar Baru Air Itam)! You know how confusing it is for us Penangites trying to tell our non-penangites friends ask for directions to "Jalan Zoo, Air Itam" Anyone from any road naming committee can help to answer this question?

Bai bai to my little friends!

Just received this email...

Dear Brothers & Sisters in the Dhamma,

First of all I would like to say Maha Sadhu to all of you who have contributed and help make it possible to the purchase of new clothes for the Myanmar cyclone affected children. Those children will be receiving your dana through a group of devotees leaving on 8 Nov 2008.

Also I would like to say Maha Sadhu to those who have contributed and also helped in the collection for the Khatina at Ariyamaggin Monastery, Yangon, Burma. This is however still open if anyone of you wish to contribute as they are still short of funds for the Khatina. Last date for this collection is on 2 Nov 2008.

I am now assisting them to look for any used unwanted soft toys to be given to those ophans in Myanmar. It has to be soft toys only as these will be hand carried by the devotees for the children. Please call me at 012-4278088 or email me at ritateoh@hotmail.com to arrange for collection of your toys.They can only carry about 4 cartons - medium size. Last date for this collection is also on 2 Nov 2008.

Please pass this message to your friends or relatives who can contribute in one way or another . May you "see" the serene joy that lingers throughout your breathe in all your Metta givings.May you "touch" the essence of freedom in your actions of parting all your goodness unto others who are less fortunate. Maha Sadhu to all of you !!!

Metta

Rita

This is the happy family group of soft toys i have collected over the years and am parting with them this time. Well, this group of little friends have acompanied me through thick and thin during my UK days and hopefully they will now bring more cheers to the Burmese kids who will receive them! I will definitely missed my Tiger, 2 Pickachus (bigP and fatP), Pingu, 3 Looney Toons, Goofy, Mr. Sneeze, Me2You Ping, Purple Sharkey, and Tweety Fairy!

Tiger always light up my days and Mr. Sneeze always bring a smile to me whenever he falls off and hit me and ai aichu aiiiichhhuuu. Big P is the oldest among all, he is the Tai Ko as he has been with me since my Sheffield days. A couple of them like Mr. Sneeze and the 3 Looney Toons was always sitting in my office watching over my simulations and electrons! As i was taking them out from their boxes, memories kept flooding back. Hence this little tribute to them! I will missed them but i am sure they will bring more happiness to more children like they have brought me!

A good deed today by the TAO-ians

KY started the ball rolling by forwarding the email out from Silver Jubilee Old folks home that they needed some essentials urgently. Then, she also took the effort of passing the hat about and collected a total of RM 410+ something. Clap clap clap! Kudos to her and to all the ppl (including some non-TAO ppl)! Clap Clap Clap...

So today during lunch, we (Kim Yen, Ivan, Theng Theng, Yee Lin, Boon Khim, Kai Nian, Chia Sing) proceeded to Tesco Extra to get the items, 2 trolley full of diapers, Milos, oats, and soap powders! BK, Ivan and KY was busying zig-zaging to look for all the items, YL was holding the money, TT was our financial controller..Of course Kai Nian and Chia Sing are the expert in choosing the items and which one is the one more economical. Lazy me was just watching. Haha..After shopping, of course we delivered all the goods to the home. We took a picture, with 2 persons ( guess which 2 thin persons) hiding behind 1 person (guess 1 not-thin person). Answer is in the picture loaded in my facebook! Haha...

Before we went back to work, we detoured abit, to buy Toto, as Ivan dreamt of collecting toto money last night! and all of us dreamt all the way back to work with our soon to get 28 millions! Haha... What a happy bunch of lunchmates today!

Oh ya, if you want to know more and want to help, here's the link http://silverjubileehome.org/
Which reminds me of 1 girl guide song, "if you are happy and you know it, clap your hands! Clap clap!"

Pain Pain Pain

Ouch Ouch Ouch!
3 weeks ago, before the raya long hols, i slipped and fell down the stairs at work. Well, the good thing was that my laptop hit the step first and thus saved me from rolling all the way down. i was lucky to escape with a badly hit right foot at the ankle area! No broken bones, no sprained mussles or tendon! Just some ice and rest on the foot and i was up and about almost the next hour!!! Though i suffered the pain for a week.. kinda minor pain, as i didn't rest my poor foot enough, was running about all over the place, weddings etc etc etc...

Finally when i tot my suffering is over, last night, i managed to whack my right elbow into the pillar at home! Ooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuchhh!
Yup.. it's that painful! With a drop of tear appearing at the corner of my eye! Was too tired.. went to sleep instead. Should have put some ice last night!
And now i am in severe pain... Ouchhhhhhhh!

THis post is getting painful even for me to read... with lots yells and moans and "ouch"es!!!
But i am really in pain. The lucky thing is that it doesn't hamper my normal activity like typing, carrying stuff etc! i also managed to play ping pong tonight! A couple of things i can't do are to brush teeth and pull the safety belts in my car! oh, btw, just in case you are wondering, i do brush my teeth, with my left hand! but i think i sprained my left wrist just now brushing my teeth! OUCH!

pain in right elbow, pain in left wrist.... How how how! Any sifu to recommend me? Any quick remedy?

Pain oh pain, when are you going away?

What.. are you staying away from politics!

hmm.. a friend commented that he was surprised i am blogging so little on politics these days, considering the happenings (especially with my idol RPK under ISA). I think he just like to see me being angry and showing my fists in the air... and me all worked up and red-faced

haha...well, i haven't read any political blogs/ newspaper really for the last 3 days! Well, did read up a bit before writing this post, actually. I still read the BBC daily, and trying hard to understand some economics, like the US recession, and all the happenings to Europe and across the world, all except Malaysia.

Want to know why? Our (i just can't type leaders, leaders should be ppl i respect), well, a couple of morons running this country at the moment, still think that "our country is OK, doing fine, no problemo....." Ostrichtssss.. ( i know , i can't spell, i think blogger needs to give me spell check!)

what the people say, they can't listen, can't see, can't feel, as their whole head, hmm. ( if they have one) is burried so deep that it will take ages to dig it out. maybe after a while, i dun really bother anymore!

Anyway, back to economics, i find it really interesting to see the bailouts etc, and also how giant economy of the world ( US, UK, Europe. Japan or even China) are taking steps doing something. i am very curios to see the results 6 months down the road really. Everyone is making such a pessimistic prediction, that some how i think things won't turn out that bad... :) why? Becos everyone country in the world knows there is a problem, and working their hardest to solve this problem.

Except Malaysia! Malaysia Boleh!

Bleak times ahead... and a day of lots of alcohol!

"No pay increament for 2009!" Bill announced today. :(

Everyone of us were so disappointed and all we could talk about was Toto (20 Million), Tiramisu in the evening and of course, our celebration in Soho playing ikan pangang (fusbal)!

Well, i haven't drank for quite a wee while.... tonight was payback time. I think the chef must have sensed our depression when he prepared the tiramisu.. all i could taste and smell was the contreau or kahlua or whatever alcohol he used. Well, after dessert, rain was pouring cats and dsogs, we couldn't proceed immediately to our next destination, so i had a calypso coffee, (espresso mixed with dark rum and Tia Maria) which is much stronger than i expected. I was kinda high after that really! Especially after "bottoms up" But i still managed to win a couple of rounds playing "chor tai ti". TT was really "ong" or the TI queen, she keeps getting all the TIs!

This is what i was drinkign to get high.. haha

Anyway, just as i was feeling slightly high, the rain finally calmed down and we went to Soho to play fusbal, fondly known as "peng hu". Haha...
Of course we had fun. and of course the highlight of the evening. Me and TT beat ST and KB in a nail biting match (9-8)! Yippee!

Just to make Botak jealous, as he didn't want to join us this time... ST now has an ingenous way of playing peng hu cheaply, making the game last twice as long... Can't say it here . :P

Oh ya, we also sort of plan our next year journey to my boss wedding in KL. Better trained a bit first, before embarking in that journey, as we (i think we were high or really carried away) plan to club crawl from MOS to Zuek to Lunar Bar to Sky Bar to Westin and pubcrawl back to whichever hotel we will be statying for the night. Ivan has offered his house for us to camp as well. All planned and ready to gooooo..... haha.. kincheong lor..

We Won!!! Yippee!

Happy Marriage to 3 couples!

Happy Marriage to Theng+Boon, Mei Yun+Chong Keat, and my cousin LingFong+Yen.

2 holes on my arm

No, i was not bitten by a blood sucking vampire! Just by one one the largest blood sucking group in Penang, haha... They gonna thump me hard for calling these group of really amazing, most dedicated and extremely friendly and helpful group of Blood Donation Campaigners by this nick. Now i can proudly claim to belong to them and as i managed to be a donor of my first pint out blood out today! Yippee... Finally found the courage and the right timing, with sufficient sleep to make it today!

As most of my friends know, i have been helping out with the HYS blood donation group for the pass 3 years. Yup, it has taken me that long to take the 1st plunge, or rather the first needle. Of course, thanks to lots of encouragement from our chief, JH and some other BDC comrades!

The first pint of blood I'd ever donated in my 31 years on this planet. It's a good feeling knowing that I had surrendered 8-10% of my body's supply of circulatory fluid to some unknown strangers who needed them. As we all know or being told repeatedly, there's fewer than 1% of Malaysians donate blood (give or take) and that most of those people only donate once per year, I felt pretty good.

For those who yet to take the first needle, i challenge you to do it now! :)

Remain CALM

THAT'S WHAT EVERYONE IS SAYING, OR RATHER TRYING TO DO!

AND I AM SO CALM THAT I AM SITTING AT HOME, TYPING IN CAPS, VENTING OUT THIS LITTLE BIT AMOUNT OF STEAM!
ARGGGG.. IT'S SICKENING..

I AM SO BLOODY CALM THAT I AM SITTING AT HOME, THINKING WHAT THOSE IMBECILES GOING TO DO NEXT..THEIR NEXT MOVE... SHUTDOWN ALL NEWSPAPERS? ARREST ALL BLOGGERS, ARREST ALL OPPOSITION LEADERS, ARREST ALL CURRENTLY UNDER BN BUT SPEAKING UP AGAINST THIS DRACONIAN LAW? WHILE THOSE THAT ARE REALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR INCITING ALL THESE RACIAL TENSIONS ARE HAPPILY HOLIDAYING IN TAIWAN OR GOD KNOWS WHERE!

ANYWAY, SINCE I AM STILL SO !@#$% CALM THAT I AM READING HARIS IBRAHIM ETC FOR UPDATES.

" Situation in Bukit Mertajam is quite tense. Just came back from BM police station. Received call from friend that people in Raja Uda, Butterworth (Chinese area) are extremely angry. Went to the Berapit Kampung Baru to see a friend and he informed me that the mood is the same. They know where to push the people to make them angry. Please help put up a post to calm down the people as Malaysia Today, People’s Parliament and Malaysiakini has the widest coverage. I just don’t want the people to walk into the trap they have set. "COMMENTS FROM VIVEG AFTER MIDNIGHT LAST NIGHT

Big Bang Day!

Amazing, this really mega project, a 27km-long tunnel which houses the Large Hadron Collider that took 30 long years and 4 times than the initiall budget is finally complete and up and running

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7604293.stm

It is indeed an exciting frontier in science, i think eveyone of us are eagerly waiting to see the first results when the protons collide. i wonder what surprises would nature throw us this time.

Anyway, a salute to all who worked on this. Looks like we will indeed one day hitch hike out to the galaxy, yeah, i am sure Douglas Adams's fans would.

Comedy

i think we all need something to relax under these stressful, Taiwan study trips, KTK picture-tearing days.

This video from 2 very talanted Malaysians (who cares if they are Malays, Chinese, Indians or dll)?


For more videos...check out.. I would love to load more from utube here, but then it will take forever to load my webpage. So here's the link.
http://www.comedycourt.com.my/index_00.html

Health Test and a really bland day!

Went to do a blood test - health check yesterday. Well, eveything is fine,was given a clean bill of health. :)

Told my mum that, however, today since breakfast, i only get to eat only the low fat, no-sugar, low cholestrol food for the whole day.. err.? why?

Had a no oil, steam bun for breakfast, followed up a really bland (no salt) lunch, just some fish porrige with some vege, then i went to play badminton, when i get home, my mum gave me some low cholestrol, no sugar biscuits, which taste like nothing, with a cup of no-sugar soya drink!

Dun understand my mum...i am puzzled!

Grow up! and Happy Merdeka!

Err...The decision to block Malaysia Today is getting to be another big joke! Block it, and then 3 or 4 mirror sites pop up. Everyone is still accessing what RPK is writing. So. what is this hoohaa about anyway?

Can't understand why our datuks in gov. can't see this simple fact. Even the kids, at least every Harry Potter fan can knows this, remember what brilliant Hermoine said when Umbrigde ban the magazines. By banning it, it will ensure each and every student read it. And i think most adults, teachers know that the best way to make teenagers do something is to forbid them to do it. Forbidden fruits always taste sweeter. Rebelling against authority is an exciting thing. Especially when the authority acts unfairly and is too controling.

If you monitor the traffic to RPK site, i am sure there will be an increase of traffic since the ban.


now, what is even more laughable and insulting to the intelligence of the Rakyat is the reasosn/excuses given by our ministers,

"Blocking Access To Malaysia Today Website Is Not Censorship", Says Syed Hamid
Then what is censorship?

Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor has said "It was not the Government’s decision to block access to the Malaysia Today news website but a directive from the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission." He also said that this year alone, 127 blogs and websites, among them get-rich-quick schemes sites, were blocked by the commission for contravening the Communications and Multimedia Act.
Riddle: What has RPK has in common with get rich schemes? Both are blocked by MCMC!

Happy Merdeka! my area is all jammed up, hence i am sitting here bloging...

Finally.. it all's over

what's over? Olympics, Anwar's by election?

yes.. Finally. Have to say, i enjoyed both these 2 events tremendously..
But i am still stuck in traffic jams in Penang. And today, this unneccessary one really amused me as (1) i am in a good mood (2) getting my blood boil doesn't help with my blood pressure!

Well, i was caught in a massive jam to work, due to road block on the coastal highway (which is of course the way to go over the bridge to Permatang Pauh!)

Later i found out that there was a robbery in the Bayan Lepas airport.

Anyway, robbery occurs at 9:30am, i go to work at 8am. Do the maths! Cops must have premonition!

31 years young!

To all my friends, thanks for all the e-cards, birthday greetings via MSN, sms-es, facebook, friendster and emails and also the cyber e-White Chocolate cake (which i am still waiting for HS to bake in Brisbane!)

We had a birthday bash in Buluh room as usual, of course. No surprise here! What surprised most of my non-lunchmates colleague is that from today, suddenly i got a new name, Amber Ping as given by my project manager( looks like he not only is naming my projects, but started naming cute puppies and R and D Engineers.) Haha... Since the TAO birthday bash has become a norm for us, what surprised me is that how did they managed to buy the cake, as i was with my lunchmates today!

Anyway, if i were to harbour a guess, i think CC went to in the afternoon to get it? Am I right? As after the party, he mentioned that he paid for the cake! Anyway, whatever it is, thanks a lot for the effort.

Well, the TAO-reans sang me a birthday song, and i get to cut my cake with a real plastic cake knife (CC got to use a ruler) and blow the candles. TT keeps wanting to add candles to my cake, 4 is enough for me this year! Thanks. GM asked whether did i make a wish, and whether did i wish that we sell 3000 units of pegasus/per annum? Huh?

Well, the big celebration began @ Sharkeys' Corner 2 hours later. I feel really honoured that the 2 mummies (KY and YL), my guests of honour managed to make it for tonight's dinner! TT had a chance to show off her cooking skills.. Well, our steamboat soup started really bland and tasteless, and she managed to transform it by the time, we are nearing the end of the dinner!
As for CC, he managed to give a shock to the Char Koay Teow Chef, when he asked for "2 eggs please?" The extra egg char koay teow was really good though!

My boss asked me why is it everytime he goes for a buffet in Penang, it is really crowded! The last time our whole team went for buffet in Rasa, it was packed as well! I dun understand it either... maybe, penagites just like to eat!

All in all, i had a wonderful time. Btw, i am still fully awake at this time of night! No thanks to the espresso i just drank just now!

Flying Man and Rings - Let the games begin!

My favourite pic of the olympic ceremony. 飞人点火！ Amazing!

Praying to Ancesters -would they have like 1 big yummy cheesy pizza?

Well, as you know, currently it is the lunar 7th month!

The description from Wikipedia.
The Ghost Festival (simplified Chinese: 中元节; traditional Chinese: 中元節; pinyin: zhōngyuánjié) is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday, which is celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh lunar month.
In Chinese tradition, the thirteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm. During the Qingming Festival the living descendants pay homage to their ancestors and on Ghost Day, the deceased visit the living.

Well, the list of the deceased i prayed today is 16 in Batu Gantong (a columbrium in penang). My mum prepared all the food, i just did the folding of the 7 coloured papers!
And the list gets longer as the years goes by!

And that place today was crowded. As usual, me being nosy, it is kinda interesting to see what type of food other people prepared. Besides, you know the usual, roast pork/chicken, these days you see Moon Cakes, durians, rambutans as well, and also something as simple as a box of Chicken rice! i think pretty soon, our ancesters will get stuff like burgers and pizzas! I haven't seen that yet here in Penang! Imagine, praying to all 16 of my ancesters will just one big round pizza! So clean and easy! I think my grandpa will like it (we used to have quite similar taste when it comes to food) I suppose i will need to explain to my other grandparents that you know, maybe Marco Polo bought this pizza technology back to Italy from China.. Haha.. Hmmm.. WHat if they dun like cheese? :)

my mum doing qi gong

Taken from today's 光明日报

Pre-Olympic Fever

Looks like everyone is all prepared for the Beijing Olympics!
And here, i don't mean the athletics.

Well, a friend gonna take Marriage leave to watch olympics, not sure how he gonna produce the cert yet.. haha

My mum already told me to come home early on Friday. If i get back later than 7:30pm, i will have no dinner! :(

Another poor friend is grumbling and is willing to pay me to her night shift on Friday night! If only i could, i would... Haha.

Well, all this enthusiasim makes me kinda excited too! Yeah... only 5 more days to go!