Looking Forward to a Brand New Year

I'm sure there's one thing that 99.9% of the population in this world agrees upon, regardless of the education level, ethnic group, language we speak, colour of our hair, colour of our skin, physical appearances, geographical location on earth etc.  That one interesting thing is none other than TIME FLIES. 

Another year has passed us, we all are one year older / younger (depending how you look at it).  Many things have happened in year 2010.  It's surely an unforgettable year.  In a way, I wish 2010 never happened, how nice if time could freeze in year 2009.  Oh, just realised, it's been a decade into new mellinium already.  I asked myself, what have I achieved?  Hmmmm, really, there's nothing that is satisfactory achievement at the moment except for who I am now.  I think I've come a long way to be who I am right now. 

As for my 2009 new year resolution, that is to make more money, did I achieve it?  Frankly speaking, definitely not.  I've managed to clear half of my debts only.  However, for everything that had happened in year 2009, it taught me one thing.  Our goals in life should be more versatile.  We need to improve continuously and should be all rounded in all aspects.  It's just like a wheel.  A wheel can only move smoothly if it's round in shape.  In any other form it will not be able to move as it should be.  This is something I learned few years ago, but I guess I've lost it over the years. 

I also wished I had spent more time with my family and my big sister.  I could have studied more about cancer and the after effect caused by radiotherapy and chemotherapy.  In that case perhaps we could have done better in helping my big sis to battle with that damn cancer.  If we knew that there was a 'honeymoon period' before it strikes again, we would have used the time preciously.  I could have take unpaid leave or even quit my job, sold my liabilities (car, apartment) in KL and be with her till the end of her time.  I wish I could do differently.  I wish I could read the signs more thoughtfully, more carefully... I wish I knew.... just I wish.................................

I finally visited Australia, a place I wanted to visit after since I graduated from the university.  I visited Perth.  I like it there.  It didn't disappoint me.  Have the urge to migrate there now, will see what happens in the future.  Next target - New Zealand, but perhaps Tibet comes first, since I've been longing to visit Tibet even longer, since I was in secondary school after reading all the comics and kung fu novels.  Haha. 

Life is short, live life to the fullest.  Make sure I do not have many regrets at the end of my life.  That's been my slogan all these while.  Just realised how little I actually know about the meaning of it.  I always thought I've done pretty well till now.  Big sis's passing thought me that I'm not matured enough to look after most of the precious things in life.  At the moment I took for granted many things.  I didn't even know what's the flower my big sis loved most.  How pathetic it is.  I have been really close with my big sis, I couldn't believe I overlooked most of the details.

On the other hand, I learned that there's always imperfection in life, as life will never be perfect.  We have to learn to accept it, even though it's something really tough to do.  Things happened for a reason, for the best reason.  This is my second life slogan.  I wish I'm right for big sis.  She should be in a better and happier place than suffering on bed. 

As for the new year, well, there are things that I want to achieve...

1. read more to improve english and chinese writting skill

2. organize a family trip to improve family ties

3. learn more about how to start a business - restaurant, make buns, or even hotel

4. be more enthusiastic in promoting my Bali tour agency business

5. make more money as it's needed as capitals for business and expenses for holiday and emergency use

6. make sure parents have enough money to spend

7. spend more time with family especially parents - as much as I could

8. write an article about my big sis - I'm inspired to come up with the title of the article today on the last day of 2010.

9. exercise more but to make sure back injury doesn't flair up

10. take more good pictures and improve on my photography skills

I guess I will be handful for the year 2011.  Haha.  All the best to myself.  All the best to my family members and relatives.  All the best to all my friends.  Last but not least, all the best to everyone who reads this article.  Wish everyone good health. 

This year I celebrate my new year on the rig, offshore. First time for me. However, dont think will be up for countdown, need to get enough rest, most probably will need to work early in the morning.

Happy New Year 2011.  

PMR Results and My Thoughts

On 23rd December 2010, Malaysia's PMR examination result was announced.  There were about 30,863 students (7.02%) scored all As this year.  Overall this year's result is the best in the last 4 years.  Number of students in rural area that scored all As has increased by 3.81%.  It's good to noticed that the different in standards between the rural and urban students has been reduced progressively over the years. 

However, average results of non-mainstream subjects such as chinese, history and geography are not as good as last year.  It's reported that as these are optional subjects, many students opted to drop them. 

In my opinion, it is good that results of PMR are improving over the years.  However, as you can see, the society is much more result oriented nowadays.  Generally, parents expect children to score in examinations; students study to score to fulfill parents expectations.  Subjects chosen for examinations are based on possibility to score, in a way this is a neccessary action in order to 'look good' on paper. 

As people nowadays are more result oriented, consequences are a more competitive society is created, higher stress level, joyful of study may soon be forgotten, our next generations may become rigid in handling things as achieving good result is the ultimate goal etc. 

Parents nowadays should be more far-sighted.  Schooling and the education school provides help to mould a child's personality and character.  Academic results really do not represent a person's future, his ability to blend in to the society and how well he can survive in it in the future.  Though academic result is important, it is not the most important knowledge a person gets from schooling.  It's how much a person values himself from learning about his character and personality that counts.  Parents need to help their children in this area as well, they should not expect teachers to do the parenting role for them and they must know by getting good results really means nothing if their children cannot survive in this competitive and cunning society.  Basic humanity values need to be imparted in the children as well so as to make them human and not robots that only strive for achieving good results. 

Some people say, school is the mini-society.  It prepares for students to face challenges when they step into the real society.  So be prepared, parents and children. 

Remember, school is only part of the journey in life, it prepares us for more challenges in the future when we step into the society.  From there onwards there are a lot more things to learn, so never stops learning and use our experience wisely.  Knowledge is important, wisdom is the key. 

Merry Christmas

Jingle bell jingle bell jingle all the way... lah lah lah lah lah lah... The familiar Christmas songs are played on radio. Ahhh, it's Christmas again...

Christmas is an important festival in Malaysia.  Malaysia is a multi-cultured country.  There are Malays, Chinese, Indians and other minorities living harmoniously in this country until the recent politicians make use of the race issue as political tool to benefit the in-power people.  Back to the topic, as there are many different races living in this country, you're assured that different religions can be found in this Islamic country.  Luckily non-muslims are allowed to habitat in this country, law of Malaysia only for muslim has not been created by the selfish politicians here, yet, one of the reasons being that they need lots of supports from non-Malay ethnic group.  I'm not at all racist or being sensitive over religion but I'm not satisfied with the so-called the leaders.  It's so easy to link races, religions to politics in Malaysia.  I think I should stop here before ISA appears in front of my doorstep. 

Christmas to Christians is a very important day.  Don't expect any details here, thanks.  For details, please search Wikipedia.  Hahaha.  What I want to write is I have a wonderful Christmas this year.  Came back from Perth just few days ago, I got to stay in town for the Christmas.  I'm glad office did not call me up to go for job.  Instead, Sue, my ex-colleague, called up on Wednesday.  It's always good to hear from friends, that means they still remember you.  Better, she invited me over for dinner on Christmas eve.  She has such a kind heart, as she knows that most probably I'll be alone on the Silent Night.  Sound sad, isn't it?  Hmmmm, ya it does.  Haha.  That's what friends are for, look out for each other hehehe.  Though it didn't really bother me, it would be nice to spend it with a group of nice people, right?  She will have her husband, parents and few other friends over for small gathering. 

On the Silent Night itself, I arrived her place at about 7.10pm.  They were busy preparing delicious food.  They even prepared something special for me, vegetarian pasta.  Very thoughtful of them.  They even tried to convince me that wisky is vegetarian drink.  Hahahaha.  I didn't buy that idea, of course, but we all have good laugh.  Pasta was delicious.  Amazingly, Steve, Sue's other half, cooked it, very impressive.  Next time will get a detailed recipe from him ;-)

They prepared few other dishes as well like chicken with stuffing (replacement of turkey), sheperd's pie and salad.  All smell good.  Maybe next year I will have some of it. 



Pasta



Sheperd's Pie



Stuffed Chicken



I as usual, took few photos of the evening.  Still learning about the camera, the quality of photos didn't turn out to be as good as expected, but well, they're still ok, acceptable. 

Through festivals, we learn to accept and respect other religions and cultures.  When we accept and respect, along the way we learn to be humble, be moderate and be wise.  To me, each and every religion has the same ultimate goals, that is to impart good values to human beings, live a noble life, control the 'ugly' desires hence bring peace to the world and be at a good place after death (we never knew but we can believe it).  Of course it's a whole different topic should I elaborate more, but not here, not today :-)

All in all, I enjoyed the evening.  I hope everybody else in the world enjoyed the evening as well.  Wish all of you and your love ones Merry Christmas. 



Photography and My Cameras

Photography has always been my hobby.  When I was younger, I have this vision; I wanted to capture all memorable moments in life and things that I see let it be good or bad;  I want to share these moments with everyone.  When I get old, I can look back these photos and see my life as a movie drama.  I really do love the idea.  For that reason I took lots and lots of photos.  I bought my very first camera in my second year of university when I was in the UK.  It was still in the 'film' era.  It was quite challenging then because I didn't know how well photos were taken until I print it out.  Print out films was itself another challenge.  As student I was of course poor.  I would have to budget my expenses every month so that I have some money to print out films.  Tough life then but I enjoyed the kind of challenges.  Finally, in 1998 I managed to buy myself my very first Canon SLR camera. 



First reached London Oct 1996



24th Birthday, 1999



24th Birthday with friends, 1999

 

CNY, 1999

 

Snow in March 1999



  

Shakespeers Hometown, April 1999

    

Winsor Castle, April 1999

 

Wimbledon 1999



Worked as cleaner, summer 1999



Paintballing, May 1999

 

Trip to the south UK, June 1999

 

Trip to south UK, June 1999 - Forgot what beach is this



Trip to south UK, June 1999



Trip to south UK, June 1999 - Isle of Wyeth



Trip to south UK, June 1999 - Stonehenge

 

Trip to south UK, June 1999



Peak District, Summer 1999

Packed, ready for shipment, summer 1999



Mum in Paris, Oct 1999



 



Paris, Oct 1999

 

Paris, Oct 1999 - in white sweater is my beloved Big Sis.  Isn't she pretty?

 

Mardi Gras in US, Feb 2001



With the Louvier family, US 2001

 



Working on homework in US, 2001







At work site, US, 2001





KL, forgot what year



Genting 'Cloud Sea', 2004

As time goes by, I graduated, came back to Malaysia and got stuck with crazy busy work.  Luckily the passion for photography remained.  I took lots of good and meaningful photos.  Along the way, however, I think I lost my way a little bit.  I steadily and slowly grew lazier to take photos.  One of the reasons was the cost for print out.  Another reason was in Elken, we always took photos, too many photos that I was kinda fed up a bit.  Then my Canon SLR started to fail after so many years of 'hardwork'.  In additioin, digital camera era started to get more popular, felt kinda outdated.  Didn't buy any digital camera though, I was always skeptical about the quality of digital camera compared to film camera.  With my Canon SLR not working particularly well, and without new camera, there was a span of one or two years that I didn't really take photos unless I was travelling.  I guess another reason I didn't take photo was because I was lost, about my life, what I wanted to do, my dream and most importantly, who am I.  This part I will write about it later. 

Come back to photography, as my analogue Canon SLR failed, I finally took my very first step towards digital camera world.  It was in July 2005 that I got myself the very first digital camera.  Introduced by my friend, I bought a Kodak limited edition high quality compact camera, I forgot the model now.  It really took excellent high quality photos.  I really liked it.  With it, I took, to my very own standard, lots of good and satisfied photos.

 

Ulu Yam Waterfall, 2009



Genting Archery, 2009

 

Parents in Angkor Wat, 2007





Beijing, 2007

Genting, 2009 New Year - Kodak

Genting, New Year 2009 - Kodak

Last year, my good friend Kodak finally bid farewell after serving for 4 years.  Guess it's old age.  I decided I want to get a good camera this time, but digital SLR camera is just well over budget.  Needed a camera quite desperately, I bought a cheap compact camera, Nikon Coolpix L20, about RM500.00 only.  It's ok, quality is better than the price though.  Under the sun / outdoor photos would come out well.  The problem with this camera is the indoor photos.  This is just not a camera for indoor photography.  Heart breaks when I look at the indoor photos. 



Brunei Shell Champion Platform, April 2010

However, I still haven't got enough budget for a good digital SLR camera.  I told myself, I will get one when we go for family trip with my beloved sister, who at that time recovered from her battle with stage 4 NPC cancer.  The travelling plan however was postponed several times, from March, then June, then Sept, then would never happen again.  It became one of my biggest regrets in life.  I didn't get a good camera to take many memorable photos of my family and my sister. 

After my sister's funeral, I came back to KL in early December.  One day when I woke up, I went to Low Yat plaza to check out Canon DSLR camera I have been wanted to get,  Canon 50D.  It's now discontinued and Canon has launched now a new model, Canon 60D.  It was good enough for me.  Then I asked about Canon 7D.  Canon 7D has always been out of the league, but I asked anyway, just for the sake of asking.  To my surprise, this particular shop actually gives good price.  For Canon 7D with lens 18-135mm kit, I only needed to top up about RM1K for the same Canon 60D kit.  Well, it's worth it, isn't it?  I told myself.  In the future I would save myself hussle for upgrades.  At the end, I bursted my budget, my wallet, my bank account to get this one, Canon 7D.  Bank account till date is still negative.  But what the heck, don't really care.  End of the month will get my salary.  I really don't want to wait another second.  I made sure I bought it before my big sis's 3 7.  I made sure I don't miss the opportunity to take photos during her 3 7.

I learned that in life, we shouldn't wait.  If we waited, opportunity passes by us and we will never get the second chance.  I got myself an excellent camera, but some how I wasn't feeling happy at all, at that moment.  I wish I could turn back time.

Couple of days later, I went with a friend to San Niang Old Folks Home in Triang.  I took many photos, left and right, up and down, haha.  I captured lots of moments in my life.  At the moment I don't really care about the quality of photos, I just take them.  hahaha.  As Canon 7D is more for professional use, right now the best function that I use best is... the autofocus.  hahaha.  But of course I started to use other functions as well.  I think I start to take good photos again.  Take it easy, I don't put myself under lots of pressures.  Autofocus or not, just chill and enjoy the process.  I just take life step by step right now :-D.  But still, I think I've taken few good photos to date.  hehehe. Slowly, I'm happy again.  Life goes on regardless of what happened.  The earth will continue to spin.  One thing will not change, big sis will always be in our memories and hearts.  She would want us to live happily and to the fullest just like she did, right?  :-)

Canon 7D



Little girl sleeping at Petronas Petrol station on the way to Triang





San Niang Old Folks Home, Triang

 

With Zen Jie, a volunteer worker in San Niang Old Folks Home



Hotel Genting



Sunrise in Perth



Vegetarian Fried Rice from Red Chilli, Perth

 

Bali



Hard Rock Shop in Bali

 

Taxi in Bali, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze





Bali airport

  

Aircraft for Bali-KL route

 



Full moon in the air

  

Sunset





Aircraft wing and the full moon