Back in Food Haven

Back in Penang for the Chinese New Year.

First up for lunch was 'Char Koay Teow'. Having lost my favourite 'Char Koay Teow' stall in KL (she had moved, and the standard of KL's char koay teow is way below Penang's), I had not had a plate since my last trip to Penang. Drastic, I know, but the difference in standard was just too large to tempt me into ordering a plate in KL.

So now, let's see what's next on the menu....



Funny how this video managed to miss out the Mamak stalls and restaurants which are one of the mainstays of Penang food.

Catriona's latest drawings

Catriona draws so much these days that I hardly notice what she draws any more. Besides, the home is filled with toys and paper helter-skelter everywhere.

So when I was picking up some of the papers just the other day, I was caught by surprise by these 2 sheets which appear to be her creative effort at turning out a mixed media piece.

The drawings are pretty much at a 4-year old's level but I liked the idea of incorporating the stickers into the drawing.

on the Art of Tai Chi

It seems that some work places are filled with tai chi masters.

I walked into my office this afternoon and there was a document on my table. No note, no explanation, no indication of who had sent it or where it had come from. But there it was sitting on my table. Am I supposed to find out what to do and then go ahead and do it ?

In my 3.5 years in this company, documents of this type had not been in my portfolio. It's a regular annual thing so obviously it has been in somebody else's portfolio. Is that somebody surreptitiously trying to pass on their work to me in the hopes that it will become a permanent transfer of duties ?

How disappointing. How sad.

11.01.23

On the play list this past week :

* "Lost unto this world" by Emmylou Harris.

Absolutely incredible song, if you can get your hands on it. From the "Stumble into grace" album.

* "The grass is blue" by Dolly Parton & Alison Krauss.

I couldn't find it on YouTube but there's one by Dolly herself here and together with Norah Jones here.

* "The Blower's Daughter" by Damien Rice.

Beautiful. And heartbreaking.

* "My love is like a red red rose" by Eddi Reader.

I loved Fairground Attraction when they first burst onto the scene in 1987. They broke up soon but 23 years on, Eddi Reader can still pluck heart strings.

vol. IV

sunset @ Puchong

grass verge

Busk

the Fish was THIS BIG

...

Photo

Performance

the Dalmatian

We've got a new member in the family.

It was fairly obvious when I first saw it on Christmas day last year that Catriona would want the Dalmatian. And so it has proved to be the case.

Now second in her affections only behind Baby, the Dalmatian has got a permanent place in bed with the girl. And it's nice to have a ready substitute available when Baby has to go for a bath.

on Wakes and Funerals

As the years go by, inevitably I ended up going to a few wakes and funerals. Mostly, the people who had passed on were much loved by those who were closest to them and these occasions were usually sad, sombre affairs.

It was all right and proper, the way things were done. Not that I have anything against the way things are done - it helps assuage the grief of those closest to the deceased. And I feel that it's a totally respectable way of handling death.

But, it gets me thinking about how I would like my wake/funeral to be done. I'm more inclined towards a party celebrating life as opposed to the passing on of ME. Besides, being in Heaven with Jesus isn't exactly the worse place to be.

And apart from "Because He lives", Monty Python's "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" is one song that I would like to be sung at my wake/funeral. Just got to leave out the voice over bits at the end of the song which I don't believe in and is really just filler for the empty spaces there.

Malacca in that Same Day

Reviewing the backlog of photographs taken in Malacca, I was able to find a few more decent photos.

Ferris Wheel

...

Bistro

Bridge

baby mine

It's been a long time since Catriona requested for a single song to be played over and over again. Considering that this song was played 20 times in a row before the sequence was interrupted by a trip out for dinner, I guess it's safe to say that this song will be her favourite song until ..... whenever.

at the local park

It's quite a contrast to places with colder climes. In Malaysia, when the sun is out, we look for shade - and since it was cloudy yesterday, we headed to the local park after lunch.

climbing up to the tower

random guy on monkey bars

slide comes before a fall

Rapunzel in jail

KL28

The owner who bought this license plate,

PJ is the common abbreviation of Petaling Jaya

also bought this license plate :

and KL is the common abbreviation of Kuala Lumpur

Now, if you're from Malaysia, you'll know that KL is the capital of Malaysia and PJ is the satellite city of KL. The two cities are very closely linked and many people commute between the two cities every day. As for the "28", in Cantonese it means "easy fortune".

So with a little bit of work to track the license plates down, and the plonking down of a lot of money, said owner can appreciate both his matching license plates.

Going Home

In my last round of re-exploring Faye Wong's music, there was a song - "Passenger" - which I liked a lot.

Okay, I lie. That particular album - "To Love" - I liked most of the songs. "Passenger" happened to be one of them. So when I found out that it was a cover version .... naturally I checked out the original version.

And I have to admit that "Going Home" is a good soundtrack for the return leg of a road trip.

in the Beginning ...

It all started about 6 years ago, at the wedding of two friends.

I saw the flower decorations at their wedding service - went over to have a look - took some photographs - and I was hooked.

Since nobody else seemed to be bothered about the flowers, I'm guessing that I was the only one who had taken photos of said flowers.

Funny thing is ... we've never shown these photographs to the wedding couple.

The Man in Black

A couple weeks back, I watched 'I Walk The Line'. The movie chronicles the early years of Johnny Cash's musical career. Being aware of him without really knowing what he was all about - I must admit, his stuff is pretty good.

vol. III

Was able to go through some recent shots and picked up the latest batch of random photos.

@ Mount Kinabalu.

Still not quite sure why some people like this photo so much.

pool @ Hard Rock Hotel, Penang

Christmas tree

Catriona & her Baby

Catriona & her mama

This kid wandered over to me at Ikea.

I took his photo.

also Ikea

Size Doesn't Matter

Ladies and Gentlemen, we present to you .......... The Ashes !!!

All that fuss ..... and you can hold it with 2 fingers.

a Game Called Life

I just heard this song today and thought that it was worth sharing. It's pretty good.

Heard it on a tv show called "The Big C", which has an interesting premise and, from what I've seen, is pretty well written. So in the interest of time management, I probably won't be watching it again.

But as for the Leftover Cuties, they have another little ditty about "When You're Smiling".

Thoughts to Ponder upon ...

"If a man speaks in the forest and there are no women around to hear, is he still wrong ?"

Back to the Grind ...

The holiday season is over.

After 6 weeks of bliss, running around wild and free of the restrictions of school, it's time for Catriona to head back for classes tomorrow. She's had an absolute blast over the holidays with visits from both sides of grandparents and a few assorted relatives. This has meant more play time, more outings, more .. everything that's fun.

I guess she'll miss all that until the next school holidays.

a Touch of Heaven

This is the village of Ki, in the middle of the Himalayas. The place, and the photo, is ridiculously beautiful. So much so that you would think that it was either a painting or created digitally. Apparently not, it was a photo taken by Natalia Luzuriaga, and I saw it here - a selection of photos for National Geographic's Photography Contest 2010.

It's the sort of thing that makes you want to go out to see the world that God created ..... and take photographs.

I Want to Stay like This ...

There was a time when I was living alone - whether in a room or in an apartment - and I would feel ..... melancholy. "Depression" does not convey the right state of emotion, it was "Melancholy".

You might think that it was a bad thing, but it never really affected me in that way. The way I figured it, since I already feel "melancholy", might as well enjoy it while I'm there. After all, it didn't happen often, so I would milk the moment for what it was worth.

It usually meant that I would play a CD or two or three, and lie/sit/stand/walk around feeling "melancholy". There were a few songs and albums which were eminently suitable for moods like those and this one below was definitely a staple.



Now why would I be reminded of this ? Well, it's the New Year of 2011.

While many people are out celebrating and partying on New Year's eve, some others would be feeling blue. The realization that people are enjoying themselves in a crowd just makes feeling lonely an even more acute emotion. And ......... not everybody is going to react by simply playing a few songs.