It's Thanksgiving today

We in Malaysia don't celebrate Thanksgiving but I think that this strip sums up sentiments in the US of A.

We Don't Need No Education..

This little piggy went to market.

This little piggy stayed home.

This little piggy had roast beef.

This little piggy had none.

And this little girl went to school yesterday.

For the first time.

It was only last week when Michelle's sister mentioned that her 6-year old son was going to tuition. And Michelle was saying "Isn't he a bit young ?" Truth be told, at 6 years, I think some restraint has been shown by the parents as I've heard of kids who started much earlier. It's not something that I would impose on Catriona, if possible - although I understand where they're coming from.

Of course, now that Michelle had asked that question, it had to turn around and bite her on the butt. Which is how Catriona ended up going to school at all of 2 years and 5 months. Mind you, it was only a one-time class and for only a few hours. And we didn't push her into it as it was the baby sitter who had suggested it. Still.....

At least Catriona was excited about going to school.

A Milestone

We had our 5th anniversary last Saturday and I must confess that I've not felt those years pass by.

In that time :

* I've changed 2 jobs and Michelle 1

* I've stopped reading newspapers in newsprint

* My soccer news now comes from soccernet and not the local newspapers

* I've witnessed the rise of YouTube and Facebook - and have hooked up with some Old Frees from my year as a consequence

* I've seen the raising of political consiousness in Peninsular Malaysia and now find that 100% of my time in Malaysia is in Pakatan Rakyat-controlled states including the trips to Penang.

* I've seen the USA elect a coloured President and immediately heard it described as an Obama Moment

* Seen the Boston Celtics go from bottom feeders to NBA champions

* Discovered online chess

* Stopped playing football and futsal and returned to playing badminton

* Added a few pounds :

pants... so.... tight

* and co-authored a major production :

Time flies. I still remember the 1st show I watched on television on my wedding day right before the wedding dinner. It was England vs Australia in the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final and I delayed the dinner a little bit more to watch Jonny Wilkinson kick the winning drop goal with 20 seconds to the end of extra time :

木婚

时间真的过的瞒快的，结婚原来是五年前的事了。这段时间有起有落，有欢笑当然也有感伤的时候。生活就这样过了。

结婚五周年纪念原来叫木婚，到金婚还有好长的路。好在有你牵手一起走。。。

A Question of Time

Every once in a while I count how I've been using my time. Usually I count on a weekly basis and then average it out to a day - that's 24 hours.

It's not just a shiok sendiri exercise, but more a case of determining if I'm spending my time the way I want to. Not how I should spend my time, but how I want to spend my time. And once I've broken it down, then I know whether I'm spending my time the way I want to spend it. Of course, how I want to spend my time is a very subjective matter, but that's a story for another day.

For instance, when I was working in central KL, smack in the middle of the Golden Triangle, I was spending on average 135 minutes a day commuting to and back from my workplace. So when an offer came to work in Shah Alam which entailed 60 minutes total commuting time, the time savings became an important issue. At 75 minutes a day for 20 working days a month, I was going to have an additional 1,500 minutes a month just on commuting - that's 1 whole day a month.

When you think about it, that's 24 extra hours of sitting in the car every month. Just that thought changed my perception of working in Shah Alam. Suddenly, it seemed a lot more desirable than having a Starbucks in the office backyard. And I decided that sitting in a car was not how I wanted to spend my time.

I guess now that Catriona is here, time has become a more precious commodity because she wants to play with me. And sometimes it's difficult because I would rather be off doing my own stuff. But at the back of my mind is the thought "She's only going to be this age once, and the time will come when she would rather play with others".

It's a sobering thought. And one that helps me to focus on what I want to do.

How Great Thou Art

Living with a 2-year old, I often discover (or am subjected to) random acts of art :

All I have to do is keep a keen eye out for it as I never know where I may find it. Being observant also prevents unwanted falls or breaking said pieces of art. In a way, it’s exciting because I never know what objects are going to be used in any piece of art. Building bricks, books, kitchen utensils, stickers, clothes and even onions have all been used by the resident artist in my house. They are pieced together in common groups or combined creatively just about here, there and anywhere. Sometimes, when I walk into a room, I see it. It’s just there - Art.

It’s a bit like how an archeologist is excited by the sight of some prehistoric bones from some long forgotten animal.


Now unlike archeology, these pieces of art don’t last as long. Some last for hours and others last for weeks. It really depends on whether the artist goes back to the scene of the art and decides to express herself again. If she does, then something new will be created. And if she doesn’t, then that’s eye candy for me.

Some particularly favourite pieces are recorded.

As always, beauty is in the eye of the beholder but I find that some of this art makes for unique wallpapers.

宜家

家家酒。

这张好有小公主的味道。哈!....

宜家好像是去的最多的购物广场，里面就好像玩具场一样可以让韵游玩。非常不错哦。偶尔带她到那里挺好玩的。

Celtics start 7-1

“Is the hunger still there ?”, that’s the question every analyst asked when evaluating the Celtics’ chances of repeating their NBA championship in 2009. Will the new Big Three, now that they have finally won a championship, still be willing to put their stats and bodies on the line in a bid to win a second championship ?

So far, it’s looking good. They’ve picked up where they left off last season and started with a bang.

Ray Allen has always been recognized for keeping his body in top condition and Paul Pierce entered preseason 10 pounds lighter. Considering the shortened summer he had after the playoffs, many were left wondering when he found the time to lose that weight. Not that he was overweight in the first place, just that he wanted to add more speed to his game.

And pretty much every analyst concluded that the Celtics would still be hungry because of one man : the uber-competitive Kevin Garnett. The analysts couldn’t imagine KG letting his team slack, even if they had just won a championship. You can see why - and yes, he really does look like that - all the time.


As for the supporting cast, they were a mixed bunch. James Posey was lost to free agency and P.J. Brown retired. The hope is that the rest of the cast, especially the young ones, would have improved after a season of competing at the highest level. The signs are encouraging thus far.

And all the coaches were back – including the highly regarded Associate Head Coach Tom Thibodeau. Considering the work he’s done for the Celtics and his other former teams, and the numerous coaching vacancies that became available during the 08 playoffs, Danny Ainge must be wondering why none of those teams even initiated an interview with Thibodeau. Not that he’s complaining. He’s more than happy that Thibodeau’s still a Celtics coach, and has made him one of the highest paid assistant coaches in the NBA to boot.

Which brings us up to the present. The team is all set for a deep playoff run and a shot at retaining their title. Danny Ainge still has some work to do to fill out his roster, but that was also the situation last season and that worked out fine. It’s only the second year together for this team so there figures to be some improvement just from knowing their team mates. And the coaches are better placed to devise their sets now that they’ve had a year to figure out the players and systems.

I’m just along for the ride, starting with this Saturday’s match against the Denver Nuggets. It’s quite a change from the seasons when ESPN wouldn’t telecast even ONE Celtics match throughout the season.

Embrace Change

Initially I was going to blog about how Obama had been implicitly accused of being a socialist, terrorist and even communist in some blogs :

Barack Obama accused Republican rival John McCain on Wednesday of stooping to low tactics by labeling the Democrat a socialist.

"I don't know what's next," Obama, the presidential candidate, said at an outdoor rally in North Carolina. "By the end of the week, he'll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten. I shared my peanut butter and jelly sandwich."

It was going to be about how the communist USSR and East Europe bloc broke up, about the fall of the Berlin wall and the end of the Cold War (which begs the question, now that a secret communist is going to be the next President of the USA, who actually won the Cold War ?), but I've decided to forgo that for this :

"Malaysia... hopes Obama's government will be more sensitive to the sovereignty of smaller nations and will not use force in resolving global conflicts," Foreign Minister Rais Yatim said in a statement.

"Obama's victory is seen as bringing change and hope to the world," he added.

"Malaysia welcomes him as the new light in the struggle for democracy. As America's first black president his victory has shown that Americans can accept a leader regardless of colour, religion or beliefs."

Now tell me what I'm supposed to feel about my own country ?

You can tell me that the USA is 232 years old and that it took that long to get the first African American President. You can also tell me that it is 'traditional' to have a Malay in the top post of PKNS as stated by Khir Toyo.

Slavery was a tradition in the USA. Apartheid was a tradition in South Africa. Just because it's a tradition, does that make it right ?

The truth is that until the 1960's, the USA was still practising racial segregation in very visible ways.

They have gone from that to a coloured President today. Malaysia didn't have racial segregation or discrimination to such a degree upon Merdeka in 1957. But in the years since, it would seem that we have learnt to institutionalize racism.

It is not something to be proud of.

NB. on a side note, the Celtics team voted 14-1 for Obama.