Spirit

One of the things I like best about the internet is the capability to search for actual footage of a historical or inspiring event. Stuff like Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech, or Winston Churchill's "We shall fight on the beaches" speech, or locally the BERSIH rally, or this one that my pastor picked out for Father's Day.

3 years old !

my Diplomat chess set made a reappearance as I read on some chess set that 3 years is the minimum age for learning chess - first time Catriona's ever seen a chess set

Today is my little girl’s 3^rd birthday and to commemorate the occasion, I’ll reveal the rationale of her name.

Her full name is Catriona Chong Xin Yun and we’ve often been asked what (especially) Catriona means. It’s a pretty rare first name for a girl and I must admit that until Michelle found it, I’d never heard of it before. And even though we’ve been asked many times, we’ve never fully explained to anyone how her name was put together.

Well, it’s time to let the Cat out of the bag.

Catriona is of Scottish, Irish and Gaelic origin and is the Anglicised form of the Gaelic names Catrĩona and Caitrĩona, which are forms of Katherine. It means “Pure”.

Chong is her surname.

Xin Yun is the Chinese name and it means “Happy Melody”. Her mother coined it but was thinking about changing it when another name was suggested. I was glad when Catriona’s godmother shot that suggestion down in her typical style. So the godmother gets part of the credit for naming Xin Yun.

Put together, her name reads as “Pure Happy Melody”.

I was very happy with that name and so far, it describes her perfectly. Happy is her default demeanour and Melody is when I hear that little voice singing in the background, as she often does.

But the main reason for Catriona is that she was named for :

3岁定终身

今天是韵韵的3岁生日，不过昨天还因为肠胃感染去看了两次医生。昨晚发烧到39度，今早就还好。

今年应该是她比较了解“生日”的意义的时候。之前都有去了2个小朋友的生日会。所以，那天问她要什么蛋糕的时候，她就已经很开心的开始要求，要冰淇淋，乳酪，燕菜蛋糕。今天早上就改变主意要草莓蛋糕。
这是那天在教堂的生日礼拜拍的一些照片。超好笑的，她吹蜡烛可是小心奕奕，要吹两次才能吹灭。

古人说，三岁定终身。如果真是这洋，其实也没有什么好挑剔的。算起来，她已经是个非常乖巧的小孩，偶尔也会发些小脾气可是无伤大雅。今晚再买个蛋糕给她，让她高兴一下。

The Playlist

There are times when we hear a little voice singing along and then there are times when we hear that same voice say "I want this song" or "I want such and such a song". By and large we accede to that request.

I don't know if it's just a child's natural inclination or whatever, but music certainly plays a large part in Catriona's life. The one thing that's noticeable is that she tends to like songs that have strong melodies.

Her current favourites :

* Damien Rice's The Blower's Daughter

* Frente's Bizarre Love Triangle (obscure enough not to be on YouTube)

* Carrie Underwood's Jesus Take The Wheel

* Adam Lambert's Mad World

* The Frames' Falling Slowly

* The Czars' Lullaby 6000

* Fall Out Boy's What A Catch, Donnie

* John Legend's Everybody Knows

In a way, I'm glad that we're not subjected to repeated listenings of the Barney tune or any other cartoon character. On the other hand, I wonder why we're not subjected to repeated listenings of the Barney tune or any other cartoon character. Maybe it's because we don't subscribe to Astro's cartoon channel.

That structure she's building is actually a microphone stand

Two for the price of one

I chanced across this article entitled "Why Lee Kuan Yew asked to meet Rosmah" in The Malaysian Insider here. Curious about why Singapore's elder statesman wished to see our Prime Minister's wife, I read the article and here's the clue :

MM Lee said he called on Rosmah because he had been told that she and her husband worked as a team and it was necessary for him to understand both members of the team.

I don't know about you but I feel a little apprehensive that our PM's wife is considered so important that she would warrant a personal visit from Lee Kuan Yew. And no, other than apprehension, I don't know what to make of it.

Going ... Going ..... Gone.

Well, it's finally happened. The transfer that I've been waiting for is finally confirmed. The saga that has transcended seasons is now brought to an end and Ronaldo can finally leave to fulfill his dream of playing for Real Madrid. 

Even though he's been at Man Utd for 6 seasons, he's really only played well for 3 of them - 2 very good seasons and 1 superlative one. The first 3 seasons were spent in developing his skills, vision and getting rid of his selfishness. But it was well worth the time. 

And nobody is suggesting that Real underpaid when the price tag is that hefty. In fact, criticism at Real was aimed not at the price tag but on the fact that they can even spend that amount of money in the current economic situation and AFTER buying Kaka for GBP 59 million. AND with Spain's unemployment rate hovering around 18%. Expect a bail out from the Spanish government AGAIN to save Real from their massive debt.

Two observations :

1. In comparison, Kaka's GBP 59 million deal can practically be termed as a discounted purchase. Funny to think of Kaka as a bargain buy; and

2. 

Newcastle United fans : Read 'em and weep !

But seriously, SAF bought Ronaldo in 2003 for GBP 12 million and is now selling him for GBP 80 million. Can't complain about the ROI on Ronaldo but he will not be held in the same high esteem as the likes of Robson, Keane or Schmeichel; let alone the likes of Charlton, Best and Law.

And definitely he won't be held in the same affection as King Eric.

Having said that, Ronaldo did leave his mark on United and skill-wise he would have borne comparison with Best.

So, thanks for the memories, Ronaldo !

It was good while it lasted.

Day Out

Since her mama was working today, Catriona and I took the opportunity to go out for a bit. As she was going to spend most of the day with only me, it was pretty much bonding time. This time we went to Sunway Pyramid where our main priorities were lunch and MPH.

lunch for Catriona was a slice of bread, mushroom soup and coke

the mushroom soup must have been good

The lunch ended with a balloon which, when it burst, became a flag over which she repeatedly called out "Malaysia!"

A Point To Ponder

I saw this interview with one of malaysia's foremost human rights lawyers, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar on www.thenutgraph.com and thought that it was an interesting read. You can read it here.

He has some very insightful view points which are worth thinking about but I'll just pick on one of the minor points which relate to the recurring controvesy about overseas scholarships from the Public Service Department (PSD). The dude's an Asean scholar and he describes his experience thus :

When I was in Singapore, I had a chance to speak with the other Asean scholars — there were about 100 of us. And these were the top one percent of the students in the country, from various backgrounds. And when I asked them why they were there, the answer was uniform: "We couldn't get scholarships to study overseas, and the Singapore government offered us a place."

Of this number, I think one or two were eventually offered Public Service Department (PSD) scholarships and came back to Malaysia. But most of the rest stayed on in Singapore after completing their studies, and some eventually gave up their citizenships. I don't blame them — they went on to do something with their lives, with really great jobs. So the Asean scholarship was a lifeline for them and that, for me, was an eye-opener, you know. It was a real awakening.

While we in Malaysia are debating about the contribution that the 'other races' have made to nation building, our neighbour down South have simply creamed off the best of our talent to build their nation.

Sad but true.

Stupid and short-sighted but true.

Press 4

"When you get into the lift, you press 4 so that you can go home. 

When you press 2, you don't know where you're going. 

When you press 3, you don't know where you're going. 

When you press 5, you don't know where you're going. 

You press 4 so that you know where you're going."

An innocent enough remark, don't you think ? That's what we say to Catriona so that she only presses the correct button in the lift.

Well, my little girl is turning 3 this month and has responded to previous queries of "How old are you ?" with the reply "2 years old". 

But a couple of weeks ago, the reply became "4 years old'. 

Mystified, we asked her "Why are you 4 years old ?" and her reply .......

"3 years old I don't know where I'm going. 4 years old I know where I'm going."

That's a child's logic for you. And I can't deny that it sound logical.

Here we go again...

Florentino Perez has only been back as Real Madrid President for only a few days and already he's putting out feelers to Ronaldo (the one who uses eye shadow, not the other fat one). It seems like Real Madrid have decided that buying Ronaldo will be their annual summer tradition - one which will only be discontinued when he is theirs. 

Frankly speaking, I'm sick of Real Madrid and the way they've conducted themselves in the recent past to get the players they want. Public declarations of admiration, or openly admitting that they would like to sign a particular player is not only an unethical act, it's one that's calculated to encourage the player to make demands to be sold. 

Just look at Robinho and his refusal to play for Santos when he knew that Real Madrid wanted him. Of course, the wonderful side effect is that the selling club will be encouraged to lower their asking price as the target player is effectively staging a boycott.

But that's Real Madrid for you. Disgusting!