Friendship More Than Skin Deep...

In the last years of her life Jeannie had a group of younger friends whom she mainly met initially on the Net. Some of them still figure in our lives today and we take it as part of Jeannie's legacy. This video clip is from a short trip to Port Dickson in 2003 and it shows some of them discussing skincare with her. 

The Art Of Vulgarity

This video clip must be from about 12 years ago when Paul/Chris got married. The clip shows how Jeannie and Paul got along so well. Kevin Lim was the cameraman and narrator; he used night vision mode. Kevin, this post is for you.

An English Tea

In keeping with the current top English TV series, Downton Abbey we are watching, just had cranberry scones with mixed berries jam and cream by Krystyn Cheah...typically English tea fare. The first time she had scones, strawberry jam and clotted cream was in Windsor 1997. Time has flown and Krystyn has grown.

Paris In Fall - Louvre 99

Mona Lisa...

It was a tiring trip and Jeannie had not rested enough. Yet she could not resist a photo with the famed  La Joconde. More than words, this video and picture show it...right down to their tired eyes!

  

In Defense Of Hinduism

Courtesy of Mariyappan Munian Pappan. 

The difference is that they are comfortable in their own skin; extending their arguments in their own rationale. No need to defend their religion by violent means nor at the bottom line, do they see their religion needing to be defended. To each his own.

Dinner At Auntie Aini's Garden Cafe

Last night Mimi hosted dinner...again. This time it was at Auntie Aini's Garden Cafe in Nilai; a place introduced to her by a client and serves wonderfully authentic Negeri Sembilan malay cuisine. 

I shall not go into detail of the location or how difficult it can be to locate the place at night nor its description; there are enough articles on the internet including GPS coordinates (here, here, here, here, here and many more). It was Mimi's second visit and she being also from Negeri Sembilan I trust her taste buds when she waxed lyrical about her first culinary experience there. As for me, I was more interested in the various masak lemak cili padi.

We arrived late as usual but Mimi had already pre-ordered the food and we were ushered to a table that could accommodate the 6 of us. Nothing to complain about the service.

The main courses that Mimi ordered (shown here in portions for 3): 

(L-R) Pucuk paku masak kerang, sambal kupang, ayam kampung goreng, kangkung belacan, and signature dishes, daging salai masak lemak cili padi, telur itek masak lemak cili padi and the udang galah masak lemak tempoyak. There were of course many other dishes on the menu and the must try later would be the asam pedas and rendang offerings.  

How do I rate the food that we had? The masak lemak cili api dishes were of course exquisite with the rich santan flavor cut with the sourness of belimbing and probably asam keping. I think they reduced the hotness for us with less cili api. The poached telur itek would have been better underdone with the yoke still able to ooze out. Tempoyak aficionados would call me an idiot (I am not a tempoyak fan) for having just tried a bit of the udang galah masak lemak tempoyak for taste. The gulai daging salai to me was just perfect and the ayam kampung goreng was well marinated (a tinge of asam or lime sourness) and fried the way most Malaysians like; crispy on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside.  

I suspect vegetables may not be Auntie Aini's cup of tea. The kangkung belacan and pucuk paku goreng kerang although not over-fried, lacked more distinct flavor normally associated with the two dishes. Being a masak lemak place a kerabu pucuk paku with santan would have been a better choice. The kupang masak sambal was nice but rather ordinary.

However, this dessert was by no means ordinary. Homemade tapai with vanilla ice cream!

Auntie Aini? Well, she is both a personality and a character. Go meet her for yourself as Auntie Aini's Garden Cafe is a must visit destination on the Malaysian culinary map.  

To Mimi, a big thank you.

Here's a preview:

  

This Is The New Zealand All Blacks

Nice Touch From Pepe Reina

Goodbye letter for Liverpool’s fans: “Thanks for everything, I will see you soon”

It is a strange feeling for me to think that next season I will not be a Liverpool player. For the past eight years, that is all I have known. The club, the staff, the city, the people and the supporters have played a massive part in my life. Liverpool is special in a way that only those who are lucky enough to experience the club close up can understand. It has given me memories that will live with me forever and friendships that will last just as long.

But more than anything else, it has given me an understanding of what it is like to play for the most wonderful English club. I may not have won as many trophies and medals as I would have liked since joining in 2005 but the experiences I have been a part of are as important as any silverware. I now understand how supporters can lift a team and inspire them to do special things. I appreciate that there is something unique about Anfield and the atmosphere it creates. I believe that anything is possible no matter what the situation is because at Liverpool there is no such thing as a lost cause. And I have been humbled by the fight for justice for the 96 which showed me that the Liverpool people will always fight for what they believe in.

I know that I have been blessed to be part of a Club like that and I hope that in return I have always given my best and represented Liverpool in the right way. There have been good times and bad times but no matter what the situation has been I hope that my passion has been clear. I have been asked what my favourite Liverpool moment was and if I had to pick one it wouldn’t be a save or winning a trophy. It would be my celebration against Manchester United when David Ngog scored a late goal. That is probably the quickest I have ever run in my life! It shows what playing for Liverpool meant to me and also that there was nothing better than winning a big game at Anfield. I used to look at the Kop when we scored those kind of goals in big games and I would be jealous of the supporters going crazy. If the closest I will get to that is running the length of the pitch and jumping on my team mates backs then that will do for me.

Obviously, I won’t be able to do that next season but I hope that the supporters and my team mates will be able to enjoy many more moments like that. They deserve the best of times and it would give me so much pleasure to see Liverpool back where they belong, challenging for trophies and getting back into the top four. That was where the club was when I first arrived and although I am leaving a different club, one with new owners, a new manager, new players and new challenges, I honestly believe that Liverpool can reach those levels again.

I am disappointed that I will not be part of that and although it was not my decision to leave I will accept it just like I have always accepted any decision that Liverpool have taken for me. They signed me, picked me, gave me some of the best experiences of my life and looked after me. If they feel that the best thing for me and for them is for me to go on loan to Napoli for a season then so be it. Napoli is a new challenge for me and I know that the fans are just as passionate about their team as the Liverpool fans, so I am really looking forward to playing for them this season and I will give my all.

But if I have one regret, it is the way that I am leaving. It is only natural that I would be disappointed that the Liverpool management agreed to loan me to Napoli without telling me first, I thought that I deserved better than that even though I understand that difficult decisions have to be taken in football. A lot has been made about me informing the club that if an offer came in from Barcelona that I would have liked them to consider it. But I had also spoken to the club about the possibility of extending my contract if the offer was not made. I told the manager that I wanted to play for Liverpool and that Barcelona would only become an option for me if the opportunity arrived, like the rumours said it would, as it would be a chance for me to go back home. When it didn’t come I was happy to fight for my place so I was surprised that Liverpool decided it was in the club´s interests to send me to Napoli instead.

None of this will change my feelings for the club or the people in any way and now I have to look forward to a new challenge with Rafa Benitez, who I consider to be the best manager I have worked with, and I am fortunate to be going from one great club to another. Napoli remind me in many ways of the Liverpool I found in 2005, in all the affection they have shown me on my arrival, in having an ambitious project, even in coinciding and working with Benitez again…This memory which in part unites me with you, makes me happy and feel very motivated to begin this new project.

This is my chance to say thank you to everyone for everything that you have given to me and to my family. My children consider Liverpool to be their home and hopefully their love for the city and also for the club will only grow while we are away. I would have liked to have been able to say goodbye in a different way but because of the way the move came about this was not possible.

Maybe in the near future I can do it properly so that I can show my appreciation to you but all I would ask now is that you keep on inspiring the manager and the players just like you always have done and help Liverpool to become the club that you deserve once again. I would like nothing better than to come back at the end of my year away and for Liverpool to be back where they belong.

Thank you for everything. Good luck. I will see you soon.

Pepe Reina.

Prince The King (er...Scumbag)

J.J. endearingly calls Prince "Scumbag" and sometimes the word fits Prince to the "T". There are so many things that Prince does, the list is endless:

• he will wipe his mouth on the nearest person after drinking water
• wipes his ass on you as he pretends to be playing with you
• wakes you up in the morning by covering your nostrils with his tongue or he licks your eyelids open
• if the above failed, he would bark incessantly into your ears till you get up and take him outside to do his "business".
• piss in the house as you tell him not to and while he is doing it stares at you as if to say, "come clean it up"
• ...and on and on

The best part is, he never dared do it to Jeannie. For example, he would never have his backside at her face when he slept on the bed. Indeed he would even be in "reverse gear" when he moved away. He also did not dare wake her up in the morning and would only get up when she did...no matter how late. At about 10.30 at night when Jeannie was at her computer below the staircase Prince would climb the stairs to her eye-level and softly bark at her as if to remind her of bed time. When she was unwell we once saw him pull her blanket to cover her. Not many people will believe what we say.

Domination? Took this photo at 3.30 am yesterday.

All Blacks First Five Eights

Not a bad evening of sports. Liverpool are top of the BPL after a 3-1 victory over Crystal Palace and the All Blacks put up a solid performance at Ellis Park to beat the Boks 27-38. A real stand out All Blacks player today was substitute fly half, Beauden Barrett who came in to replace Aaron Cruden who together with Colin Slade are appearing to be pretenders to the fly half throne. It looks like New Zealand has found a natural successor to Dan Carter who himself replaced the great Andrew Mehrtens. Mehrtens was the successor to the legendary Grant Fox.

A Tribute to Andrew Mehrtens:


Tribute to Dan Carter:


Grant Fox: All Blacks Hall of Fame:


The gentlemen's game played by ruffians.

Pumas Vs All Blacks (Return Match) - La Plata

The match to watch will be the Championship decider this weekend between the Boks and All Blacks in Johannesburg. Anything can happen.

Wrong Number?

Found this on Facebook:

Interestingly, for as long as we carried mobile phones (which was pretty much as long as we were together) my entry in the phone book was the same; "Jeannie". By the way, I still maintain her phone number and every once in a while the kids get funked when "Mummy" shows up as "caller" on their phones!

As A Man Thinketh...

As A Man Thinketh, The Woman Doeth? ;o)

Better To Have Tried And Failed Than Never To Have Tried At All...

The man has passed on and the hullabaloo about his ashes, a subject of heated political and social debate. The question is simply whether to allow his ashes to be brought back to Malaysia; yes or no? For me, the many who shout their views label themselves into only two categories. Magnanimous or otherwise. Their opinion on the matter profiles them. Forget about legal issues; there are none. 

I have blogged at length about Chin Peng at least thrice ("I Remember...", "They Remember..." and "He Remembered...") before. History belongs to the victor and no matter how big or small a mark we leave behind, in the end we are each just making our own journey in this world as individual mortal beings. Chin Peng was the same and it is evidenced by his farewell message below. He took comfort in his children and his parting words were, "... I wish to be remembered simply as a good man who could tell the world that he had dared to spend his entire life in pursuit of his own ideals...".

Chin Peng's Farewell Letter:

“My dear Comrades, my dear Compatriots,

When you read this letter, I am no more in this world.
It was my original intention to pass away quietly and let my relatives handle the funeral matters in private. However, the repercussions of erroneous media reports of me in critical condition during October 2011, had persuaded me that leaving behind such a letter is desirable.

Ever since I joined the Communist Party of Malaya and eventually became its secretary-general, I have given both my spiritual and physical self in the service of the cause that my party represented, that is, to fight for a fairer and better society based on socialist ideals. Now with my passing away, it is time that my body be returned to my family.

I draw immense comfort in the fact that my two children are willing to take care of me, a father who could not give them family love, warmth and protection ever since their birth. I could only return my love to them after I had relinquished my political and public duties, ironically only at a time when I have no more life left to give to them as a father.

It was regrettable that I had to be introduced to them well advanced in their adulthood as a stranger. I have no right to ask them to understand, nor to forgive. They have no choice but to face this harsh reality. Like families of many martyrs and comrades, they too have to endure hardship and suffering not out of their own doing, but out of a consequence of our decision to challenge the cruel forces in the society which we sought to change.

It is most unfortunate that I couldn't, after all, pay my last respects to my parents buried in hometown of Sitiawan (in Perak), nor could I set foot on the beloved motherland that my comrades and I had fought so hard for against the aggressors and colonialists.

My comrades and I had dedicated our lives to a political cause that we believed in and had to pay whatever price there was as a result. Whatever consequences on ourselves, our family and the society, we would accept with serenity.

In the final analysis, I wish to be remembered simply as a good man who could tell the world that he had dared to spend his entire life in pursuit of his own ideals to create a better world for his people.

It is irrelevant whether I succeeded or failed, at least I did what I did. Hopefully the path I had walked on would be followed and improved upon by the young after me. It is my conviction that the flames of social justice and humanity will never die.

Farewell, my dear Comrades!

Farewell, my dear Compatriots!

Farewell, my dear Motherland!”

It's A Dog's Life? Or Is It A Dog's Soul?

Krystyn was in Singapore/JB on an assignment for a few days. Her two Shih Tzus Fudge and Toffee were visibly pining for her after the first two days. They sleep with her on her bed! Prince, their father on the other hand was his usual "take charge" self trying to call the shots on their food/water replenishment, dinner and sleeping times, morning toilet calls, etc., etc. He sleeps in his own basket beside my bed as he has been doing since he came to Jeannie years ago.

Since Krystyn was not around we decided to allow her two Shih Tzu to sleep in my room but with the door open so that they were free to loiter around upstairs. 

At 3.40 am on the night before Krystyn was due to return I woke up to find Fudge on the landing looking down the stairway. I took this photo with my phone, WhatsApp it to Krystyn and went back to sleep:

Then, at about 5.10 am the same night I woke up to find Prince in exactly the same spot and posture as Fudge was earlier. I reached for my phone to take a photo and when I pointed it, Prince had moved. He is canny in very inexplicable ways. The following is the shot taken seconds after I took my phone:

Notice the wispy figure between the grill and the wicker basket. I know for a fact that it was not Fudge nor Toffee because they were in my room! Sure looks like another Shih Tzu to me! Also, the dogs were behaving unusually earlier and were suddenly barking down the stairs on a few occasions.

Could it have been Chili, the departed mother of Fudge and Toffee? 

All Blacks Vs Springboks

The last Springbok victory over All Blacks in Eden Park was in 1937. Looks like they have to wait a while longer. This match in the 2013 Rugby Championship was brutal; blood and gore stuff!

Sounds About Right...

Familiar?

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. 
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. 
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. 
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation.

When Rina Met Izzah...

Yesterday Mahathir accused Anwar of complicity in the Project IC Debacle. Much has come to pass in the last 16 years since they were working hand in glove. 

After Mahathir retired and when "Sleepy In Putrajaya" Pak Lah was PM, many of us (friends and foe) were united in one common cause...get rid of Pak Lah. This gathering at Bloghouse in July, 2008 attracted a mixed but interesting crowd and personalities. 

I took this historic photo below and apparently it was the first time Marina Mahathir had personally met Nurul Izzah. If only the fathers can be more like their daughters.

Dr Michael Newton - How It Began For Him...

Michael Newton revisited...

A Shifting Paradigm; Spirituality Vs Religion

Spirituality Vs Religion

Religion is a structured belief system with specific doctrines to guide and govern the masses that depend on it. Structure is good for those beginning their journey to discover "god", one's own subconscious and the role one plays in the grand scheme of things.

However, structure imposed by a religion, can also become very suffocating for those who desire to grow beyond the boundaries of the governing structure. Spiritual growth is limited by and can actually be impeded by structure.

Spirituality has no formal structure, save the governing of one's own developing subconscious and the "spirit" that guides that growth. Boundaries are not set by another human will and decision, but by that "spirit" which governs all things and the developing person's own subconscious. When following a spiritual path, one knows what is right and wrong instinctively through a growing relationship with the spirit that governs all.

Control
The purpose of doctrine being implemented within a religious organization is a means of providing "structure" and guidance, yes, but it is also meant to control the masses. Rules that are established within a religion are designed to keep the masses in line through a reward and punishment mentality.

Followers are rewarded for keeping the rules by being told they will go to heaven, or reincarnate, or even progress to enlightenment. However, if they fail to keep the rules then they are threatened with the fear of punishment by being sent to hell, or imprisoned in a quasi dimension, or failure to reach enlightenment. These rules of punishment are designed to play on the fears of the masses, thus keeping them under control.

Spirituality provides a freedom to explore and experience according to one's own personal journey. Unhindered by learning and following a long list of rules, one can focus on building a deeper relationship with the spirit that is in all things and governs all things. Because there are no man-made rules to keep, one can seek out knowledge, understanding and experience with the spirit anywhere, anytime and with anyone.

Division
This is, by far, the greatest difference between religion and spirituality. All religions divide people into those who believe and follow their set rules and doctrines, and those who don't. The ones who don't are considered enemies to the faith and thus enemies of the "god" of that particular religion. People who believe differently may be tolerated in a superficial way, but the doctrine ingrains the idea into the minds of its masses that these people are "ungodly" and not really a part of their faith.

Practically every war that has produced immeasurable grief, suffering and death has been waged either over religion, or with a very strong underlying religious tone. People across the planet are segregated into their separate religious belief systems and the people of each system are not fully trusted by the others. They might proclaim love for all, but the underlying truth is that if they offend my belief then they will be ostracized and punished.

Spirituality believes and participates in the idea that the energy (or life) of "god" is in all things and, therefore, all things are considered to be precious and valuable assets to one's spiritual growth. Regardless of culture, color, background, or belief system, the encounter one has with another is a learning experience to be cherished.

Spiritual Peace and Oneness

The foundation of spirituality is that all people, and even all things, are filled with a "god" energy that is attempting to propel everything forward in a constant state of spiritual progression. One quickly realizes when following a truly spiritual path that every situation in one's life has a valuable purpose and that one really has no enemies. There are only lower and higher levels of progression, just as there are various levels of classes and learning achievements within a school. All are on the same path to "heaven" or "enlightenment".

Peace on earth will come through the masses throwing off the confining chains of religious doctrine and learning to count all things as precious. When this is truly and deeply believed AND practiced, it will change the world as we will no longer look at others as enemies, but as simply students of "god" at different levels of progression. We will stop fighting and start helping those below us and learning from those above us. All will be one. True love will rule.