Over Estimate vs Under Estimate

什么是多边思维?

某日， A 和 B 吵得很凶，就在 A 忍无可忍就要动粗的时刻，B 怕了，因为体格不如 A 那么高大强壮! B 临危不乱，急中生智, 立刻向 A 问道: "你到底是不是君子? "

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A 一向爱面子，答道:"那当然, 还用说!"

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B 听了一喜，马上喊道: "那就别动手动脚，君子动口不动手!"
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啪! 无奈 B 的嘴角还是中了A 的一拳! 他边闪边骂道: " 你好一个不要脸的伪君子!"
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A 答道: " 我是君子啊，我的确只动你嘴，没动你手!"

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B 不服气, 又不愿挨打, 马上还话: " 你是君子, 就别再动手打人! 听见没?"

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这回只听见 B "啊呜~~~!" 一声, 拔腿就跑!

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A 望着 B 远离的背影, 喊道: " 我还是君子, 我始终只动口不动手!"

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发生什么事? 原来 A 狠狠咬了 B 一口!

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注: 我们一般对"动口不动手"的理解是, 只骂嘴不动粗! 但稍微用了多边思考, 就被理解为, 只动他人口嘴, 而不动他人手脚; 再来, 只用口咬, 不用手动粗, 也成! 看到了吧, 这就是多边思维!

Im Not Fastidious About Food

Although Im not fastidious about the food, I still able to differentiate which food is delicious, which is just nice & which is appalling...! Anyway nice or not nice, I will still finish it just to avoid any wastage, unless the food is too disgusting to eat! Just you don't know is that, the cafe or restaurant that served poor quality foods will be in my "the first & the last" list...^ ^

Designed Dialogue

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Tauke : Here is your cha kueh tiaw...
Diner : Thanks! ^ ^

(few minutes later......the tauke walk towards the diner...)

Tauke : You eat eagerly...you must be very hungry?
Diner : Err...not really......(keep eat eagerly)
Tauke : Hmm....then you must be hurry in time...?
Diner : Err...not really too (keep eat eagerly)
Tauke: Then why you eat eagerly? no good to your digestive system...
Diner : I know, but I can't......
Tauke: Ok...I think I know the reason, you must love our cha kueh tiaw very much...^ ^
Diner : Not at all......
Tauke: Then why?

Diner : it taste terrible...can't hold it longer in my mouth...it make me nauseousness & wanna vomit...

Tauke: ............

My Principles As An Employee

Principle 1: Preserve your strength

Never be in a hurry to showing off your capable & strength to your boss, especially if you are a new employee & dealing with sales & marketing activities. Let say you are confident in boost up a monthly sales to the maximum in a month time, e.g from RM10,000 (in July) to max RM20,000 (increase 100% in Aug).

If you have a choice, instead of achieve & submit a max monthly sales performance of RM20,000 to the boss in Aug 09, you are advised to separate the 100% (=RM10,000) increment into several portions, e.g 10% x 10 (increment of RM1,000 each month), even you can have 0% increment for certain months whichever market is slow. We should able to survive longer than those who promised 100% increment in a month time, as in the following month, their sales is either maintaining or decreasing!

(Is this the result your boss wanted to see? Don't forget boss always take the highest record for the future comparison!)


Principle 2: Agreement but not argument

If there any complain from the clients, for an example on the company's new business policies or strategies. If the fingers are pointing to the management, not to you, then your first action is to agree with clients' views & criticism, show them you are at clients' side (although you have some contributions to the new policies or you knew that those clients are just deliberately making trouble).

At the same time, tell them that you and colleagues have tried everything to against the new policies, and company has also tried to do some adjustment, but just can't find any solution better than the current one (although this never happen, and you do nothing for clients good). Here's the time you start to further explain on the "WHY" and say good on your company's stand & decision on the new policies launched. Normally this can help to calm down their anger, so that they will accept the changes in an easier & comfort way.

(Provide them the customer service hot line or email address for them to express their unsatisfactory & disappointment is the best way to help them release the anger)


Principle 3: Make your management wronged

When your own careless & mistake has provoked client's anger & complain. You should find chance to tell the client is not your fault, but is management's decision & instruction. Inform them you will pass the massage or feedback to the management and revert the outcome as soon as possible.

This actually just an one man show: you created the problem, you settle the problem! The management never been acknowledged, and you should prevent such a complain reached the management; otherwise, you will be more headache, as both client & management will push you for an explanation & solution. This certainly will spoil company's impression on your image & reputation!

(Even though clients may dislike our management, product or service, as long as we serve them better with zero error, they still willing to support us continuously! This is what we called "感情"......)

Watch vs Public Relations

Last night we accompanied FeRn younger sister look for a new watch in a watch shop at Bintang MegaMall. She looking for a round watch. FeRn asked her why not square or rectangle watch as it looks more presentative? Her answer is that, round = smooth, so to create an efficient & good public relations, it is advised to wear round-shaped watch; while square or rectangle has 4 angles, which represents the barriers / obstructions in creating a good public relationship.

Her explanation sound logic.......~_^
Oop~~~it suddenly reminds me that my face is square-shaped! e_e'''
No wonder my public relations is so poor & weak.....should I go for a plastic surgery??? ^ ^
It's up to you to believe it or not......for me......hmm~I have no watch, so who cares?

"50% Discount" vs "Buy 1 Free 1"

Everyone know "50% discount" and "Buy 1 Free 1"; however there must some consumers do not realize that basically, "Buy 1 Free 1" = "50% Discount", both mean selling a product or service at 1/2 price. Is it exactly 100% the same? If we try to nitpicking, and study it thoroughly in different angle, there actually a different between "50% Discount" & "Buy 1 Free 1"!

Customer View:

For an example, there are 2 shops having a promotion on a same product, while shop A offers "50% Discount", shop B offers "Buy 1 Free 1". Which shop will you most likely to visit? (assume that in normal days, shop A & B selling the product at the same price, RM100).

1. If once you had 1 unit, you will never need 2nd unit; or no one around you need it...you must go for "50% Discount", so that you can save RM50. "Buy 1 Free 1" causes you spend RM50 on an unwanted 2nd unit, in other words, RM50+1 unit of product gone wasted! So how much you loss in this purchasing? I'm not sure too......^ ^

2. If you alone may need more than 1 unit, or people around you might need it too, either "50% Discount" or "Buy 1 Free 1" is a right choice. But make sure the quantity you needed is in "plural" not "singular"!

Businessman View:

1. "50% Discount" can for any product or service; while "Buy 1 Free 1" for limited product & service. For an example, it is so innocent & irrational to offer "Buy 1 Free 1" on a product like the coffin......
2. If majority customers may need a product more than 1 unit, offer of "Buy 1 Free 1" is better idea than "50% Discount". Let say during the promotion period, there are 100 customers come to buy the product A.

Under "50% Discount", some may buy 1, some may buy > 1 (assume that they buy either 1 or 2 units), means during the promotion period, the shopkeeper able to sell out 100-200 units of product A.

Under "Buy 1 Free 1", each customer is forced to buy minimum 2 units of product A. Minimum 200 units of product A to be sold is guarantied. Of course, in normal practice, it may not exactly follow the rules mentioned above.

Juggle With The Numbers & Words

Many people very alert or sensitive to the word "Sale", "Discount" or "Promotion" which advertised or displayed by the dealers. But not many people really study the meaning of the numbers & words used by the dealers, they even some time get confused with those numbers & words.

50%+20% Discount

Some consumers may thought that it is 70% off while it is NOT. 50%+20% off here means 50% off on top of 20% off, in other words, the dealer offers you another 20% off after a 50% off on the normal rate, which overall is just 60%! By knowing this, you won't get over surprised or excited when you noticed a 50%+50% discount offered, which it is actually 75% off instead of FOC (free of charge)......

Buy 2 Free 1

Some time I also get confused with the "Buy 2 Free 1" promotion. Base on my understanding, it should be if I buy 2 units of a product (e.g RM50/unit), I can get another unit for FOC, meant at the end I can bring back 3 units at RM100. But some dealers seem have different interpretation on the "Buy 2 Free 1", I have experienced it before. He told me that it means if I buy 2 units of a product (e.g RM50/unit), the 2nd unit will be free, mean at the end I can bring back 2 units at RM50......Is it correct? Isn't it seem like "Buy 1 Free 1"? Whatever, the normal practice is that "ask before you buy"!

......To Continue......

1 + 1 = ?

种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆
Plant melons and you get melons, sow beans and you get beans

The efforts made determines the achievement we will gain. In my opinion, it shows that we have indirectly agreed that 1 + 1 = 2 if we doing thing(s) accordance to the above theory. Generally, it is indeed true that if we do A, we will get A as a result.

有得必有失
Gain and Loss are coexistant

However, we can't deny that some time we do A, we get B instead of A. In this case, although we didn't get the expected result by doing A, we gained something as a return or replacement. Due to the effort made is not totally wasted, we still can consider the outcome as 1 + 1 = 2.

费时费事，得不偿失
Not Be Worth The Effort

In other cases, one may gain nothing by doing A. When this occured, no more 1 + 1 = 2, but 1 + 1 < least =" 2." style="text-align: justify;">

一石二鸟，一箭双雕
Kill Two Birds With One Stone

If we are smart enough, and always think & analyse things bilaterally, we can actually create a situation by which we able to achieve more than 1 goal with equal amount of effort. This means that by doing A, we not only get A, but also get B, or / and C or more. In this case, 1 + 1 > 2. In my opinion, the "Win-Win Situation" is a good example of 1 + 1 > 2.

Huge Beetle Comes

In the previous post, I mentioned about the giant mango; next would be the huge beetle I found in my house yard yesterday morning. It is generally known as Rhinocerous Beetle (Malay: Kumbang Badak) or Atlas Beetle. Its scientific name is Chalcosoma atlas.

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Rhinocerous Beetle (Chalcosoma atlas)

This is the biggest Rhinocerous beetle I ever saw alive, it is 65mm in length. However, according to the information I found from the Internet, its size ranging between 25-130mm. Wow, 130mm? It is really huge, bigger than a computer mouse...can you imagine it?

Anyone studying in Form 6 (Higher Education Certificate) and in the Science stream? Then you may required to collect different kind of insect species for insect samples making (a project of Biology subject). For sure such a huge beetle must become a victim for this Biology project.

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The Giant Mango

Are you mango fancy? If yes, then you will loving it......^ ^

Last few days FeRn's sister brought home 2 giant mangos which are given by her neighbour. The mango were really big, almost 4x of the normal mango size. As you can see in the 1st picture, it is about 1 feet (30cm) in length.

the giant mango

Its pulp = pulps of 4 normal size mango, and its seed is as big as a normal size mango. So far this is the largest mango I ever see in my life......have you seen it before?

size comparison between the mango seed & an egg

Hic~Hic~Hic......Hiccuping

"Hic~Hic~Hic......"

That is the sound created when some one is hiccuping. I believe you should have experienced it at least once in your daily life. It causes discomfort to us, and make us embarrassed if happen in the public place.

Have any idea on how to get rid the hiccups? Normally it will stop after a certain period without any intervention, by simply ignore & forget about it. In case wewant to shorten the period of hiccuping, some elderly may suggests us to drink 7 sips of water to resolve the hiccups. Well, it works sometime.

"Hic~Hic~Hic......"

How if it doesn't stop after the 7 sips of water? Or is there any other method to get rid the hiccups? You can try to hold your breath for about 1 minute, or alter your breathing pattern (e.g slow & deep breath), it should able to stop the hiccups. I have just learnt about this method from FeRn, which is an advice from a doctor.

Question Been Answered?

Reading books is my interest. Last time I only read novels. I switched from novels to books of categories of business, finance, management, self-motivational, investment, quotations and etc 2 years ago under a friend's influence.

Well, this good habit has trigger up people curiosity and suspicious. So they shoot me a question : "Why you seem never can escape from the credit card debt & be rich even though you have read lots of Rich Dad's series and other finance/money related books?"

books I have read

I never manage to answer their question, instead I shooted a question back and let them think about it, hope that they will be more understanding on my situation as a book bug one day . Here is my question: "Since when you have learnt the moral value of 'be honest' (kejujuran) and do you still lie now a day?"

I have learnt that not all questions must have at least an answer, or not all answers must end with a "." (full stop), it can sometime end with a "?" (question mark) too......^ ^

Lambir Hills National Park

Lambir Hills National Park, one of the attractions in Miri, located around 30KM from Miri City center, on the Miri-Bintulu Road. The park is well known with its flora & fauna species rich forest & few waterfalls, which is a nice place for sightseeing, jungle trekking & picnicking purposes.

My first visit to this park was around 4 years ago, unfortunately that time the park was closed to the public or visitors, as it was under renovation works. My 2nd attempt to this park was on the 2nd day of Gawai Festival, approximately 2 week ago. The entrance fee is RM10 per person.

Lambir Hills National Park

The entrance to the park begun with 2 long wooden bridges towards the jungle trails in the park. One of the bridge is not in use as it was broken at he middle part. My 1st target was the nearest Latak Waterfall, which is around 30 minutes walk from the park HQ.

broken wooden bridge

Different kind of flora & fauna species, 2 small waterfalls & few river streams which almost drying due to the long dry season were found along the jungle trail towards the Latak Waterfall. We have to cross a hanging bridge & a wooden bridge too before getting to the Latak Waterfall.

small waterfall

hanging bridge in the park

Latak Waterfall is about 25 metres high, it pluges into a large deep pool with broad sandy poolside. It is a nice spot for swimming, sunbathing & picnicking. Anyway, as I said earlier, quite a long time not raining in Miri, so the waterfall not look as magnificent as expected.

entrance to Latak Waterfall

Latak Waterfall pluges into a large deep pool

Latak Waterfall with broad sandy poolside

The next target was the Nibong Waterfall, which is about 1.38KM from the Latak Waterfall through the Pantu trail. The trail is begun with a long stone staircase (about 60-70 stair steps) at about 50°. There was a wooden pavilion & a 22 metres high tree tower at about 100M from the staircase. So sad, visitors are not allow to climb the old mildly rotten tree tower.

waterfalls found at Lambir Hills National Park

stone staircase towards the Pantu trail

22 metres high tree tower

Approximately after 25 minutes walk, FeRn heard the continuous rumbles of thunder, she is a bit frightened & worried might rain cats & dogs shortly. So she wanted to cease and return to the park HQ as fast as we could, while I insisted to proceed til we reach to the Nibong Waterfall. At last, the mission failed, I had to agree to cease after few minutes of arguing & hesitating.

When returned to the park HQ, it was still a sunny day, no sign that it will rain at all......sigh!

Tanjong Lobang Beach

Hmm...almost a week time not update my blog! I am back to Miri last 2 week, that why I have limited chance to access the internet; between after a long break since my resignation 5 months ago, now I am started getting busy and busier these few days. If everything goes smoothly as planned, I will have a new start soon! Yes, I will be employed within 2 months time.

Trees Park & Children Play Ground at Tanjong Lobang Beach

As mentioned in the previous post, I planned to have a jungle tracking at Lambir Hills National Park on the 1st day of Gawai Festival, but have to cancel the plan and change to have a window shopping at Bintang MegaMall due to some unavoidable reasons. Well, at the last, Bintang MegaMall not visited too, as some one too "shyiok" had the so called "short" afternoon nap woh......Instead we brought 3 small kids (FeRn's nephews) to the Tanjong Lobang Beach at around 4:30p.m. ^ ^

long sandy beach with a pier extended 100m out to the sea surface

What nice at the Tanjong Lobang Beach? Besides the long sandy beach, a children play ground , a children paradise is found just right at the entrance to the beach. Next to the play ground are the food stalls (0pen air styled) which is a nice place for you to enjoy the seafoods & other local foods in the sea wind at the beach side.

There are 2 piers which are extended around 100M out to the sea surface. Some time you can see some people fishing at the another end of the pier(s). Playing with the sea water, kite flying & paragliding are the popular activities at the Tanjong Lobang Beach.

paragliding

16 months old kid in the sea water

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Happy Gawai Festival

May 09 just gone, it brought away the Duan-Wu Festival; June 09 just came, it brings us the Gawai Festival (Harvest Festival). You see, so many festivals for us to celebrate, they certainly bring us lots of joys. Anyway, you must at least do something, take part & enjoy it, or your life still can be boresome!

2 days of Gawai Festival, not manage to visit any bumi friend's house this year. Suddenly mood comes, have a "bad" idea, plan to go for a jungle tracking at Lambir Hills National Park at 1:00p.m. But due to some reasons, the plan spoilt.....haizzz......why every time I plan for something, must have something tries to crash it unexpectedly?

So what to do next? May be just go for a window shopping at Bintang Mega Mall, which just been expanded lately, with more shoplots, a new multy storey car park and very soon the Luxton Hotel. The fast food & beverage outlets like Big Apple, Sushi King, Marry Brown and etc has finally penetrate the market of Miri City, and has its first outlet in Bintang Mega Mall.
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Happy Dumpling Day

Today, 28 May 08 is Duan-Wu Festival (端午节), also known as Dumpling Festival or Dragon Boat Festival. Let us see what are the highlights for the Duan-Wu Festival:

Rice Dumplings (粽子)

Generally, a day you may skip your favorite mee wantan, laksa, fried kueh tiaw, chicken rice and etc for the breakfast, lunch & dinner, but only feed your hungry stomach with the rice dumpling(s)......^ ^ I noticed that most young generation like to eat rice dumpling, but they never manage to learn how to wrap a rice dumpling from the elderly. These days, this special tradition food can be found everywhere at any time, especially in the "KopiTiam" (cafe), Chinese restaurant & hawker centre.

the rice dumplings

Standing Eggs

A day even if you are not a magician, you are able to make an egg standing on the floor on its end in the noon time. I have heard many words regarding this, but never manage to find out the truth in the past 30 years. Well, today I did the 1st experiment and it proved that what people said is not a myth; and what interesting is some people found that we actually can stand an egg on its end on any day of the year, as long as we are patience enough to find out the balance point of an egg.

standing eggs on the floor in the noon time

Noon Time Water (午时水)

Whilst I was a small child, my parent told that the water taken from the well, pond or pool in the noon time of the Duan-Wu Festival has the magical power, by which it is good for health if we drink it; and can wash out the dirt (bad luck) if we shower our self with the water. Have you ever heard about this legend? Do you believe in it?

Dragon Boat Race (龙舟赛)

The last but not least, is the dragon boat race, which normally only perform on Duan-Wu Festival. The boat used is long & narrow, canoe-styled human powered boat, which decorated with a dragon head & tail at each end, and is equipped with a drum & paddles. During the tradition dragon boat racing, the drummer responsible to lead the paddlers on the timing and frequency of the paddling strokes by a rhythmic beating of a drum.

Happy Duan-Wu Festival
please be reminded not to eat too many of dumplings
as the glutinous rice no good for the digestive system
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Priceless Collections

I had just cleaning up the few boxes in my bed room last few days. Just noticed that I kept lots of rubbishes (unwanted things) in the past 15 years, of course some of them are priceless & memorable to me. See what I found?

A Sony walkman, the first & the last walkman I ever had in my 30 years of life. I bought it in year 1992, with the first income I earnt from the part time job as a waiter at a Chinese restaurant (during the school holiday). I was in Transition Class that time.

My 1st & last Sony Walkman

Few secondary school's magazines. The one shown below is indeed special & unique to me, you know why? I designed the cover's artwork and in-charged the graphic works for the magazine inserts; between I am the one who responsible to collect & edit (of course the majority were done by teachers) the articles for the Mandarin section. I was in Form 5 that time.

School Magazine of Year 1998

A stack of letter envelopes, which were accumulated since year 1992 (Transition Class) to year 2003 (Degree 2nd year). I started looking for a penpal in year 1992, I got 5-6 penpals but all not last long. My first & the last penpal was a girl from Tawau, Sabah, named Shelly. At first, we contact each other by letter writing, then by typing & printing, later by email or sms; up-to-date, we rarely contact each other, only sms occasionally...^ ^ Sigh! We seem not appreciate at all on the convenient brought by the advance technology.

a stack of letter envelopes (almost 150 pieces)

A piece of Chinese New Year Night poster, my artwork in year 2002. I was in Degree 1st year. Actually I contributed 2 poster designs for the CNY night, one as shown below, one (Koi Carp Fishes) was missing a day after putted on the notice board. No body knew who removed it from the notice board...I guess must some one who admire my artwork though? ^ ^

Chinese New Year Night Poster

My very own made bookmarks, which were created during the semester break of the university (1st year). Most are paper artworks (cut & paste), which can be considered a very fine artwork I ever made. At first I made them for selling purpose (for extra pocket money), but don't know why until now never sell even one, and still kept with me. I got around 50 pieces of bookmarks for each design (as in the last picture).

my fine paper artworks, bookmarks

my own hand-made bookmarks

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Malaysia Badminton Team

2009 LI-NING Sudirman Cup World Team Badminton Championships (Guang Zhou, China) was just closing the curtain yesterday night (17 May 09). Malaysia badminton team failed to reach the Final, as they were beaten by China in the semi-final on 16/5 (MAS:CHN - 0:3). Very sad yet proud! ^ ^

Mixed-Double: Mohd Fairuzizuan & Wong Pei Tty

Well, even lost, a good news is that Malaysia team has broke the record by presenting theirselve into the Sudirman Cup's Semi-Final for the very first time since the game founded in 1989. However, I was shocked! The 1st time? Why Malaysia team never reach the semi or final round of the Sudirman Cup in the past 20 years? e_e'''

Man-Single: Lee Chong Wei

It is expected that even though M'sia badminton team has made a breakthrough in the 11th Sudirman Cup and Lee Chong Wei has won the silver medal in the Beijing Olympic 2008, still many badminton fans (especially the Malaysians) are very disappointed with our badminton players' performance, they will keep criticizing as long as M'sia badminton team is the second, and not the champion in all the international-level badminton games!

Man-Double: Koo Kien Keat & Tan Boon Heong

Instead of feeling disappointed & keep criticizing, we must give our badminton team a full support, a compliment & an encouragement for their good efforts & contributions to our country. We must understand that M'sia badminton team is in a disadvantage situation, by which:

1. Compare to China or Indonesia, Malaysia has less population. I guess it is acceptable if I make an assumption that "Number of badminton talents is proportionate to the population size by country". e.g while M'sia only has one man-single who up to the standard, China has more than 3!
2. Do you think environmental factors (e.g climate) may influence one's performance. e.g while M'sia has a tropical climate, countries like China, Korea & Denmark has 4 seasons? Of course, the attitude, confidence & psychological quality plays an important role too in determine if one performs well.

Childhood Memories: HandmadeToys

Haiyoyoh......so terrible! Why children in these days are very hard to be pleased & satisfied? Well as you can observe, most of the children keep saying that they have no toys, and keep making noise, keep crying, and keep persuading the adult(s) to buy them a toy......while the fact is that they are actually already immersed in a stack of toys!

Are they over spoilt by their parents or relatives? Or am I jealousy on their luck & happiness? I didn't have many toys, probably the number of toys that I have had during the childhood can be counted with only 5 fingers; while the children now-a-day have tons of toys from different categories & sizes......

technology toy doll for children in the recent days

Perhaps I shouldn't blame the children for hard to pleased & too materialism, instead I should be more understanding. I and them are born in the different years & circumstances, so of course we experienced the different childhood under the different economy & social status.

Yes, is true that they have lots of toys, but this doesn't mean they are as happy & as lucky as a small kid like me. At least I am a bit creative than the children in the recent days. Why not? While they have the technology toy dolls, I had my handmade-paper toy doll which they will never have chance to see & play with, unless they get know about it from my blog. But I don't think they read my blog? Now you know how damn lucky am I? I am even now curious & wondering, have you seen it before? ^ ^

my handmade-paper toy doll

I had the dragonfly as my playmate whilst I am a small kid too, it brought me lots of fun & joys. Anyway it is sad & sorry, I am a bit unhumanize & cruel to this lovely fellow......I broke its wings off up to the 1/2, and tighten its tail with a length of thread, then let it flied in the air. It can't fly high with the broken wings......it was my natural and "batteryless" aircraft or helicopter! Haizzz......小时无知, 不知不罪, 南无阿尼陀佛!

the dragonfly, my natural & "batteryless" helicopter

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Childhood Memories: "Pok Shui"

Today is Wesak Day & tomorrow is Mother Day......wish all Buddhist a Happy Wesak Day & all mums around the world a Happy Mother Day! I LOVE YOU, MUM! hUG hUG ya ^ ^

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Do you like carbonated drinks? You prefer Coke, 7Up, Sprite, F&N, Pepsi or the others?

20 years ago, we used to call it "Pok Shui", I don't know why, by right it suppose to be "Qi Shui =汽水" (I am a Hakka). I think the "Pok" is origins from the sound made when we remove the cap from the bottle (last time glass bottles are used), and "Shui" means "liquid", so the combination of the 2 becomes "Pok Shui"......^ ^

the famous carbonated drink~Coca Cola (coke)

While I am still a small kid, the definition of "Pok Shui" to me is " a drink that I only have chance to drink on CNY eve or during CNY......"! I am not kidding, my parent will only buy such drinks when CNY day is coming, we only drink carbonated drinks on CNY days, not the other days.

Can you imagine how obedience were we? We will never "curi curi minum" the "Pok Shui" even if parents not at home; we will wait the CNY eve to come patiently, and only started to remove the cap after the eve dinner! Wow...cool with a bottle of "Pok Shui" in the hands. Ya, we normally kept (hide) 1 or 2 bottles with us secretly, as we worried all the drinks finished upon served to the guests before the Chap Goh Mei comes......

alcoholic drink ~ Carlsberg beer

Well, everything changed now......the children in the recent days can drink the carbonated drinks as much as they wished, with the rules they have extra pocket money & no prohibition from the adults. What worse is while last time we brought a bottle of plain water, now some kids bring 1 bottle of carbonated drink (1.5 litre) to school......not for partying, ok! It is replacement to the plain water! No wonder we growth paralelly, they growth laterally lah......^ ^

Now a day, you can see lots of teenagers go pubbing & clubbing so often (while I only had 1 or 2 in the past 30 years! ~sigh~), of course they drink so often too! Hence don't be too surprise if one day you see a small kid of primary school with a glass or bottle of alcoholic drink in his/her hand. And therefore, it is nothing weird at all if small kids drink carbonated drinks like drinking the plain water, or even drink more than the plain water......haizz! Please guide the small childs properly lah before the thing(s) become(S) out of our monitoring & control!

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Childhood Memories: Quarrel on Dinning Table

As mentioned in the previous entries, I'm a "Kampung Kia". I had 5 siblings, 4 brothers & 1 sister. My dad (a builder) was the only one who worked at that time. I didn't know if my family status during the childhood can be considered as poor or not, but certainly was not rich.

I still remember, a quarrel will begin occasionally when dinning time came! As I said, we were not rich, hence it is impossible for my mum to prepare a big size serving meal that enough for 7 persons. So my mum played a role to divide each dish evenly before the dinning time.


Well, not all dishes can be divided fairly......e.g normally my mum only bought 1/2 chicken, she can do nothing if all child insisted want to eat the chicken wing or chicken thigh, unless she buy only chicken wings / thighs (will cost more). This is why a quarrel sometime can't be avoided during the dinning time...^ ^

End of each month, we can expected that my mum will only served us one dish, which was either boiled, fried, steamed, or whatever culinary method, it still just a chicken egg! Consumption of canned foods became often too; and sometime we even only ate groundnut oil & soy sauce mixed rice! Simple but delicious......^ ^

The small child in the recent days are a bit more lucky, they generally eat more than enough. They are even choosy, this no good, that no like. I can understand if they love only the nice foods; but I am so curious: there are so many choices of foods, why minority of them only like to eat eggs, chicken's skin, pork's fatty part, instant noodle & etc? They can have such foods everyday without feeling bored or disgust......e_e'''

While these small child's eating habit results in the waste of foods, there are lots of peoples around the world are suffering of starvation & famine! Nevertheless, what is unforgivable & what I am so sorry about is many adults also make the same mistake, wasting of foods. Below is a very nice video to share, which most of you might watched it before. I found this video at Jayce Ooi's Paradise.

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

Chicken a la Carte by Ferdinand Dimadura

Remark: I am proud that myself never waste foods since a small kid, instead I eat for other peoples too......this is one of the reasons why I gain weight easily......^ ^

Childhood Memories: Happy Less Perfect Life

Kampung Mangka, is where I spent my childhood, is a rural area in Muara Tuang, Samarahan. I lived in an old zinc house, which is surrounded by the bushes & jungle until I was 14 years old. My house was far apart from other houses, at least 150-200M in distance......so generally, I can say that I didn't have any neighbour.

brothers & sister...which one is me?

I owned few playgrounds nearby my house, however neither swing, seesaw, rocking horse, nor sliding board is found here. The vegetable farm, black pepper farm & the cocoa farm are the playgrounds, where I played & worked under the hot sun, and sometime in the wind & rain. I went for bird hunting with slingshot & fishing at the river in the jungle occasionally too......

school's group photo (I'm in Primary 2, year 1987)

I woke up at 5:30a.m & walked to school at 6:15a.m. on school days. The journey roughly took 45-60 minutes, is around 2 miles (equal to 3.2 KM) away from my home. Most pupils wore the cheapest sandal to school (as shown by red circle in the 2nd photo), only minority were afford to wear the white school shoes, and 3-5 pupils were actually came to school with naked foots! ^ ^ Ya, do you know that, my headmaster is father to the 何海其 (Ho Hai Chyi), one of the presenters in AEC's Evening Edition (新闻报报看)?

my x-classmates & teachers (Primary 6, year 1991)

No matter how bad is the weather, I didn't care if it was a hot sun, heavy rain or strong wind, I walked 6.4KM on a rocky road every school day. I never manage to escape any class, unless I was sicked. It was really a hard time, when the sandal strap is broken in the middle of the journey! Yeah, is time to buy a new pair of sandals......Oop, don't desire too much, my mum is a very good shoe-maker, she will repair it for us, joined back the broken part by a nail or a wire.

my school shoes, your sandal in the toilet

Hey, small kids in the modern time, what happen to you all? Why some of you seem not willing go for classes in the air-conditional school? Your parents will never ever ask you walk to school on foots, if they are afford to send you to the school at least in a school van or bus, or even in a Merz, BMW or may be a Ferrari or what ever! You should feel lucky to born in a much perfect enviroment, so please do appreciate it.

Oh ya, while I had a happy less perfect childhood, you seem have a not so happy perfect childhood. Ok, I think now I have an answer why lots of rich people prefer move & stay at a rural area? It is because of a simple & less perfect village's life shall bring them more joys & happiness, and create less troubles & pressure......!