MyWriters Poetry Prompt
36th Prompt of 2018
Week 25Dec2018 to 01Jan2019
Bond
Strong is the bond between mother and child
They hold each other close,
Their hearts beating wild.
Enduring the bond between childhood friends
No matter time nor distance
Their friendship never ends
Legal is the bond imposed by a contract
Once you set your seal thereof
Your promise you can't take back
Mystical the bond between master and disciple
Through hardship and much suffering
They practise with nary a grumble
Unbreakable is the bond between man and wife
What God hath joined together
Let not man put asunder
For better or for worse
They walk together for life.
Submitted on 26thDec2018
Thursday, December 27, 2018
It's dark in here
MyWriters FirstLiner
Week 12/2018
24th - 29th December 2018
"It's dark in here," Nathan said to himself in his dream, when suddenly, he was awakened by a knife pointing at his throat.
Submitted on 26th Dec2018
Week 12/2018
24th - 29th December 2018
"It's dark in here," Nathan said to himself in his dream, when suddenly, he was awakened by a knife pointing at his throat.
Submitted on 26th Dec2018
As I reached for the hand-rail
MyWriters FirstLiner
Week 11/2018
17th - 23rd December 2018
As I reached for the hand-rail, the bus lurched forward, making me fall from the platform, its tyres brushing past my back.
Submitted on 20th Dec2018
Week 11/2018
17th - 23rd December 2018
As I reached for the hand-rail, the bus lurched forward, making me fall from the platform, its tyres brushing past my back.
Submitted on 20th Dec2018
Friday, December 21, 2018
When Storm Clouds Gather
MyWriters Poetry Prompt
35th Prompt of 2018
14th - 21st December 2018
When Storm Clouds Gather.
Pristine beach with its picnic crowd
Has become deserted and forlorn
Clear green waters that made the sea feel proud
Now looks timid like a lamb just shorn
Trees in the distance huddle together
Preparing for an unwelcome visitor
They look up and see dark storm clouds gather
And brace for impending disaster.
Submitted on 21Dec2018
35th Prompt of 2018
14th - 21st December 2018
When Storm Clouds Gather.Pristine beach with its picnic crowd
Has become deserted and forlorn
Clear green waters that made the sea feel proud
Now looks timid like a lamb just shorn
Trees in the distance huddle together
Preparing for an unwelcome visitor
They look up and see dark storm clouds gather
And brace for impending disaster.
Submitted on 21Dec2018
Peter grew up in a small village
MyWriters FirstLiner
Week 10/2018
10th - 17th December 2018
Peter grew up in a small remote village where the old and sickly were left to die in the deep jungle.
Submitted on 14Dec2018
Week 10/2018
10th - 17th December 2018
Peter grew up in a small remote village where the old and sickly were left to die in the deep jungle.
Submitted on 14Dec2018
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
S'il vous plait
MyWriters Poetry Prompt
34th Prompt of 2018
5the - 11th Dec 2018
Using the word, "Please"
"S'il vous plait",
The French would say,
When making a request.
"Please",
One word will do in the English way,
While leaving out the rest.
"If",
Those who speak French would begin,
As if unsure if you'll agree.
"Please"
The English thinks it not a sin,
Your helpfulness to see.
"If it pleases you",
Utters the French in full,
Not a liberty they'll take.
"Please"
Is the only word we learn in school,
When politely a request we make.
Submitted on 5th Dec 2018
34th Prompt of 2018
5the - 11th Dec 2018
Using the word, "Please"
"S'il vous plait",
The French would say,
When making a request.
"Please",
One word will do in the English way,
While leaving out the rest.
"If",
Those who speak French would begin,
As if unsure if you'll agree.
"Please"
The English thinks it not a sin,
Your helpfulness to see.
"If it pleases you",
Utters the French in full,
Not a liberty they'll take.
"Please"
Is the only word we learn in school,
When politely a request we make.
Submitted on 5th Dec 2018
Keong sped away
MyWriters FirstLiner
Week 9/ 2018
3rd - 9th Dec 2018
"Keong sped away, his heart beating wildly, seeing in the rear-view mirror the lifeless body of the child he had just run over."
Submitted on 5th Dec 2018
Week 9/ 2018
3rd - 9th Dec 2018
"Keong sped away, his heart beating wildly, seeing in the rear-view mirror the lifeless body of the child he had just run over."
Submitted on 5th Dec 2018
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
The little known life of Abraham Lincoln
Finished reading this intriguing biography of Abraham Lincoln today. This book, written by Dale Carnegie in 1932, was inspired by Irishman T.P. O'Connor who wrote a column called "Men and Memories" for the Morning Post in London. Carnegie was surprised and fascinated at how little he knew about many personal aspects of Abraham Lincoln's life. Hence the book entitled, "Lincoln the Unknown"
This book presents Lincoln's life as one long odyssey of struggles and failures punctuated by occasional success and happy outcomes, which unfortunately were few and far between. Lincoln, the Unknown is a tale of a sad life fraught with seemingly unending disappointments and setbacks from one chapter to another.
By the time he was 49 years old, Lincoln was described as having "arrived" at failure in business and bleak unhappiness in marriage. Although he was fairly successful in his Law practice, he had but only frustration and defeat in politics.
Yet the 49th year was the turning point in Lincoln's life.
Starting with his first and most famous political battle in U.S. history, Lincoln lived the remaining seven years of his short life achieving enduring fame, going down in history as the most popular, the 16th President of the United States of America.
Perhaps one of the "unknown" things of Lincoln is his favourite poem, a short poem about the need to refrain from being proud because life is short and fleeting, which he used as a maxim throughout his life. (p74)
"Oh, why should the spirit
of mortal be proud?
Like a swift-fleeting meteor,
a fast-flying cloud,
A flash of the lightning,
a break of the wave,
He passes from life
to rest in the grave."
Of course no story about Lincoln, notwithstanding "The Unknown" part of the book-title, would be complete without his well-known speeches: his Gettysburg Address in 1863 and his Second Inauguration Speech in 1865 (please see Appendix A and B below respectively).
One may say Lincoln was more well known as an orator than as a politician. Today he is remembered for his fine speeches more than for his political or military achievements.
A question that one may ask at the end of this book is, what was the key to Lincoln's successful and inspiring speeches. The answer is found about halfway through the book, in Chapter 14, describing his rise to political power:
Firstly, Lincoln was unyielding in preparation.
He was always thinking about his speeches and would write notes on scraps of paper and envelopes whenever the thoughts, ideas and phrases came to mind.
Secondly, Lincoln was meticulous in revision.
He was constantly revising, recasting and improving on the words that he wanted to say in public or in meetings.
Finally, Lincoln was unwavering in his conviction.
He believed in speaking the truth, even if it meant losing support and becoming unpopular. "I am willing, if necessary, to perish with it . . ." he was often known to tell colleagues who warned him of the pitfall of making unpopular statements.
Appendix A
p174, 19Nov1863, after victory at the Battle of Gettysburg
Lincoln delivered his famous speech, which started with the words, "Four score and seven years ago . . ." and ended with "Of the people, by the people, for the people . . ."
"Four score and seven years ago
Our fathers brought forth upon this continent,
A new nation, conceived in Liberty,
And dedicated to the proposition
That all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war,
Testing whether that nation, or any nation
So conceived and so dedicated,
Can long endure. We are met
On a great battle-field of that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion of
That field, as a final resting place
For those who here gave their lives
That that nation might live.
It is altogether fitting and proper
That we should do this.
But, in a larger sense,
We can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—
We can not hallow—this ground. The brave men,
Living and dead, who struggled here
Have consecrated it, far above our poor power
To add or detract. The world will little note,
Nor long remember what we say here,
But it can never forget what they did here.
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here
To the unfinished work which they who fought here
Have thus far so nobly advanced.
It is rather for us to be here dedicated
To the great task remaining before us—
That from these honored dead we take
Increased devotion to that cause for which
They gave the last full measure of devotion—
That we here highly resolve that these dead
Shall not have died in vain—that this nation,
Under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—
And that government of the people,
By the people, for the people,
Shall not perish from the earth.
Appendix B
p192, 04Mar1865
Lincoln's Second Inauguration Speech, a speech so eloquent that it was declared by Earl Curzon, the Chancellor of Oxford University to be the purest form of human eloquence . . . almost divine. This is the well-known, "With malice toward none, with charity for all . . ." speech.
The closing paragraphs are extracted below:
"Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations"
Sunday, November 25, 2018
A cursory rhyme
Today, I'm somewhat dismayed at various news reports of extremist racist, political and religious groups fanning the fire of hatred and instigating their communities to protest in huge numbers, even to repeat the riots of May 13, 1969, to oppose our government's consideration for ratification of The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), a UN convention.
At the same time, I'm surprised by news of the King marrying a Russian wife in Moscow. (The report by The New Straits Times, published two days ago, seems to have been taken down for unknown reasons.)
Link:
This little rhyme comes to mind:
Hey diddle, diddle.
ICERD is in a muddle.
Protesters threaten the scene.
The whole world laughs at such poor sport,
And the king speaks Russian to the queen.
This is a cursory rhyme adapted from a nursery rhyme.
Thursday, November 22, 2018
The art of slowly sayin' nothin'.
(1) KTM: they make you wait, without telling you why.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Sometime back in mid-September, I was trying to book some train tickets online to go to JB. Due to ongoing double tracking and electrification rail-works, KTM has been limiting the advanced booking window to a month or two ahead. I noticed they have posted an announcement on their web-site that northern sector ETS (Padang Besar - Gemas) was open until end of December.
However, nothing was said about the southern sector Intercity trains (Gemas - JB). I need both ETS as well as Intercity tickets to complete my journey to JB, but when I searched for available trains, Intercity was open only up to 14th November. I kept getting a "Train not available" message for dates after that.
As ETS tickets are fast selling-out, and I need to confirm my Intercity bookings before I can book ETS, I sent KTM a message on their Twitter page asking for help.
KTM did not reply me, even after I sent a second tweet to them.
After waiting for two weeks, I sent KTM yet another message. At last I got a reply on 09Nov18
(Hi, there's still no information from the relevant parties. If there are any new information, we will publish them on social media from time to time)
Yeah right, that's a very helpful reply indeed . . . not.
Finally, after checking their online ticketing site three times a day after meals for another five days, at last their Intercity trains are open for booking for dates after 15th November. Sadly, the ETS for the northern sector has all but sold out for my required travel dates.
I had to settle for express buses instead.
(2) MyEg: when they can't explain, they just send you a link.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Two weeks ago, I sent an email to MyEg complaining that my new password (which I had successfully changed without any problem) could not be used during log in.
Like KTM, there was no reply from MyEg for two weeks.
(I'm suspecting that there's some hidden formula used by these corporate people that makes them keep mum for two weeks.)
So, I re-sent my email to them again today. Voila, here's their reply:
Of course, obediently without question, I proceeded to reset my password and logged in successfully.
However, I still do not know why I got the "Password field must not be blank" error message when I logged in with my new password two weeks ago. There were no warning or error messages during that Change Password process then.
The question remains, "Will this happen again in future?"
(3) Fireflyz: utter lots of mumbo-jumbo, say nothing.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Today, I came across a news report posted by a Singaporean online newspaper that Fireflyz airline has suspended all flights into and out of SIN w.e.f. 01Dec18, citing in vague terms until the "relevant" authorities have cleared "remaining matters" in relation to the Singapore authorities plan "to move turbo-prop operations from Changi International to Seletar". (The same message appears on their web-site)
That's a lot of words used in saying nothing.
I am one of those affected passengers, and I'm waiting for their "arrangements" to be made, hopefully soon, and not after another two weeks.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Sometime back in mid-September, I was trying to book some train tickets online to go to JB. Due to ongoing double tracking and electrification rail-works, KTM has been limiting the advanced booking window to a month or two ahead. I noticed they have posted an announcement on their web-site that northern sector ETS (Padang Besar - Gemas) was open until end of December.
However, nothing was said about the southern sector Intercity trains (Gemas - JB). I need both ETS as well as Intercity tickets to complete my journey to JB, but when I searched for available trains, Intercity was open only up to 14th November. I kept getting a "Train not available" message for dates after that.
As ETS tickets are fast selling-out, and I need to confirm my Intercity bookings before I can book ETS, I sent KTM a message on their Twitter page asking for help.
KTM did not reply me, even after I sent a second tweet to them.
After waiting for two weeks, I sent KTM yet another message. At last I got a reply on 09Nov18
"Hi. Masih belum dapat maklumat dari pihak yg berkenaan. Jika ada informasi baru, kami akan warwarkan di media sosial dari semasa ke semasa."
(Hi, there's still no information from the relevant parties. If there are any new information, we will publish them on social media from time to time)
Yeah right, that's a very helpful reply indeed . . . not.
Finally, after checking their online ticketing site three times a day after meals for another five days, at last their Intercity trains are open for booking for dates after 15th November. Sadly, the ETS for the northern sector has all but sold out for my required travel dates.
I had to settle for express buses instead.
(2) MyEg: when they can't explain, they just send you a link.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Two weeks ago, I sent an email to MyEg complaining that my new password (which I had successfully changed without any problem) could not be used during log in.
Like KTM, there was no reply from MyEg for two weeks.
(I'm suspecting that there's some hidden formula used by these corporate people that makes them keep mum for two weeks.)
So, I re-sent my email to them again today. Voila, here's their reply:
"Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for choosing MyEG Services.
Kindly be informed the activation link to reset password already sent to your registered email . . . .
Kindly check inbox, junk or spam for the notification . . ."
Of course, obediently without question, I proceeded to reset my password and logged in successfully.
However, I still do not know why I got the "Password field must not be blank" error message when I logged in with my new password two weeks ago. There were no warning or error messages during that Change Password process then.
The question remains, "Will this happen again in future?"
(3) Fireflyz: utter lots of mumbo-jumbo, say nothing.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Today, I came across a news report posted by a Singaporean online newspaper that Fireflyz airline has suspended all flights into and out of SIN w.e.f. 01Dec18, citing in vague terms until the "relevant" authorities have cleared "remaining matters" in relation to the Singapore authorities plan "to move turbo-prop operations from Changi International to Seletar". (The same message appears on their web-site)
"Upon final approval from the authorities, Firefly will then resume its flights into Singapore. In the meantime, arrangements are being made for all affected passengers." it was reported.
That's a lot of words used in saying nothing.
I am one of those affected passengers, and I'm waiting for their "arrangements" to be made, hopefully soon, and not after another two weeks.
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
What's the point?
MyWriters Poetry Prompt
33rd prompt / 2018
What's the point of poetry prompt
When one's poem isn't prompt?
When poet's thoughts wander around
For want of rhymes yet to be found.
What's the point, What's the point?
What's the point of prompted poetry
When one has neither words nor story.
When scarcely an idea comes to mind
And the poet's turning a corner blind.
What's the point, What's the point?
Yet when one is prompted to write in rhyme,
Based on a prompt, to be finished on time,
The poet brings forth
words both timid and bold,
And weaves them into a poem,
for all to behold.
That's the point.
Submitted on 21-11-2018
33rd prompt / 2018
What's the point of poetry prompt
When one's poem isn't prompt?
When poet's thoughts wander around
For want of rhymes yet to be found.
What's the point, What's the point?
What's the point of prompted poetry
When one has neither words nor story.
When scarcely an idea comes to mind
And the poet's turning a corner blind.
What's the point, What's the point?
Yet when one is prompted to write in rhyme,
Based on a prompt, to be finished on time,
The poet brings forth
words both timid and bold,
And weaves them into a poem,
for all to behold.
That's the point.
Submitted on 21-11-2018
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Clang!
MyWriters FirstLiner
Week 8/2018 (19 - 25 Nov)
"Clang!", rang the grave digger's pick as it dug into the soil, making the family step back, startled and somewhat alarmed.
Submitted on 20Nov2018
Week 8/2018 (19 - 25 Nov)
"Clang!", rang the grave digger's pick as it dug into the soil, making the family step back, startled and somewhat alarmed.
Submitted on 20Nov2018
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Badly annoyed, somewhat offended
This evening my wife and I had dinner at a popular cafe in a reputable hotel in my town.
At the end of a pleasant and satisfying meal, served by polite and obliging waiters, we were met with a rude and unfriendly cashier when paying the bill. Here is the complaint that I sent to the Hotel after I reached home. Names have been replaced by asterisk to maintain confidentiality.
"I had dinner at ** Cafe earlier this evening and was served by a rude cashier when paying my bill at the Cashier's counter.
When I asked for my bill, she just shoved the bill at me without saying a word, and I had to peruse the bill for the amount to pay.
After I had given her my credit card, she took it and walked away from me, again without saying anything, to the credit machine further down the counter and proceeded to process the card payment.
When it was time for me to key in the PIN, she just placed the credit card reader on the counter just in front of her, while I was still standing some distance away beside the point-of-sale machine. And she walked away without telling me anything.
I had to guess that it was time for me to key in my PIN, so I walked the few steps to the card reader to get it keyed in.
Finally, she printed out the payment slips, put them on the black folder on the counter, put my credit card on top without saying anything. I picked up my card together with the bill and payment slip to conclude with an unpleasant ending to what would otherwise be a comfortable and satisfying dinner.
I am thoroughly annoyed and somewhat offended by this encounter with your discourteous cashier. Please teach her some basic manners.
Her name is G*****A, and my Tax Invoice No. is 11243, printed today at 19:01 pm
Thank you."
At the end of a pleasant and satisfying meal, served by polite and obliging waiters, we were met with a rude and unfriendly cashier when paying the bill. Here is the complaint that I sent to the Hotel after I reached home. Names have been replaced by asterisk to maintain confidentiality.
"I had dinner at ** Cafe earlier this evening and was served by a rude cashier when paying my bill at the Cashier's counter.
When I asked for my bill, she just shoved the bill at me without saying a word, and I had to peruse the bill for the amount to pay.
After I had given her my credit card, she took it and walked away from me, again without saying anything, to the credit machine further down the counter and proceeded to process the card payment.
When it was time for me to key in the PIN, she just placed the credit card reader on the counter just in front of her, while I was still standing some distance away beside the point-of-sale machine. And she walked away without telling me anything.
I had to guess that it was time for me to key in my PIN, so I walked the few steps to the card reader to get it keyed in.
Finally, she printed out the payment slips, put them on the black folder on the counter, put my credit card on top without saying anything. I picked up my card together with the bill and payment slip to conclude with an unpleasant ending to what would otherwise be a comfortable and satisfying dinner.
I am thoroughly annoyed and somewhat offended by this encounter with your discourteous cashier. Please teach her some basic manners.
Her name is G*****A, and my Tax Invoice No. is 11243, printed today at 19:01 pm
Thank you."
This is it
MyWriters FirstLiner
Week 7/2018 (12th-18th Nov)
"This is it, this time it's for real", I said to myself as I put down my luggage, staring at the bare furniture around me."
Submitted on 13Nov18
Week 7/2018 (12th-18th Nov)
"This is it, this time it's for real", I said to myself as I put down my luggage, staring at the bare furniture around me."
Submitted on 13Nov18
Monday, November 12, 2018
Yesterday's floods in Kuala Lumpur
Yesterday, Sun 11Nov18, heavy thunderstorms brought flash floods in many parts of Kuala Lumpur city. Roads turned into rivers, Several tunnels got flooded. Vehicles and passengers were stranded and rescue teams were sent out to help them.
I am reminded of a popular Malay song by a female vocalist Rahimah Rahim in 1984 about Kuala Lumpur the beautiful capital city of our country, except that Kuala Lumpur is not so beautiful anymore after decades of over development with little attention to proper drainage systems and their maintenance.
I decided to adapt Rahimah's song to describe the hardship that befell the people of Kuala Lumpur yesterday afternoon:
Verse:
Sungguh susah, banjir kilat merata,
Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur.
Warga kota gelisah dukacita
Di landa arus deras membawa lumpur.
Chorus:
I am reminded of a popular Malay song by a female vocalist Rahimah Rahim in 1984 about Kuala Lumpur the beautiful capital city of our country, except that Kuala Lumpur is not so beautiful anymore after decades of over development with little attention to proper drainage systems and their maintenance.
I decided to adapt Rahimah's song to describe the hardship that befell the people of Kuala Lumpur yesterday afternoon:
Verse:
Sungguh susah, banjir kilat merata,
Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur.
Warga kota gelisah dukacita
Di landa arus deras membawa lumpur.
Chorus:
Ramai tersangkut di dalam kenderaan,
Dari kecil hingga yang terbesar
Terpisah daripada ahli keluarga
Ternampak cemas di wajah muka"
Adapted from the song
Kuala Lumpur "Ibukota Permai."
1984, Rahimah Rahim.
The original song can be found here:
https://youtu.be/VrbFzvemzSo
Dari kecil hingga yang terbesar
Terpisah daripada ahli keluarga
Ternampak cemas di wajah muka"
Adapted from the song
Kuala Lumpur "Ibukota Permai."
1984, Rahimah Rahim.
The original song can be found here:
https://youtu.be/VrbFzvemzSo
Thursday, November 8, 2018
Let's play fightin'
Let's play fightin'
(My two and a half year old grandson came up with a new game with toy cars)
"Fight!", says the little boy,
As he knocks his toy car into mine.
With a "thwack" the cars in our hands collide,
Yet none the worse for wear,
both toy and human look fine.
"Help! I'm stuck!", my little grandson pretends,
With his car pushed just over the edge of the arm-chair.
He needs rescue, it seems, from his expectant look,
I have to rush the ambulance over there.
"Deeeem!", I make the magic sound,
As the blue ambulance touches his Mustang GT.
Voilá! The Mustang comes back to life,
And he drives it away along the back of the settee.
Scarcely has he driven off when once again he exclaims,
"Fight!", goes the battle-cry as he charges with black Mustang in hand.
I rise to the challenge with my green Dodge Challenger Hellcat,
"Thwack!", our cars clash over no man's land.
Again and again the battle goes on,
With cries of "Fight!", and "Help!" followed by rescue.
With a "Deeem" the black Mustang will revive,
And come back charging with vengeance,
my green Challenger to subdue.
(My two and a half year old grandson came up with a new game with toy cars)
"Fight!", says the little boy,
As he knocks his toy car into mine.
With a "thwack" the cars in our hands collide,
Yet none the worse for wear,
both toy and human look fine.
"Help! I'm stuck!", my little grandson pretends,
With his car pushed just over the edge of the arm-chair.
He needs rescue, it seems, from his expectant look,
I have to rush the ambulance over there.
"Deeeem!", I make the magic sound,
As the blue ambulance touches his Mustang GT.
Voilá! The Mustang comes back to life,
And he drives it away along the back of the settee.
Scarcely has he driven off when once again he exclaims,
"Fight!", goes the battle-cry as he charges with black Mustang in hand.
I rise to the challenge with my green Dodge Challenger Hellcat,
"Thwack!", our cars clash over no man's land.
Again and again the battle goes on,
With cries of "Fight!", and "Help!" followed by rescue.
With a "Deeem" the black Mustang will revive,
And come back charging with vengeance,
my green Challenger to subdue.
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Staring at the swollen river
MYWriters First Liner
Week 6/2018 (05 - 11Nov18)
Staring at the swollen river, Lian couldn't decide whether to let his dog perish or to risk his life swimming across to save it.
Submitted on 05Nov2018
Week 6/2018 (05 - 11Nov18)
Staring at the swollen river, Lian couldn't decide whether to let his dog perish or to risk his life swimming across to save it.
Submitted on 05Nov2018
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
A Long Way Home
(Recalling my visit to Terminal Bersepadu Selatan last Saturday afternoon to take an express bus home)
It was a long weekend for many,
With a public holiday at hand.
An annual religious festival beckons,
Poor workers return to their home land.
Huge crowds converge at the southern bus terminal,
To get tickets for their return.
Long queues have formed at numerous counters,
By weary travellers, each anxious for his turn.
I'm relieved at having got my ticket,
It was purchased the day before.
Now I only have to find my way,
To the gate on the basement floor.
Still I can't help but feel distressed,
At the sea of people spread across the hall.
Wondering if every one will get on a bus home,
Or will any be stranded with no ticket at all.
Meanwhile, a thunderstorm is going on,
Buses are caught in traffic jams outside.
As the long queues continue to inch forward,
The crowd still fills the hall - a throng without respite.
For every one in this terminal today,
The long way home has become longer.
For the journey home has already started,
With a long wait to the ticket counter.
It was a long weekend for many,
With a public holiday at hand.
An annual religious festival beckons,
Poor workers return to their home land.
Huge crowds converge at the southern bus terminal,
To get tickets for their return.
Long queues have formed at numerous counters,By weary travellers, each anxious for his turn.
I'm relieved at having got my ticket,
It was purchased the day before.
Now I only have to find my way,
To the gate on the basement floor.
Still I can't help but feel distressed,
At the sea of people spread across the hall.
Wondering if every one will get on a bus home,
Or will any be stranded with no ticket at all.
Meanwhile, a thunderstorm is going on,
Buses are caught in traffic jams outside.
As the long queues continue to inch forward,
The crowd still fills the hall - a throng without respite.
For every one in this terminal today,
The long way home has become longer.
For the journey home has already started,
With a long wait to the ticket counter.
Friday, October 26, 2018
LIfe stands still
Life stands still
When rushing about stops,When anxious worrying cease,
When we put down the burden of many tasks
And give our souls release.
To rest on the still waters of life
Quietly,
Serenely,
Surrounded by cool refreshing dew drops
Under warm inviting sun-beams
The life of fresh green leaves we reveal.
Submitted to Malaysian Writers' Society
MyWriters PoetryPrompt, 32nd prompt of 2018.
On 26Oct2018
Help! He pleaded
MYWriters1stLiner
Week 4/2018 (22nd-29th Oct)
"Heeelp!", he cried loudly, desperately pleading as one being snared by the jaws of death, as I held on tightly to his ragged shirt.
Submitted On 26Oct2018
Wednesday, August 22, 2018
Three days in Penang Island
Fri 17Aug18
Our journey of a hundred miles started with a cat nap. Found this cat napping at the concourse of the Kampar railway station, oblivious to the proximity of my presence. Hehe
Day Two Sat 18Aug18
Moving to a new hotel.
After our morning walkabout to Kimberley St and back, we had to check out of Armenian Street Heritage and transfer to Neo+ Hotel to the South.
(This was because we had originally planned to arrive only on Saturday and to stay in Neo+ for just a night. Due to some transport issues, we had to come earlier on Friday instead, thus ending up having to book Armenian St Heritage Hotel too)
Neo+ stands at the junction of Gurdwara Rd and Presgrave St, a couple of blocks south of Komtar-Prangin Malls complex. We decided to make good use of the knowledge that we had gained from our morning breakfast walkabout, and took a short walk (well, it was somewhat long actually) to Gurdwara Rd via Carnarvon- Kimberley - Pintal Tali - Dr Lim Chwee Leong - Komtar-Prangin complex - Magazine Rd. Sounds like a long walk after all, doesn't it?
Checking in to Neo+ was simple and quite straightforward. The room was clean and spacious, but rather gloomy, illuminated by just a few tiny lights. Many thanks to Nicholas Ming for recommending Neo+ to us.
From our "15th floor" , which was actually 13th floor had the hotel management not removed the unlucky 13th and 14th from their floor listing, we caught a good view of the combination of tall buildings dotting the Georgetown skyline, surrounded by old heritage buildings and pre-war shophouses.
Soon it was time to go out for our lunch.
Day Two 18Aug18
Walking across Georgetown to attend a talk .
We had lunch at a small but busy coffee-shop just across Presgrave St opposite our hotel. Ordered "char koay teow" (fried rice-strip noodles) and were served with probably the smallest serving of this delicacy we've ever had in our lifetime . . . Haha
It was just enough for a light lunch nevertheless.
After lunch I took a walk to Argyll Road to attend a talk by the President of the Malaysian Writers' Society, while my wife went for some shopping at Gama Department Store nearby. The twenty-minute walk saw me crossing the busy and somewhat confusing traffic-light junctions across Magazine Rd, Jln Dato Keramat and Macalister Rd to continue northwards along Penang Road.
Hmm, I thought to myself, oddly enough, there's a Penang Road in Penang but no Ipoh Road in Ipoh nor Kuala Lumpur Road in Kuala Lumpur. Haha again . . .
From Penang Rd I turned left into Burma Rd, crossed over to Transfer Rd, continued northwards to Argyll Rd, made a left turn and voilà , Livingston Tower, the meeting venue, was just down the road before me. It took me 24 minutes, including crossing the busy busy roads, to reach there despite Google map telling me it would take only 12 minutes.
After listening to an informative and insightful talk, I walked back to the hotel by the same way.
Although it was a sunny afternoon, there were some clouds in the sky and I had put on my Australian floppy hat (bought in Melbourne but Made in China), so the walk to Argyll Road and back wasn't too uncomfortable.
It was a good and worthwhile afternoon spent at Livingston Tower.
Day Two 18Aug18
On the way back from Argyll Road.
I passed by this heritage building and decided to take a photo of it from the multi-directional pedestrian bridge across Burma Road - Penang Road - Dr Lim Chwee Leong Rd. Don't know much about its history except that it is currently occupied by Loke Thye Kee Restaurant.
Day Two: 18Aug18
The final evening walkabout.
We went out at about 7 o'clock in the evening for dinner. First, walked to Times Square via Trang Rd and Jln Kg Jawa Lama. On the way we stopped by briefly at LUMA*, an old pre-war shop-house painted in rainbow colours, where I joined a write-in session a month ago. I forgot to take a photo of LUMA.
(*Light Up Malaysian Arts)
Times Square is a tall imposing building standing by the southern side of Jln Dato Keramat, a shopping mall with some fine dining restaurants inside.
That evening there were two giant Transformer robots installed just outside Times Square. We took a photo with the yellow one, not knowing this character's name. (Every one of them look like Optimus Prime to me haha)
We also passed an old 19th Century heritage building called Birch House where a McDonald's Drive Thru' operates.
Failing to find any restaurant that fits our taste, and our budget, we decided to walk back to Komtar-Prangin Mall where we found a comfortable Italian restaurant at a basement called Lot 33. There was a live band performing some entertaining songs very skilfully. The patrons were very appreciative of their singing and music.
On the way home we passed by St Giles-Wembley Hotel with its brightly lit facade.
It was a pleasant and memorable final evening of our stay in Georgetown Penang.
Day Three: Sun 19Aug18
Sight-seeing by bus around Georgetown.
It's the last day of our short stay in Georgetown and we had some time on hand after breakfast to go for a little sight-seeing before check-out.
We boarded a free CAT bus at Komtar and went around town until the ferry jetty at Weld Quay. There we had to disembark and wait for another CAT bus to take us back to Komtar. It was a long wait of about half an hour, and we were made all the more impatient seeing that there were three vacant CAT buses lying idle, with a bus driver taking a nap in one of them.
No information was displayed about bus schedules, giving us the impression that the CAT bus drivers would move as and when they like!
At last we got back to Komtar and to our hotel room where we got ready to check out. I took photos of our final glimpse of the Georgetown skyline.
Final walkabout: the end of our short stay in Penang, Sun 19Aug18
After checking out, we planned our final walking tour of Georgetown to visit Chowrasta market at Penang Road. After a little shopping at Chowrasta, we walked generally eastwards via Kuala Kangsar Rd - Campbell St - Cintra St - Chulia St (where we stopped to pose for some street art photos in one of the side lanes) before heading on to Carnarvon and finally Armenian Street to visit some heritage sites.
I had wanted to visit the Asian Camera museum but a sign at the entrance says "Admission by Pass Only". Not knowing where to get such a pass from, we gave up the idea of visiting the museum.
Instead we took a drink and bought some handicrafts from an art-studio cum café (with an obscure name) two doors away from the Sun Yat Sen House along Armenian Street. We visited the Sun Yat Sen house several years ago and I thought of dropping by again but it wasn't open for the day yet.
After an unhurried coffee break, we proceeded to walk towards the Weld Quay Ferry Terminal.
Sun 19Aug18
Good-bye Georgetown.
Good-bye Penang Island.
We didn't have to wait long for the ferry Pulau Payar to take us on the short voyage back to Butterworth where we transferred to an electric train for our two hour rail journey home.
Our journey of a hundred miles started with a cat nap. Found this cat napping at the concourse of the Kampar railway station, oblivious to the proximity of my presence. Hehe
Day One Fri 17Aug18
Boarding the ferry at Butterworth.
On board the ferry from Butterworth to Penang island: the safest place for us to be at was to hang around the life jacket deployment lever. Haha
We had arrived at Butterworth station after a pleasant two-hour journey on the electric train. Were surprised that we could no longer walk to the ferry terminal from the railway station like before. Instead, we had to board a free shuttle bus just to take us past the huge Penang Sentral complex, which is under construction, to the jetty where we boarded the 4.10pm ferry just before it set sail
Day One Fri 17Aug18
Crossing over to Penang Island.
On our short voyage to Penang Island, looking south towards the grand old Penang Bridge standing majestically across the waters. It was designed by my classmate's father, the Late Prof Chin Fung Kee
Day One Fri 17Aug18
Evening walkabout
Looking south-east towards our rustic heritage hotel from across Carnarvon Street. We' have just returned from a short walk to Chulia Street nearby for dinner, and we decided to continue walking southward along Carnarvon St all the way to see the bright lights of 1st Avenue and Prangin Mall before returning to the hotel. — at Armenian St Heritage Hotel
Day Two Sat 18Aug18
Breakfast & morning walkabout.
We took a short walk from our hotel to Seng Thor coffee-shop, a stone's throw away at the junction of Carnarvon and Kimberley St for a tasty and satisfying breakfast.
After that we headed north-west along Kimberly St, surprised that so many shops and hawker stalls could be found in such a narrow street.
Among the oldest buildings we came across was a shop-house with the year 1921 engraved and painted in gold above its main entrance. There was also a block with a very old sign named Picadilly Bazaar. I guessed it must have been there since the British colonial days.
We were surprised again when we crossed Jln Pintal Tali on our left, that Prangin Mall was just a few steps away!
Leaving Kimberley St behind us, we turned right into Jln Kuala Kangsar and carried on walking north-east until the junction with Campbell St. From there we took a loop via Penang Rd, Chulia St and finally Carnarvon St to get back to our hotel.
It was a pleasant Saturday morning walk under sunny blue skies.
 |
| Among the oldest buildings we came across was this shop-house with the year 1921 engraved and painted in gold above its main entrance. |
 |
| There was also this block with a very old sign named Picadilly Bazaar. I guessed it must have been there since the British colonial days. |
Day Two Sat 18Aug18
Moving to a new hotel.
After our morning walkabout to Kimberley St and back, we had to check out of Armenian Street Heritage and transfer to Neo+ Hotel to the South.
(This was because we had originally planned to arrive only on Saturday and to stay in Neo+ for just a night. Due to some transport issues, we had to come earlier on Friday instead, thus ending up having to book Armenian St Heritage Hotel too)
Neo+ stands at the junction of Gurdwara Rd and Presgrave St, a couple of blocks south of Komtar-Prangin Malls complex. We decided to make good use of the knowledge that we had gained from our morning breakfast walkabout, and took a short walk (well, it was somewhat long actually) to Gurdwara Rd via Carnarvon- Kimberley - Pintal Tali - Dr Lim Chwee Leong - Komtar-Prangin complex - Magazine Rd. Sounds like a long walk after all, doesn't it?
Checking in to Neo+ was simple and quite straightforward. The room was clean and spacious, but rather gloomy, illuminated by just a few tiny lights. Many thanks to Nicholas Ming for recommending Neo+ to us.
From our "15th floor" , which was actually 13th floor had the hotel management not removed the unlucky 13th and 14th from their floor listing, we caught a good view of the combination of tall buildings dotting the Georgetown skyline, surrounded by old heritage buildings and pre-war shophouses.
Soon it was time to go out for our lunch.
 |
| Checking in to Neo+ was simple and quite straightforward. The room was clean and spacious, but rather gloomy, illuminated by just a few tiny lights. |
 |
| From our "15th floor" , which was actually 13th floor, we caught a good view of the combination of tall buildings dotting the Georgetown skyline, surrounded by old heritage buildings and pre-war shophouses. |
 |
| A view of the combination of tall buildings dotting the Georgetown skyline, looking northwards, with Gama Departmental Store to the left of Gurdwara Rd. |
Day Two 18Aug18
Walking across Georgetown to attend a talk .
We had lunch at a small but busy coffee-shop just across Presgrave St opposite our hotel. Ordered "char koay teow" (fried rice-strip noodles) and were served with probably the smallest serving of this delicacy we've ever had in our lifetime . . . Haha
It was just enough for a light lunch nevertheless.
After lunch I took a walk to Argyll Road to attend a talk by the President of the Malaysian Writers' Society, while my wife went for some shopping at Gama Department Store nearby. The twenty-minute walk saw me crossing the busy and somewhat confusing traffic-light junctions across Magazine Rd, Jln Dato Keramat and Macalister Rd to continue northwards along Penang Road.
Hmm, I thought to myself, oddly enough, there's a Penang Road in Penang but no Ipoh Road in Ipoh nor Kuala Lumpur Road in Kuala Lumpur. Haha again . . .
From Penang Rd I turned left into Burma Rd, crossed over to Transfer Rd, continued northwards to Argyll Rd, made a left turn and voilà , Livingston Tower, the meeting venue, was just down the road before me. It took me 24 minutes, including crossing the busy busy roads, to reach there despite Google map telling me it would take only 12 minutes.
After listening to an informative and insightful talk, I walked back to the hotel by the same way.
Although it was a sunny afternoon, there were some clouds in the sky and I had put on my Australian floppy hat (bought in Melbourne but Made in China), so the walk to Argyll Road and back wasn't too uncomfortable.
It was a good and worthwhile afternoon spent at Livingston Tower.
 |
| Crossing the busy and somewhat confusing traffic-light junctions across Magazine Rd, Jln Dato Keramat and Macalister Rd to continue northwards along Penang Road |
 |
| Heading north on Penang Rd. Hmm, I thought to myself, oddly enough, there's a Penang Road in Penang but no Ipoh Road in Ipoh nor Kuala Lumpur Road in Kuala Lumpur. |
 |
| From Penang Rd I turned left into Burma Rd, crossed over to Transfer Rd, continued northwards to Argyll Rd, made a left turn and voilà , Livingston Tower, the meeting venue, was just down the road before me |
Day Two 18Aug18
On the way back from Argyll Road.
I passed by this heritage building and decided to take a photo of it from the multi-directional pedestrian bridge across Burma Road - Penang Road - Dr Lim Chwee Leong Rd. Don't know much about its history except that it is currently occupied by Loke Thye Kee Restaurant.
Day Two: 18Aug18
The final evening walkabout.
We went out at about 7 o'clock in the evening for dinner. First, walked to Times Square via Trang Rd and Jln Kg Jawa Lama. On the way we stopped by briefly at LUMA*, an old pre-war shop-house painted in rainbow colours, where I joined a write-in session a month ago. I forgot to take a photo of LUMA.
(*Light Up Malaysian Arts)
Times Square is a tall imposing building standing by the southern side of Jln Dato Keramat, a shopping mall with some fine dining restaurants inside.
That evening there were two giant Transformer robots installed just outside Times Square. We took a photo with the yellow one, not knowing this character's name. (Every one of them look like Optimus Prime to me haha)
We also passed an old 19th Century heritage building called Birch House where a McDonald's Drive Thru' operates.
Failing to find any restaurant that fits our taste, and our budget, we decided to walk back to Komtar-Prangin Mall where we found a comfortable Italian restaurant at a basement called Lot 33. There was a live band performing some entertaining songs very skilfully. The patrons were very appreciative of their singing and music.
On the way home we passed by St Giles-Wembley Hotel with its brightly lit facade.
It was a pleasant and memorable final evening of our stay in Georgetown Penang.
 |
| Times Square is a tall imposing building by the side of Jln Dato Keramat, a shopping mall with some fine dining restaurants inside. |
 |
| That evening there were two giant Tranformer robots installed just outside Times Square. We took a photo with the yellow one, not knowing this character's name. (Every one of them look like Optimus Prime to me haha) |
 |
| Failing to find any restaurant that fits our taste, and our budget, we decided to walk back to Komtar-Prangin Mall where we found a comfortable Italian restaurant at a basement called Lot 33. There was a live band performing some entertaining songs very skilfully. The patrons were very appreciative of their singing and music. |
 |
| On the way home we passed by St Giles-Wembley Hotel with its brightly lit facade. |
Day Three: Sun 19Aug18
Sight-seeing by bus around Georgetown.
It's the last day of our short stay in Georgetown and we had some time on hand after breakfast to go for a little sight-seeing before check-out.
We boarded a free CAT bus at Komtar and went around town until the ferry jetty at Weld Quay. There we had to disembark and wait for another CAT bus to take us back to Komtar. It was a long wait of about half an hour, and we were made all the more impatient seeing that there were three vacant CAT buses lying idle, with a bus driver taking a nap in one of them.
No information was displayed about bus schedules, giving us the impression that the CAT bus drivers would move as and when they like!
At last we got back to Komtar and to our hotel room where we got ready to check out. I took photos of our final glimpse of the Georgetown skyline.
 |
| We boarded a free CAT bus at Komtar and went around town until the ferry jetty at Weld Quay. There we had to disembark and wait for another CAT bus to take us back to Komtar. |
 |
| At the ferry jetty at Weld Quay, it was a long wait of about half an hour, and we were made all the more impatient seeing that there were three vacant CAT buses lying idle, with a bus driver taking a nap in one of them |
 |
| A final snap-shot of the Georgetown skyline before we checked out of Neo+ Hotel |
 |
| A final snap-shot of the Georgetown skyline before we checked out of Neo+ Hotel |
Final walkabout: the end of our short stay in Penang, Sun 19Aug18
After checking out, we planned our final walking tour of Georgetown to visit Chowrasta market at Penang Road. After a little shopping at Chowrasta, we walked generally eastwards via Kuala Kangsar Rd - Campbell St - Cintra St - Chulia St (where we stopped to pose for some street art photos in one of the side lanes) before heading on to Carnarvon and finally Armenian Street to visit some heritage sites.
I had wanted to visit the Asian Camera museum but a sign at the entrance says "Admission by Pass Only". Not knowing where to get such a pass from, we gave up the idea of visiting the museum.
Instead we took a drink and bought some handicrafts from an art-studio cum café (with an obscure name) two doors away from the Sun Yat Sen House along Armenian Street. We visited the Sun Yat Sen house several years ago and I thought of dropping by again but it wasn't open for the day yet.
After an unhurried coffee break, we proceeded to walk towards the Weld Quay Ferry Terminal.
 |
| A short stop at the recently renovated Chowrasta market. |
 |
| Street art off Penang Road: I showed Beethoven the right way to play some of his pieces . . . |
 |
| Street art: taking Dr Sun Yat Sen for a rick-shaw ride around town |
 |
| Street art: my wife had a chat with Mona Lisa |
Sun 19Aug18
Good-bye Georgetown.
Good-bye Penang Island.
We didn't have to wait long for the ferry Pulau Payar to take us on the short voyage back to Butterworth where we transferred to an electric train for our two hour rail journey home.
 |
| A clean and colourful walkway led us to the jetty where the ferry was already waiting |
 |
| A ferry was berthed in a nearby jetty |
 |
| We found some vacant seats this time |
Saturday, July 21, 2018
A journey into the past
We made a slow drive to old Penang city
A small island a hundred miles to the north
To meet with old friends from our university
Not knowing what the day will bring forth
It was a little more than five years past
Since we last set foot on the island shore
And now we have the chance, at long last
To see what for us it has in store
While driving through each busy crowded street,
Past each rustic shop-house, each transient shadow cast,
The city seemed not to have come forward, for me to greet,
Instead, I felt, I have gone back to its lingering past.
Soon we arrived, somewhat dazed, at the old hotel
A towering twenty-storey resort by the beach
For my wife, this place rings a nostalgic bell
For she had been here twice, for courses to teach
The grand old tower has not changed much
Over the rippling course of flowing time
From old wooden panels that felt rough to the touch
To the wobbly taps and the sound of lifts arriving with a chime
There was but one journey left for us to complete
To which this long awaited trip must pertain
It was a journey not by any road or street
But one to be made on memory lane.
To be continued . . .
A small island a hundred miles to the north
To meet with old friends from our university
Not knowing what the day will bring forth
It was a little more than five years past
Since we last set foot on the island shore
And now we have the chance, at long last
To see what for us it has in store
While driving through each busy crowded street,
Past each rustic shop-house, each transient shadow cast,
The city seemed not to have come forward, for me to greet,
Instead, I felt, I have gone back to its lingering past.
Soon we arrived, somewhat dazed, at the old hotel
A towering twenty-storey resort by the beach
For my wife, this place rings a nostalgic bell
For she had been here twice, for courses to teach
The grand old tower has not changed much
Over the rippling course of flowing time
From old wooden panels that felt rough to the touch
To the wobbly taps and the sound of lifts arriving with a chime
There was but one journey left for us to complete
To which this long awaited trip must pertain
It was a journey not by any road or street
But one to be made on memory lane.
To be continued . . .
Tuesday, July 17, 2018
I think, therefore I write
Je pense . . .
"Je pense, donc je suis", wrote René Descartes, the French mathematician who invented the Cartesian coordinates system in the 17th century.
Descartes also wrote it in Latin, "Cogito, ergo sum" in another work of his.
In English, it is that well-known saying that many of us have heard of,
"I think, therefore I am".
It tells us that we are what we think in our thoughts. Our character, our personality, and our disposition is composed by our thinking.
This idea did not originate from the 17th century.
A similar statement was written more than two thousand years earlier, around the 6th century B.C. by King Solomon in the ancient kingdom of Israel, in his "Sayings of the wise", the book of Proverbs which subsequently became part of the Old Testament of the Bible.
"For as a man thinketh, so is he . . ." , wrote King Solomon in Proverbs 23:7 KJV
King Solomon's complete statement says, "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.", telling us that a person's real character comes from what he thinks inwardly, not what he says' to you outwardly.
A similar saying also exists in an ancient Chinese proverb, in the Cantonese dialect, that says,
"You know a person's face, but you do not know his heart"
Again, this statement tells us that a person's thoughts and intents make him the person he is.
As such, we cannot really know a person just by listening to his words, or seeing his deeds. We can only be certain if we know what he is thinking in his heart.
If only we can see what everybody is thinking. If only we know what's in their hearts.
There is, however, one group of people whom we can know very well by their actions.
They are writers.
Writers write what they think. A writer thinks, therefore he writes. If you want to know a writer's heart, read his books.
"Je pense, donc j'écris". I think, therefore I write.
"Je pense, donc je suis", wrote René Descartes, the French mathematician who invented the Cartesian coordinates system in the 17th century.
Descartes also wrote it in Latin, "Cogito, ergo sum" in another work of his.
In English, it is that well-known saying that many of us have heard of,
"I think, therefore I am".
It tells us that we are what we think in our thoughts. Our character, our personality, and our disposition is composed by our thinking.
This idea did not originate from the 17th century.
A similar statement was written more than two thousand years earlier, around the 6th century B.C. by King Solomon in the ancient kingdom of Israel, in his "Sayings of the wise", the book of Proverbs which subsequently became part of the Old Testament of the Bible.
"For as a man thinketh, so is he . . ." , wrote King Solomon in Proverbs 23:7 KJV
King Solomon's complete statement says, "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.", telling us that a person's real character comes from what he thinks inwardly, not what he says' to you outwardly.
A similar saying also exists in an ancient Chinese proverb, in the Cantonese dialect, that says,
"You know a person's face, but you do not know his heart"
Again, this statement tells us that a person's thoughts and intents make him the person he is.
As such, we cannot really know a person just by listening to his words, or seeing his deeds. We can only be certain if we know what he is thinking in his heart.
If only we can see what everybody is thinking. If only we know what's in their hearts.
There is, however, one group of people whom we can know very well by their actions.
They are writers.
Writers write what they think. A writer thinks, therefore he writes. If you want to know a writer's heart, read his books.
"Je pense, donc j'écris". I think, therefore I write.
Monday, July 16, 2018
Do manners make a man?
"Manners maketh man", they say.
This well known expression is said to have been coined sometime around the 15th or 16th century by a headmaster of a well-known school in England.
It is often taken to mean that good manners distinguish human beings from animals.
The notion that a person's manners make him man, or woman as the case may be, simply because animals are not capable of such a thing called "manners", led me to ask myself another question, a provoking one:
If good manners make us human, what do bad manners make?
That is, if a person of good manners clearly distinguishes himself from "mannerless" beasts, what about a person of ill-manners? Is that person still human?
In other words, can we point to a rude, uncouth, foul-mouth, ill-mannered person and say,
"Behold, a man, who is clearly not a beast!"
Or should we instead point to a mannerless animal and utter,
"Behold, an animal who is not ill-mannered at all"
I write this today after having recently pondered over a few encounters with some rude, some vulgar and some hostile people, and sadly, some of whom used to be my friends.
One insulted me badly by throwing almost every expletive he could find under the sun at me over a simple disagreement. Another made a maliciously false and slanderous remark at me when I complained, politely, about not being told of an event that I would have liked to take part in.
There was also a friend with whom I have worked together in a group for more than two years, who lashed out with a much hatred and anger at a couple of our group members for merely suggesting that he should stop doing some things that are unhelpful to others.
Of course, I have had my share of impolite colleagues who ignored my "Good morning" and refused to acknowledge my "Thank you" on some occasions. I have also lost count of the rude and and inconsiderate drivers on the road, who cut me off in highly dangerous situations almost causing me to meet with accidents. And the irritating "hand-phone" guy ahead of me at the intersection, who is oblivious of the traffic-lights turning green, causing me to wait for the lights to change another full cycle.
"Such ill-manners, such inconsiderate behaviour, such abusive and unpleasant words, . . . such beasts", I thought to myself.
It makes me realise that "Ill-manners degrade man", that a man of poor manners is worse than a mannerless animal, for as much as an animal by nature knows not how to behave politely nor courteously, the very same animals also know not how to behave rudely nor discourteously.
Animals, by virtue of their inability to use language, do not insult, neither do they slander nor do they curse, nor hurl malicious accusations at others.
Animals have no manners: neither good nor bad.
When man loses his good manners, he has lost to an animal. An ill-mannered man is no longer man, he is not even beast. He has descended to a place lower than the animal kingdom.
This well known expression is said to have been coined sometime around the 15th or 16th century by a headmaster of a well-known school in England.
It is often taken to mean that good manners distinguish human beings from animals.
The notion that a person's manners make him man, or woman as the case may be, simply because animals are not capable of such a thing called "manners", led me to ask myself another question, a provoking one:
If good manners make us human, what do bad manners make?
That is, if a person of good manners clearly distinguishes himself from "mannerless" beasts, what about a person of ill-manners? Is that person still human?
In other words, can we point to a rude, uncouth, foul-mouth, ill-mannered person and say,
"Behold, a man, who is clearly not a beast!"
Or should we instead point to a mannerless animal and utter,
"Behold, an animal who is not ill-mannered at all"
I write this today after having recently pondered over a few encounters with some rude, some vulgar and some hostile people, and sadly, some of whom used to be my friends.
One insulted me badly by throwing almost every expletive he could find under the sun at me over a simple disagreement. Another made a maliciously false and slanderous remark at me when I complained, politely, about not being told of an event that I would have liked to take part in.
There was also a friend with whom I have worked together in a group for more than two years, who lashed out with a much hatred and anger at a couple of our group members for merely suggesting that he should stop doing some things that are unhelpful to others.
Of course, I have had my share of impolite colleagues who ignored my "Good morning" and refused to acknowledge my "Thank you" on some occasions. I have also lost count of the rude and and inconsiderate drivers on the road, who cut me off in highly dangerous situations almost causing me to meet with accidents. And the irritating "hand-phone" guy ahead of me at the intersection, who is oblivious of the traffic-lights turning green, causing me to wait for the lights to change another full cycle.
"Such ill-manners, such inconsiderate behaviour, such abusive and unpleasant words, . . . such beasts", I thought to myself.
It makes me realise that "Ill-manners degrade man", that a man of poor manners is worse than a mannerless animal, for as much as an animal by nature knows not how to behave politely nor courteously, the very same animals also know not how to behave rudely nor discourteously.
Animals, by virtue of their inability to use language, do not insult, neither do they slander nor do they curse, nor hurl malicious accusations at others.
Animals have no manners: neither good nor bad.
When man loses his good manners, he has lost to an animal. An ill-mannered man is no longer man, he is not even beast. He has descended to a place lower than the animal kingdom.
Saturday, June 30, 2018
Technology is not a good teacher
Yesterday, I read a caption posted by an online news site on facebook quoting our new seventh Prime Minister's comment on drastic changes needed in the way teaching is carried out in our schools.
"OLD SCHOOL: Malaysia's Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad says the country's teaching methods are out of date and wants to place less emphasis on teachers and instead allow students to be taught via "discs or thumb drives" which contain materials from experts for students to learn from.", the report quotes the Prime Minister.
In my opinion this notion that technology can play the role of teachers is alarming.
The best teacher one can afford in life is not technology. It is neither disk nor thumb-drive. It is neither app nor cloud. The best teacher to learn from is, well, a teacher: a trained, educated and human teacher.
An old friend responded to my opinion, asking what I thought about " . . . the idea of a learning facilitator + technology based delivery ? In other words emphasizing the facilitative part of the role of a teacher."
I replied him that this belief in a facilitator of learning rather than a teacher of expertise has been around for a long time. It was actually part of my teacher training back in the early 1980s, in those days being used as one of several approaches in the teaching-learning process.
The issue we had to address in those days was the long time it would take for a child or an adolescent to "discover" knowledge, gain sufficient understanding, and apply themselves to real problem solving situations. And that's not yet going on to analyse, evaluate and synthesize new theories.
In my opinion, a facilitator role needs to work hand-in-hand with a coach role, i.e. the facilitator must himself have sufficient expertise to explain, demonstrate, prescribe drills, correct mistakes and to motivate the learner to achieve objectives.
In other words, the student needs to learn from an experienced person. Perhaps, this is somewhat akin to the "pair programming" that my old friend, a software engineer, talked about some years ago on extreme programming where, simply speaking, computer programmers work together in pairs with one writing the program codes and the other reviewing the code line by line.
Yesterday, while waiting to use the air pump at my neighbourhood petrol service station, I saw the driver of the car in front, a young man, setting the pump pressure to almost twice the normal pressure typically recommended for a sedan. In fact, he had virtually set it to 300 kPa (44 psi), the maximum limit for the tyres on his small car.
As he proceeded to pump up each tyre, I thought to myself, "That is MAX. The tyres are at bursting point. Set it any higher, and they may explode! "
After some hesitation, I decided to get down from my car and alert him about it. By then he had already inflated all four tyres on his car. I told him that it was very dangerous for him to do what he was doing. He could get hurt, even killed if the tyres explode while driving. I urged him to set the tyres to a lower pressure.
He said it was the first time he pumped a car tyre and he didn't know the correct pressure to set. Obviously he didn't even know that the recommended tyre pressure is displayed on the door frame plate inside the driver side door.
Not only that, he didn't know how to read the door frame plate. I had to do it for him and tell him that the recommended pressure for his car is 230 kPa (33 psi). I also had to show him how to set the pump down to 230 kPa and how the pump, a new model, would automatically release excess pressure from the tyre by just "pumping" the tyres all over again at this lowered pressure.
I was relieved that the tyres did not burst and that no one was hurt.
Before saying good-bye, I found out that he is an undergraduate in the university nearby . . .a university student who was completely ignorant about tyre safety.
The young man did not know the safe tyre pressure for his car. He did not know how to find that out. And he did not know about the dangers of driving around with super inflated tyres.
This person needed someone knowledgeable and experienced who could talk to him about the dangers of inflating tyres to their maximum limit. He needed someone to show him how to find out the recommended tyre pressures, to reduce the extreme pressure that had already built up in all four wheels
He needed a teacher.
Whether you call facilitator, guide, coach or mentor, a teacher by any other name must still teach. Without a teacher, the notion of students learning from technology will not work.
"OLD SCHOOL: Malaysia's Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad says the country's teaching methods are out of date and wants to place less emphasis on teachers and instead allow students to be taught via "discs or thumb drives" which contain materials from experts for students to learn from.", the report quotes the Prime Minister.
In my opinion this notion that technology can play the role of teachers is alarming.
The best teacher one can afford in life is not technology. It is neither disk nor thumb-drive. It is neither app nor cloud. The best teacher to learn from is, well, a teacher: a trained, educated and human teacher.
An old friend responded to my opinion, asking what I thought about " . . . the idea of a learning facilitator + technology based delivery ? In other words emphasizing the facilitative part of the role of a teacher."
I replied him that this belief in a facilitator of learning rather than a teacher of expertise has been around for a long time. It was actually part of my teacher training back in the early 1980s, in those days being used as one of several approaches in the teaching-learning process.
The issue we had to address in those days was the long time it would take for a child or an adolescent to "discover" knowledge, gain sufficient understanding, and apply themselves to real problem solving situations. And that's not yet going on to analyse, evaluate and synthesize new theories.
In my opinion, a facilitator role needs to work hand-in-hand with a coach role, i.e. the facilitator must himself have sufficient expertise to explain, demonstrate, prescribe drills, correct mistakes and to motivate the learner to achieve objectives.
In other words, the student needs to learn from an experienced person. Perhaps, this is somewhat akin to the "pair programming" that my old friend, a software engineer, talked about some years ago on extreme programming where, simply speaking, computer programmers work together in pairs with one writing the program codes and the other reviewing the code line by line.
Yesterday, while waiting to use the air pump at my neighbourhood petrol service station, I saw the driver of the car in front, a young man, setting the pump pressure to almost twice the normal pressure typically recommended for a sedan. In fact, he had virtually set it to 300 kPa (44 psi), the maximum limit for the tyres on his small car.
As he proceeded to pump up each tyre, I thought to myself, "That is MAX. The tyres are at bursting point. Set it any higher, and they may explode! "
After some hesitation, I decided to get down from my car and alert him about it. By then he had already inflated all four tyres on his car. I told him that it was very dangerous for him to do what he was doing. He could get hurt, even killed if the tyres explode while driving. I urged him to set the tyres to a lower pressure.
He said it was the first time he pumped a car tyre and he didn't know the correct pressure to set. Obviously he didn't even know that the recommended tyre pressure is displayed on the door frame plate inside the driver side door.
Not only that, he didn't know how to read the door frame plate. I had to do it for him and tell him that the recommended pressure for his car is 230 kPa (33 psi). I also had to show him how to set the pump down to 230 kPa and how the pump, a new model, would automatically release excess pressure from the tyre by just "pumping" the tyres all over again at this lowered pressure.
I was relieved that the tyres did not burst and that no one was hurt.
Before saying good-bye, I found out that he is an undergraduate in the university nearby . . .a university student who was completely ignorant about tyre safety.
The young man did not know the safe tyre pressure for his car. He did not know how to find that out. And he did not know about the dangers of driving around with super inflated tyres.
This person needed someone knowledgeable and experienced who could talk to him about the dangers of inflating tyres to their maximum limit. He needed someone to show him how to find out the recommended tyre pressures, to reduce the extreme pressure that had already built up in all four wheels
He needed a teacher.
Whether you call facilitator, guide, coach or mentor, a teacher by any other name must still teach. Without a teacher, the notion of students learning from technology will not work.
Saturday, May 12, 2018
No more mujik No more koin
A short poem dedicated to my two-year old grandson whom I visited about ten days ago, fondly recalling a little make-believe game of flying a plane, that he played with me in the bedroom.
The little boy has an endearing way of mispronouncing words. Music becomes mujik. Coins becomes koin. And aeroplane becomes, quite correctly, airplane. At the end of each short flight, he would invariably utter the same words:
Nomore mujik, nomore koin
Go down
Bye-bye airplane.
The imaginary plane that he commanded
Had finished its flight for the day.
He got out of the craft that had just landed,
Waving his upturned palms he'd say:
Nomore mujik, nomore koin
Go down
Bye-bye airplane
The little boy has an endearing way of mispronouncing words. Music becomes mujik. Coins becomes koin. And aeroplane becomes, quite correctly, airplane. At the end of each short flight, he would invariably utter the same words:
Nomore mujik, nomore koin
Go down
Bye-bye airplane.
The imaginary plane that he commanded
Had finished its flight for the day.
He got out of the craft that had just landed,
Waving his upturned palms he'd say:
Nomore mujik, nomore koin
Go down
Bye-bye airplane
He hopped a little hop on the bouncy mattress
And got down on to the floor
But hardly had he taken any rest,
When he would return for more
Nomore mujik, nomore koin
Go down
Bye-bye airplane
Go down
Bye-bye airplane
A step onto the mattress he'd take
To climb into his plane
And "whooo" a whirring sound he'd make
As his flight took off again
Nomore mujik, nomore koin
Go down
Bye-bye airplane
Go down
Bye-bye airplane
And off and on the plane he'd get
Over and over again
Until tiredness and boredom beset
He'd fly his fantasy plane.
Nomore mujik, nomore koin
Go down
Bye-bye airplane
Go down
Bye-bye airplane
Thursday, May 10, 2018
Congratulations Malaysia
This morning I woke up to news that the evil administration of Barisan Nasional over our country has come to an end. For the first time in history, a new ruling party forms the next government of Malaysia.
After putting voting day in the middle of the week,
After getting candidates unjustly disqualified on nominations day,
After sending out postal ballot papers very late,
After allowing impostors to vote using fake identity cards,
After slowing down the voting at polling centres,
After turning away, at 5 o'clock, many voters who have waited in queue for hours,
After chasing away an uncle who arrived in bermuda shorts,
After all the blatant gerrymandering and extreme malapportionment,
And a host of other cunning plans and trickery,
The evil one has lost.
The people of Malaysia have won.
Congratulations Malaysia!
After putting voting day in the middle of the week,
After getting candidates unjustly disqualified on nominations day,
After sending out postal ballot papers very late,
After allowing impostors to vote using fake identity cards,
After slowing down the voting at polling centres,
After turning away, at 5 o'clock, many voters who have waited in queue for hours,
After chasing away an uncle who arrived in bermuda shorts,
After all the blatant gerrymandering and extreme malapportionment,
And a host of other cunning plans and trickery,
The evil one has lost.
The people of Malaysia have won.
Congratulations Malaysia!
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Tonight, tonight is just the night
Tonight tonight is just the night,
I've never seen the moon so bright.
Oh don't you see, Jacqueline,
Our hearts are joined above,
'Cause it's the right time for love.
I've never seen the moon so bright.
Oh don't you see, Jacqueline,
Our hearts are joined above,
'Cause it's the right time for love.
Hello, please answer me, my dear,
Oh, won't you speak into my ear,
A word of love, Jacqueline,
And melt my heart of stone,
'Cause I'm here, waiting alone.
Oh, won't you speak into my ear,
A word of love, Jacqueline,
And melt my heart of stone,
'Cause I'm here, waiting alone.
Chorus:
Jacqueline, Jacqueline my love!
Don't you know? I have loved you so.
Please give to me the thrill of your love!
Make my loneliness go . . .
Jacqueline, Jacqueline my love!
Don't you know? I have loved you so.
Please give to me the thrill of your love!
Make my loneliness go . . .
Jacqueline, lyrics by Harold Huang. 09May2018
************************
As we wait anxiously for the results of our 14th General Elections, I am reminded of this song, "Jacqueline". I'd like to think of Jacqueline as the results we're anxiously waiting for, that we long to see very soon.
As we wait anxiously for the results of our 14th General Elections, I am reminded of this song, "Jacqueline". I'd like to think of Jacqueline as the results we're anxiously waiting for, that we long to see very soon.
The above is my version of "Jacqueline", an oldie popularised by Rocky Teoh in 1966-67, based on the Chinese classic Ye Lai Xiang.
I have rewritten a major portion of the lyrics to bring in some rhyme and rhythm to the song.
(See link in the comments below for Rocky's original lyrics and video.)
****************************
These are the original lyrics sung by Rocky Teoh in 1967.
JACQUELINE
Tonight, tonight is just the night,
While the moon is shining so bright.
We shouldn't miss such a night,
Like this, my dear Jacqueline,
'Cause it's the right time for love.
Hello, hello, my dear,
I'm trying to call you on the phone
Because I'm all so alone,
Counting the stars above.
Won't you please listen to me?
Chorus:
Jacqueline, Jacqueline my love
Don't you know? I love you most of all
Well surrender now, be mine tonight,
Give the thrill of your love
https://youtu.be/5KHggkJb1KY
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
Unless you know what it means
Unless? If? Or else? I am confused.
I came across this meme on a page a while ago. My reply to the author:
Unless you want your readers to buy their first guitars online, don't say unless you don't want.
If you want the readers to avoid buying their first guitars online, just say unless you want. Or say, If you don't want . . .
Or else, simply say,
"Don't buy your first guitar online, or else you will waste your money and time."
I came across this meme on a page a while ago. My reply to the author:
Unless you want your readers to buy their first guitars online, don't say unless you don't want.
If you want the readers to avoid buying their first guitars online, just say unless you want. Or say, If you don't want . . .
Or else, simply say,
"Don't buy your first guitar online, or else you will waste your money and time."
Never in the history of my country
Tomorrow is voting day. It will be the 14th General Elections of Malaysia. The following thought strikes me:
Never in the history of Malaysia
have so many staunchly opposed political rivals
agreed to bury their rivalry
and joined hands
to work so hard together
against such great odds
to save so many people
from the tyranny of one man.
Never in the history of Malaysia
have so many staunchly opposed political rivals
agreed to bury their rivalry
and joined hands
to work so hard together
against such great odds
to save so many people
from the tyranny of one man.
Monday, May 7, 2018
Are we for or against our government?
It's the second last day of the elections campaign. The government has been dissolved weeks ago.
Yet I saw on the news just now a politician telling people to "support the government", "vote for the government" and to remember the "good deeds that the government had done for them".
In the same news broadcast, another politician was issuing a threat to a rival candidate who had allegedly spread fake news, telling him to watch out, for he will "make sure" that action will be taken against that candidate.
Both these politicians have conveniently forgotten that they are campaigning only for their party, and not for the "government", which has dissolved, and is only a temporary care-taker at this time.
Dear Malaysian friends, when we step into the polling station to cast our votes in two days' time, remember we are no longer voting for or against any current "government" officials.
Instead, we are voting for candidates of political parties to form the NEXT government.
Let us vote for a better future.
Malaysia Berjaya!
Malaysia Berjaya!
Sunday, May 6, 2018
I stayed
Reminiscing my sixth form years in secondary school when I saw many of my friends going overseas to further their studies and to look for a better future in a more promising land.
I stayed
"There's no hope in this country"
"There's little left", they said
With few places in university,
And narrow paths ahead.
Why would we continue here to stay
When the future looks so bleak
When our wealth is being chiselled away
On pretext of helping the weak.
Whether business permits, or land grants
Or just a roof over the head,
For us who are labelled "immigrants"
A high price has to be paid.
For government aid and incentives,
Are not for us to apply,
As they are reserved for the "natives"
To enlarge their slice of the pie.
With heavy hearts they left our shore,
For a better life abroad,
They went to a land that gave them more,
Than what we can here afford.
Alas, I couldn't join their quest
For a better future there.
For I was too poor to even suggest,
Migrating anywhere.
So back in this home land I'd stay
With what little I can earn
And toil ahead for a brighter day,
When for better this land would turn.
I stayed
"There's no hope in this country"
"There's little left", they said
With few places in university,
And narrow paths ahead.
Why would we continue here to stay
When the future looks so bleak
When our wealth is being chiselled away
On pretext of helping the weak.
Whether business permits, or land grants
Or just a roof over the head,
For us who are labelled "immigrants"
A high price has to be paid.
For government aid and incentives,
Are not for us to apply,
As they are reserved for the "natives"
To enlarge their slice of the pie.
With heavy hearts they left our shore,
For a better life abroad,
They went to a land that gave them more,
Than what we can here afford.
Alas, I couldn't join their quest
For a better future there.
For I was too poor to even suggest,
Migrating anywhere.
So back in this home land I'd stay
With what little I can earn
And toil ahead for a brighter day,
When for better this land would turn.
A writer's lament
Write something.
Write it now, they say.
For one must keep on writing,
Every single day.
But what if words just won't arise
To enable you to say,
What you had thought was something nice
To put into prose today.
You'd stare right into distant space,
Looking all but blank,
At the nagging emptiness you face,
As your hope for a story sank . . .
Write it now, they say.
For one must keep on writing,
Every single day.
But what if words just won't arise
To enable you to say,
What you had thought was something nice
To put into prose today.
You'd stare right into distant space,
Looking all but blank,
At the nagging emptiness you face,
As your hope for a story sank . . .
Monday, April 30, 2018
Are you a son of the soil? or of the night-soil?
These were my thoughts written ten days before the last general elections five years ago on the 27th April 2013.
Today, ten days before the next general elections, I am reminded of this ongoing predicament I face as a Malaysian Citizen, segregated by way of my ancestral origin.
For decades, the ruling parties that formed the government have been drumming the B-word into our ears:
Bumi putra (Sons of the Soil).
This all too familar B-word is a powerful word. It distinguishes Malaysian citizens into two classes, "B" or "non-B". Under the power of this one single B-word, you must first look at the mirror and examine yourself before you do anything, e.g.
before you buy a house,
before you apply for a place in a university,
before you apply for a lorry permit,
before you apply for a scholarship,
et cetera
Before you can do any of the above, you need to ascertain whether you are "B" nor not "B". In other words,
To "B" nor not to "B", that is the question . . .
The ruling party tries very hard, unrelentingly, to make the "B" people feel constantly threatened by the non-"B" people. The slogan "defend our race and religion" is constantly echoed from town hall to convention hall.
They constantly remind the "B" people that they are the Sons of the Soil. By implication, the other citizens of Malaysia are not from the same soil. Instead, they are from other soils.
Thus, whilst the non-"B" peoples are citizens of our country, they are nevertheless not sons and daughters of the Soil. They are merely "granted" permission to stay on this soil called Malaysia. But remember, only the "B" people are the sons of the soil.
As a result of many years of ongoing, unyielding and unwavering efforts by the ruling political party, many discriminating policies have been formulated and implemented throughout our country, in the name of affirmative action, under the label of "economic policy" , to give priority and preferential treatment to the sons of the soil.
Consequently, the B-people are the preferred people. They are the treated as sons of the soil.
Meanwhile, the non-"B" people are the less preferred people. And they are made to feel like they are night-soil.
Fellow Malaysians, in less than ten days' time, we are going to the polling booth to cast our votes. Let us elect a government that treats ALL Malaysian citizens as sons of the soil.
Let no one be treated like night-soil. Anymore.
Today, ten days before the next general elections, I am reminded of this ongoing predicament I face as a Malaysian Citizen, segregated by way of my ancestral origin.
For decades, the ruling parties that formed the government have been drumming the B-word into our ears:
Bumi putra (Sons of the Soil).
This all too familar B-word is a powerful word. It distinguishes Malaysian citizens into two classes, "B" or "non-B". Under the power of this one single B-word, you must first look at the mirror and examine yourself before you do anything, e.g.
before you buy a house,
before you apply for a place in a university,
before you apply for a lorry permit,
before you apply for a scholarship,
et cetera
Before you can do any of the above, you need to ascertain whether you are "B" nor not "B". In other words,
To "B" nor not to "B", that is the question . . .
The ruling party tries very hard, unrelentingly, to make the "B" people feel constantly threatened by the non-"B" people. The slogan "defend our race and religion" is constantly echoed from town hall to convention hall.
They constantly remind the "B" people that they are the Sons of the Soil. By implication, the other citizens of Malaysia are not from the same soil. Instead, they are from other soils.
Thus, whilst the non-"B" peoples are citizens of our country, they are nevertheless not sons and daughters of the Soil. They are merely "granted" permission to stay on this soil called Malaysia. But remember, only the "B" people are the sons of the soil.
As a result of many years of ongoing, unyielding and unwavering efforts by the ruling political party, many discriminating policies have been formulated and implemented throughout our country, in the name of affirmative action, under the label of "economic policy" , to give priority and preferential treatment to the sons of the soil.
Consequently, the B-people are the preferred people. They are the treated as sons of the soil.
Meanwhile, the non-"B" people are the less preferred people. And they are made to feel like they are night-soil.
Fellow Malaysians, in less than ten days' time, we are going to the polling booth to cast our votes. Let us elect a government that treats ALL Malaysian citizens as sons of the soil.
Let no one be treated like night-soil. Anymore.
Saturday, April 28, 2018
The journey of a thousand miles
First steps on the journey of a thousand miles
Since my retirement in 2015, after 32 years of full-time teaching, I had been taking small incremental steps towards living a more fulfilling life, doing something that I like, that I could not find time to do as a hard-pressed busy teacher. That something was to write and to sing.
Both of these, writing and singing, help me fulfill a passion: "To make people happy in entertainment and recreation".
By early 2016 I had the opportunity, with the help of kind and generous friends, to sing and play the guitar with a small group of experienced veteran singers and musicians. Over the two years since, I have garnered sufficient experience and skill, with lots of practice, to arrange my own guitar chords for more than 200 songs and to play the rhythm guitar in any key upon request during public performance.
That was, but only a first step in a long journey of a thousand miles, perhaps even more. There's a lot more to improve on in singing and playing the guitar in the years ahead.
Last week I managed to put my best foot forward for a second step in this quest to fulfill my dreams: I applied to and became accepted by the Malaysian Writers' Society as a candidate member i.e. a member who has not published any works before. I availed myself the opportunity to participate in my first "Write-in" workshop with several experienced but friendly writers, some of whom have dozens of novels and short stories published in their name. I was a green-horn among them but, happily for me, I was readily welcome into their midst.
All my own writing so far has been in the form of short personal articles posted in my blogs. A religious blog, "Wisdom of the Ancients" in which I write my observations from my daily Bible readings, has about 180 articles of varying lengths accumulated over nine years. A hobby blog, "My Bicycle Rides", on my long distance cycling events with friends, was started four years ago and have slowly gathered about forty posts.
Last week, I started a new blog called, "Moments of my Thoughts" to post short articles and poems of my encounters with things and people around me. So far I have written four little poems there.
This is my second step forward. I look forward to the day when I can published my first book, perhaps a collection of devotional studies of the Bible, or an anthology of short poems, or perhaps a short story in a magazine.
There's a thousand miles ahead and many more steps to go in this journey into a new lifestyle.
There's only one step to avoid taking, that is to abandon the journey and give up.
Since my retirement in 2015, after 32 years of full-time teaching, I had been taking small incremental steps towards living a more fulfilling life, doing something that I like, that I could not find time to do as a hard-pressed busy teacher. That something was to write and to sing.
Both of these, writing and singing, help me fulfill a passion: "To make people happy in entertainment and recreation".
By early 2016 I had the opportunity, with the help of kind and generous friends, to sing and play the guitar with a small group of experienced veteran singers and musicians. Over the two years since, I have garnered sufficient experience and skill, with lots of practice, to arrange my own guitar chords for more than 200 songs and to play the rhythm guitar in any key upon request during public performance.
That was, but only a first step in a long journey of a thousand miles, perhaps even more. There's a lot more to improve on in singing and playing the guitar in the years ahead.
Last week I managed to put my best foot forward for a second step in this quest to fulfill my dreams: I applied to and became accepted by the Malaysian Writers' Society as a candidate member i.e. a member who has not published any works before. I availed myself the opportunity to participate in my first "Write-in" workshop with several experienced but friendly writers, some of whom have dozens of novels and short stories published in their name. I was a green-horn among them but, happily for me, I was readily welcome into their midst.
All my own writing so far has been in the form of short personal articles posted in my blogs. A religious blog, "Wisdom of the Ancients" in which I write my observations from my daily Bible readings, has about 180 articles of varying lengths accumulated over nine years. A hobby blog, "My Bicycle Rides", on my long distance cycling events with friends, was started four years ago and have slowly gathered about forty posts.
Last week, I started a new blog called, "Moments of my Thoughts" to post short articles and poems of my encounters with things and people around me. So far I have written four little poems there.
This is my second step forward. I look forward to the day when I can published my first book, perhaps a collection of devotional studies of the Bible, or an anthology of short poems, or perhaps a short story in a magazine.
There's a thousand miles ahead and many more steps to go in this journey into a new lifestyle.
There's only one step to avoid taking, that is to abandon the journey and give up.
Thursday, April 26, 2018
The pond
My friend captured this thought-evoking picture with his camera, and this thought came to mind:
Bright green leaves open up to skies above,
Dull red foliage mirrored by waters below.
Fragile lotus plants dance merrily with love,
Hardy palm trees stand sleepily in a row.
A bright-red flower stands up for a song
With a voice ringing sweet and clear
The dwellers of the pond clap loudly along
To reply the sweet singing with cheer.
Bright green leaves open up to skies above,Dull red foliage mirrored by waters below.
Fragile lotus plants dance merrily with love,
Hardy palm trees stand sleepily in a row.
A bright-red flower stands up for a song
With a voice ringing sweet and clear
The dwellers of the pond clap loudly along
To reply the sweet singing with cheer.
Monday, April 23, 2018
The old blue doors
The Old Blue Doors.They're not pretty, they're not new,
They're neither grand nor stately.
They get brief looks from a passing few,
Those blue doors appear so lonely.
Yet if for a while, you'd take time to stop
And pause for an unhurried gaze,
Those sturdy blue doors at the old quiet shop
Will fill you with a daze.
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A Spoonful of Malaysian Magic
An Anthology — A burong descends from Tansang Kenyalang in the midst of a dire catastrophe. A shapeshifter f...
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An Anthology — A burong descends from Tansang Kenyalang in the midst of a dire catastrophe. A shapeshifter f... -
Writing Amok: On Leaving Malaysia to Find It Again You write what you read. And I grew up reading English books by Enid Blyton, CS Lewis... -
Absolution is the final book in the series, " Absolution ", a trilogy of young adult fantasy stories set in a magical lan...