2011 - double 1

Everyone loves a winner

It feels great to win something. Am sure you can remember the feeling of winning a competition, a hamper/ prize or just being very happy for having done something really well.

I remember taking part in a talent show - 30 seconds to fame (no not the US one but a local community one). Our group was up against some really raw talent including dancers who can pop, hip hop, do hand stand. There's even a gymnast as well as voice  talent and musicians playing instruments like violin.

Everyone was declaring themselves as winner before the start of the competition and nobody thought that our group which consisted of 2 mother and daughter team (and all 4 of us cant really dance very well) can win.

But guess what? The old but experienced group won!!

So if you have been unfortunate in not won anything before or have forgotten the feeling, why not make it a point to make 2011 a double 1... mind you not a single 1 but double 1. Just to double the fun!!

Have a great and happy 20-double 1!

Wisdom tooth - do you need them

My other experiences with dentist concerns all 4 of my wisdom tooth. Well 3 of them were uneventful save for one as I need to go for surgery instead of normal extraction.

It was really disheartening as I was hoping that given time, the tooth will come out normal but lo and behold, not only did it not come out, it even pushes the rest of the tooth into misalignment.

So finally after getting into college, I mustered enough courage to seek help from the dentist.

To cut the long story short, the stuffs which I have learned from this experience are:-

1) if you have small jaw and the wisdom tooth is coming out, it's best to remove it asap before it affects the alignment of other tooth.

2) Why did God create us with wisdom tooth when we end up removing them anyway. Well that was cos when human were first created, they were created to eat meat (some may debate on this) so human need all the tooth that they can get to bite, chew, crush - basically perform the function of a food processor.

But since now, most of the food we consume come processed (think McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut) we dont need all these extra teeth.

3) If you thought since it's not giving me any trouble why bother to remove them, well think again. Cos wisdom tooth are located way at the back of the jaw, most likely it will be neglected in terms of maintenance and hygiene are concerned. So you'll most likely to have tooth decay and cavities there.

If left unattended for a long time, when you finally decide to extract them, the tooth might be structurally weak that the moment the dentist apply force to it, it'll just snapped and leave the root in your jaw.

So now you'll have to go for surgery to remove the root. What if you do not remove the root you say - well then the root will continue to decay until one day you'll experience the problem that have tormented our ancestors - toothache - so much pain that you feel like slamming your face to the wall so that the new pain will act as a distraction to the one in your tooth.

4) when looking for a dentist to do this surgery, pick a male dentist! Why? Cos mine was a lady and she didnt have enough strength to forcefully pull it out. So she kept drilling and drilling so I ended up have no pain during the surgery but suffered with pain and swollen cheek for 1 week.

My sister on the other chose a male dentist and she had pain during the surgery but no pain after that cos the dentist made it painful but short. So take your pick - suffer during or after the surgery.

5) Ultimately what I learn - when dealing with tooth decay - time really does matter cos tooth problem can only get bigger, which translate to more expensive procedure.

This was the case for me when I have one cavity which the dentist deemed to be to big for normal filling. So I had to do crowning. Being just a student at that time, I just didnt want to burden my family with this extra expense so I just lived with the temporary filling.

After time, this temporary filling gave way and this time, instead of going for just crowning the dentist said I need to go for root canal as well cos the nerve in the tooth had died... If I proceed with crowning without root canal, these nerve even though dead might inflamed and create problem for me in the future.

At that moment, I seriously considered just extracting this tooth instead of spending twice the amount of money on it but after much deliberation, I guess even one tooth is worth saving as extracting it without using dentures will affect the alignment of the other tooth (it's going to move and shift whether you like it or not).

Wearing dentures is also a lifetime hassle cos you need to keep it clean and all. There are also 2 types of dentures - metal and ceramic both with its pros and cons.

Having learned all these lessons, I still dread going to the dentist. Alright alright, I ring Dr Wong tomorrow and make an appointment for my dental checkup. I am really keeping my fingers crossed that I will be given a clean bill of oral health.

Sweet tooth...

When I was young oral care is the last thing on my mind. I mean my mom had to think of so many ways to ensure that I have good well aligned teeth.

I vividly remember 3 particular incidents.

The first 2 had to do with my baby teeth as they were slowly being replaced by permanent teeth but I was really nervous about it.

In fact even though this baby teeth could be swaying and I can rock and twist them a bit, I will not pull it out nor let anyone near it.

So my ever wise mom will offer me sugar cane to eat. Having a sweet tooth, I am a sucker for anything sweet. So before long, out comes the tooth, nailed in between the sugar cane.

Then there was this particular front baby tooth of my which refused to budge even though my mom could see the tip of a new tooth coming out.

Sugar cane did not work this time, so she schemed with my uncle and a few other cohorts (which included my aunt and a few others) and when I was walking by the corridor of my grandparents house minding my own business, 2 pairs of strong arms will suddenly grabbed me and in a second I would be on the floor pinned down by these hooligans and my mom with a handkerchief will grabbed and pull out this baby tooth.

It was a swift and successful operation for their record as I was too shock to register any reaction.

My last memorable incident was my trip to the dentist in Ampang Park. The dentist was japanese. I could remember him clearly because my parents made sure I know that I was getting the best dentist and not just any average dentist cos he's japanese.

But before reaching there, we will make a detour to a pastry shop on the ground floor, my personal favorite.

It was a japanese sweet snack in shape of fish. Now with the help of google I managed to find it's name of these long years of not knowing. It's (ta-da-da-da...)

Taiyaki (たい焼き)
A snack in the shape of a sea bream. (A sea bream is a freshwater fish in Japan.) A mold is made in the likeness of a sea bream, and batter is baked in the mold. Then the sweet bean paste is used as filling.

I wonder why no one sells this snack anymore... Perhaps the price of red bean had gone up drastically.

Anyway my mom will use this as bait to get me onto the dentist's chair but I wont sit there without a fight. And by fight I really mean fight. I'll be screaming, kicking and swinging my arms so much that the poor japanese dentist had to call in reinforcements.

So picture me being pinned down by 6 people including my mom and dad and the dentist extracting the tooth hastily and with much force and determination.

After putting on such a fight, my dad will then have to carry me in his arm and I will be slumped over his shoulder, looking ever so betrayed and forlorn with a gauze in my mouth to stop the bleeding and carrying my precious taiyaki.

The cause of my downfall... blame it on my sweet tooth.

But it's funny how I cant remember any of my other doctors but I can remember all the dentists I went to. Maybe it's cos going to the dentist has and always will be traumatic. Even right now, I am dragging my feet to have my belated annual dental checkup. Sigh... where is the taiyaki shop when you need one...

Guys without tooth... Eeww...

There are many occasions of travelling to Indonesia that I meet guys who were impeccably dressed, having good physique but the moment they open their mouth to smile I cant help but grimace at their missing or cracked and decayed front tooth or in some cases teeth. Some decays are so extensive that all that's left are the mere root of the tooth.

So on hindsight I really appreciate my mom's concern and efforts in bringing me to dentists when I was young. Our malaysian government was also to be thanked to making oral checkup mandatory during my primary school time but how I HATED these check ups.

I would try to make a lot of excuses but somehow the school dentist always get to us. Blame it on the close proximity of the clinic to the school canteen. To us that place was more like a torture chamber than a clinic.

Later I heard rumours of these dentists having been paid by the government based on the number of fillings or extractions that they performed will indiscriminately performed such procedure on us poor students especially on those with below average oral care ones... I mean chocolates and sweets are staple food in a child's mind.

Come to think of it, I do find some truth in it cos I had these innocent growth kind of like moles, if tooth can have moles like skin, then that was what I had at the back of my tooth which is not visible at all when I smile. So till today I dont know if the growth is black colour like mole or just that my tooth at the back is not even.

Anyhow this dentist saw it, drilled it and filled it. And this mole growth thingey is not just on 1 tooth but on 2 of my teeth. Did I mentioned that the drill did not have water squirting at it as it drilled? It's basically just a drill, without any extras like water, suction thingey, piped in music, air-con, pain killer so you can just imagine the pain and agony for her to hurry up and finish the job.

Thank God she did a good job in the filling as after 20 over years, this filling have not been giving me any trouble. Goes to prove that old stuffs are still the best just like electrical appliances.

This is just one of the many close encounters I have had with dentists. Will blog more about them next time. Children nowadays have it so nice and easy so there's no excuses not to have sparkling and complete set of teeth, from top to bottom, front to back.

The shocking truth about electricity

Recently had power cut in my house. It did not really bothered me until the battery ran out on the notebook. Drat!! So I was reduced to caveman lifestyle that night.

So what do you do in times like this? No tv, no astro, no computer, no air-con or fan... Battery dead on mobile phone. Double drat!!

But when the electricity's gone, you realised there's a stillness in the room... everything seems very quiet. Too quiet. Gone are the whizzing sound from the air con, the soft buzzing from the notebook fan and even the water dripping sound was gone as all the air cons are not working.

So what do you do in times like this? Well this was what I did. I sat down with my mom and sis and we began to talk. Just about everything.

I guess with all the technology that electricity brings, it also took away our interaction with fellow human beings. Even as I blog, who am I communicating with?

There is a wonderment in technology but will it ultimately cause the downfall in civilisation too? So I hope I will not see the day where people know more about their "friends" on facebook than people in their office or even in their very home.

The Expendables

Recently watched The Expendables. Really enjoyed some of the wisecrack between the characters especially the ones involving Jet Li. Blame it on my asian genes but I am really proud of him, what he stands for and his achievements.

You can see from the poster he was the shortest among all the "kwai lo" but he made it up with his presence. I also liked the fact that he continue to wear his trademark 2 long sleeve shirts over a white tee. Hehe so conservative considering the rest were all showing off their biceps with sleeveless or short sleeves.

It was also interesting to note that some of them had made some plastic surgeons filthy rich especially Sylvester Stallone. He look so good now. Everything's firm and in place ;D

Some may say this is a guy's show but it's not too bad for gals. After this show I am thinking of watching RED. Kind of nostalgic to watch all these familiar faces on the golden screen again. At least I know I am not alone in growing old ;D

Friends... for life!

Just had lunch with a long lost friend recently. She found me in Facebook and we met up after 15 to 16 years of not seeing or talking to each other. So I am really grateful that technology helped me find a piece of my history.

Being a W or X generation person, without any mobile phone, emails during our schooling days, it is inevitable that I lost contact with friends from school or college. I think children of this generation are so blessed cos they can keep in touch with friends through so many ways.

Also you can tell which generation a person is from their text messages cos I still use full sentences. I just cannot bring myself to use too-short forms... I do use the usual BTW, FYI, OIC but I have many friends who have yet to catch up with LOL and other latest acronyms out there.

Actually when this friend call me up for a 2nd lunch date, I was actually quite reluctant to go cos I have gotten too used to my schedule - in my comfort zone and was content with just communcating through facebook messages but I am glad I did as it was good to meet up with friends to talk and basically see each other face to face.

So if you are thinking of catching up with your friends by just communicating through the computer screen, just remember that no avatar nor any technology in the world (gmail yahoo facebook twitter skype blog and etc) can take the place of direct human interaction.

 

Driving etiquette in KL

Just an observation that I believe many would concur:- generally drivers in KL love to stop and look at accidents or anything that remotely resembles an accident or police stopping a pedestrian or car.

Everyone seems so curious about the extent of the accident, how it happen, any fatality or basically just trying to get the plate numbers to buy 4D later.

Another interesting observation is that drivers no longer have any respect for ambulance. The siren could be blaring from far away but no cars will give way. Every driver will suddenly turn deaf or mute. Otherwise they will take the opportunity to tail the ambulance so that they can beat the traffic jam.

I remember those days when there will be short documentaries on tv1 and tv2 (that's the only tv channels we had then) teaching drivers how to react to ambulance emergencies. It also explain why the word "AMBULANCE" cannot be read directly but through the mirror so that drivers looking at their rear mirror will immediately pull over but I forgot which side of the road, either to the left or to the right to give way to ambulance. Meaning you actually have to stop your car at the side of the road to give way to the ambulance.

But in reality nobody does that anymore. Really pity the patient in the ambulance as well as the ambulance drivera. I think the retirement age for ambulance drivers must be really low given the amount of stressful maneuverings through KL traffic they had to endure.

This brings to memory an incident in Turkuaz in year 2009 when one of our staff who was not having an easy pregnancy fainted in the shop. We immediately called for an ambulance and fortunately KL general hospital was nearby. So the ambulance arrived in less than 10 minutes.

The thing that was amazing was the immediate scene the very loudly blaring ambulance created. Within seconds, there were throngs of people at the shop. We had to form a human barricade to stop the nosy people from entering the shop and looking at our pregnant staff being transferred to the stretcher.

Amazing despite all the commotion, one person manage to get into the shop and we did not even realised when he entered the shop! Boy he was fast and that guy was the indian mamak stall cook from next door. He was grinning from ear to ear, so proud of himself for getting the latest gossip news of the day.

So to all the "sam pat" (chinese saying for busy body) people out there, we would greatly appreciate it if you could just mind your own business and not create traffic jams for the rest of us ;D

Talent... must you been born with you for it to count?

Was really intrigued by a dialogue in a japanese drama which I watched recently. From it I realised that there is a statement which is oh so so true. The statement is "If you are 5 year old and you can play the piano well - you are considered a genius but the same cannot be said when you are 20 year old". I guessed it meant you cannot fall into the category of a child prodigy anymore.

How great is it to burst out into the world with all your talents and gifts when you are young and talented - like Messi in the recent world cup, Jaden Smith but if you are old, then you are expected to retreat into the shadows and not be seen nor heard till you are no more.

The world even laughs at Susan Boyle when she took the stage. She was too old to have any talent... so they think.

It may be that we already have this talent within us but amazingly dont give much thought to it. We always think that our talents are never good enough. So we never take the time and effort to improve it.

Well I hope before the end of 2010 you will find the resolute within you to improve on your talent and never let age be a factor to stop you from discovering yourself.

If you think that you do not have any talent, then why not learn a new one. One is never too old and time is never right nor wrong to expand your horizons. It could be piano, typing, dancing, setting up a online shop or even a new language as language has always been the most effective bridge in getting to know people from another part of the world.

Everyone should find something to learn from this world as there is always something new to be learned every day and hopefully one day you would have mastered it to such an extent that it can be appreciated by others as well ;D

New form of Turkish Ice Cream

The latest kind of ice cream to hit Kuala Lumpur scene is from Mado a turkish company.

Their tagline is "the first ice cream eaten with the use fork and knife" and it's really true, as you really need to use utensils to eat this as hard as rock ice cream. Made from goat's milk this ice cream is really different in terms of taste and texture.

Personally I prefered the flavoured ones as I am not a big fan of goat's milk. The pistachios flavour is good but Mado's ice cream since made with natural flavour and milk can be really filling if you have a small stomach.

All in all it was a good experience as Mado's also sells turkish delight which was suffice to say a delight to savour. You can find Mado's ice cream in Pavilion KL.

Dramas - can happen in real life...

Recently I watched a drama series. In this show the 2 main characters had the joy of starting a relationship. It was all so sweet and nice especially in this show as the male character comes from a rich family background and very intelligent whereas the female character even though smart would not have stand a chance to be in the social group of the guy.

But as all dramas, the two of them end up being together. How sweet...

Having watched many dramas, Japanese, Hong Kong and Korean and even American, this kind of storyline is a sure win formula to get all the girls rooting for the drama. Picture "Pretty Woman".

Hey which girl wouldnt want a rich, smart not to mention handsome guy who is so out of her league. And this guy turn out to be not just your average boyfriend but a loyal one who only have eyes for the lead. (cue drool and all the girls in the house go "Ahhhh...")

There is just something in a girl or woman that make her yearn for that. However I think this yearning for this kind of fantasy turn to reality to happen to herself... I mean if it's her girlfriend who hooked this guy, I'm not sure if she's that she'll be rooting for her... Though this is quite debatable but I'm sure there must be a reasoning for the word "catfight".

Anyhow as the story of this drama series progresses, we see the both of them facing a lot of oppositions (how else can they stretch the movie to 25 episodes right without any opposition) and they end of breaking up (cue tissues and removing of glasses to wipe tears).

Depending on a lot of factors, they could be on their feet very fast but then I guess not all men (or women) are created the same. Some are more emotional than others and it's the emotional ones who will suffer the most. Do women suffer more than males in breakups? Again this is debatable.

But like all shows, in the end they always patch things up, which gets the ratings up and running but is life that simple? But the undeniable fact is that all women love happy endings especially the happily ever after endings. Sigh will women ever change? I guess not unless we change the dramas which we watch. After all many times dramas imitates life and vice versa.

But till then, I'll be on the lookout for other good dramas to watch. I guess I'm content rooting for the lead actress rather than go find one lead actor. So that means there's no catfight, breakup and make up for me ;D Now where did I put my remote control...

Can one person make a difference? To the fireflies in Takano - yes!

I recently had the privilege to travel to Japan. During the trip I met a few japanese and some became my new friends.

This was a particularly fruitful trip for me as I tried homestay for the first time in my life and it was really rewarding to experience life hands on in a different country.

There was this morning where I was awaken by the loud noises downstairs. I was really reluctant to go down to check as I was exhausted having arrived on an early morning flight the day before and had a full day of walking.

The noise it turn out was from my host's 11 year old son. He was angry over not being able to sleep the night before and hence woke up late... too late to finish to his homework in the morning. So he was stomping all over the kitchen and throwing things about.

What was interesting to me was not that he was angry but because we are so used to concrete floor and walls, I didnt realised how un-sound-proof houses are in Japan until that morning. Sounds that we generally filtered out like of footsteps, fridge doors, toilet doors, any doors were amplified. Maybe japanese houses are built in this way to minimize the scope of destruction in the event of earthquake. Light but strong... hmmm....

But I digress, the main subject of today's blog is about this remarkable japanese whom I met in Takano. It was really a chance encounter. Many asked me of my trip to Japan whether I met any cute handsome guys and my answer was "Yes" but they forgot to add young to the list as all of them are above 50 years old.

This remarkable man apparently came to Malaysia 10 years ago and saw our fireflies. He fell head over heels in love (I added this on my own but who wouldn't if you see these fireflies plus 10 years ago must have been more beautiful).

So he was determined to bring these fireflies back to his hometown and began to cultivate them as fireflies need river, clean water and food (trees).

Through his hardwork, there are now annual fireflies sightings in Takano where locals around Osaka will come every June to see them.... Wow!!

But this was not the only thing that struck me. The thing that struck me most was when he mentioned that the fireflies in Malaysia are more beautiful... I was dumbfounded....

Ours was more beautiful?! What have we done for nature to deserve this wonderful spectacle which we can enjoy all year round in Malaysia. Not only that I was too embarrassed to tell him that many of the fireflies in Malaysia are gone due to rapid development and river pollution.

So what can one man in Japan do that we so many in Malaysia cannot? Perhaps that is why malaysian have concrete floorings... to cover our loud footsteps noises. Perhaps we should pay attention and listen. In listening to act before it's too late.

The importance of Teachers!!

A friend of mine used to teach in a kindergarten in Malaysia but later resigned as the workload was very heavy but the remuneration was not.

The pay was so low that she had to look for other part time job to be financially stable.

This current state of affairs is totally unacceptable as it cannot be denied that pre-school days are the most crucial time to develop a child's mind and motor skills. However the quality of teachers for pre-schoolers are often second rate whereas in developed countries, they appreciate the necessity to have qualified teachers for pre-schoolers. Hence the teacher's take home salary also reflects this level of importance.

A direct consequences of low remuneration is the lack of pride in their job as the public generally perceived teachers of pre-schoolers as of lower qualification compare with teachers of higher education. And where there is lack of pride, one will hardly put in the extra effort in their profession.

We must remember that pre-schoolers teachers are the children' first teachers and the impression that these teachers leave on them will influence these children for life. I have an uncle who was a very studious student but when he was in primary school used to hate a particular teacher so much that he will leave the classroom and stand outside whenever this teacher enters the room.

Teachers have the power to break or make the subject alive to the students. I remember enjoying history more than geography purely because the teacher took the time and effort to make the subject interesting for us.

For Malaysia to progress we must treat our teachers better on all levels and not just for the higher education ones.

Reaching for the best!

How often do you find yourself especially during grocery shopping choosing the cheaper version of an item of similar origin and description?

I find that I do that many times especially looking out for on offer or on sale items.

This probably explains why nowadays items getting more and more inferior in quality be it in terms of food and electrical items.You notice how products of bygone years seem to last longer like for example my washing machine. Just recently changed it after it started to make funny sounds but it served us very well for more than 20 years.

That is because suppliers work around the budget to produce the items are prices that consumers are willing to pay. So packaging either becomes smaller, tissues became thinner, cotton buds become flimsier and foodstuffs are mixed with cheaper but alternative colouring, flavoring and etc.

Some suppliers even resort to mixing the quality products in the same box, eg. a box of colouring pencils, maybe the black and white will be good quality but the rest the quality are compromised.

I read before in an article in the newspaper that we must remove this "cheap mentality" in order to progress. It is because of us consumers always asking for cheaper goods, the suppliers have no option but to cut costs and in cutting costs, we are ultimately buying inferior quality products.

It was interesting that a friend shared that he educate his children not to consume too much chicken as there are too much hormones in poultry nowadays. He note that through this his children are smaller in size than their peers. Of a more asian-like size I suppose. Not only that his daughter does not reach puberty that early. It is of great concern that girls nowadays get their first menstrual cycle much earlier than those of our forefathers.

So when buying products, I think it is important that we do not sacrifice quality for price. This attitude will somehow overflow and affect the choices that we make in life too. I find that after years of doing this in some decisions which I made I subconsiuosly too do not choose the best but always reach for the second best even though I can afford it and deserve better.

So my final word is "what you pay, is what you get" so try to aim for the best in everything cos life is short and we deserve the best.

What's in a name...

It just struck me that in the world, humans can be divided into 2 categories of "those with surnames in front and those with surnames at the back". Do correct me if I'm wrong.

Examples of front surnames are:
namely chinese, japanese, korean, vietnamese

Example of back surnames are:-
namely american, british, european, turkish, indians, malays

Not too sure about africans. I think they belong to the back category.

Why can't it be the same everywhere? That's why is most immigration forms or any important forms, to avoid confusion, they will ask underline the surname.

The back surnames category can then be further sub-divided into those using the surname of the family or the father like the indians and malays whose surname is that of the father.

The indians names in malaysia have A/L (literally meaning "anak lelaki" / son of) and A/P ("anak perempuan" / daughter of) before the surname.
Eg, Rahman A/L Muthusamy ie Muthusamy is the name of Rahman's father.

Similarly the malays in malaysia practice is the usage of "bin" (for male) and "binte" / sometimes "bte" (for female) to distinguish the gender of the person which is actually quite convenient since you'll know exactly the gender of the person from the name only cos nowadays some names tend to be very unisex, not to mention their sexuality... (but I digress here).

However this practice of adding A/L and bin is not prevalent in India and Indonesia but only in Malaysia. One suspects that this was introduced by the british during the colonization days when they issue citizenship and birth certificates but if this is case, why were the chinese in malaysia spared from this "coding" since to the british, family surnames in front are not common to british.

Well I guess that's because chinese are a very stubborn group of people... a lot more stubborn than the japanese as most time I will get confused about the japanese names ie which is their name and which is their surname. That's because in the west media, japanese names are "westernized" and printed with their surnames at the back but in japanese local media, they revert to their original writing of surname in front.

So for Takuya Kimura which is the surname and which is name? Surname Kimura - Name Takuya. So in japan he will be knowned as Kimura Takuya.
So you'll expect the same thing for celebrity Aiba Masaki right? But turned out Aiba is the surname... gosh... Aiba sounds more like a name than surname to me. So it's pretty darn confusing to foreigners.

So why cant the japanese be stubborn and keep to their true identity as practice centuries ago and not bow to peer pressure, conforming to the western style of surnames at the back?

This will again bring me to a different topic. Conformity to the west standard. Having come from a colonized nation, I also grew up thinking that the west is the best but thankfully Asia is rising and rising fast!

So whether you have your surname in front or back, it does not matter so long as you know how it all started (ie whose your father, grandfather, great grandfather, great great grandfather (erm i think is too-far-fetched to know)) and don't be bothered about how the rest of the world wanted to call it.