This blog is to record and share news on my family & I.
Occasionally, some thoughts on recent news in the papers but nothing political or pornographic though. Hope you will enjoy reading my blog as I am doing it for you. Thanks for reading my blog and feel free to give me your comments, if any.
My wife & I just returned from supporting Jason's run in his school 4x400m relay team in the SPH Realy Meet at Yio Chu Kang stadium this afternoon.
While his school team came in second in the heats but overall, they were placed 7th based on all the teams timing. Nevertheless, they ran well and I am proud of his perfromance and achievements in his sports.
Here is a short video clip of the run but I have edited it to show Jason running only.
BTW, the video was captured using a digital camera on SD card and uploaded into my notebook. I then used Adobe Premiere to edit the video clip and uploaded it to You Tube. Easily done within less than 30 minutes. Even Jason can do it! This is technology today.
Last Saturday, my family & I happened to drop by Paragon Shopping Mall at Orchard Road and there was a fashion show in progress.
As usual, the models on the runway are non-Asian. They are not all that fantastic looking and there was one model that looked like a long stick!
I was telling Jason that we should have our local or Asian women on the runway. I believe we do have many of them that are just as capable and pretty too.
Unfortunately, we are brought up watching western movies and TV shows and we have ingrained into our mind that the non-Asian women or men are more pretty, sexy or elegant. Partly, still due to some of the old colonial days mentality.
After living in Melbourne for 4 years when I was studying there and also working with some 'ang mor' here, they are just like us and generally speaking, they are much bigger in size and not necessary proportionate so what we are seeing are a small % of good-looking people in the entertainment industry.
I think this is also one of the reasons why the non-Chinese men prefers Asian girls as they are petite and more submissive in nature too.
No offence to my non-Asian friends.......
BTW, I have a few cousins married to non-Chinese like Indian, Italian, British, Iranian; and my younger sister is married to an Aussie. So please note I have nothing against non-Asian.
I just realised that Google has given me a ranking of 1 out of 10 for the importance of this page or blog.
If you look at your Google toolbar above and you have installed the PageRank icon, move your cursor over it and you will see the ranking given to me.
Fyi, my other two dog sites do not even get ranked ..... ? ha..ha..ha...
So thanks for visiting my site which is strictly for family members and friends but if you are none of them, welcome to my blog anyway. It would be nice if you drop me a message just to introduce yourself or just say 'hello' on my message board on the right if you choose not to reveal yourself.
I am sure we have, at one time or another, tried our luck on 4D, TOTO and Lottery occassionally.
So are we all gamblers?
NO! I do not think so and here is why ... as I have been observing the people, myself inclusive, who are queuing up to buy the elusive winning ticket.
1. The Habitual Gambler
This group of people will play big and will not fail to buy their betting tickets regularly; eg betting hundreds of dollars every outing. It is an addiction irrepective whether they are winning or can afford it.
2. The Hopeful Winner
This group of people will try their luck and hope that the winnings will solve their financial problems; average bets like S$10 and never more than S$50 as they cannot really afford it. But this give them some hope to their problems.
3. The Entertainment Folks
This group of people, mainly retirees or old folks and majority of us I think, buy small bets and just take it as another source of entertainment; like spending $9 going to the movies or a packet of chicken rice. The retirees or old folks have nothing to look forward to so checking the results is something exciting for them and nothing to lose as long as they play small like S$1 or S$2 with the pocket money they get from thier kids.
I used to think that my parents squandered the pocket money we gave them on such bets but then I realised that it is entertainment to them as the bets are small and they have something to look forward to on those few days of the week. Also, some hope and excitement to win some $$ even if small, according to my parents.
I shared my thoughts with some of my friends over lunch last week and there is one more category.
4. The Smart Gamblers
Why?
Firstly, they are not die hard gamblers like the first group but they play smart by accummulating all the small bets and throw them into one outing; ie instead of placing small bets weekly, they will save them and just play once a month with the total amount so it is a case of winning big else no fun winning small. So when they feel lucky, they will just place it and either lose or win big. That's why I called them smart gamblers.
Do I make sense?
Well, just food for thought and I must make a disclaimer that I am not supporting gambling.
However, I do have a relative that keep on winning on almost most of the numbers that they bought. Their good luck came at a certain age and thay cannot share their good fortune; ie if they tell us the numbers to buy, they will not come out. The good luck is within their immediate family only.
Anyway, I believe the best way to make money is still to have an honest living or job and you will be rewarded for your hard work.
Jas just got another award for his Soccer participation in the East Zone Inter-school tournament, 3rd Runner Up.
I cannot 'tahan' ( stand it ) anymore so I went to dig up my school medals to show off to him too but I need to polished them as they have gotten a bit rusty or oxidised!
So stay tune as I am going to show off my school medals soon...ha...ha...ha...
My family & I also stayed at the Penang beach after visiting my parents. It is more economical to buy a Free n Easy package then just flights alone as the additional cost is marginal, believe it or not. We flew SIA this time as we could not get MAS flights but we have to pay extra S$60 per head. However, the aircraft is bigger and the snack is better in flight.
I have stayed at Holiday Inn at least 3 times so they actually put up my name on their guest list welcoming me back. Good customer relationship management (CRM)! They also gave us a bigger room ( King + Queen size beds instead of Queen + extra bed for 3 of us! ) and a plate of fruits.
Holiday Inn is more affordable as we used to prefer Golden Sands Resort or even Shangri-La ( now known as Traders Inn in Georgetown ) and it is conveniently located along the pasar malam and eating places on the stretch of the Batu Ferringhi beach.
There is also shuttle bus service; RM7 per head else RM30 by taxi to Georgetown or RM25 by taxi to Gurney Plaza for shopping during the day or even catch a movie for RM7 only. We saw Vantage Point at Gurney Plaza and the cinema complex is as good as ours.
In the evening, the highlight is the pasar malam where you can get lot of imitation products, DVDs, etc.. We typically ate at a local hawker centre ( only one and opens at night only; called LongBeach I think ); hokkien mee, kway teow theng, char koay teow, 'ban chung kueh' or Chinese pancake?,... and 2 big LCD TVs showing ESPN sports.
In the past, we bought lots of clothing like T-shirts, caps,... but we grew out of it.. But you should see the shopping that my brother and sister families, from Melbourne, did when they were there last year and the year before.
One of the highlights was a roadside stall that sells parallel imported EPL soccer jersey. He actually have a sports shop in one of the shopping centre, Bukit Jambul. Jas got about 4 jerseys from him during the last Sep trip and we got another 2 this trip. Jas got a black MU jersey with 17 and Rolando name + EPL Barclay badge on the sleeves for RM70 and I got a red MU jersey with only the EPL Barclay badge for RM50. He even take orders through email and gave me his contact.
For those who could not resist buying a couple of DVD movies at RM4 each! Check out the Indian stall that is opposite the Happy Face sundry shop or supermarket. He allows you to play the DVD to confirm the quality. Some are copy from the released DVD ( older movies ) and some from the cinema ( recent movies and not clear yet, if I used their term ). During my last visit in Sep, they do get surprise raids from the authorities though. Convenient and cheaper to buy from them than the shops in Prangin Mall though. A disclaimer here, I am not supporting or encouraging the purchase of such DVDs.
Ok.... here is a picture of me in my Red MU jersey. MU rocks and we will be EPL champion again this season! Mu is the leader on the table as at today.
And here is a slideshow of some photos taken during our stay at Batu Ferringhi beach.....
( If you do not see any photos but a form instead, please click on the 'X' on the top right hand corner of the form. )
BTW, you will see a photo of my cousin with her left arm in a special sleeve to protect it from the sun while she is driving! Oh gosh...... it is quite common here....
My family & I just returned from visiting my parents in Penang from 13 - 16 March 2008.
I also took my father back to the hospital for his periodic medical tests; blood test, X-ray and abdomen ultrascan for his colon cancer. The results were good and he need not repeat these tests until 6 months later.
I have taken some photo of my Pg home and my parents too, as shown in the slideshow below. Look out for the one showing the 'kampung' chickens and roosters taking a stroll on our house rooftop. I was surprised that they could fly up so high...!!!
Move your cursor over the photo and you should see some comments on the photo.
( If there are no photos shown but a form displayed, please click on 'X' on the top right hand corner of the form. )
Do you remember this mathematical toy, Rubik's Cube?
Jason was interested in having one and I found my old one but it was stuck and when I oiled it, all the dirt that have stuck inside it, fell off...... ha..ha...ha....
BTW, I have never solved it but kept it as a decorative piece of item in the display cupboard.
Anyway, managed to buy this one in the photo from Toy 'R' Us.
Jason looked at the solution sheet that came with it and also refer to the You Tube and mastered it within 3 calendar days. His record time is less than 2 minutes.
Well. I thought that I should learned to solved it too and got JAson to teach me. One month later and with much guidance from Jason, I have finally master it during my weekend trip to Penang.
I set a target to solve it by the time I boarded the plane back to Penang. I did it in the departure lounge and my best time is aorund 5 minutes! Hurray!
There are 7 steps to it and the first 4 steps are easy to master but the last 3 steps took longer than expected but I have a good teacher, my son - Jason.
Besides my personal interest in solving the Rubik's cube, having the same interest as Jason has also bonded us.
So there you are, never too late to learn new tricks though it may take a bit longer.
To prove that it is not a fluke shot, I have been solving it daily.
Jason taught me how to download some music so that you can read my blog with some background music.
However, you can just click the button shown on the right column, Music Feed, to stop the music.
My family & I will be going back to Penang to visit my parents later this week.
So will write again next week and share a few photos of my visit to Penang.
Until then........
David
P.S. Hey! I know that there is quite a number of you reading my blog regularly but only Warwick adn Jenny signed my Guestbook to-date...... Don't be shy-leh!!!
I left my mobile phone at home when I went out with my dear wife on Saturday morning.
We went separate ways and since I do not have my mobile phone with me, we have to pre-arrange a meeting place and time.
So while she went for her appointment, I read the newspapers at Delifrance where we have our breakfast. In the midst of it, I wanted to contact a friend and also called home but could not do so with my mobile. I just looked around and could not see any public phones and since it was not urgent, I just let it be.
I was at the pre-arranged place and time but was a bit concerned that we could have missed each other. Without my mobile, I just have to wait patiently.
We met up and went to Raffles City to do some shopping. I borrowed her mobile phone to make a few calls. While she was in the fitting room, I told her that she can meet me at the gents section. I strayed a bit and she was having problem finding me. When we found each other, the first thing she said was she felt lost without her mobile as it was with me.
I personally feel that the mobile phone is a very important gadget in our lives, as it can do so much and more to come though majority of us just make calls and sms only; but you can surf with it, listen to music, gaming, GPS, etc......
The other gadget that we may not be able to live without is our PC or notebook and access to the Internet; eg email, gaming, googling, music, movies, etc.......
As I am writing this post, my dear wife is working on her office notebook and Jason is chatting + surfing the Net on his PC. So you must think that this family does not communicate or spend time together...???
This is where you are wrong as we make an effort to have breakfast, lunch and dinner together on weekends. We are all in the studyroom now with our PC and notebooks and the TV is on also; multi-tasking. We also talk to each other as we do our own stuff..... so still a fair bit physical contact in this small space....ha...ha...ha......
We watch EPL soccer together, Channel 8 9pm series, etc ....... in this study room. Even if we are not on our PC or notebook, this room is the centre of our activities most of the time.
So can you live without your Mobile Phone and PC.... even for a day ???
P.S. We do not bring our notebooks along when we are on holidays though.
This was published in the local newspaper recently. I am extracting portions of it as follows:
"I appeal to everyone considering a dog — the cost is not the initial thousand dollars, but the thousands of dollars for vet bills (especially in their last days), damaged furnishings, as well as the hundreds of hours spent cleaning, training and integrating a dog into your family.
I have had two dogs, both lived to ripe old ages of 13 and 15 respectively. Unfortunately, dogs are not like children who learn to clean up after themselves and can be reasoned with.
Dogs remain eternally child-like and thus, unless you are ready for a toddler for the next 10 to 15 years, I suggest you get a RoboDog."
So please do not buy a dog on impluse and not aware of the committments ahead of you. Many parents buy a pet dog for their children but they themselves do not like dogs but it is the parents who will be looking after their dogs!!!
I appeal to you to really put in some thoughts before buying your pet dog....!!!
We went shopping for an Acoustic Guitar for Jason for his birthday on 17 March. He is now playing Classical guitar and learning strumming or acoustic guitar on his own with YouTube.
We found a nice acoustic guitar and comes with all the necessary accesories like stand, strap, capo, picks and even a 10W amplifier.
Well, he is learning fast and enjoying it so we do not mind this hobby. In fact, he will be going for electric guitar lessons later in the year and possibly drums too. Music is good for him.
Worst case, he can busk for a living ....ha...ha...ha...
I think I shall share a little secret with you though a few of you may have already knew about it.
I attended a workshop on Internet Marketing last Sept to Nov 2007 to explore opportunities in the Internet world as I believe this is the way to go ..... in this Digital Age!
One of the making money opportunities or potentials in the Internet is blogging or writing a digital diary like the one you are reading now.
Yes, it is true and you can do it in the comfort of your own home as long as you have a PC or laptop and broadband connection. And you can do it anywhere and anytime too as long as you can access to the Internet; eg in MacDonald, overseas.....!
My workshop cost me close to S$3,000 but if you are interested but not too sure, I suggest that you check out Atomic Blogging as the 'guru' is a local guy ( ie Singaporean ) and he has proven that it can work for us and not some 'ang more guru'..... ha..ha..ha...
However, nothing comes easy and you need to work for the $$ too. You can choose to do it part-time or spend a few hours daily if you are a housewife.
A friend of mine, working on a similar approach part-time for the 2 years, has an average income of USD200 and now motivated to spend more time on it to drive up the income. I am encouraged by his results.
Nothing venture nothing gain....... but I must be honest with you though. As at today, I have yet to make any money from my blogging but I have made USD10 from selling some articles I wrote, on the Internet; another income channel I learned from my workshop.
So what are you waiting for if you want to earn some extra income and importantly, the start-up capital is very low ; eg no need to have a physical shop to incur rental , etc....
Check it out and good luck!
Happy Blogging!
David Poh CW
P.S. If you have any question or would like to know more, drop me an email or buy me coffee or lunch....
