CNY 14 February 2010

Everyone was back for the holidays except for the Lone Ranger in Austin, Texas. The Lone Ranger will officially lose this title when wedding bell tolls on 22 May this year. Although the logistics have not been entirely worked out, some of us will be there in Austin for this momentous event.

In the meantime, here are some of our CNY happenings for this year.

Fri 12 Feb 2010

I am at the airport on time, before 4 PM. Then find out that the 5.10 PM flight has been delayed by one hour. Went to sleep at the departure lounge because I should have been sleeping on the plane by now.

Arrived at KK airport at 9 PM and found out Beh Ling’s flight is arriving at 9.20 PM. We waited for her, resulting in late dinner at 10 PM and harrowing tale from Beh Ling, of LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal) airport that resembles more of a bus terminal then an airport, and missed flight due to being told to queue at the wrong lane.

Sat 13 Feb 2010

Quick stop at Wisma Merdeka for eyebrow shaping, then we went to the Club so that Beh Ling could check on her mails. Somehow she can only access her OCBC mails from the Club.

It was the four of us for the reunion dinner. Good food is never wasted.

Sun 14 Feb 2010

Church in the morning then a Hallmark movie in the afternoon. “Pizza my Heart”, about two feuding pizza families in the town of Verona, New Jersey. The guy is good-looking, so it’s worth a watch. Anyway, we all know Hallmark movies have a happy ending.

Abikia & Emy arrived from Sibu, in time for dinner. Then everyone watched “Up”. As promised by TIME magazine, the first 4.5 minutes was a poignant love story and I need tissue paper …

Mon 15 Feb 2010

The four of us went out for a decadent morning of shopping at Suria, leaving mummy & papa to hold the fort (and prepare lunch). A few hundred ringgit poorer later, we finally came home for lunch at 1.30 PM to find aunty Soo Lee waiting for us. We heard tales of her disastrous Air Asia perks that didn’t turn out to be perks.

The family decided to play mahjong after dinner. Papa decided not to dazzle us with his mahjong expertise. I think there is practical application for this life skill of trying to read your enemies and making the best of whatever fate hands you (i.e. the tiles you have on hand). Just that I’m not really into mahjong. This would explain why I am not a successful mogul with millions to spare.

Tues 16 Feb 2010
We were at the club for CNY lunch.

Another round of mahjong after dinner.

Wed 17 Feb 2010

Have asked Abikia to show me how to do something illegal, something which will deprived a few millionaires from earning a few more dollars.

Downloaded “Fireflies” by Owl City. Fell in love with this song when I first heard it. Since this doesn’t happen on a daily basis, I thought it was worth the risk of imprisonment to download this song without paying a single cent. Heck, since I am risking imprisonment in downloading this one great song, I might as well download a few more.

Picture taken at the airport before Beh Ling's departure. She wanted a photo with her dimples. Also pay close attention to the permed eyelashes

After dinner, mummy, Abikia & Emy went for a relaxing massage.

Thurs 18 Feb 2010

We had steamboat dinner at Wind Bell, followed by leisurely stroll along the man-made shores of Sutera Harbour.

Fri 19 Feb 2010

Another stop at the KKIA airport to send off Abikia & Emy. It almost resemble a busy bus terminal, but not quite. LCCT has won this dubious honour hands down.

Sat 20 Feb 2010

Horrors ! Abikia has forgotten his tooth-brush. I am now charged with a mission-critical, life-and-death task of bringing back this gold-plated, diamond encrusted tooth-brush to him. A job even Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise’s character in Mission Impossible) is not qualified to do.

Sun 21 Feb 2010
My turn to be at the airport for flight back to KL.

A Brief History of Time

Once upon a time, back in Nov 1957, three boys (Thomas Lee, Johnny Chiew & Dad) went off on a cycling trip to Seremban after completing their LCE exams. They started their journey from Klang at 7 AM and arrived at PJ at 8 AM to have breakfast at Edward Jalleh’s place. He was their primary school teacher.

The three boys were well-prepared for any contingency. Their emergency kit consisted of air pump, inner tube, spare patches, sand-paper and rubber glue, in case of any mishap to their bicycle tyres.

Then off they went to Cheras Mile 14, and had lunch with Thomas’s relatives. At 4.30 PM, they arrived at Seremban. Although they were caught in the rain, their belongings were safe and dry as they had packed properly. The three of them stayed for 3 nights at Dad’s pen-pal’s place, located at Jalan Templer. Upon further questioning it was revealed that the pen-pal was a female. She took the three visitors on a sight-seeing tour of Seremban, including a trip to Lake Gardens.

No further details were forth-coming regarding the female pen-pal apart from the fact that she has eight siblings of seven sisters and one brother. Was there blossoming romance between this pen-pal and one of the three boys ? We shall never know. The secret remains safe between the four of them.

After three days at Seremban, the three boys cycled back to Klang, with just one stop at Cheras Mile 14 for lunch.

Dad was in the school basketball team from 1957 to 1959. The school team made use of their school bus for their home and away matches with Victoria Institution KL, another all boys school.

For the first-term school holiday of 1958, there was another cycling adventure to Morib for camping. This time the trio consisted of Uncle Arthur, Dad and Tan Sim Boh, their senior at Klang High School.

One third of a trapaulin was laid on the ground and the remaining two thirds formed a water-proof roof. They stayed for 2 nights. They had brought along their swimming trucks and canned food for survival. Dad said that was the first time he tasted Campbell mushroom soup.

To keep the sand flies away, a fire was lit at night. There were no mosquitos to contend with and the weather was kind as well. They were not caught in the rain.

On Sunday, another schoolmate, Mohd Salleh bin Pateh Akhir and his family joined the three boys. They brought along food and provided lunch for the three hungry boys.

In December of 1958, the boys were at the Scout camping site at their school ground of Klang High School, for 2 nights. Listening to the transistor radio on Saturday night, the boys learnt of the disapointing news of Malaya’s lost in the Thomas Cup finals, for the first time ever, to Denmark.

In those days, Dad had a valve GEC radio, the main source of entertainment. In the year of 1958, the whole family was staying at the school hostel of Pin Hwa primary school as Grandpa was a teacher in this school.

Grandma was a self-sufficient lady. One day, she went into labour and delivered in the morning, all by herself. She only requested for a basin of hot water, Dettol, a pair of scissors, and a length of thread. The hot water was used to wash the baby, the Dettol to sterilise the scissors, which was used to cut off the umbilical cord. The thread was used for tying up the umbilical cord. Within half an hour of the delivery, she was up and about, washing dishes and doing the normal housework.

Two years after graduation, in 1961, Liong Ah Nai went off to UK to study quantity surveying. The boys from the class of 59 had a farewell party for Ah Nai and had their photo taken for the occasion.

Sitting : Yeoh Cheok Siew (second from left), Liong Ah Nai (in the middle, with his jacket)
Standing (L-R): Yew Hong Yan, Arthur Lim Thiam Leong (fourth from left). To his right is Chua Kow Eng. Dad (seventh from left), Leow Peng Ann, Soh Ai Kiat, Toh Swee Teong, Chang Ooi Teck (deceased)

The boys must have been full of hope and dreams of what the future held for them. They had been working for two years, and now one of their buddies is going away half-way across the globe. They had gathered to wish him luck and to catch up with each other.

Each one of them must have been wondering, as they looked in the camera, will they achieve their dreams if they work hard ? Will they be happy ? Will they be successful ? Only time will tell.