My Baby+Her Baby=My Grandchild

My eldest daughter turns 30 on the first week of February this year and she's pregnant after a year of trying to conceive. I felt jubilant over the news and at the same time shocked (only in many small ways).

Imagine; the first baby in the house is now carrying a baby. How time flies. And how the passing years failed to make me realise my daughter is now a woman with her own career, her own husband, her own in-laws, her own home and now her own baby.

My baby isn't a baby anymore.

When I conceived her I was 21 years old. I didn't know I was pregnant until my mother noticed I was constantly craving for mangga muda (unripe mango).

Pregnant-ANONYMOUS

http://www.openclipart.org/

I was married in February 1979. She was conceived in June 1980 and born in February 1981. Her baby will be borned between Aug 12 and 24 this year. So there are a lot of memorable dates in Nek Yong's life, for which I am blessed.

My eldest daughter was born a day from the date of my wedding and shares the same birth date as my closest "adopted" sister.

When my daughter found out she had conceived she was already about three to five weeks pregnant. My daughter had a suspicion she was pregnant on the day we celebrated my birthday (Dec 5).

My grandchild, my daughter's child, would probably be either a Leo (Jul23-Aug24) or a Virgo (Aug23-Sep22). But my logic is my grandchild was conceived in November, meaning she or he is ACTUALLY a Sagittarius (the things I'd do to add to my team!).

Take it from me, if my grandchild has huge doses of my tendencies I for one will encourage she polish and buff and shine those tendencies. What better gift can there be for your first grandchild then grandma's traits?

With loving care - Nek Yong 

Quote for Day 20

Waved Horse (Spring Version) 2009-TOUCHSTONE

http://www.openclipart.org/

The simplest thing in life should always be treasured - ET

Cheap Tactics Waste Time

Malaysia has this really cool thing - we can change mobile phone provider whilst keeping our same number.

In theory this is great, but the process to go through seems more difficult and painful than pulling teeth.

I have spent the last three weeks trying to change away from one provider, let’s call them M, to another provider, let’s just call them C.

So far M have come up with three different excuses for not releasing the lines, provide different information depending upon who is spoken to at the customer service line, and to date, still have not facilitated a smooth transfer.

HandPhone_TOM BROUGH

http://www.openclipart.org/

Don't they realise that they have already lost the customer, and by tactics such as this, they are just ensuring that we tell more of our friends (and frankly anyone who will listen) about our experience.

I love the concept that you can keep your number, and yes, that is a frustration for the provider, but hey, when you're beat, accept the fact, bow out gracefully, and don't irritate your former customer further. That shows a lack of professionalism more than anything, and will stick in their mind, as they are sure never to consider you again.

Personally, I'm looking forward to my new service provider. Not because I've heard they are good or anything like that, but simply because they haven't put me through this "waste of time" exercise that my former provider did.

Brain dead

Human and animal ashes taken for Class A drugs? What’s happening to people these days? Can’t they tell the difference between anything anymore?

Yahoo! News reported early this morning how five teenage burglars ran away with two urns containing these ashes because they thought the ashes were either cocaine or heroin. And for the next few days, before they were nabbed by the Police, they spent their time getting “high” on these ashes.

HOW the heck do they get HIGH on human ashes?

Cliparts: Skull_CHARLES MCCOLM & Interrogation_MD

 

This to me is a simple case of the mind does what the mind believes even if it defies logic.

But what would be a more interesting report to me is if Yahoo! News had carried a sidebar story interviewing these kids on HOW they felt when they snorted the ashes!

It just goes to prove that you don’t need drugs to get high. Just rely on your imagination because you know what the saying is: you can do anything if you set your mind to it.

To read the news go to http://uk.news.yahoo.com/38/20110120/tod-gang-snorts-ashes-they-mistook-for-d-045b8e8.html

Death and Love

I woke up one morning thinking; how will my children and my grandchildren know, let alone remember me, should I die before them?

Yes I just said “die” and no I do not think it is a harsh word to describe someone leaving this life for good.

There’s “birth” and there’s “death”. One person is born another dies so “die” is a good word in my vocab. It is not a bad word.

Die, death, dying – it’s all about an ending. Every ending is a start to a new beginning. So yes, die, death, dying – they are all good words to me.

My eldest daughter doesn’t think so, especially when the words are associated to me.

At 30 my eldest daughter still have pools of tears in her eyes whenever we discuss the topic of dying – mine.

At times when she’s feeling a little bit more sensitive than usual she would quickly place her palms tightly onto her ears and say in our native tongue: "Tak nak dengar! Tak nak dengar! Tak nak dengar!" (which when translated in English means: Not listening! Not listening! Not listening!).

I know. Some of you reading this are rolling your eyes while you look to heaven. And no, it is not about her being childish.

My daughters (I have two) are my friends and I am theirs. We are so tight we appear to have been bonded with UHU (to the oblivious, UHU is a brand for a glue, which works wonders on anything).

Image by Dimitri C

Death, on any one of us, is such a painful thought, let alone if it were to really happen. We “can’t” live without each other. We are each other’s pillars.

My second daughter, the baby of the house who behaves more like the big sister in the family, has a different way of reacting to “die, death and dying”.

She doesn’t have pools of tears welling in her eyes. Instead, she has a fixed stare. The stare can be on anything – the floor, the scatter cushions or the food on our dinner table where we gather for "family time". And the stare has similarities to the way she speaks: "If it’s time what can we say".

But that “coldness” isn’t really coldness. It’s her being strong and accepting and trying to make the best of things (at this point of my post, if my girls are reading it, they will be giving each other hugs if they happened to be at the same place at the same time).

Yes, Nek Yong is thinking a lot about death lately. It might come sooner or later but it is coming and is making its way here.

But, I'm not afraid, or unhappy, or happy of the thought. I'm just busy making preparations for something that might come tomorrow or even years from now.

Why?

Because Nek Yong really love her girls and she wants to always be there for them.

And that's how the idea to write this post came about. Nek Yong will write and write and write and when it’s time to go, my girls, and my grandchildren and my son-in-laws will always have lots of things to remember me by.

Just flip the pages to Nek Yong’s postings (if I do write regularly here) and we will always be there for each other, through our memories, which we keep dear in our hearts and minds.

Look through these pages where I write day and night about my love for my girls, my grandchildren and my sons-in-law.

These pages will be the strength that “replaces” me when it is time for me to go.  

“Weep not, cry not
Just shed a single, silent tear
For that is the strength
Of our clan.”

            

                     Nek Yong

Sunshine All The Way

Nice start to the day…at first the sun was shining bright and suddenly it went into hiding behind thick clouds. Oh well, it looks like another gloomy weather. But for as long as the weather isn’t affecting our mood we will survive another crazy, hectic day, wouldn’t we?

NewsFlashMedia lost out on one Quote for the Day (Jan 19) due to our server being down for most parts of yesterday. So it looks like we have broken the “cycle” – our hope to feature one post per day. But all’s good as we put our feet forward and prepare to jump and make the most of what we have and can.

Our quote for today goes out to all those who have despaired, are in despair, going through some kind of sadness, sorrow, remorse – all the pain that life has to offer.

We are saying; all of us have a missing piece in our heart. Fill it up, no matter how tough, and we will get there just like everybody else who have been in that same situation that we are going through now.

On a happier note, NewsFlashMedia will feature today another writer who hopefully will be a regular on the site. However, time will tell as Nek Yong (the writer) has too many things in her hands and can’t promise anything. For now, we will be contended with a piece she wrote that delves into her most intimate thoughts – death and her two “pillars of strength” – her girls.

NewsFlashMedia is looking for people who love writing, don’t have the time to manage a personal blog but would love to see their works used in some ways or another for others to read. If you are that person, we welcome your contributions. Sadly it will be an unpaid contribution as we are too small an operation for now.

And, if you are keen on music and books and would love to share here what you’ve been listening to and reading, we would love to feature your reviews under our Music and Book Reviews tag.

Till then, think positive and all the good vibes will come to you.

Quote for Day 19

God Heart_RYGLE

http://www.openclipart.org/

One day, when I've found the missing piece in my heart, I will stand tall again - ANON

Signposts - Are You Getting The Right Directions?

I was driving around broader KL today and noticed something that was really strange. Yes, signposts. No, not the fact that many of the signposts in Malaysia don't actually give great direction, or that the signs are located almost immediately after turn offs, but the fact that signposts in the special motorcycle lanes along the highway are so much more accurate and informative than those signs for us real drivers, you know, those of us with a car.

I couldn't believe it; I was out in Subang area somewhere, and could see from my passenger window, exactly how informative (and accurate) the motorcyclists’ signs were, then noticed that the signposts for the actual highway we were driving on were not so "user-friendly".

Fish Crossing Traffic Signs_OCAL

http://www.clker.com/

I did find this abnormality amusing though. I may be inconvenienced by having to reverse down the highway to take a missed turn, but at least someone, assuming they even look at the signs, is getting the right directions. I just wish it were us.

Bringing Light and Life to the Needy

Sometimes I think a lot of charitable acts for charity-inclined events for the deserving are forced. Not forced by the organisors of such charitable events and acts but “forced” response from the public.

Let’s be honest. How many of us “give” sincerely at charitable events? Most times, we hand out our donations under batted breath. Some are even thick-skinned enough to add: “I’m here already so have to give mehhh.”

Give, but give sincerely because whatever little you give are honestly appreciated by the needy. And perhaps, because not all of us have been in a situation that the needy have been in all their lives we will not understand how even the simplest effort we make to improve their life matters.

 

Light Up is an innovative charity project started by local indie web design company Immerse. And this project, launched to commemorate the start of 2011 is heavily associated to the kind of work that Immerse creates.

The idea behind Light Up is solely to help the needy and for a start, three charitable homes – Persatuan Warga Tua & Kanak-Kanak (Kepong, KL), Sinthamani Orphanage (Jinjang, KL) and Happiness Centre (Melaka) have been brought under Immerse’s wings.

Its online portal www.immerse.com.my/lightup was created and then launched on Jan 7 as the “home” for Light Up.

How does the Light Up project works?

“It is basically getting people to send New Year greetings from the site,” explained Kerry Khoo who is the Creative Director of Immerse.

To send a greeting we first have to choose a colour for our message. This colour will take the form of a light, which is then plotted on the Malaysian map to indicate where the message comes from.

Each colour light represents a home and the more lights a home has, the more money from the company’s fund pool, is contributed to the home.

“By choosing a colour for their light, people are directly choosing a home which they feel needs support,” said Kerry.

So please spare some time and participate by logging on to the website www.immerse.com.my/lightup

In one of the pages of the website you will find a map of Malaysia and scattered all over it are the lights in the different colours indicating the number of visitors that have logged in. If you'd like to read the New Year greetings sent by these visitors, all you do is click on any area in the map and the messages will pop out.

That is all that's required by visitors - just choose the colour light to indicate which home need the most help and the rest will be done by the team from Immerse.

Your contribution will go a long way and for a good cause. It is time to give back, the way Immerse is doing after being in the business for the past seven years.

The more people know about the plight of the occupants of these homes, the better it is. And this too will be proof to Immerse that all the effort and thought they have put into the Light Up project isn’t a wasted effort.

Quote for Day 18

Cartoon People Flowers_OCAL
http://www.clker.com/
http://www.openclipart.org/

I don't have to have a reason to be happy. I just am - Anon

Nightmares for the disabled

I had an experience this morning which really surprised me. Sadly, I can offer no solution, as I'm sure the red tape and bureaucratic decision-making and transacting processes will render such solution useless anyway.

For the very first time ever, I visited Hospital Kuala Lumpur this morning, to take a wheelchair-bound person for a check-up/consultation. Whilst I won't bitch about the doctors or nurses (they were surprisingly helpful and accommodating - I don't believe I am being nice here), my bitch is with the car-parks.

There were no disabled parking bays anywhere near the unit that we were heading to! After 35 minutes of searching, I finally found one, a 10-minute walk from the unit I was heading to.

My gripe is not so much with this, but the only available bay was on rough rock interspersed with muddy pools. Imagine trying to push a wheelchair through that?

 

Artwork by NewsFlashMedia

Cliparts: http://www.openclipart.org/ & http://www.clker.com/

Now come on people, a hospital is for the sick. Is the car-park designed to create further injury to drum up business? It certainly seemed that way.

Common sense in providing more accessible bays for patients and caregivers is a very small step that could be taken, not to mention simple common sense, to provide better service for the elderly and disabled.

Ok, I don't want to be a rights activist for the old and the infirm, but be reasonable, have a bit of compassion, and provide better facilities for these people - they need a little help to make their already challenging life a little easier!

Knock-out Local Talents

Yesterday we posted about AvonVoices, the global talent search project started by Avon international. It being a Sunday, none of our team was in town so we had to give the event held at KL Sentral a miss.

This evening, Avon’s Public Relations Manager, Elaine Aisyah Abdullah rushed us some of the snapshots taken at the event and a brief account of what happened.

A lot of work had been put into the Sunday event and Avon Malaysia mentioned that only the first 300 registrations will be accepted. As it turned out, there were only 100 registrations. Therefore, the initial plan of picking 50 finalists from the 300 registrants went down to 34 selected finalists instead.

Now that isn’t bad news, really. If any of you people out there can sing but did not turn up at the talent search then it is your loss at a chance for the big win – a once in a lifetime to enjoy one-on-one vocal coaching by professionals in the business, rehearsals and in-studio recordings in the USA where you will be flown to as well as bathe in the luxury of attending styling sessions and Avon makeovers.

The 34 finalists selected on Sunday received RM200 worth of Avon hampers on top of getting their recorded performances on the day uploaded to www.avonvoice.com for the big win.

The contestants delivered all kinds of songs but the most popular according to Elaine Aisyah were How Do I Live (Without You), (You Make Me Feel) Like A Natural Woman and I believe I Can Fly.

The panel of judges, who are all talents themselves, wooed the crowd with their very own renditions of How Do I Live (Alyah) while Marsha sang her own composition Bila.

Level 2 of KL Sentral attracted a lot of attention from the crowd present and many came over to Avon’s counters to claim their free makeovers and other special offers on some of Avon’s selected products.

Thumbs up to Avon Malaysia for encouraging our local talents and supporting them to participate in this international event.

For more information, go here:
http://www.avonvoices.com
http://www.facebook.com/avonvoices
http://www.twitter.com/avonvoice

Commiting to a commitment

The Daily Bitch is having a hard day today. Well, not really, but enough of one to get him thinking seriously about "commitment". Every so often, one experiences something that makes them think carefully about things, and the events of today have led me to commitment.

Yes dear readers, I am committed to the Daily Bitch and you will be seeing a lot more of me here.

The commitment I am thinking about is "others" commitment to things, whether it be personal or professional.

A commitment is not a fleeting fancy, a fad, an optional experience. It is a long term obligation from one person to follow through on what they promise.

A commitment cannot be taken lightly, but seriously. Once you commit to something, man up and do it.

 

Don't Tread On Me (Banana Peel Remix)_NERD42

http://www.openclipart.org/

If you can't fulfil, don't run away, but own up and say "hey, I can't do this on time", or better yet, be humble (and earn some respect along the way) by saying, "hey, could I please have a little help".

A commitment is a promise.

Your credibility as an individual, regardless of the situation, is based upon your ability to uphold your commitments.

It is ok to fail, but it is never ok not to try.

Respect comes through trying, not only succeeding, but respect is always lost when someone reneges on a commitment without making an effort.

Quote for Day 17

You can't fight me, you're miniature. You fight like a hamster - No Strings Attached

Quote for Day 16

Crying Silhouette_MOHAMED IBRAHIM

http://www.clker.com/

The BEGINNING and END is always GOD - Anon

Diary of an Istanbul Tragic

Story & Photos: kampunghouse

Diary of an Istanbul Tragic is written by kampunghouse. This article is part of a series of recollections of Istanbul, more of which can be found on the writer's website www.kampunghouse.wordpress.com

Aya Sofya (aka Haghia Sophia) on the left and the Sultanahmet Mosque (aka Blue Mosque) on the right.

It’s been almost a month since my first ever trip to Istanbul, a dream 13 years in the making and the culmination of a year’s savings from my job as a waiter.

Sitting at my desk listening to a Turkish folk song, catching up on the news from Hürriyet Daily, the only reminder that I’m actually back in Malaysia is the view across my room – rolling green hills struggling to maintain their allure from the encroaching development of suburbia.

 A vista of Istanbul's European side (Avrupa), taken from the Asian side (Anadolu).

Lately my lazy daydreams of Istanbul have become longer yet more distorted, as I cling desperately to the fading memories of the time spent there – a criminally short five days.

How did I end up in this state of being, an Istanbul tragic in the midst of equatorial Malaysia? I hope to find the answer myself, as I jot down the details of my journey – retracing the steps like a latter-day Hitchcock – from an average guy to a tourist madly in love with a city he barely knew.

An elderly man looking across the Bosphorus towards Dolmabahce Palace (not the palace mentioned in the article...the palace in the article is unknown).

I remember reading about Istanbul, while researching through a list of potential cities to visit – Barcelona, Florence, Amsterdam, Stockholm – and being captivated by the intense history, a story of conquests, defeat, agony and victory built up over thousands of years.

I remember reading about the Ottoman Sultans, their ambitious conquests from the steppes of Central Asia to the gates of Constantinople, as Istanbul was known then; the privilege and excesses of court life and their obsession with tulips.

The view across the Bosphorus to Karaköy (ancient name Galata), which used to be the quarter of the Genoese traders during Ottoman times.

In particular, I remember coming across an article* about the final days of Sultan Ahmet III and the indulgent lifestyle that brought his downfall:

“Each spring the imperial gardens were filled with prize tulips. Songbirds in gilded cages supplied the music, and hundreds of giant tortoises carrying candles on their backs lumbered through the gardens, further illuminating the display. All the guests were required to dress in colors that flattered those of the tulips. The doors to the harem were flung open, and the Sultan´s mistresses stepped into the garden led by eunuchs bearing torches. The whole scene was repeated every night for as long as the tulips were in bloom, for as long as Sultan Ahmet managed to cling to his throne.”

I knew I had to visit Istanbul.
                                   
*Adapted from The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan. Pages 82-83. New York, 2001