EQ vs IQ .... at work at home

Lantern Festival is just around the corner. We saw some really nice lanterns during our last trip back to Sitiawan and we told our lil girl that we'd get one for her. They have all this Kungfu Panda lanterns now...plus all the other nice stuff... We have been procrastinating for various reasons.

So the night before, she 'dug out' all the old lanterns at home and put them all out for display. Even lighted some up. These were given to her by a friend of mine last year. When the papa came back from work at night, she asked him to have a look at her lanterns....after which she promptly told us that those lanterns catch fire very easily, how she enjoys playing with them and that she was looking forward to getting her new lantern. LOL!

She has been reminding us about the lantern for a few days but it hasn't been forthcoming .... so tell me, isn't this EQ at work? Instead of whining and bugging, she got down to showing that she truly enjoyed playing with them...so would the papa and mummy please hurry up and get her one before the Lantern Festival is over? Aiyo!!! The strings that she pulls.

Compare this to her bro who so often charges through everything like this.....

Tell me...which one do you think is more likely to work?? I've got this EQ vs IQ thingy at work at home every day. One is kinda tiring cos we have to keep explaining to the point I sometimes sound like a rundown clock ticking away. The other keeps playing on your emotion that most of the time you feel 'kesian' and you give in. Either way, it's difficult to keep the bearing straight.....

Mr. 'Chinese are Squatters'

Update 6/9/2008
Today's The Star reported that a defiant Datuk Ahmd refuses to apologise and is instead demanding that Tan Sri Koh Su Koon apologises. I think it's time everyone drops this cos it's surely not worth pursuing. This is akin to kids fighting/arguing...with both not wanting to give in ........neither side wanting to budge, one adamantly sticking to his views, another insisting that a wrong has been committed but finally at the end, and it not going to head anywhere. Let the ballot box speak....at least we still have that

Update 5/9/2008
From mStar. Datuk Ahmad Ismail says he has done nothing wrong. So, he does not want to apologise... If you go by part of the statement, the Chinese are definitely pendatang, so are all the other races. History talks about the two waves of migration - the Proto and Deutro Malays. The Proto Malays are made up of the indigenous (read that as orang asli) people. The present Malays are believed to have come in during the second wave. So all of us memang are pendatang.... he's not exactly wrong... 8)

Posted on 03/09/2008
Bukit Bendera UMNO chief, Datuk Ahmad Ismail at one of the Permatang Pauh by-election ceramah:

From The Star, Aug 30th, 2008. Ahmad had allegedly called the Chinese "squatters" and said that "as the Chinese were only immigrants it was impossible to achieve equal rights amongst races" during a ceramah in Permatang Pauh on Aug 25.

And PM Abdullah Badawi's response." I will tell him not to do it again. You know in a campaign all sorts of things can come up. I don't think he meant it. I'll make sure to tell him not to use it again."

Okay, I get it... we can make special allowances. You can make seditious, silly, irresponsible remarks as you please. So, why are all those Hindraf people still under detention? Can also say the same thing... you know, people do all kinds of acts when they are desperately poor.... I don't get the double standards here.

Face it, after so many decades....and with people moving in and out of a country like never before, we are still stuck in that 'ketuanan' mentality. During the British days, the locals who worked for them would call them Tuan.... reflective of a servant-master relationship. Like it or not, feudalism is very much alive! 8(

As in America before the Civil War...'Yes Master, Yes Ma'am' thingy... well, at least the Americans have their Abe Lincoln's - 'a government of the people, by the people, for the people' dream. Though they sometimes fell short, it's a real thing, not just a figment of our imagination...Collin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and now Obama are proofs of that. We used to have Tun Tan Siew Sin as Finance Minister (in 1959)....but now it's unlikely that such an important portfolio will be given to those not from UMNO. Within the Malays themselves, there is also this hierachy of the tuan and orang bawah.... Our DPM did say that if the people don't appreciate the petrol subsidy then they'll take it away. As though they own the oil.....

Anyway, finally after all the 'bising-bising' they issued an apology ...

We should have our own Gettysburg Address.... or someone like Abe. I used to be inspired by such people, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr, especially so because I had this really good friend from my school days who was always memorising all kinds of speeches and poems. How not to get inspired! Good friends begets good stuff out of us.... but that's another rambling for another post. Thanks old friend...

Teachers misusing grants for improving English

From The New Straits Times Online...3rd September....death knoll for BISP??? BISP is this extra 'allowance' for Math, Science and English teachers capped at 5% for grads' and 10% of the non-grads' basic salary.

Reason given: Many teachers have abused this reimbursement programme. I wonder how the Deputy Minister of MOE knows. The BISP is paid out as a part of our salary...how is the Deputy Minister to know how each teacher spends it. I am sure majority of the teachers buy books or subscribe to newspapers. That surely would count as an effort to upgrade their English!

Anyway, if this is the precursor to this allowance being 'tarik balik', then they might as well just state that the time is up....no need to say there is abuse. In any programmes, there are always bound to be abuses. If one were to take a closer scrutiny of the PPSMI (teaching of Math & Science in English), there are plenty of these as well.

After all, if memory serves me right, this BISP thing was supposed to be up till 2008 when one cycle of Math & Science in English would have been completed! And 2008 is coming to an end. If it's time to take it away, then do it. Anyway, the BISP has also caused much dissatisfaction among teachers. And this is not to say that I don't want the extra payment. Any extra is very useful at times like this when everything costs more.

Plus there is this call to review this PPSMI thing after this year's UPSR results are released...whether or not they are going to ''gostan" and revert to BM as the medium of instruction! Dunno whether this is another political ploy to garner support.... the edu system should not be turned into pawns for their political mileage...

The Road Not Taken

This is one of the poems taught in the Literature Component in Form 4. Written by Robert Frost it's loosely themed around choices. You can actually listen to him read the poem here. Some of my readings pointed towards him just putting together something to remind him of what his friend and he would do...walk in the woods together, his friend always found it difficult to choose when they come to a fork, hence the poem, as a joke or some sort. Coming to a fork is something not uncommon in the woods. Anyway, over the years, because it was written by a literary great...it has taken on its own interpretation. That's how works of art can be. They can take on a life of their own.

Today is a day where there is this sense of despondency, compounded by the dark and dreary sky. It was raining quite heavily when I left the house to send Lil Rainbow and friend to school. Somehow this poem came to mind...along with it, a whole plethora of mixed feelings and emotions and all kinds of thoughts.

Like the author, we often have to come to a decision. And in our lives here on earth, it's something that we have to do every day. With each decision, its consequences which we have to bear with. In the process of executing each decision, it not only affects us but also those around us. Sometimes we make them happy, other times we cause them hurts at different degrees. At other times still, anguish untold. But at the end of it, there are consequences which we, only we ourselves will have to bear.

The problem that I grappled with this morning was why bad things can happen to good people. The answer...and with a sigh!....because good people are not exempted from making unwise choices too sometimes. Remembering Yi Jien, hoping against all hope...but read on Kim Guat's email...an amazing lady she is!

Our Church has moved!

We have moved! After 43 years in the old premise, the church has finally found a new home. Sunday night our first service at our new place...there has been a flurry of activities the last few month...the renovation, putting up the fixtures, musical instruments, in short making sure at least most of the things work before the Dedication Day. Not forgetting too the last few years that we waited for the OC even though the buildings had been completed and also a few more hiccups along the way...delivering of the title deed, being one of them. It was indeed a test of patience and also trusting that everything will fall into place in His time. Rev Hwa Yung will be coming for the Dedication Service.Other half, son and I have been working on the presentation for the Dedication. Will be doing it using Keynote on my MacBook. First time using it. On Merdeka Day, we spent the whole day working on it and managed to come up with the first 4 minutes of it. I would work on the storyline, son on the pics and other half on the presentation itself. The next day we came out with the other 4 minutes. It's been a while since we worked on a project like this.....and we're still working on the finishing touches. Will try to convert it into flv and put it up on YouTube after the Dedication. Who knows...it may be useful as a historical source in future.... 8) That's the history buff in me talking!

Putting the history together I must say is easier for us because of the groundwork done by the Chinese congregation....they did a research for their recent anniversary celebrations! Nevertheless, being planted here from elsewhere meant we had to depend on those who were here before us to fill the gap...finding the right photos presented a challenge. Same for coming up with the storyline and pictures too.This was our first Sunday service...it's sort of a 'run' before the big day. And Sunday, being Merdeka Day, we ended our worship service by singing Sejahtera Malaysia, with the waving of the flag. The singing was with real gusto too....we do love our country!

Anyway, it's always good to work together...be it as a church or as in a smaller unit like the family.

Kids and Stuff....

The kids always like Western...so this was dinner yesterday. They couldn't wait to start their dinner after I finished preparing them. Preparation was easy....throw the meat into the broiler, start the steamer and steam everything else. Then mash the potatoes with a slab of butter and some herbs. In the meantime, prepare the gravy for the mashed. Ta..da...

Jov was supposed to join us for dinner...they couldn't wait... finished their share before she showed up. Meat is chicken...grilled with mustard and herb. The rest of the stuff...all original and steamed! Okay! I cheated! Put butter into the corn and mashed.
My little girl always likes to eat and read at the same time. So I tried to rush her into finishing her food as she was taking a longer time. Her reply..."I'm eating slowly because I want to enjoy my food." She was savouring her every mouthful! LOL! She has never quite liked mashed potato...I've won her over this time. 8). The secret is not in the cook...it's in the potato. Meat didn't go down too well as she was having a toothache...in the end I had to cut them into smaller pieces. Anyway, it's nice to see the kids thoroughly enjoying their meal.
This is some arty stuff that I was doing with her during the school break. I've not touched my punch art stuff for a long time...since our last big project of fund raising for the church building fund. But since she has started to get interested in it, we went out to town to see whether we could find any new interesting stuff. Unlike 3-4 years ago, the punchers are now available in Alor Star. Those days, I had to go to Penang to find them.. us ladies would look out for such things wherever we went. Sugar, Spice & Everything Nice was one who was equally 'crazy'. Now I've got a 'small kaki' who shares some of my interests. That's actually quite nice.

Is there hope??

Ever since the news of Yi Jien being lost in the National Glacier broke on 23/8, the Forums and Blogs have been a source of updates. My heart really felt heavy when I first heard the news, almost one of disbelief!.... He lost his father a couple of years ago in an accident. Hwa Chien was changing his car tyre when a lorry mowed into him. When my bro told me, the first thought that came to my mind was why was God taking him home so soon? I cannot imagine how Kim Guat would be feeling now...

Hwa Chien was the pastor who officiated my wedding. We wanted so much to give him and Kim Guat an 'angpow' for officiating our wedding but they firmly said no, they had this no 'angpow' policy.... but after insisting that we'd like to really do something for them....Chien (he always asked us to call him that as soon we we were adults...no Rev Hwa Chien...just a simple Chien) and Kim Guat told us that they'd like a subscription of National Geographic, which we most gladly got for them. Kim Guat was really cute in her thanking us...that each time a magazine came, it reminded them of us. Magazines 8).. and Kim Guat wrote a short note telling us how much they enjoyed reading them.... The one thing which really rubbed off on me was how the late Rev Hwa Chien and Kim Guat would always stand united...the ministry they were in...it was theirs, the pronoun they used was always 'us'...it was never 'mine' or 'I'. It was always 'us'. That was something I really admired.

At this time, like many who have been touched by them, we yearned for news of his whereabouts, hope for his safety....hope! And so I turned to blogs, forums and news on the internet. I am grateful because through them, I have been able to read updates from Kim Guat herself... and my heart really goes out to her.

Both of them had a great impact in my life. They came to Sitiawan at a time when I was still schooling. They were among my role models. Their simplicity, approachability, depth of knowledge, love for God had a deep and long lasting impression in my impressionable young mind. Both were graduates of Ivy League universities in the States and could have been any thing they wanted. But they chose to serve God. They were good role models. Their eldest boy, Yi Jien was a precocious kid. My memory of him stems from a conversation with him about the Gulf War... me just finishing my first year at uni having a discussion with him...a 9 or 10 old boy. We talked about the weaponry involved in the war and I was impressed by his extensive knowledge of ICBMs. I went back to him again in my Dip Ed Year. He was in Std 6, a truly interesting subject for my case study. And it seems just like yesterday that he was that small cute looking boy.....

Over the years, thoughts of this family often come to my mind. But in times like these, I find it difficult to fathom the meaning of all these...... and by Tuesday (American time) they would call off the search!