World Ballet Superstars Gala 2014 at Istana Budaya

From spectator in 2012 to performer in 2013 and 2104, Summer danced the opening act of the World Ballet Superstars Gala this year.
We are so very proud of her. And we get to capture yet another family photo at Istana Budaya again.

Cakes & Children

Apart from making great kids, mum makes great cakes too. 

         
           Featured here is a fantastic mouthful of Sugee cupcake I had for breakfast this morning.

Excellent because it's one of my favourite cakes. Favourite because it's a cake with bite. Because of the main ingredient sugee or semolina from durum wheat, I can bite into and chew and masticate for a little while instead of normal cakes that simply melt into your mouth and disappear down the hatch without even a linger.

Take a closer look at the ravished shot and you will see the rich texture of the golden grains.

 

Cute polka dotted paper clad cupcake

Undressed

Ravished

The Family Photo

Taken in July 2012 at Istana Budaya, I only realised yesterday how everyone in the family was beautifully captured in this picture.

Coffee

Saw this T-Shirt hanging in Joma in Vientiane most times I scuttle in to buy my morning cup of Americano to bring to work. I can't get started without my cup of brewed coffee. And the message says it all.
I got my Starbucks Card activated back home in KL all because of a planner I covert. 15 Drinks to get one free planner. I got a plan in place. Buy a tumbler and get major discounts. I'm going full steam with a talle Americano each time now.
But I also brew a great pot every morning at home. I guess I'll have to OD on caffein for a little while.

One Day in One Second.

Today I'm inspired to write once again.

From an article on FastCompany about Cesar Kuriyama who advocates documenting one second to represent each day and then stringing those seconds together to play the movie of your life to represent one month (30 secs) or one year (365 secs). This is really what living in the moment means.

For me it's a reminder to continue to blog one sentence or one picture a day.

I'm just happy to be in the presence of the women in my home. Mum doing jottings on her baking trials, Summer watching nothings on Youtube and Rati scurrying around the house performing her duties. While I nurse a hangover from the night celebration following ganforhire's DCA Camp 2013.

Racking up Balls

A comely lass at work; captured under the light of the pool table

Drinking beer, playing pool and framing shots.

Gangnam Style Unites the world.

Walking down Rue Faghoum in Vientiane where they have their annual Boat Race Festival, rows and rows of makeshift shops, stalls and corporate booths plying their wares amidst blaring music and loud announcements. The bigger brands have platform stages for performances.
As I walked down the short stretch to attend a party at the invitation of my new found friends at Asia Pacific Brewery, I have witnessed no less than 3 Gangnam style dances performed by models on stage. I must say that the song coupled with the dance is very uplifting. It makes me happy just taking in the sights of people mimicking the quirky moves of Psy.
Asian music has indeed taken the world by storm.
As I arrived at the very elaborate and stylish booth of NamKhong, the sponsors of the event, another Gangnam style dance was in progress.
Many NamKhong beers later, I was back in my hotel lobby and I recounted my experience of the night to a Canadian Chinese having his foot massage. He told me that in clubs in Canada, the white guys are all playing Gangnam style.
Music is indeed the universal language that unites regardless of origin.

MotoGP Weekend & World Ducati Week Asia 2012

The Moto GP at Sepang this year was a wet affair. With the race having been stopped several times due to heavy rain. Somehow I got to experience the wet when I got caught riding to the gym from home. I thought I could make a quick dash to the Club before the rain; it was pelting down so heavy I had to seek refuge in the ample driveway of Wisma Semantan, which now seems deserted.

Health & Family

Mum went to Seremban with Bernie, Zane was in inter-church badminton competition. Summer was under the weather. Baby sat her till evening when it was time, I went to the gym and ran 2.5K again and worked on my legs and core.
Worked up an appetite and treated ourselves to a healthy, yummylicious meal at Village Roast Duck.
Caught up with mum, Bernie & Jamie at Wondermama. Good thing they were out of ABC. Went home and we all watched the new Spiderman on DVD.

Men Only or Just Boys

A realisation came upon me as I strode into the studio into Darren's dungeon for a review with the team; a bunch of men gathered in a small plot of space about to engage in discussion standing up.

Darren, Mustakim, Khairi, Hugo, Kelvin, Vincent, Hafiz and I. 
All good men. All extremely talented. All is good.

The Boys' Day out

Zane picked me up from the office so we could go grab some yummy lunch then shopping for some khaki pants for me. And if time permits go see the Mini at Glenmarie.
We did all that and he was unusually patient with me trying on pants after pants in Paradigm Mall. So I decided to take him to AB.
We saw more than our Mini. 

Gawking at the new F10 M5 V8

Dashboard of the M5

My personal favourite 6Series 4-door

2.5K

I did 2.5km in 16mins on the treadmill today. Well on course for my target of 5k this month.
And I was feeling slightly under the weather. Felt so good went on to do some new technique weights on biceps with Zane. I love working out with my son.

The Samurai

A lone samurai walked into our office today.
We both conducted ourselves in the most honourable manner.
I hope we get to meet this samurai again.
G.R.A.C.E.

Fast Track in Putrajaya

Golf course view from a penthouse unit

"We will take all your brand values at face value and apply those values to the task of branding your current project"  My reply to a Client who asks for a fast track to the brand communication process.

Then we took a tour of the place and I wondered had I bought a unit 15 years ago when I first started playing golf there, would the value have appreciated or would I have been staying there?

We took the ERL, fast track train from Sentral Putrajaya to Sentral KL aka The KLIA Express.
A smooth fast ride it was as everybody wants fast tracking these days.

Gala Night - Short and Sweet Malaysia 2012

We only found out late last night that Summer's dance group performing 'Forbidden' made it to the Gala night. Although we had expected that they breeze through from their sterling performance the week before, still it was a small celebration of sorts- hugs & kisses, when we got official word.
Tonight we're all excited once again to see the beautiful opening dance movement the five swans will make on stage before paving the way for the white and black swans to tell their story on stage. 

Meanwhile after dropping Summer earlier this afternoon, Zane and I took in the sights at the park at KLPAC and saw how well maintained the former Sentul Golf club was.
A good case of sacrificing the enjoyment of a few for the enjoyment of a larger few. The Arts& Dance fraternity and owners of the Condos of Sentul East & West.



Have fun you all. I know I will be bursting with pride once again.

The Seventh Day

Happy Chinese New Year! Gong Xi. Gong Xi.

This year of the water dragon has been pleasant so far. Just before the new year, I managed to convince my family to spend CNY eve at our ancestral home in Johol. So there we were Summer, Zane, Agnes, Peter Gan and Aunty, (my father's surviving third wife) had reunion dinner in our ancestral home once more. The food was painstakingly but lovingly prepared by Aunty, who managed to fill the table to the brim the way my father had always wanted it.  Fireworks and crackers erupted noisily outside our first floor dining room window as we settled down to our sumptious meal celebrating the auspicious moment. As much as we were startled by the incessant loud noise, we heartily agreed that this was necessary to properly scare away the monster Nien, who terrorized the villages in ancient China, so all could stay alive and safely guo Nien.
After dinner we had no TV, no internet, no distractions to busy ourselves with and so we just spent time talking and playing games with each other. It was nice spending time with loved ones in the memory of those who have gone before us.

Today, that memory belongs to my father who passed away 6 years ago on this seventh day of the lunar new year. The seventh day is also known as everybody's birthday as this is the day on the Chinese lunar calendar when everybody gets a year older.
As I grow older each seventh day of the CNY, I also grow wiser thinking of the lessons my father taught me not by lecturing me or beating me up. No never. The old man never laid a hand on me. He loved me and he showed me through living his life with honour, respect and integrity that things could be resolved and life is to be enjoyed. Always the one to look for the humor in life, my father was fun to be with.
So as we shared the reunion dinner in my ancestral home this new year, I know my father is pleased. The fireworks and firecrackers that erupted outside our window to scare away the monster Nien, I look back from the seventh day and I realize my father gave us valuable life lessons to scare away own own demons. For me it's just to look inward and dig deep into the values my father taught me and in it's powerful silent revelation know that demons only exist in our own minds.
Back in ancient times, people believed that their land was in constant threat from outside forces. When the rains didn't fall the crops would not grow and the land was barren, people would not have food. So they blamed the monster when what was actually happening was that the seasons change just as spring will surely follow winter. Which is precisely when the new year celebrates, the start of spring.
So as we go forth this Chinese New Year, have a beautiful springtime and know that the only demons we need to scare away are the ones in our minds.
I love you Papa.

Xin Nian Quai Le Everyone.

My one & only post for 2011- The Samurai Game

Not that the year was uneventful, it was. Extremely.
The excuses, yes excuses, I give myself were plenty; no time, facebook and twitter updates more immediate, more spontaneous, more people will instantly know my thoughts and my writing and like and retweet my updates, etc, etc.
Well, I decided I won't leave one year not stating what was significant for me. If I were to choose the one thing that I was happy about apart from my family, it would be the fact that we brought
The Samurai Game® to Malaysia and more importantly for me to have participated in the game three times, in and outside the country. The result of which, although they vary from game to game, was the message to "slow down to the speed of life".
To deliberate more on thoughts, words and deeds. In short to truly stay in the moment, live life in the moments. To stop rushing through life and refrain from always jumping at "what's next?"
Although I have known the concept of slowing down, through the 'slow' movement, slow food vs fast food etc. I don't believe I have truly begun to fathom what slowing down really entails. The Samurais live by the Bushido Code, largely consisting the values of honor, respect, integrity. The game embodies the Samurai maxim of; One Meeting. One Chance. For me, it simply means, engage every moment of my life with whoever, whatever I'm with or doing. Fully engage because, Life is not a rehearsal!
George Leonard was the founder of The Samurai Game®, he also wrote the book called Mastery. In the book, also considered one of the best books I have read in 2011, he maintains that all of us living in this world, are on the path to mastery and that life is lived in the plateau where practice of our mastery happens, not as portrayed in the mass media as a series of uninterrupted peaks and spikes of our achievements. Especially in this 'quick fix' world we live in where practice is the key to mastery and if we love the practice and therefore practice for the sake of the practice, then we'll be able to attain new levels of competence on the path to be true masters of our craft.

Go find out more about the Game here : The Samurai Game

Read about the book here: George Leonard's Mastery


Happy New Year 2012 everyone.     Slow down to the speed of life...

Mr. Ooi -the accidental brand?

There was a little shop lot in Lucky Garden, Bangsar where the boxes are stacked from floor to ceiling, where walking about the store was difficult because the aisles were either blocked with boxes of merchandise on display or customers in line waiting to see the thin, nerdy looking but affable Mr. Ooi the pharmacist who runs AA Pharmacy.

He personally serves and advises every single one of his customers who come to see him in his shop with the care and empathy that a mother would give her children. Everyone seems to want to talk to him, consult him, see him.
When my turn comes, he listens intently to me and the description of my ailment then almost instantly returns with a cream or a bottle of something he thinks should work. He then proceeds to painstakingly explain the product and it's usage and he would have all the time and patience to answer whatever questions you may have. Then when you ask the price he looks at the label then gives you a discount without you even asking for it and off you go. Happy to have been served.

That was then. Now, about only two years later, he has since moved into the corner lot with two floors of retail space. Still his floors are hard to navigate with even more vitamin and supplement boxes piling high everywhere. The customers keep coming to ask him for a prescription, a recommendation, a word, an opinion or simply a smile. He readily gives each and everyone of them what they want and each will leave feeling thoroughly satisfied.
Sometimes I wonder if Mr. Ooi is the brand or his pharmacy? Whichever the case, all his employees tend to deliver a similar experience to all customers.

AA Pharmacy a relative newcomer to the Lucky Gardens marketplace, was coming into a fiercely competitive landscape, already 2 Chinese Medical Halls, 3 other well known pharmacies and scores of other mini mart and retail stores exist. Yet AA Pharmacy is arguably the most sought after, most Caring and acts more like a Guardian to the people of one of the choicest neighbourhoods in Klang Valley.

Lesson learnt from Mr. Ooi;

1. Love and revere your customers and your customers will trust you and confide in you. Once they trust you to confide in you, you have built an almost unbreakable bond with them.

2. Love your work, it shows when you interact with your customers in an authentic manner. When you love what you do, everybody benefits from the amount of knowledge you have to share on the business you're in. That makes you an expert in your field.


3. When you are faced with big brands as competitors, dig into your innermost core to find your passion  and use that as your core value to win and keep customers. In Mr. Ooi's case his passion was excellence and he consistently delivered it through himself. Excellence seem to permeate all aspects of his business, from service to products and product range, pricing and promotion.

4. By osmosis or by example his entire staff force followed his leadership and service excellence and fair pricing became the business niche and strategy for AA Pharmacy to thrive in an already crowded marketplace.

When next in Lucky Garden, stop by to say hi to Mr. Ooi at AA Pharmacy, this yet to be married young man who went to secondary school in VI will not disappoint you.
Some of you who's been there might agree.

'The sun will dry up your brains Peter Gan'

Those were the words my father used when I refused to put on a hat out in the afternoon sun while doing 'hard labour' in my father's 'orchard' back in our home at number 27 Woon Estate, Tampin  almost 35 years ago.

My father, in his standard attire of white singlet over a hitched-up checked sarong, was trying to direct me to dig 5 holes in the ground using a hoe and a 'cangkul' so that he could plant 5 durian saplings.  The saplings had been lovingly nursed and nurtured from the seeds of his favorite varieties through the years. He had them grown in black plastic bags filled with earth and now they are ready to be transplanted in the ground. The ground was a strip of land at the back of our house just outside the fence sloping down about 12 feet to a drain that connect all the houses on my row channeling household waste water out and down to a creek in sleepy valley beyond.

Already I was grungy being forced outdoors to do menial labour. As I slogged and sweated in the heat, I think to myself; growing durian trees from saplings? How long will we have to wait? What a daft idea...I thought as I blurted out;
"Pa, we would never even live to see the fruits, if indeed they could bear fruit, let alone get to even taste them".
My father refused to budge and just urged me on and I still had those holes to dig. It was not without more drama and heated exchange of words between my father and I as the afternoon wore on until the holes were all finally dug. Still, I was not a happy person that afternoon.

"Now, before we lower the saplings into those holes, put that first into the bottom of the holes", he pointed to a large mound of black earth in our garden. So I did as I was told, I took a big bucket filled it up with black earth and lumbered up and down the slope lining the 5 holes with rich, nutritious black earth.
Then I watched my father tear up the black plastic bags exposing the cylindrical earthy base of the young plants and laying the sapling into each of the holes I had dug. With the loving dexterity of a heart surgeon, he moved each sapling into position, filled it with more earth, adjusted each until he is pleased with it then he directed me to fill up what's remaining of the hole until the soil formed a mound around the stems of the saplings. Much like the chief surgeon telling his assistant to close up on successful surgery.
My father then appeared with a large pail of water and proceeded to water each newly transplanted sapling with a plastic bowl. He did it ever so tenderly, he scooped up water and then let it run through his cupped hand through his fingers down to the base of the stems of each of the 5 saplings. The earth mounds settling further down the stem as he did that, compacting the soil further reinforcing the planting.
My father looked pleased as he stood looking over the backyard fence down at the slope where we just finished an entire afternoon's work of planting. I'm a bloody planter's son I thought and
"I still don't think we would harvest the fruits of our labour Pa" I said to him. He just smiled and said;

"You just wait, you just wait"

15 years later, we sold our house after my mother passed away, the trees have grown somewhat substantially but still yielded no fruit. I told myself that we were not meant to get anything from those trees we planted but still it would be nice to know if they could yield. I took my father and left Tampin to resettle in KL. It was the nineties.

Now fast forward to present day Hari Raya 2010. Four and a half years after my father passed away, I finally meet up with my old neighbours the Balasingams in Seremban, my childhood friends, Willie and Gabriel. Gabriel the elder brother told me he visited our old hometown regularly to tend to their unoccupied house just next door to ours. Gabriel had news I had waited 35 years for.
The durian trees that I had planted with my father actually bore fruit, and they bore abundant fruits with bountiful harvest. And they tasted very good, Gabriel testified. The current owner of my old house an Encik Mazlan is indeed a good man to enjoy the abundance that my father initiated. So much that went into those saplings we planted in the ground that hot afternoon.

I now know and I think my papa knew all along. I know he is happy because when I drove back to KL late that Hari Raya night, I felt a nice warm feeling come over me knowing we shared more than planting durian trees and that my father left me with these lessons;


- To do things properly, diligently with loving tender care.
- To have faith that in whatever I do, that it will surely bear fruit, and bountifully.
- To wear a hat when out in the sun.



Thanks Papa.

Chinese New Year 2010

This year my Chinese New Year family is getting delightfully auspicious with the Levers in full force at our reunion dinner. It is carefully and cleverly arranged at China Treasures, the delightful Chinese restaurant at The Sime Darby Convention Centre in Bukit Kiara. The private room setting gave us the intimacy of sharing news and stories of the recent past. And the opportunity to toss the Yee Sang a little higher and shout a little louder!
Dinner is a full menu of 10-course auspicious, Chinese dishes that sounds prosperous, happy, sustainable and joyful. No complaints about the food nor the company save for the relative size of the private room proportionate to the party. Ann and Hanim spent precious time with us as this CNY was to be a short one without extended holidays declared in Jakarta.
After dinner, it was drinks at home, wine for the ladies, single-malt whiskeys for the boys.
At midnight we wished each other Gong Xi Fa Cai above the din of firecrackers and fireworks and hoped that this special moment of reunions will always go on with our families.
Xin Nian Kuai Le' to you all. May you find love at the end of it all.

reBlog from dragonintuitive.com: Spirituality for Living

I was happily dipping into the twitter stream today and because Twitter is a huge flowing river, I can only pay attention to what flows closest to me or what catches my eyes first. And when it does, that I consider my message from the universe/god/the almighty for that moment when I tune into the twitter stream

 

And so I found this fascinating quote today:

• The secret is to learn to be happy first, with whatever you have.


• But what you have was acquired first and thought to bring happiness.


• To find a way to be grateful, then that attracts more things to be grateful for.


• Ah yes, but to realize why you are not happy is the awakening. Sorrow is the slow route to evolution, presence is the shortcut.


• Having what you want won’t make you happy, being happy brings you what you want. No wonder most of us don’t get what we want.


• Than why set myself goals in life if what I have should already make me happy?

dragonintuitive.com, Spirituality for Living, Feb 2010

You should read the whole article.

New Year-10Things

Every year, I advocate a resolutions of sorts for my loved ones and colleagues.
This is so that we can live our lives with purpose and chart our progress as we traverse along the passage of time.
I find that nothing beats the benefit of hindsight to guide us into the future or to help remind us of the trials we have overcome and triumphs we have savoured.
The 10 things start with a review of the previous year's achievements. Or otherwise.
Then we proceed to examine what went right or what went wrong.
With new resolve we then list our 10 Things and of course our DCA- Definite chief Aim, that thing we must achieve at all cost.
I'm pleased to have done all the that within the first week of January for all my companies.
It was also most satisfying to have had 2 sessions with the family, first review on Boxing Day then finalize on New Year's Day.

Happy New Year and Happy New Decade All! I wish for all your dreams to come true...

The Mystery Cat

Summer worked hard for months in preparation for this Dance Festival at Putrajaya Auditorium held on 6 Dec.

We were of course very thrilled and very proud to see this young lady slink onto stage to deliver a mature, slick and sophisticated performance.
But don't take our word for it, read about how she felt about the whole shindig HERE

Zane is 17

If he was in Govt. School he would be sitting for his SPM exams right now, this moment. But he's not as he's in home schooling at a centre in Kelana Jaya. And because of that, he's enjoying his holidays lounging at home, chillin at the malls with friends or simply laughing his head off watching Russel Peters on Youtube.

Zane turned 17 last month, with little fanfare.
His life this year has been lived to so much purpose and activities that it (his birthday) came and went without a whimper.
I guess it is a good thing as I always say; "Everyday is your birthday if you know how to live your life".

Zane is consumed by sports right now.
His obsession for fitness and badminton has taken him to new levels of fitness and exposure and some success. Photography aside, his interest in playing the saxaphone is still very much alive as his instructor sings praises of him. I'm not yet convinced as I'm still waiting for an audition.

Extra-curricular activities aside, this young man has improved his academic performance at school as well. For the first time, he has achieved his declared number of life packs this year.
Well, all is well and all goes well, we'll be having our beers together same time next year.
For now enjoy your seventeen son. I'm proud of you.

Summer is 14

Summer is probably the person I need to worry least about. She's responsible, diligent, caring, emphatetic, compassionate, driven and extremely intelligent. But yet I do.
I watch her grow up at such phenomenal speed that I wonder if she truly enjoyed her childhood before she even enters womanhood. She looks so grown up and she speaks with such maturity that one often wonders...
I've posted some photos of her birthday dinner last Monday at the eatery of her choice-Yuzu at The Gardens as well as some of my favourites shot by Zane and posed very unabashedly at The Tasting Room in Bangsar earlier this year. Happy Birthday darling. I love you.

Zane is Champion!

Three outings. It took Zane three outings in the Chempaka AOG Schools Sports Carnival to finally claim his Badminton Singles Crown that he so richly deserves. Years of training finally paid off when he cruised all the way to the finals in August 09. He lifted the champions title in a lop-sided match that saw little opposition.
This was because the ambitious young man strategized his path to victory by exposing himself to badminton tournaments around town- big or small just to gain experience. It worked.
Well done Champ!
Last weekend,being the long raya holidays I bought him new gear from the Bangsar Racket shop to further his sporting ambitions. Then we had to go to Sentral to check out a Blue Cube outlet that Summer insisted was there. It was there alright but they had just closed and vacated.
So we went to check out Hilton & Le Meridien instead. Zane was made to parade his new gear all around Sentral, Hilton, Le Meridien, the mall, etc.