The one about achievements and milestones...

Ethan had his very first Sports Day at school last Sunday 1st July 2007. The poor boy had been sick the week before that, missing three days in school with fever and cough - the worst part of a viral flu. He had missed the full dress rehearsal on Friday as his fever only went away one day before the big day.

That Sunday, we brought him to my in-law's place for our usual Sunday lunch. Sports Day starts proper at 4pm but we had been asked to bring Ethan in half an hour early. So ever the eager parents, we dressed Ethan up in his uniformed T-Shirt and cap, bundled him into the car and arrive right on time only to find the school compound packed with people already! Jo's mum came with us and my mum also dropped by to cheer the grandson on!

Imagine Ethan's shock of seeing his school, usually peaceful and inspiring, taking on a whole new image! With music blaring over the PA system, noisy children, parents and grandparents crowding the grounds, Ethan hardly recognised his own school. So, the moment his teacher yanked him out of his mum's hands, he was struck with anxiety and fear. Ever since he was young, Ethan had always been clingy to his mum while he was sick and soon after too. This time was no different as Ethan began to get agitated and as soon as they started the formalities, he was crying away.

Jo had to calm him down and soon he was smiling again but refused to allow his mum to leave his side. Then it came time for his class' turn to compete.

The teachers divided his class into two groups and they 'raced' against each other to run thru' cones and hang up a silvery cardboard star on some hooks. Due to his reluctance, Ethan ended up 'running' the anchor leg. Well, as luck may have it, the other team got mixed up, Ethan ran the last leg and won the race for his team!

Ok, ok, its not the Olympics but to us, there and then... it was much much more. Ethan was a lot more traumatised by his being separated from his mum during the 'medal' ceremony and he cried his eyes out! Still, all was well after that and we went home, safe and sound - clutching a brand spanking new gold medal.

The Learning Garden all dressed up for the big event...

The Little Swan class 'marching' in - with Ethan second from last in line...

The kids standing for the national anthem with proud parents snapping away in the back...

Ethan safely in Jo's arms...

Ethan running the final stretch, with his mum in sight...

Tears of absolute joy...


We've seen so much improvement in Ethan recently and his therapists have all said that he's headed in the right direction. We all hope and pray that this continues.

The one about catching up...

Yes, loads of catching up to do here. Much has happened, although not all can or need be cronicled amongst these virtual pages. Suffice to say its been a busy last couple of months.

Since Ethan's birthday, things have been routine. His first term at The Learning Garden came to an end and he went on a boring two-week holiday break. We sent him back to school for a one-day program of water play in the first holiday week. He kinda enjoyed that I think!


After the break, the second term began. School and therapy, same old same old. However, we recently had an "evaluation" meeting with his teachers. They were unanimous that Ethan's improved tremendously from when they first met him. In fact, Ethan's begun to say a few words too! Yep, "apple" which from him sounds more like "appa" and "ball" which sounds like "baal". Still, to his parents its like a symphony.

His comprehension has improved a lot too. Result of his therapy work. I must say, he has taken well to his occupational therapist Ms. Heng. We can clearly see vast improvements in his behaviour. He's now sitting down and patiently waiting when told.

Ethan at Occupational Therapy with Ms. Heng

With his Speech Therapist Ms. Ang

On the personal social front, we've had quite a few gatherings. Mostly birthdays but we do look forward to the opportunities to meet up and catch up. I guess thru our respective daily toil, we should be grateful for those times we can squeeze out of our busy schedules to share with good friends. That is really what it is all about. We don't have the luxury of wasting our precious moments with trivialities, with materialism or with selfishness. That is simply what we should appreciate.

Since my last blog, we've had a birthday celebration for both Yan & Jinny at Bagan; for Sue Khoon at Beach Blanket Babylon and for Carolyn at Mel & Stacy's house. We also met up for Mel & Stacy's anniversary - albeit Mel was away in the US on a business trip. Sue Khoon and Yan celebrated their 1st Anniversary with champagne at their place and a few of us were there too. The next birthday will be Jo's in September but before that will be our wedding anniversary this coming July 10th. Two big events to look forward to. Watch this space for updates....

Yan & Jinny's Birthday celebrations

Gang's all there plus friends...


Sue's Birthday party at BBB

Wendy, Jo and Sue smiling away...

Whole gang plus more friends...

Carolyn's do at Mel & Stacy's...

A relaxed evening indeed...

The one about Ethan's 3rd Birthday...

Ethan's turned three and we celebrated his birthday twice this year. Firstly, we had a cosy tea party at our place on Sunday 6th May - having over around 30 people comprising family and friends (and of course kids).

The modest crowd enjoying themselves...

Ethan collecting his precious presents...

Cake time!

Yes, its an Elmo cake...

Another shot of the guests...

On Ethan's actual birthday, we had a small celebration at his playgroup - we brought cake and goodie bags for his classmates. Needless to say, the kids were excited as this provided a break from their routine morning tea. Ethan seemed quite enthralled by it all, even bopping along when they all sang his birthday song.

Ethan and Mum arriving at his school...

The "Little Swan" class...

The cake being prepared in front of watchful eyes...

Ethan's moment in the limelight...

Our son... all grown up

Happy Birthday son...

The one about educating and schooling...

Wow! Yes, it's been ages since I blogged. We've mainly been pre-occupied with little Ethan. We've started him on a playgroup at a local school/nursery.

At the end of March, we enrolled Ethan into the Learning Garden, a much recommended place to enable him to experience mixing around with other kids. We felt that he's not had much opportunity to play with children his age.

After just two days in "school" Jo and I were approached by one of their directors who expressed concern over Ethan's ability to follow the class. Follow the class? The boy's hardly three years old. Anyway, we knew there and then that this place was made for "schooling" and not education. To me, learning at Ethan's young age should be really about playing, social interaction and living skills.

Anyway, after the two week orientation, we started leaving Ethan alone with the class teachers and he has proven to be quite a trooper indeed. He hasn't caused too much of a mayhem within the class nor has he had much seperation anxiety. Needless to say, his parents are awfully proud of him!

Ethan's getting ready for his first day at playgroup...

Ethan and his proud mum...

Ethan's speech is delayed as he isn't saying much still. So the poor boy's being subjected to therapy and the whole works. For the time being, he's finding all that quite fun and quite an adventure. Still we want to give him every opportunity yet hope for the best. His third birthday is coming up this 8th of May. Has it been three years already? What a ride its been for both Jo and I! The ups and downs have translated to a amazing experience. Nothing has been perfect but then I prefer it as such. Battle scars of experience makes the journey worthwhile.

We are so looking forward to the rest of the way...

The one about lost photo opportunities...

Yes, i'm back. It's been ages since my last blog entry and lots have happened.

Will quickly run thru the past three weeks or so and let the photos speak for themselves...

Firstly, way back on Saturday March 3rd, I was at my friends' Aarolyn & Chin Sing's wedding at the Trader's Hotel (formerly the Shangri La). It was a pleasantly cosy wedding which I was given the honour to emcee. Have been emcee at quite a few weddings - six, I think. Lost count. Sadly, I don't have any photos of the event as yet.

Mum was invited by my Uncle Teddy on a trip to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. In fact Uncle Teddy decided to splurge on his siblings and took a big part of the Dielenberg family with him! All eight of them were to fly off from KL on Sunday 11th March for a meaningful holiday. Friday after school, Mum drove my Aunt Florence to Taiping where they met up with my Uncle Gilbert & Aunt Sooi See. The four of them then drove to KL to join the rest of the entourage.

With mum away, we took a break from our usual Saturday night out with friends but instead invited them over to our place for a dinner. Jo cooked up a storm and we treated our lucky friends to an Italian style meal. Did take a couple of photos of the food but can't remember where I saved the shots! Sigh!

Mum was back by Thursday 15th but she didn't finish the available exposures on her disposable camera. So, no photos here yet....

On Saturday 17th March, Jo and I went for a nice dinner at Ribs BBQ. The food was delicious as always. After that, we met at Mel & Stacy's new house. It was a kinda pre-house warming intro to their place. This time, I managed a few photos.


The big event of the month would be our little Ethan's first introduction to school! Yes, we enrolled him at The Learning Garden in their Playgroup class. We felt that he has been craving companionship with other kids and it was time for him to socialise with those his own age.

So, this morning was his first day and it went well indeed. He was very attentive for once and actually sat down to play with puzzles and other toys. He did want to play outside longer than he was allowed, which caused him to throw a major tantrum but otherwise, I'm certain he would settle in quickly and successfully.


The past three weeks have been pretty much stressful for many reasons for both Jo and I. Hopefully the Easter season and a fresh new month of April will shower us with some blessings. We'll be looking forward to that...

The one about flying time and having fun...

Hi there! It's the 3rd month of the year already and I haven't really gotten out of the "festive laziness" rut. Much has happened on many fronts - the home front, the social front, the work front and the current affairs front. Ardent followers of my blog (yes, all three of you) would know that I've centred my blogging exploits on the above themes. I'm actually hoping to expand my horizons a little and go into the more edgy and controversial; the more suspenseful and traumatic. Or I could just blog about American Idol.

In any case, there's much to catch up on..so without further ado...

Valentine's Day - the one day many have criticised as being over-commercialised and over-rated. I don't know about that - after all, what's so wrong about taking a day off to recognise the loves of our lives? Mushy and not befitting any macho man image, you may say, but many a macho man was conceived out of love. So, why not get stupid and cheesy and corny or any other snack-foody about it all. Having said all that, we had a simple Valentine's Day (heh heh). Jo and I joined all our friends - Jinny & KH, Sue & Yan, Stacy & Mel and Wendy for a hearty meaty meal at Ingolf Kniepe at Hillside. Drinks later was at the nearby Torch Pub. It was fun in an understated way. I got Belgian Chocs and a couple of Liverpool Addidas T-Shirts from Jo while I treated her to a Tiffany charm bracelet.



On Friday, 16th February, we were invited by Mel & Stacy to McDonald's at Sunrise Tower for Naomi's birthday. It was a fun time for the kids and adults alike. We brought Ethan along and needless to say he had a howling great time.
Latest advert from McD's....

The animated crowd of adults at a kid's party...

Ethan, Jo, Mia Sara and Nazriah...

The kids around the birthday girl Naomi...

Two hectically busy days at work after that, we got to Chinese New Year. We had our usual reunion dinner of Steamboat at our place. Mum worked hard to get the food all organised and we had Jo's aunt and uncle as guests. With the requisite fireworks "display" after dinner, Ethan seemed a little taken aback by all the fuss.

Ethan with his grandparents and grandaunt Vickie watching the fireworks...

On the 1st day of Chinese New Year, another great family shot...

On Monday night (2nd day of Chinese New Year) we had a gathering of old friends at Jinny & KH's place. This was to be a low-keyed old SXI boys gathering. We had Tze Meng, Melville David, Jimmy Baptist, Steven Thor joining our usual gang for some catching-up and reminiscing.


We had a welcomed break till Wednesday when we got back to work. The festivities continued with some of our friends still on leave. By "festivities" I mean more eating, eating and mahjong of course...

Our gang's annual Chinese New Year do was held this year at Furosato Restaurant in Pulau Tikus. Yes, we decided that we should have Japanese food for a change. Strange but admittedly a good decision - the food was very good and we had a massively great time at dinner and at Jinny & KH's place thereafter. We snuck in a game of Taboo which is always good for a laugh or two.



On the home front, my mum will be going on a well-deserved trip to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam with her brothers and sisters - my Uncle Teddy and Aunt Lily, Uncle Gilbert and Aunt Sooi See, Uncle Francis and Aunt Cecelia and my Aunt Florence as well. It should be a fun outing for her and I do believe she is very much looking forward to it. Uncle Teddy has generously agreed to foot the cost of travel and he has been extremely excited about the whole event - actively arranging hotel and tour plans.

Jo and I are pleased that mum will have this chance to really relax and enjoy herself and hope that everyone will take the opportunity to spend valuable time together.

This will have to do for now, I'll be blogging more soon... promise!

The one about a recap...

Its already February of the new year 2007 and the "holiday" mood has hardly died down. We've already had two public holidays in the First Day of Muharram (the Muslim New Year) and the celebration of Thaipusam just two days ago.

So far its been an eventful start to 2007. Jo's family suffered another loss with Uncle Eddie Holloway passing suddenly on the 16th of January. It was merely over two months since the passing of Aunty Joyce and the Holloways-De Vries family had to go thru another sad phase in their lives. Jo and I made it to the funeral held at the St. Francis Xavier church at PJ which was officiated by no less than six priests. There were many sad moments especially since the death was so unexpected. However, it was really heart warming to see that Uncle Eddie's sense of humour and good-natureness shone thru amidst the solemn and poignant service.

On a lighter note, one of my favourite reality shows started its new season - yes, American Idol is back and we have been treated to the usual array of talented and talentless characters auditioning from various parts of the US. The sheer audacity and peculiarity of some people will never fail to amaze me.

We've had our usual meetings with the gang and experienced the night life all the way at the Juru Auto-City. This new growth area just off the North-South Highway has turned into quite a hub for restaurants and bars. We had dinner at a chinese restaurant then proceeded to Soho (yes, they have a branch there!) for drinks. It was quite a revelation indeed to find an oasis amidst the dull exterior of the rural mainland.

Well, lots of things have happened so far this year - both in the world at large and to me personally. It's really unnecessary to get into it all at this stage. I hope to get into the blogging routine again and revive this blog with more spirited stories and tantalising tales. I leave you now with an updated photo of lil' Ethan. He's becoming quite a handful but still so adorable indeed. Truly my pride and joy...

The one about good and evil...

I was directed to these two web quizzes by Mel. Its about which Super Villain and which Super Hero you are (or rather could be...) - great fun!


My Super Villain results are:

You are Magneto



Magneto 66%
Dr. Doom 61%
Riddler 61%
Apocalypse 60%
Mr. Freeze 58%
Lex Luthor 56%
Venom 55%
The Joker 55%
Mystique 49%
Two-Face 49%
Catwoman 45%
Juggernaut 45%
Kingpin 42%
Green Goblin 41%
Poison Ivy 35%
Dark Phoenix 35%

You fear the persecution of those that are different or underprivileged so much that you are willing to fight and hurt others for your cause.

Click here to take the "Which Super Villain am I?" quiz...



My Super Hero results are:

You are Iron Man


Iron Man 65%
Superman 60%
Spider-Man 60%
Supergirl 58%
Robin 53%
Hulk 50%
The Flash 50%
Green Lantern 50%
Wonder Woman 43%
Catwoman 35%
Batman 30%

Inventor. Businessman. Genius.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

The one about pictures painting words...

Ok, ok, so its just an excuse since I've been dreadfully lazy in composing something funny or thought-provoking or politically correct or currently relevant for your reading pleasure. These pics, taken from our end-of-year dinner at May Garden followed by the party to welcome in 2007 at Soho, will do the talking.

Jo & I at May Garden...

The Gang tucking in at our last 2006 dinner...

Riotous fun as the last minutes of 2006 ticked away...


One of our first activities for the year 2007 was a birthday party for Sue Khoon's younger nephew Jae Han. Jo and I brought Ethan and all the kids there had the time of their lives.




We were immediately thrust into a major event for the year - a birthday celebration for Mel & KH on Jan 13th. This year, we went fancy with dinner at Tiffins Restaurant at the Parkroyal followed by Karaoke at the Swimming Club. It was a particularly fun night complete with a fun cake (photo icing of both Mel & KH at their last year's birthday). Jo and I took the opportunity to give out our special gift to the Gang - each a personalised desk calendar filled with photos of all of us with all important dates highlighted - i.e. our birthdays and anniversaries. All in all, we had a great night which bodes well for the upcoming events for the year.

Jo, who worked hard to get everything running smoothly...

Me & Jo posing as Sue Khoon snapped away...

The two birthday boys looking pleased...

The Gang's (almost) all here...

The one about a brand new year 2007...

Hi there and Happy New Year!!

This post is very much delayed due to the whirlwind of events which ended last year and began this year! By now, obviously to you all, I have changed my blogface and given it a swanky new look, or so I think. Maybe too black and white for most but then again, I'm a lawyer.

So, I promise to begin blogging in earnest very very soon. Meanwhile, good health and God Bless to everyone out there!

The one about the Compliments of the Season...

Well, December has once again proved to be the busiest month of the year. I've been swamped both with work and personal matters that blogging has taken a back seat recently. Apart from the measly few entries, I haven't had the luxury of boring the cyberworld with my usual drivel.

Needless to say there'd been a lot of activities and photos but with our internet connection affected by the recent earthquake in southern Taiwan, I'll have to do a round-up of 2006 sometime much later.

First some news update for the Christmas/New Year holiday season -

Today, Saddam Hussein was executed after his appeal failed. That ends that story.

Just before Christmas, Johor faced massive floods with heavy downpour that saw as much as 35mm of rain in a day. The clean-up and repatriation works are still on-going.

Time magazine named me (and you all too) as their "Person of the Year". It was their tribute to consumer driven websites such as YouTube, Friendster and obviously all Bloggers who have shaped the future of communication through the internet.

On the personal front, we had a great Christmas - we had Christmas Eve dinner with Jo's family while Mum had Aunt Florence, Uncle Gilbert, Aunt Sooi See, Lionel, Geraldine, Priscilla and their families all over at our place for a pot-luck dinner the same night.

On Christmas day itself, Jo and I had people over from lunchtime till late. Geraldine treated the whole family to lunch at Parkroyal, so Mum prepared her famed Spaghetti Laksa for us before she headed off for a well-earned buffet lunch.

The week that was passed by swiftly, with lots of errands to run and a few urgent matters to settle before the onset of the new year. We had our usual Christmas pot-luck with the gang at our place on Friday night. The theme was decidedly Christmas with traditional dishes such as Roast Pork, Mulled Wine, Roast Chicken being prepared and served. We had a gift exchange session after and the kids - Ethan and Naomi had a ball.

Finally, here we are. On the brink of another new year. I look ahead with eagerness and trepidation alike. So much to look forward to yet still many insecurities left behind. The year 2006 has been a long long year for me. I still vividly recall over a year ago, when we were in Singapore and i spoke to my mum over the phone as she broke the news that she had been diagnosed with cancer of the colon. The months to follow had been a whirlwind of emotions. Seeing mum go through her operation and recovery period, then her 6-month long Chemotherapy sessions.

Well, almost a year to the day, on 27th December, mum went for her follow-up colonscopy and the doctors have reported there and then that it was all clear! Thank God for getting us all through those times and we continue to pray that everyone stays healthy through the coming years.

Another spot of good news. Mum has been asked to re-join the teaching staff at the Convent Light Street kindergarten and will start her teaching term with a small class this coming January 3rd. I feel it was best for her to be back on her feet and doing something which she loves and does well. I sensed a feeling of well-being with mum since she came home from her medical tests and recently from her meeting at the school. I thank God once again for the blessings which He has shown us this season.

So, tomorrow night we have a dinner planned at May Garden and later off to Soho for the countdown. Whatever state I'm in at that very moment as we all scream out "...3...2...1...", I will stop for a moment to be thankful for health, happiness, friends and many other little blessings.

So let's just drink from the cup o' kindness and look ahead to a great 2007.