The one about prophesies...

Well, I survived the ominous 06.06.06. In fact this very morning at 6 seconds past 6.06 am, I was awake and duly getting milk for Ethan. Seems Nostradamus had predicted that on the 6th day of the 6th month of the 6th year in the new millennium, will witness the birth of the anti-Christ. At least that's what the trailer to the re-make of the hit movie "The Omen" says. Horror movies ain't my stuff. Never liked them, couldn't be bothered. As for Nostradamus, the guy was usually more wrong than he was right. So there.

Last week was a pretty lame week. Nothing much happened and we ended the week with seafood dinner with Jinny & KH on Saturday night then a peaceful restful time at their place after.

On Sunday, after Tumbletots, we brought Ethan to Gurney Plaza for the pet show. Ethan gets very excited at barking dogs and so we thought he would get a real kick out of all the canines on display. What I saw were poor puppies being put thru ridicule and embarrassment by being dressed up in tiny "dogsuits" and other silly accessories. We even saw a multi-coloured poodle. Go figure.

Ethan lost interest pretty quickly as most of the dogs there were pretty well behaved and didn't bark at all!

Ethan & his mum at the pet show

Ethan & his granny at home

This week started with a sudden surge of activity as I had to clear the piling work at the office. Jo wasn't feeling well on Monday. Mum went in for her 8th cycle of chemotherapy. I brought her to the hospital as usual and made sure she was settled in before leaving for court. Funny thing is, these sessions at the hospital are becoming so routine to me that I no longer have any worries about them. A few months back, if anyone had asked me to imagine what it would be like today, I would never have been able to "prophesy" this very situation. It's a bag of mixed feelings really. Relief and comfort that mum's condition is now normal but still fearful and wary that it may re-occur sometime in the future. I guess its always best to leave the future in God's safe hands. Prophesies have proven to be an area not of any human capability. We face the moments and accept the inevitable. The comfort we have is that He walks with us every step of the way.

Just now we celebrated Sue Khoon's birthday. Yes, the bride-to-be turned 34 this very day and we all decided to try out this new place "Tao Asian Restaurant" at E-Gate near Tesco's. They had an "eat-all-you-can" menu which comprises mainly Japanese fare. Food wasn't too bad but the kitchen certainly couldn't cope with the large numbers patronising the place on a Tuesday night! We all had a good time and ate ourselves silly.






This coming Friday will be the girls' day out - when Sue Khoon gets pampered by the other girls leading to the hen's night later on. Details are fuzzy as the girls are sworn to secrecy. Jo and I will be attending Nazriah's birthday do at the Spice & Rice Restaurant that evening. Needless to say, it'll be an eventful night. After that, its only a week away to Sue Khoon & Yan's wedding. Can't believe how quickly time flies.

The one about the week that got away...

Last week really went by like a bolt of lightning. Mum got admitted on Monday 22nd for her 7th cycle of chemotherapy. We brought Ethan to the office and the little guy made himself at home running about everywhere. Gotta admit, while its pretty fun having him around, it wasn't conducive to getting much work done!

We had planned another trip to the cinema on Friday since mum was discharged Wednesday. This time we watched "X-Men: The Last Stand". Less controversial but no less action-packed. Mel, Stacy, Jo & I caught the midnight screening which ended at around 2 a.m. There was actually a short scene right at the end of the movie - AFTER THE CREDITS - which many (no, in fact ALL the other moviegoers) missed. No spoilers here, go buy the DVD and watch it again...

Saturday was interesting. We spent the morning playing with Ethan then the afternoon we headed for the E&O for a pre-wedding organisation meeting called by Sue Khoon - the bride-to-be. Most of the main people were there - Jo, Carolyn, Stacy, Mel, Wei Wei (Sue Khoon's cousin) and me (the photographer)!

Sue Khoon had a voucher for free 2-hour use of the E&O Hotel meeting room - comes with free-flow coffee & tea, mints, water and the works! It gave the fun-filled meeting a bit of focus - as the tasks were handed out and the itinerary of the various events planned. Again, no spoilers here - so those of you going for the wedding, wait for it; while those of you who are not... watch this space!

That night, we met up with Sue Khoon again for dinner. The three of us tried out the new Crab Village which is located exactly where the old Hollywood Restaurant used to be. Food was pretty good and not too costly as well. After that, it was off to Gurney Plaza for coffee with the rest of the gang.

Anyway, a bit of commentary here - at church on Saturday evening, we signed a petition calling on the Government to honour the constitutional right of people to their respective religions. Recently, we have seen many incidences of people of different religions having their rights compromised in many different situations. The need to ensure freedom of religion is constitutionally entrenched. There can be no politicking or side-stepping in this matter. We have heard prominent people speak loosely on this subject, people who should know better.

Jo & I have been playing with the idea of getting together Catholic lawyers in a support group of sorts. There is an association in KL but we've never had one here in Penang. It would be a good opportunity to get together, share experiences and work towards supporting the Church in any situation which may require our help. We'll have to see how this goes...

The one about faith...

After the last post, I got a precious few hours of sleep before I got up to take mum to hospital. It was her appointment at the Oncology clinic after her CEA cancer marker blood test last week. Kinda important visit, this one.

As I walked towards the clinic making small talk with mum, I remember thinking of all the things to say should mum's blood test show that she was getting no better. I know that the CEA cancer marker test was not conclusive, yet I knew I had to be reassuring if things didn't look too good.

The wait was not a long one this morning and as if things could not get any better - the doctor announced that mum's blood test was normal!! This was amazingly good news to us; however, the doc recommended that in cases such as mum's the normal treatment is for twelve cycles of chemotherapy treatment. As mum had only done six cycles, she was advised to continue on. Since mum seems to have responded well and hardly suffers from any side effects, we agreed with the doc and mum was immediately scheduled for her next treatment on Monday.

I just want to thank everyone who has helped us through the hardest times and for all the prayers, wishes and thoughts. Doesn't this prove the power of prayer...

The rest of the day was pretty much a blur, as I was in pretty high spirits after a good morning indeed. After sorting out some work in the afternoon, Jo and I headed for the Spice & Rice Restaurant, Rama's place, where the Bar Committee was having a wine tasting party. Asia Cellars were promoting a range of new Aussie boutique wines and we were given the opportunity to have a sip. There were cheese platters, samosas, prathas and other Indian goodies for all to accompany our drink. All that for a mere RM20 which was quite value for money.

Saturday morning was spent playing with Ethan and in the afternoon, Jo & I went out grocery shopping at Cold Storage Island Plaza. We got home to make sure Ethan was all set for the night before heading off to sunset mass at the Assumption Church. Dinner that night was going to be a simple affair - we went for the Korean BBQ at Seoul Garden in Gurney Plaza. It was simple food, nothing spectacular but easy for us as we had tickets for the 9.30 p.m. screening of "The Da Vinci Code" at the GS Cinemas upstairs.

Since all that can be written about that movie has been written, I'll keep my critique short - the movie is interesting if you haven't read the book; although if you haven't read the book, then you wouldn't know what's all the fuss about. Why would there be so many people who want to prove that a work of fiction is not true... surely that begs the question, right?

Simply, Dan Brown had claimed his book was based on facts which are true and correct - architecturally, geographically and historically. This claim is the cause of the ruckus. Many have sought out to prove him wrong and there have been more publications claiming to detract, de-bunk and de-code Dan Brown's work of fiction than any other fiction book in history.

Since I'm such a sucker for puzzles - the book appeals to me intrinsically. However, I just have one fact to state which to me is the clearest evidence that Dan's story is just that - a story.

Dan states as a fact that - the "Priory of Sion" the so-called custodians of the purported "Church's secret cover-up" was a European secret society founded in 1099. Not true - in fact the society was established in 1956 by Jean Delaval, Armand Defago, Andre Bonhomme and Pierre Plantard. Plantard was jailed for fraud in 1953. In 1996 Bonhomme made this statement to the BBC: "Priory of Sion does not exist anymore and we were never involved in activities of a political nature. We were just four friends who came together for fun and called ourselves Priory of Sion after a mountain near us with the same name!" [Sources: The Sun & Wikipedia]

Its the perrenial battle between fact and faith, between reason and belief. I'll leave the issue at that. On the movie itself, Tom Hanks was a miscast. He just didn't suit the role. Not convincing and somehow rather 2-dimensional. If you've read the book, the movie gets a bit draggy and slow in parts. Otherwise, go watch it, if you want to add to the USD224 million opening debut box office takings.

Sunday was a true day of rest for us. Much needed rest too. The coming week will see mum in hospital for her chemo. Otherwise, it'll be work, work and more work. Joy.

The one about the first year...

Hey! You know what I just realised? My blog - this electronically created corner of cyberspace - has turned ONE! Yes, on a fateful day - May 5th 2005, I decided to start writing... no, ranting and raving, by utilising the magic of the then fairly new phenomena called a weblog.

Fast forward to today, I'm sitting and surfing when I decided to check up on my blog and - lo and behold - I realise this personal adventure of mine is one year and fourteen days old. I've had few active visitors and have not made much of an impact nor created waves in the internet world. I haven't touched the lives of many people nor caused much scandal amongst netizens. What I have done is documented part of my life and the lives of those close to me. It has provided me an opportunity to re-collect, to re-enact and to reflect. With that, I gain the chance to juxtapose what I have been thru with what I look forward to. All that without fear, favour, censorship or cost. What else could anyone ask for?

Blogging has put me back in touch with old friends, meet new ones and link up with family all over the world (ok, maybe just in Australia). I've enjoyed the year, and I hope for many years to come. Look out vast cyberworld... Limitations & Latitudes will be getting wiser, bigger and better!

Another fascinated reader...

The one about blessings and more birthdays...

After a fairly quiet Wesak day on Friday, Saturday rolled along ominously promising to be a full, fun and fruitful day.

We decided to celebrate Mothers' Day on Saturday - simply because Jo's mum was leaving for Beijing on Sunday morning. So we brought my mum, Ethan and met up with Jo's mum, dad and a visiting aunt at the Sheraton Hotel. We treated the mums to a sumptious buffet which they both enjoyed.


Full to the brim, we went home where Jo & I got some rest before our dinner that night. We headed off to church for the 6.30pm sunset mass at the Assumption Church before making our way round the corner to Kashmir Restaurant. It was our celebration of Yan & Jinny's birthdays (1st May and 15th May respectively). The dinner was good, with all of us agreeing that the roast leg of lamb curry was spectacular. Yan brought along a bottle of Macallan single malt whisky which set us up for the night!

After dinner, we decided to check out a nightspot Coco's but found the drink prices there to be a little steep. Stacy went home with Naomi & Mel disappeared, presumably with them. So it was back to our "usual" hangout - Soho's. Drinks there are reasonable, the atmosphere - though a little noisy - was good too! Especially since there was a large screen TV showing the English FA Cup finals between Liverpool and West Ham. I was glued to the screen for most of the night watching my beloved Liverpool crawl its way back from being 2-nil down to finally clinching it on penalty kicks. God, how many times are they going to put us fans thru that?!

Raphael stayed on with us for a few rounds before leaving as he had to be at a forum the next morning. Stacy made a surprise re-appearance bringing along her friend from Singapore Jude. We met Mureli and some people and also met Khoo May Lin who was with a former Penang lawyer Janice who's now based in KL.

The night took its toll on Yan who seemed out of it after a while and the rest just fizzled out as well soon after. As the rest left, Jo & I stayed on to chat with the others. I sat with May Lin & Janice while Jo chatted with Mureli and friends. All in all, a good night for us.

At Kashmir, with the whisky flowing already...

Pretty good photo this, if I may say so...

After dinner, it's presents...

The birthday boy/girl cutting their cake...

The girls all in a row at Soho's

This morning, Jo woke up with a bit of a hangover but it was compounded with the Indian food playing tricks with her tummy. We still managed to bring Ethan to Tumbletots where he had fun running about and basically making a nuisance of himself.

When we got home in the evening, Jo & I decided to try out a baby pool we bought for Ethan sometime back. Needless to say, the little fellow went nuts!


The weekend was, as expected, busy but it really didn't live up to the high expectations I had. Perhaps its just the stresses of work from the last few weeks had demanded more from the social side. Well, its a huge drop back to the toils of the office tomorrow morning and I certainly am NOT looking forward to that...

The one about babies, births and birthdays...

Well, another hiatus from blogging ended here. Lots have happened since my last entry, so i'm just going to run thru the events to catch up on the latest before this coming long weekend.

Let's start on Saturday 22nd April - Dinner that night was at Spice & Rice (Rama's Indian Restaurant). Present were Jinny, KH, Sue Khoon, Celina, her friend Jo-Han, Jo and myself. Stuffed, we proceeded to Soho's for drinks and were joined by Mel & Stacy. All in all, a fun night eventho Yan's whereabouts were not known.

We've all been feeling the absence of our previous maid. This new maid hardly lives up to the high standards set and needless to say, that has added stress to all. Work has taken up the most part of my last two weeks; hence the Labour Day break on 1st May was much needed. Some of our friends met for supper on Saturday night (29th April) - we had porridge at a place called "Da Ban" on Jalan Zainal Abidin (formerly Yahudi Road). 'Yahudi' being Malay for Jew, the road was named for the Jewish cemetery located somewhere in the middle.

We got some news today - cousin Arnold and his wife Sandy were blessed with a bubbly baby girl named Grace Christina Read. Both mum and baby are well and of course the grandparents are estatic.

The next day Sunday 30th April, we brought our little Ethan to his usual Tumbletots class now located at their new place in Prima Tanjung (Fettes Park). As usual he enjoyed himself and being one of the oldest in his class, he was busy helping the instructors to keep the toys - which impressed them greatly. Anyway, next week, we will be taking him to the next class up - for those 2-3 years old. Gosh, time flies.

We had dinner this eve of public holiday at Peppino's, the Italian restaurant at Golden Sands Hotel. Food was as usual good, they has a guest chef for the week and we were also using Jinny's Shang discount card for the last time as it expired that day!

The next day - 1st May was Yan's birthday but we didn't meet up; the party shoes being kept aside till the weekend of the 12th May (Wesak Day). That evening we were all invited to Suganthi & Suresh's place to celebrate Sureka's birthday. It was pretty enjoyable there and the lamb curry was amazing.

It was back to work on Tuesday, Mum drove herself to the hospital for her blood test - a regular event just before her session of chemotherapy. Wednesday, she went in to the ward for her sixth session. She was discharge on Friday night and the very next morning was thrust into busy preparations for Ethan's birthday function.

We had decided to celebrate Ethan's birthday on Saturday 6th May (his actual birthday is the 8th of May) and originally was to have booked Tanjung Country Club. On Thursday, they decided to insist on immediate payment in full and also refused to allow us to reduce our numbers eventho some of our guests had declined. So Jo & I chose not to go ahead with the party there and with just 2 days left, there were scarce options left. We finally decided that we could host it ourselves at home but it would depend on whether mum could cope with all the activity and work right after her chemo treatment.

I spoke to mum and she agreed to cook a dish and make all the preparations, so it was full steam ahead for our plans. Around 20+ people turned up on Saturday 6th May at 4 p.m. I will let the party photos speak for themselves.

The birthday boy oblivious of the festivities...

People standing around and well, eating!!

Mum getting things organised and re-plenishing her popular Spaghetti with Dry Laksa Sauce dish!

Sunday again and we sufficiently recovered from the busy day before to bring Ethan to his new class at Tumbletots. Luckily for us, this new class starts a little later at 11 a.m. We actually dreaded this new class as we were told it was more regimented and disciplined where the kids are lead thru the obstacles in turn - unlike the old class where the tots were given free reign to run everywhere. However, Ethan surprised us as he was reasonably good in following instructions and completed all the obstacles without much bother!



That night we had a dinner - the Sg. Ara Catholic Community Centre Charity dinner. KH and Jinny hosted us and we all had a pretty good time. Met quite a few people we knew, including - Marion Caunter (now TV host on 8TV), Alma (Eric Yam's Filipino wife who sings with a local group), Johnny (Jo's wedding dress designer who put on a fashion show that night) and many more. The main attraction of the night was a performance by Jaclyn Victor - our very own Malaysian Idol. She was pretty damn good - and I can see why she won. Many had a great time as the wine flowed freely and even Father Francis Anthony and Father Henry Rajoo both had a real ball!





Monday 8th May - it was Ethan's actual birthday and we opened his presents for him in the morning. He was quite taken by the many new things before him and set out to explore each one in turn.


This day proved to be another important day in my family's annals. Priscilla sent all an email announcing that she's 3-months pregnant! Congrats to her & Meng!

The rest of the week was routine, with work dominating the days as we again headed towards a long weekend. We took the opportunity of Wesak on Friday to go see "Mission: Impossible III" at GSC Gurney Plaza on Thursday night. We caught the midnight show after meeting the gang for coffee at Dome. The show was all action which shielded the weak storyline well. Can't seem to bring myself to like the main character knowing now that he's played by that freaky scientologist.

Anyway, today is Wesak day. We spent the whole day at home with Ethan. Took him for our usual walk this evening and I must say, the day had been relaxing and more enjoyable than I thought likely. I'm looking forward to the events of tomorrow - an early Mother's day lunch as Jo's mum has to be away on Sunday; and of course Jinny & Yan's birthday celebrations. Till then, see ya!

The one about maids...

Well, tonight, we said goodbye to our Indonesian maid of 2 years. Ida had been with us since before Ethan was born and frankly, we had gotten used to her. Her work ethics are as good as they come. But most importantly, Jo and I believes that she really loves Ethan.

Needless to say, tears flowed as she said her goodbyes to Mum and finally to Ethan at the airport. We had hoped she could stay on but her family commitments in Indonesia did not allow her to assure us that she would come back. Our new maid had been with us already for the last one week. We call her Yati and she does look a lot older than her "official" age. Anyway, Yati certainly does not measure up to the high standards Ida had set for us. Its going to take a lot of getting used to another person and her methods.

Our drive to the airport just now was a surreal experience. Somehow it felt sad and emotional. For Ida, she certainly is leaving behind her "best friend" for the last two years - Ethan. I hope Ethan won't miss her too much however. He is so used to having someone chase after him and knowing his likes and dislikes. Having someone able to handle Ethan does free us both up to do our own things.

We brought Ethan along for the drive and he was a little perplexed as to why we were out at night. As we reached the airport, Ethan was standing in his regular spot beside Ida at the back; I looked back thru the rearview mirror and noticed Ida wiping tears from her eyes. It was touching eventhough Ethan seemed oblivious of it all.

At the airport, the boy was having a grand old time running around the wide open spaces. Ida's luggage was overweight and the poor woman had to pay extra for that. It was pretty painful. Anyway, finally with all things sorted out, we bid her farewell. She gave us a glimmer of hope, saying that if we could be patient, she might be able to sort out her affairs at home and would be willing to come back if we would have her. At the moment, I think there's no question, we will want her back but the eventuality is still far off. So, she's gone. We'll all miss her in many ways but I think she'll probably miss Ethan most of all.

Whatever it is, she's given us a lot and genuinely cared for Ethan. For that I thank her and wish her all the best wherever she is.

The one about football...

This weekend I had an overload of football. Watching the beautiful game that is, and NOT playing it!!

The hectic week that was ended with me completing a few urgent tasks to the satisfaction of all. So needless to say, I was looking forward to a good weekend (to recharge my energies for the equally hectic week ahead).

There was firstly the Bar's Annual Futsal Tournament. For the uninitiated, "futsal" is indoor soccer played on an artificial pitch usually by 5-7 persons per side. Jo & I brought Ethan there and of course the little fellow's proud dad had to insist he was wearing his full Liverpool FC outfit! Of course he made an impact with the people there especially the girls. Still it didn't take long before Ethan made himself heard as he quickly got bored of the scene and wanted to move on.

We got back, rested then Jo & I went out to church as usual before dinner. This weekend, our dinner was with Jinny & KH at the swanky steamboat place "Flame" on Gottlieb Road. Mel, Stacy & Naomi joined us too adding a bit of 'colour' to the night - what with Naomi dressed in her pink hat and pink overalls which her Aunt Jinny bought for her!

Our night continued next door at the new watering hole "Bagan". There was a live jazz band there with Leonard Selva playing on keyboards. Leonard was our organist at our wedding! He's obviously talented, shining thru the pretentiously loud lead singer Feroz. That effiminate diva-wannabe had a passable voice but irked me with his heavy "put-on" accent and "show-girl" moves. This place Bagan has that very "snooty" feel about it - somehow everyone has that air of uptightness so often associated with the "rich and famous". Even the service staff rub me the wrong way.

That night, Liverpool played and beat West Bromwich Albion 2 - 0. Missed that match. However, we got home almost in time for the great Spanish League match between arch-rivals Barcelona & Real Madrid. I started to watch but alas, Morpheus has other ideas. Anyway, it ended in a 1 - 1 draw.

Tonight I caught two other matches - Manchester City was beaten at home by Middlesborough 0 - 1; while West Ham & Charlton drew 0 - 0.

I'm tempted to watch more Italian and Spanish league matches but tomorrow morning its an early start for me as I will take mum to the hospital for her 4th cycle of chemo. Last Friday, I was with mum as she met the doctor at the clinic. We were hoping to get the results of her cancer marker test but that was not due back yet. So there's nothing new to report there. The doctor did say it was a good sign that she was responding well and not unduly affected by and side effects. The prayers continue.

The one about the quiet week...

Yes, its truly been quiet - at least socially. Work in the office has been my main concern the past week. Guess the fact that its been picking up must be a good sign, business wise. All I know is that I've hardly had time to have a proper lunch let alone enjoy my simple pleasures such as blogging.

Anyway, since my last blog entry, there hasn't been much to tell. The weekend of 25th March, some of us went for a nice dinner at the Shang. That hotel's going to change its name to Traders Hotel soon. Its fast becoming a very expensive executive business class place. Luckily, Jinny had vouchers - so we got a 50% discount.

Jo received a call from talent agents Famous Artistes fron KL. They had shortlisted Ethan for a part in a TV advert to be made for the Vietnamese market. However, we had to bring him down that weekend itself. We were in two minds about dragging the little guy down for a "screen test" and then again - if he was successful - for the actual filming which was to be on the 30th and 31st March. We were just wondering exactly how Vietnamese does Ethan look when Jo got a call back from the agents informing us that their Vietnamese counterparts had rejected our boy as he was a little too fair! Oh well! We were of course kinda pleased he was considered in the first place. Such vain parents!


Anyway, we attended Tumbletots again on Sunday - significantly enough, it will be the last time at the 1-Stop Midlands Park Complex as Tumbletots will be moving to better digs at Prima Tanjung (opposite Island Plaza). Seems the place will be better and more open.


The week of 27th March started out the same way the week before ended. Busy, busy, busy. Just hoping this all translates to a more stable income for us. Sigh!

The one about family connections...

The wonders of blogging. I'm sitting at the Segafredo Cafe waiting for a meeting and taking a quite time out to blog. Its amazing what blogs can achieve and that's been made abundantly clear to me this past week.

Last week hasn't been eventful on the social front. At long last I made the appointment to see the Chiropractor. The branch at E-Gate (next to Tesco's) was new. It's about time I fixed my bad back and the visit proved rather fruitful. Dr. Steve Karner found that I have a mild prolapsed disc on my third lumbar. In English, I have a mild slipped disc and it needs to be fixed one way or another. He suggested to try therapy as opposed to the alternative - which is surgery. Ok, no contest there.

After a one and a half hour body bending session, I gotta admit, it did feel better and at least I could walk straight. I scheduled another therapy session the next day at their Pulau Tikus branch.

The week passed quickly what with the office getting busier. How come it always feels like all clients want their work done quickly and all at the same time? Anyway, I was looking forward to a good and restful weekend. The gang had a picnic planned but the minor heatwave we've been having put paid to our plans. So it was a leisurely dinner at Ingolf's in Hillside and then to Jinny & KH's for coffee and chat. The rest of the weekend was fairly quiet as expected.

The interesting thing was that a few days ago, I got an email from my cousin Lionel from Taiping. Seems my Uncle William had set up a Blog too. He calls it The Dielenberg Heritage. The magic of the whole thing is that soon, my cousins jumped on the bandwagon and we have two other family blogs (Wendy & Paul Hunt's Family and Sandy & Arnold Read's Family) and Wendy has even set up a Dielenberg Family Tree website!

In one amazing swoop, our worlds have become closer. That's technology for you. I've been so busy surfing and checking out their respective blogs that I haven't really had the time to update mine. Promise I'll put in some latest photos soon, people! Meanwhile - Blog On!

Oh, by the way, Mum's gone in for her third cycle of chemotherapy today. She's fine and so far seems to have had minimal side effects. She received Aunt Peggy's prayers and good wishes on the 16th March and took it with her to the hospital. It was very comforting and I thank Aunt Peggy for that. Also for the prayer for Jo, Ethan and myself too! Catch you all later...

The one about getting the breaks...

After the trip to KL, I was ready to settle down to work. The week started with a subdued Monday. I sent mum for her 2nd cycle of chemotherapy. The side effects from her first treatment was not at all visible. She didn't lose hair nor felt tired etc. I take this to be a good sign.

Once mum was settled in I headed to work. We would have to take Ethan in to work with mum not being around. Our maid Ida has decided that she was needed back home and will not be renewing her contract. A real pity because she has been a good maid and a very valuable person in our lives. Not least, she has a genuine liking for Ethan. Now I can only hope that our next maid will be just as good.

Tuesday turned out to be an extremely busy one. Had a string of appointments in the afternoon and Jo had an appointment to meet with friends for tea.

I was looking forward to a quiet Wednesday and got my wish but in a most unfortunate way. As we were getting ready to head off to the office, I hurt my back. Now this is re-occuring problem for me and understandably, Jo was upset that I had not seen to it once and for all. It was excrutiating to say the least. I just could not get up from the floor, lying on the carpet in our living room area. Poor Ethan was given the false hope of going out - which by the way is one of the pleasures of his life! We had to unpack all our things and I slowly made my way from the floor to the room.

I knew it was going to be one of those bad ones, when even just standing, the pain just shot right down my spine. It was concentrated on my left hip but when it hurt, the whole back just gives way. Even worse, mum was to be discharged from chemo this evening and I wouldn't be able to fetch her home. I called mum to get her to arrange alternative transport from my cousin Priscilla. Luckily, Priscilla and her hubby Meng were on leave and could help out.

I spent the whole evening in bed and that night, was feeling slightly better so I brought my laptop to bed and sorted out some work. Actually, come to think of it, the type of work I'm doing now, can really be done completely on my laptop and communicated by e-mail. Most of my clients now expect e-mail correspondences and updates. So it becomes really important that I'm mobile with my work.

Anyway, all that time lying in bed made me realise that I had better do something about my bad back. An appointment with a Chiropractor would be the first thing. I certainly want to be able to go out and play with Ethan, carry him or lift him up in the air again. There would be so much I would miss just lying in bed.

Thursday was Jo's first Bar Committee meeting day. In the morning, I felt better enough to get out and we went to Farlim to meet Sue Khoon for brunch. Jo had lunch planned with her girlfriends - Nazu & Hooi Lin later so she didn't have anything to eat. We discussed Sue Khoon's wedding card details and helped her decided on several things.

Later I went to the office, after dropping Jo off at Salsa's for her lunch. Caught up with some things to sign and basically finished off whatever I had to do. My back wasn't 100% yet, so when I dropped Jo off at her Bar Committee meeting, I decided to head home for some rest. It was my chance to spend a bit of time with Ethan too. Lalitha Menon, our new Chairman, had invited the Bar Committee and several of us former members for dinner at Karaikudi's at Hillside. Jo would go there with Pravin while I would head there myself that night.

Dinner was good with much trivial banter and we left the place at around 10.30pm. Initially we had intended to go to Jinny & KH's place after for coffee and all but Jinny's relative was sick in hospital, so it got cancelled.

As the weekend loomed near, I felt the week did pass pretty fast. Even with my back injury and all. On Friday, I went to see Dr. Koay, from Pulau Tikus, known for sports injuries. He gave some good advice and some pills to help out. I made an appointment to see the Chiropractor at E-Gate on Wednesday 15th at 5pm.

Saturday, with my back still only at 70% wellness, we stayed in during the day. That night, we had dinner planned at Fusion Restaurant @ Gurney Hotel. They had a buffet there ala E&O's Wine & Dine - with free flow of alcohol. Food was fairly ok, think it was pretty value for money but nothing to really shout about. Hated the fact that there were a lot of mosquitoes there! Jinny, KH, Sue & Yan had joined us for dinner and so after that we headed next door to Chillout. Mel joined us later and we had a pretty rousing time - amidst the deafening music, discussing Yan's proposed stag night which he claims will be in Amsterdam...yes, you read right, Amsterdam, Holland.

Anyway, we left Chillout at around 12.45am cos Jinny & KH were tired out.

This morning, we took Ethan to Tumbletots. He seems to be taking on the obstacles/apparatus well and even demos for the younger kids. Later it was lunch at Jo's folks, though her mum is away in China for this whole coming week.

Its been a fast moving week and although there were ups and downs, I have developed a real good feeling about things to come. Sure, we may not always get the major breaks in life but so long as we take whatever's sent our way, I'm confident the Big Guy upstairs will reward us.

The one about winning elections...

We're back from KL. Was a pretty whirlwind trip. I was half hoping that my meeting would finish early and we could then rush home for the Penang Bar AGM. However, it wasn't to be.

March 2nd - the morning started in exciting fashion with my receiving an sms from Taryna that Sitham was calling for an informal meeting to discuss the upcoming AGM. I had two hearings that morning so I struggled out of bed, visibly tired, and finally made my way to the High court. The matters as luck would have it finished rather late and I got home to pick Jo up at only 11.30am. The meeting was at 12noon, so we headed to the office first to settle a few things before going for the meeting.

After an open discussion on several issues regarding the AGM, Jo & I started our trip to KL. Before that, it was decided that Jo would be nominated and will run for elections despite her being absent. I felt it was a risk but then with the support promised of her, we decided to go ahead. We'll see if it all works out...

The trip was pretty uneventful although we had our usual interesting discussions along the way. It was almost 7pm by the time we got into town and checked-in at our hotel. We chose to stay at the Westin Hotel - fairly new place. The whole hotel had this rather sensous feel about it, with tea lights adorning various parts of the lobby and the general lighting dimmed to create that discreet yet classy feel. The "elevator" music was easy jazz vocals, again giving the whole place a very sexy ambience.

Our room was nice indeed - the Westin being known as an "upper upscale" hotel according to its brochures and parking ticket! The usual high end amenities were present but the highlight of the whole room must be its famed and trademarked Heavenly Bed. The term "heavenly" was surely not used lightly and Jo quickly discovered what it felt like if one was to sleep on a cloud.

We went for dinner later with Celina & a friend "Chus" - full name Jesus (pronounced "hay sues") Antonio. We chose to dine at the Starhill's new Feast Village which was essentially a basement of wall to wall gourmet restaurants. We ate at Tarbush, a middle eastern place and were filled to submission with breads, rice, lamb cutlets, salads etc. We retired to an early nite - with Jo not feeling too well and my early start the next morning - as consideration.

The next day I had a busy schedule. The morning meeting went very well and I guess I got the result I was hoping for. However, the meeting ended at around 12.30pm, so the idea of leaving for the AGM in Penang was blown. I met Jo and we went for lunch before I set up another meeting in PJ at 3pm.

I dropped Jo off at KLCC, where she saw the crowds begin to gather for the organised protest on the petrol price hike. There were cops everywhere, Jo said. I got to my next meeting with a little bit of trouble, since PJ was not all that familiar to me.

The AGM was to have started at 3pm after registration and even while at my meeting, I couldn't help wonder what was going on. We had campaigned hard - calling friends old and new to vote for Lalitha and ensure some continuity and stability in the Bar. Also, to vote for Jo eventhough she would not be present.

When I got out of my meeting, I immediately sms-ed Pam and Lynette to find out what had happened. It was already 5pm then. Minutes later Pam replied that the results had yet to be announced.

However, it wasn't long before I got the final results. Lalitha had won the Chairman's post winning by 237 against 103 votes for Darshan. Pretty convincing victory after all. Jo also was voted in to the Bar Committee garnering 215 votes. Truly amazing since she was not even there! The rest - Ramsun, Ram Pillai, Guna, Fareed, Pravin made up the six members elected. Naturally Jo was elated and I'm so proud of her. Hopefully, her time in the Committee will be fruitful and exciting.

After the high from the exciting news died down, I met up with Jo at KLCC and we shopped for a while before heading back to the Hotel to get ready for dinner. Tonight, with Jo's cousin Richard and his wife Kim. Dinner was at La Bodega and we again ate sumptiously, filling ourselves with delicious tapas and paella.

We got back to the hotel around 12.30 midnight, just chilled in the room and of course lying on the heavenly bed. I dozed off to a deep sleep soon after and we awoke at 9.30am the next morning - this morning.

We did a little shopping, then proceeded to this place called Jogoya, a Japanese Restaurant at Starhill. It was recommended by Celina & Kim so we decided to splash out a little and enjoy a good buffet. Nothing could have prepared us for what was to greet us inside the deceivingly subdued looking place. We paid RM68++ each and were then escorted to our seats. As we walked to wards the buffet line we noticed and would progressively realise that the line seemed never ending! There were cooking stations of all kinds, Japanese cuisine, Chinese, Thai and Indian as well. Expensive ingredients were on display. We saw and soon tucked into scallops, oysters, prawns, crab, beef just to name a few. The desserts were also varied and there was Movenpick ice cream too. Needless to say, there wasn't enough time to savour even half of what was available. We were due to check out soon.

Jo in heaven...

Stealing a few moments on that bed again.

Finally, we picked up Jo's sister Abby from Hartamas and we entered the highway around 3.15pm. We arrived around 6.30pm, dropped off Abby, picked up Ethan and got home safe and sound. It was a good trip but we missed little Ethan and were glad to have him greet us with his usual cheery "hi"s.

Just now, we went for coffee at Coffee Bean Bellisa Row, meeting up with Stacy, Mel & Naomi and then later Jinny, KH, Ralph and Celina (she had come back to Penang for the weekend).

An eventful few days indeed and the weekend isn't over yet!

The one about food, for sustenance and for thought...

So, after the high of the long holiday period culminating in Valentine's Day, we surprisingly had a few events to keep ourselves busy and entertained.

Firstly, on Friday 17th Feb, I had dinner at the City Bayview for Chambering Pupils partaking in the Ethics Course organised by the Bar Council. I had been asked to speak at a session which was to be at 2pm on Saturday. The dinner was kinda lame and we ended the dreadfully dull night at 9.30pm. Jo and Jinny had dinner at Waka on the first floor of the same hotel so I barged in on their gossip session and hung out with them.

The next morning, Saturday 18th Feb, we had the official opening of the newly renovated Bar Premises. I was asked to emcee the event which went on without a hitch. Lunch was at Rama's "Spice & Rice" which is fast becoming a regular lawyers' hang-out. After a good (albeit pungent) meal, I headed to the City Bayview again for my lecture. Jo waited for me at Segafredo nearby. The lecture went well, seeing that no one fell asleep and most paid attention.

We dashed home after that to prepare for little Naomi's 2nd Birthday party at the Penang Club. Since it was to be a kiddies do, we brought Ethan along and I reckon the little terror enjoyed himself. The others who went were - Nazriah, Mazri with Mikhail & Mia Sara; Hooi Lin, Kenzu with Zerlynde; Carolyn; and arriving late was KC (Sue Khoon's brother) with Jay Han.

The tastefully decorated place...

Jo & Ethan with Stacy & the Birthday Girl...

The Dads and their kids...

Mums in a row...

Ethan with Aunty Carolyn's balloon gift...


Tuesday 21st Feb was mum's first appointment for chemotherapy at the GH. We were all so clueless as to how it all works, the dosage, the procedures, the effects...
Anyway, mum was admitted and the first dose was administered at 2.30pm. The drip process would be a continuous one for the next three days. Mum seemed more lethargic and bored from the whole experience when I picked her up on Thursday night than anything else. Quite remarkable considering she had almost gallons of saline pumped into her along with the cytotoxic drugs. Heh, my medical knowledge has improved and increased considerably.

Mum'll need to keep her health up and eat right to help fight this battle. The surgery only removed the tumour and we are afraid if any cancer cells may have spread into the lymph nodes. She has a good chance to avoid re-occurence with a strict chemo regime and proper diet throughout.

Anyway, after a busy Friday, Saturday came along filled with fun. In the morning we went for the Bar Annual Bowling Tournament. This was started by me some time ago and we are in the 5th year now. Not many people came although it was heartening to see Pam & Wei Lin coming to join in the fun. Ethan made his presence felt running throughout the alley and got a little restless in the end not interested in the least that his dad ended up 6th overall. This year the winner was Guan Tong which made it 5 different champions in 5 years. That just shows there are many good bowlers out there.


Jo & I had decided to use up our E&O Hotel free stay voucher tonight. So, we brought Ethan after the tournament to the hotel and let him enjoy the amenities in the room - primarily the huge bath tub. He splashed around and made a right mess of the place but had a smile on his face worth a million bucks after that.

We dropped Ethan at Jo's mum's in the evening where he would be staying overnight. We then took our time to get to mass at the Church of the Assumption in town at 6.30pm. Dinner that night was at the Wine & Dine buffet at the Sarkies Corner which as usual was fully booked. Luckily we had the foresight to call up beforehand. We met Michael Saxon again there, the guy's been promoted to Hotel Manager. Good for him. We stuffed ourselves amidst the rowdy but cheery atmosphere. Plans were afoot to meet up with Sue & Yan and Mel & Stacy at Segafredo's at Upper Penang Road at 10pm. Later, we imbibed in our drinks accompanied by lively banter on Sue & Yan's impending wedding. Mel joined us a bit later on without Stacy as Naomi fell asleep in the car.

We adjourned to S3 (the new dance bistro) soon after and were "treated" to the sight of pole dancing girls gyrating on stage in various stages of undress. The first two minutes was interesting but after that, I was more interested in the fact that Blackburn Rovers was leading Arsenal but one solitary goal. The ambience in there was noisy and lacked the edge of a good pulsating dance club. It was fairly full but the place was large enough to allow free movements which we saw from the youngish crowd moving to the music. Pretty much a "head shaking" place, i think. We all generally felt that we could get more exciting, elctrifying atmosphere elsewhere...

The next morning, we met up with Jinny & KH, Raphael, Chris & Eva with little Danielle for brunch at the Sri Bahari Road corner coffeeshop. We then went to Jo's mum's for lunch and later on home again.

The coming week will be another busy one. I suppose its a good sign for the office that I'm swamped with things to do lately. However this Thursday 2nd March, we will be headed to KL for some matters for a couple of days. Sadly its the Penang Bar AGM on Friday and we are likely to miss it cos I doubt we will make it back in time. The Bar AGM is turning into an interesting one with Darshan Singh throwing his hat into the ring. The straight battle between Lalitha Menon & Darshan is still too close to call. I will be stepping out from the Bar Committee this year after six (6) years. Its about time to put some new faces in there. Jo has indicated she would be ready to serve on the committee so I can concentrate on the business. Let's see how the drama unfolds...

The one about Valentine's...

A lot has been said about how commercialised Valentine's Day has become. I just wanna defend it a little.

First a tad of boring history on who this bloke Valentine was...

One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men -- his crop of potential soldiers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.

His memory is celebrated every February 14th by "lovers" all over the world. Many allege that businesses (florists, chocolatiers, giftshops and restaurants to name a few) take advantage of this need to express one's love and make a killing on sale of their sought-after goods or services.

If we just take a step back and see the simple romantism of the day; we can see that the significance is symbolic but the logic is inescapable. With most men still unable to outwardly express themselves to their women, its the one chance in a year that the girls get to "force" some kind of emotional projection from their significant other. True, the age of the metrosexual male is upon us and we do see many emulating the suave sensitivity of present day gentlemen but there exists in the very corners of our concrete jungles, the "real man". The guy who knows what he wants, is assured and ruthless in nature yet crumble like hot apple pie when confronted with the prospect of a mushy moment with someone he desires.

So we have Valentine's Day - the time when I see tough, no nonsense guys clutching life-size teddy bears and pretty bow-tied boxes stuffed into "Lovely Lace" paper bags; the regular clueless straight guy dressed (albeit a little "jinjang"ly) to the nines, holding his companion's arm walking along the most happening places in town and even some who are so hopelessly in love that would even consent to the idea of wearing matching clothes or T-shirts! And why not! if there's even the slightest reason to celebrate the whole concept of love, then so be it. Victor Hugo said, "What a grand thing, to be loved! What a grander thing still, to love!".

We celebrated our Valentine's at Rama's new "Spice & Rice" Restaurant along with Jinny & KH. We met Pam & Wei Lin there too with some other friends. It was a good good meal which we enjoyed thoroughly. Later we braved the jam to get to Gurney Plaza and met up with the others - Stacy, Mel & Naomi and Sue Khoon & Yan too.

Jo & I


Jinny & KH

The one about still catching up...

So Chinese New Year came and went. Nothing major happened, so I'll just let the photos tell the story...

First day lunch at Jo's parents' place




At Yan's place on 2nd day for Hockkein Mee...

Ethan enjoying Yan's dogs...

4th day lunch at the Swimming Club


Dinner at Jhen Hean's place on Friday 3rd Feb... Ethan with Aiden (Alex & Sharon's)


Quite a few events went unrecorded as I had taken a hiatus from being the regular photographer. On Jan 31st (3rd day of CNY), we had a gathering for old schoolmates at Soho's which was poorly attended. We thought at least 20 people would turn up but the number was less even including spouses. Anyway, the roll call for that night:

Kian Hio & Jinny, Raphael, Henry & wife, Woei Der & Helen, Peter Sithamparam, Mei Lee, Sureswaran, Jimmy, Tze Meng, Jo & me!

Then on Monday Feb 6th, May Ling & her hubby Francis came up to Penang and asked us all out. Unfortunately, I had a prior bowling engagement and so Jo went to join Yan, Sue Khoon & Mel as they enjoyed themselves at the new outlet "Opera".

On Feb 8th, the chinese members of the Penang Bar Committee treated the others to a dinner at the Tze Chu-Lin Vegetarian Restaurant. It was a night of talk, talk and more talk. All the planning and scheming for the upcoming AGM.

Feb 10th, we had snuck in the compulsory mahjong night at Jinny & KH's place. So Sue Khoon, KH, Jinny & I tickled the tiles till late while my poor wife sat restlessly alone watching TV!!

The next night Feb 11th, we made up to Jo for her boring night before with a fun and intriguing drinking night out on Upper Penang Road. Yan, Sue Khoon, Jo & I chatted away while the alcohol flowed freely. Mel joined us later on to round up an interesting night indeed.

Feb 12th (Chap Goh Meh) - we all had dinner to mark the end of the Chinese New Year season at the Zhong Hua Restaurant at 1-Stop Midlands. It happened to be Thaipusam time as well and amidst the hustle bustle we sat down to a fairly mediocre meal but great company. All eight of us were there (Raphael & Carolyn missing).




That brought the Chinese New Year holiday break to an end. Have managed to catch up with the posts with just Valentine's day and events after that still to go. Will truly catch up soon! Till then...