I'm back in Monash to start an attempt on my third piece of paper.

I enrolled in the Master of International Business program. Just doing it part-time with one subject per semester.. just to lessen the stress as I'm still working. All part of a more sinister plan though.. best not to mention here. This sem I signed up for a subject called Cross Cultural Management Communication, MGX5640. Should prove interesting. 

Hope studies will go smoothly. It has been more than three full years since I've been away from studying. Being gone that long, it makes your hands itchy to want to try it again and live a student life. So here I am, hopefully all will be done by mid-next year. 

I wonder if posting my student ID would lead my Monash account to a security breach.... hmm.

This was an interesting incident I felt worth blogging about and something good all of us to be aware off. After all, how often do we get to engage scammers? 

I was walking from KL Sentral towards the Brickfields Monorail Station when I was suddenly given what looked like a flyer by a random person in front of the Brickfields Public Bank Branch. Curious, I tore it open (it was one of those pocket, lottery style vouchers/lotteries) to see what it was about. A second man intercepted me and told me more about their "competition". Lo and behold! Apparently my voucher was one of the grand prizes, a "Super Bonus" marked with a Silver label. They even showed me a laminated card detailing their grade of prizes by colour with silver right at the bottom, indicative of a luxurious prize. Both appeared surprised, happy, made clear how lucky I was and shook my hands congratulating me. Skeptical, I asked what I've won and they referred me to an A4-sized brochure showing all the prizes offered on the left side, while the right side are 4-5 pictures of past winners posing with their prizes, some with brand new Camry's, which is apparently a "possible" item that I've won.. no guarantees, but surely something expensive like a fridge, etc. In the center of the brochure were 5 participating "companies", perhaps alleged sponsors. It even had an ISO code/rating. They told me that I should have seen this competition in the newspapers the past few days or at several shopping centres like Midvalley and Berjaya Time Square which have been heavily promoting this. I told them that I did frequent Midvalley, but had no idea of this competition. Coming back to their con job, they tried to convince me to take a taxi with them to their office in Permaisuri. I asked why they had to come along and they replied by saying that they were just agents, that they needed to accompany me to claim their own "bonuses" and that they were being watched by their supervisor nearby, hence cannot be seen letting the winners manage this "victory" themselves (like those measure they put in place in case they give these lotteries to their friends or relatives. So elaborate). They asked if I was local and if I held a local bank account and even asked which bank. I told them I had a Maybank account and they congratulated me more, explaining that this would make the prize claiming much simpler. They assured me that all I had to do is go to their Permaisuri office to collect the prize and it was quite and easy, but it MUST be today, a limited time offer to collect the prize after which it is not claimable. They pestered me non-stop to get into a cab and head off with them. 

The whole thing felt so dodgy, I wanted to bring out a few softballs and go a few rounds (dodgeball). To be honest, I did feel some amount of joy in the beginning of the smallest possibility that I did win something. Who wouldn't? I did say to my friends before that one of the only ways to ram-through the financial ceiling is by winning a big, undeserving prize and get that magical break. But logic caught up with me and I did manage to keep my greed in check. 

I suspected that the moment I tore open the voucher, they moved into their standard-operating-procedure of doing a quick immediate follow up and started their own Hollywood scene of explaining, congratulating and cunning. So, now they are done explaining their crap.. it was my turn to go on the offensive. 

I told them none of this made sense. Not going to explain why here in case the scammers pick up this post and correct their mistakes leading to innocent people getting conned, but basically none of what they did added up to what happens normally. I asked them why I needed to take a cab, as my car was nearby.. the quick reply was that it was even better but they still had to follow me. I made it clear that even that wasn't normal.. what if they had a gun or knife and rob my car? I did a google search of their five participating companies.. only one existed. They countered by saying that these were only website which anyone can create. Yeah, correct.. but not saying it is there.. I'm saying it isn't. Companies like these where got no website one?? Fail man. The next google search was my knock out punch, with the keywords "Super Bonus Scam KL". I checked out the first search result and wow, they were so busted. Here's the link http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/eat-drink-man-woman-16/went-kl-nearly-got-scammed-3395865.html. Apparently, they didn't understand English (another piece of rubbish as most of their materials were in English) so I read out the entry to them, even asked up front "So, I need to pay RM6000 GST also one right?", which they promptly and awkwardly denied. Here is another forumhttp://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1002003/+1240.

I was basically having my fun bullying them at this point.. but hats off to them for keeping their cool and not running off or breaking down and cry. They kept their poker face and insisted all of this was legit and even daring to write down his number, probably real, asking what time I would be free and if I changed my mind to call him back, that he will be still around if I thought about it and became more convinced. 

At that point, they abruptly walked-off unhappily, going back to trying to con other people. Both these men were Chinese, one dark skinned around 30-40 years old while the other one was fairer and looked between 20 to early 30s - yep, pretty young. A quick read of the Low Yat forum would reveal that their office does exist and that they do give you a "prize" via collection and delivery. But whether you gain more than you paid, that's another question. 

Hence, BEWARE people. Prior to this, I've never heard of scams like this before (plenty of internet scams though), yet alone dealt with them, so I really thank God my brain was working when it needed to be. Anyway, since you now know.. do engage them in confidence and have a round of fun.   

How the insides of the voucher looks like

“..If you are true to your values, if you believe that your values are correct values, then walking away from the dark forces that you’re faced with in life just doesn’t become an option.” - Ron Dennis to Aryton Senna awhile after the latter was disqualified from the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix under grossly unfair circumstances. 

I think it's funny when people tweet or submit post on Facebook from famous Christian authors about some Godly-inspired quote. Though these authors give a good perspective and insight about the Word, it isn't the word. Why can't people just post straight from the Bible? I've never seen people post.. "So and so quote - Jesus Christ", when that should be the MOST obvious thing to do. 

Realised it? Food for thought. 

It does not always go according to how we planned. There are many inconveniences and unexpected things. Time is wasted and effort is wasted, followed by frustration. These things can make one question the whole point of life. Buddha's answer to all the suffering is to deny oneself, pretty good. Similarly, Jesus simply ask us to give up everything and take up the cross, which technically also means to deny oneself. Yet, there is still the human intuition to strive and to go further, despite the relatively simple advice given by the divine. 

In life, we'd always want the best in everything. Hence it is ideal to give our best (though out of laziness we do not always do) and not hold back.. and try to accept the consequences whenever and if ever things don't go the way we've planned. When we want the best we accept the risk, forgoing the thoughts of potential failure and just go with it trying enjoy the moments as much as we can, as best as we can. 

It is irrational. That's the story with most of life.. trying to manage a pointless situation. Why do we exist just to struggle, why to we bother finding meaning in life, why do we bother falling in love? Wouldn't be easier if we did not attempt such things in the first place.. avoid the inconvenience, the struggle and the pain. Why bother at all.

To rationalise, what is otherwise a meaningless, pointless struggle, we need to weigh the "returns", that is to see how it is worthwhile. 

We must first recall that the best times we all probably ever had probably came from all the "pointless and meaningless" events mentioned above. The last time you one of those laugh which literally left you rolling on the floor, is probably from from something totally irrelevant and pointless or the most meaningful of times are those where you did absolutely nothing but just needed each other to have a good time.

Then there is love, the most irrational thing of them all. Love can cancel out basic logic, practicality and common sense. Someone once said (can't cite as I don't know the original author) that love is a form of insanity - which is damn true. When we're in love, we fail to think rationally. For instance, when guys (can't comment about girls since I'm not one), chasing a girl, especially a girl who has no interest with you, but you chase anyway cause of whatever reason (usually cause she's hot).. is one of the most senseless phenomenons in existence. Remember to include the fact of getting ignored, stomped upon, downright rejected and getting treated like shit. But we do it anyway. Why? 

Simplest answer is there is no why. There is no because. There is no rationalisation why we bother going through the inconvenience, struggles and pain for something so uncertain as life. We just do it. Take love once again - we usually go through the trouble of falling in love to determine compatibility and sustainability of the relationship, then leading to the creation of life (and bring that poor soul into another vicious cycle called life). Imagine if human beings only existence is based on just that - existence. Then why bother with love and all the trouble, just have "organised sex" and planned conceptions. Why bother with marriage and long-term commitments which cost money, time and emotions. To me, the answer is as how I've mentioned earlier, that all good things usually come from something pointless/meaningless anyway - which is also THE point and the meaning itself. 

We may not understand why things sometimes happen the way it does.. and it sucks that we become one-sided and ponder only upon the bad stuff which happens in our life (but that's for the best too, it we took this much effort to ponder the good stuff also we won't have much time left in life!), but we must remember that life goes on and everything that has happened probably happened for a reason. The best is not to dwell on it for too long (but we should dwell on it for a while, otherwise we might miss the point of the whole unpleasant experience) and accept that it is part and parcel of this irrational part of life (not like we have a choice). 

God's word for us in Proverbs 3:5 (which happens to be my verse of the "season") makes things simpler for us - "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding". Don't try to figure out something which is "unfigureoutable". It's just life as how God intended it. 

This blog entry is dedicated to my first "son", Elphar, who died on June 21st, 2012, just a month shy away from his first birthday.

We picked him up from the SPCA when he was just two months old. He was really the charm of the whole litter, coat wise, making him the obvious choice. Smelly with pee on the first day, we hit it off right away with Elphar having no fears of snuggling off with a relatively new stranger. The first two baths were the easiest, while the rest - one would expect him to put up a scratchful of a fight along with the loudest puffs of growls every 5 seconds (which is a lot if you know cats). His first collar was a normal sky blue ribbon with a bell taken from a cat collar which couldn't fit as his neck was too small. The bell, became our symbolic sound of "coming toward you", as whenever we hear the bell, it would mean Elphar was jumping towards you.

In his early months, we found that he was afraid of heights, which is evident the every time I lift him close to my chest and his nails literally come underneath my skin. Like any kid, unaware of the damage he'd do, we would often ludge my on my lap, sometimes missing a grip, leaving... patterns on me. He was quite annoying in his third month of age, chewing into my toes every chance he gets. That's one of the reasons why we got our second son, Remy - so that Elphar had something/someone else to chew on.

Elphar was a social cat, which craved contact. Years of longing for a cat, I always envisioned it having one which will sit on me 24/7, curl up like a ball as I am lying down on my back and rubbing my face into that ball - just some of my weird cat-fantasies. He was never a "head-rammer", like those strays begging for food by rubbing on legs. To a great extent, Elphar was all that. We didn't teach him too many tricks, many our fault, but we did get as far as getting him to respond to his own name, where he would mew if he was hungry enough. We also managed to teach him to respond to a double-tap, where one would only need to double tap on a surface where you want him to go, and he'll be there. I did this numerous times on my tummy.. what a furr of joy I'd get just for tapping myself twice! He would sleep on top of my almost every night, for the first 20-30 minute before I start turning about on bed.

Another unique personality was that he likes wagging his tail, quite like a dog. Whenever he is happy or provoked, he'll be wagging away like a car's whipper at high speed. His tail was also bushy, though not like a persian, but still bushy for a DSH. It felt great whenever I lay next to him, just calling his name.. and he begin wagging his tail at my face. What a magical feeling. 

Like any cat, he was fussy over what food he gets, especially if he knows there something better on the shelves. But of course he'd eat whatever he can get when he has no choice. Not quite the hunter like his brother Remy, but he was nonetheless curious of his surroundings. On their first "hunting" event, where a rat was caught, despite Remy getting the credit for catching the baby-rat, it was Elphar who seeked it out. On another occasion, he did the same, though seemingly not knowing how to kill his prey. But we still loved him none-the-less.

Elphar was also a very social cat, proving to be quite an asset over Chinese New Year when we'd have guest, having no second thoughts about whoever he snuggles on. Quite a world apart from Remy who hates being "cornered".  

, 

Remy & Elphar

When we first brought Remy home, after I got charmed by his beautiful coat, he was the uncharted experience of "introducing" a new cat to the resident cat. On the first day, Elphar greeted Remy with hostility. But to our joy, after a couple of weeks, we saw the first signs of them using each other as cushions! Plus another week, we say a "ying-and-yang". They hit it off pretty well. Though at first Elphar was the "alpha male", even licking him after the first bath, Remy quickly grew in size and seemingly took over the power of hierarchy, licking him after baths instead. It did seem at one point Elphar hated the change of events, but there's little nature could do about it. Remy became larger while Elphar got longer. Sometimes I'd call Elphar "Sausage" cause he does look like one. Remy served as an ideal companion for Elphar whenever the house was empty. Prior to that, we'd surely come home to a house with a loudly mewing kitten, calling out cause he misses us. Remy was also the new "biting post", which worked out pretty well.

Left: First day with the two companions - not a smooth intro. Right: Early signs of bonding

  
Left: Just about 3 months old -in his new "house". Right: He sometimes like sleeping in my dad's socks basket.

   
Left: Elphar in "piggy bank" position, his typical pose, even as he sits on people. Right: Pure bliss when a cat sits on you.

   
Left: Remy giving age-wise big bro a nice dry lickin'. Right: Someones gonna have their balls sliced.

Final months

In March, out of insistence of my mom, who noticed Elphar's milky eyes insisted that we get a second opinion from the vet. I honestly thought it was nothing. But a routine visit to the get got us refered to the UPM Animal Hospital where we checked him in to test for three suspected diseases - FeLV (feline leukemia), FIV (like a HIV for cats) and FIP (a virus that attacks the nerves). After checking him for a week, the results came back with the most depressing expectation - Elphar had ALL of them, each unsurvivable on its own. The vets gave him just two months to live.

I was devastated. I tried keeping myself positive by telling myself that we kept him alive for 8 months so far, whereas he might be put down if he were still in SPCA, but those was just deceiving myself. Truth is I was devastated there and then with the news. It was just a matter of time before I lose a loved one. In the first month it didn't seem out of the ordinary, though we had to keep feeding him medicine - that is grabbing the fiesty cat, cracking tablets in half and popping them down one at time, 5 in total on average. Good thing he likes the taste of the cough syrup, which he downs with a syringe.

After a month, I had to go for a meeting in Melaka for three days. Upon arriving home, I met a very different Elphar. The disease had accelerated and he was no longer walking straight. But after a few days, he improved and seemed to be back to normal again. Responding to my double-taps and lying on my belly to sleep, just like old times. A couple of weeks after that, we were in Australia for 12 days. Once again, upon arriving home, a very different cat. My mom even said at one point it seemed like he didn't make it. He was severely underweight and didn't eat very much. So much so that my mom and maids had to force feed him, otherwise he might just die of starvation. Despite this worsened condition, he once again appeared to get better after a few days, gaining more energy and even running and chasing Remy at some points.

The last weekend before he died, I had a college Reunion/Anniversary trip to Port Dickson for just a couple of days. When I got home - again, the situation worsened. I sometimes get the impression that every time we're away, Elphar misses us and that gave him "lesser spirit" to fight the disease. However, this time where would be no improving. He would not down his food despite the force feeding and for a couple of days hardly moved or defecate. For the past month, he was secreting fluids down his nostrils which stained his once brilliant white chest. He was also very dry, even at one point, his jaws were "stuck".

Seeing him in so much suffering, I eventually conceded with my dad that we should put him down. An appointment was set on June 20th, 2012, but I got busy with some work, forcing us to delay things a day. For the last two days, I tried holding my paralysed cat close to my chest, ignoring the smell and just wanted to spend as much time I as could remembering how great he was. Finally, the day came. My mom, Yen Mun and I put him into a woven basket normally used for a CNY hamper to make it as airy and comfortable as possible. We told the vet the situation, of which he had been monitoring for sometime, and told him our decision. As the vet made preparations, I petted Elphar for the last times, even rubbing my face on its once fat belly. I expressed my love for him and told him that he'll be missed. We were asked to leave the room as the anesthetics were administered to lessen the pain. Then, he broke out of his paralysation and put up a heroic has fight with the vets, but was eventually subdued. We were invited back in as the "poison" was administered. It all happened so fast, just a minute after the red solution was administered, he was gone. Yen and my mom were in tears (I've NEVER seen my mom cry, not even for my grandparents) while I was just - in disbelief. Part of me wished he didn't come to the vet to end it so soon, but at the same time his suffering wasn't doing him good. But what's done is done.

He brought him home to a grave pre-dug out by my neighbour, under a "limau" tree at the slope of the hill in front of our house. There he will lay foever facing he view of which he enjoyed throughout most of his live, overlooking Taman Universiti Indah.

Son, I miss you so much. You were one hell of a good cat.

Left: The poor state Elphar was with FeLV, FIV & FIP. Right: How I want to remember Elphar - my pretty ideal persona cat. 

Slightly a month after getting a kitten, we decided to go for another one.. more to keep the other company whenever we are away as well so a form of distraction to our ever-biting Elphar. The result is a faint-tabby looking, ginger kitten we named Remy (after the Ratatouille rat). He is quite a charm! Doesn't complain about anything and seems to not mind being hugged. Here is a video of him purring (Warning: Might contain occasional scenes of partial nudity). 

It's so great to have cats all over the house! =)

 Since I could remember, I've always wanted my own cat. I sorta had one before when I was 8 or 9 years old, which was the neighbours cat which I "stole" (actually, I kept feeding and playing with it and it thought that I was it's actual master). Whenever I had school holidays and my parents basically didn't have time to take care of me due to work, I would be left with my grandparents and my cousins - their house had at least two to three cats. So my love of this animal really came from there. 

On the 16th October 2011, Yen Mun and I adopted a nice looking male kitten, which after some discussion, we named Elphar (pronounced Alpha). The people at SPCA said it was about six weeks old and it's such a joy adopting him. We paid a RM100 fee which covers most of the deworming and vaccinations (need to pay RM50 for a fourth deworming and second vaccination) which I think is a pretty good deal. The RM100 is tax deductible too. 

That visit was the third time I went to SPCA. The staff tell me there are around 3-5 kittens being delivered there everyday and about 1000 of these will be adopted. This means less than another thousand are put down every year =(. Quite a wake up call for me.. that if I don't need to buy a cat.. better to adopt to save a life. Surprisingly there are many old cats, pedigree ones which were there. So sad...

Anyway, preparations was elaborate getting the cat in. Read up a book and materials online.. all the way from food, to bathing, security, how it takes a dump and so on. Even got myself a carrier, bowl, kitty litter trays and food.. all set and invested weeks before the cat was brought in.

Elphar is quite a friendly fella.. doesn't seem to be too scared (though very cautious of surroundings). The only thing is he is very afraid of heights. I don't blame him.. so am I. Initially, I wanted a medium-hair.. which I'm not sure if Elphar is.. but I think I'll settle for him. He does have a pretty furr. Hopefully it will grow up to be even fluffier.

Whenever it is not sleeping, it is running around all over the place non-stop. It seems to have found a favourite spot in my bookshelf to nap whenever I open the carrier. When I go to sleep, since it is still vulnerable, I lock him up in the carrier. So yes, need to suffer early in the morning to let it out and play for awhile since it won't stop mewing if I don't.  I'm getting used to the routine - feed, clean, play, clean litter, clean carrier, change/wash cloth (bed) and so far one event of bathing (he smelled like pee when he first came in).  

I think we've warmed up to one other pretty well. Hope we both grow up to be best pals =)

What a been-there-done-that title for a blog entry, but one that is nevertheless true. The past three months have been pretty dramatic. For one, I've made a decision to stop working for The Boys' Brigade Headquarters due to .. some stuff probably best not to ever mention in a public domain. I've tendered my resignation in the first week of July and by the 15th September 2011, I've clocked my last day in office (though I still go back there to finish some extra work until the first week of October). This resignation is pretty unexpected and shocking, even for myself.. in the sense I cannot believe I decided to do this. During my days schooling, there will be times when I would dream of contributing in the National level for the BB. You could say that I was, quite in every sense, leaving my dream job.

But I do feel the Lord's prompting, so that gave me some assurance. Didn't have to do this with my eyes closed.

Will be starting work for the BB in Kuala Lumpur - still the dream job to a certain extent. Should be fun =)

My first time setting foot into Johor in living memory came in the form of the town of Kluang. I was there for a BB assignment to conduct a NCO Training School Coaches Clinic, essentially for the Officers. At the same time, I took time to see parts of this town. 

The most notable was the train station. Yes, haven't you heard of it? Go to Ikano and 1 Utama's New Wing. You will find a coffee shop called Kluang Rail Coffee. Well, me and Yen Mun went to the original place man!

But the place isn't much. It looks very much like any small town coffee shop. This one had a particularly "lauya" (lousy) feel to it as it was right at the train station. Lauya cause we normally associate these station restaurants and parlors to be substandard. But once you're inside the coffee shop, seeing it's dedicated employees and simple, yet charming food selection, you know that this isn't any typical coffee shop. 

One can argue how can half boil eggs, soy sauce and pepper be any different? Well, there is skill involved in getting the eggs just right too you know? Go try making them yourself and you get to appreciate process. But one cannot argue over the kaya bread. Kluang Rail has it's own unique recipe, rounded and crispy. A must try. The coffee wasn't too bad too.. but I have daily 3-in-1 Old Town's .. making this one feeling a little off par - but not bad none-the-less. 

The rest of my time in Kluang was to conduct the BB in Johor's clinic.. from 10.30am-4.30pm. Great bunch of Officers. Really excited to see the fruits from this clinic. 

By night time, 8.30pm I was back in KL attending another meeting. But what a great trip it was to Kluang, Johor =)