Urban Tribal Teaching

Here's a list of trivial stuff that I hope will be passed on for generations..... :) :)

1. When the morning traffic is good (like the past 2 days) there must be some major events happening - school holidays etc and in this particular week it is the UMNO General Assembly.

2. When there is a holiday in Selangor, forget about getting to KLCC. Usually the morning traffic to KL will also be bad (wonder why?!).

3. If there is a holiday in KL, forget about getting to Mid Valley.

4. If there is a traffic jam on the highway etc, rest assured that most of the time it is not serious but only some "kepoh chee" taking a look and writing down the car numbers for 4D.

5. On a similar note to (1) don't bother to get to PWTC/The Mall/Pan Pacific when the UMNO General Assembly is on. If you are planning to get a hotel booking around the same area, be prepared to book 1 year ahead. I was told hotels around this area has a totally different cycle to their occupancy rates too.

What a blessed weekend :)

I remember worrying about what to do? How to behave? What to say? But somehow this time round I just went ahead without much analysing or preparation other than praying about it (I have to confess prayer was treated like some last resort/"one for the road" kind of preparation instead of having faith that prayers move mountains - how little faith I have :(

Our CCF Group went to Rumah Hope last Saturday. It was really eye-opening and really warmed my heart to see little friends who are so full of energy and happy despite coming from rather challenging background.

It reminded me of the essence of a simple life. All a person ever really need in life are very basic things - food, shelter and companionship. And of course God. I don't think our contribution was much but the fun and laughter that the kids gave me was really great. We sang and played some games and kids being kids some are naughtier and some are very timid. Somehow I have this nice feeling in me that I can't pin-point, probably it is a bit of a refreshing experience in my rather uneventful working life. Haha.............


It's not me, it's not me
Somehow Murphy's Law has a way of making its presence felt.

"Dub....dub....dub.....dub, sounds of heartbeat gettinig louder, beads of sweat forming on forehead, ears start to turn red and hot, palms start to sweat and eyes start to turn blurry......"

Not quite so dramatic but yeah, while manning the projector, the DVD I was trying to play for the speaker stalled twice on the same spot. Having a separate disc didn't help much too as it also stalled at the same spot. I was looking rather helplessly at the "Multimedia Expert" and hoping maybe somehow he could work some miracle to help me out. After a few tries we just had to accept that it couldn't be help.

21 Feb 2004, KK

It would qualify as the most relaxing wedding dinner for us.....cos the spot light is now on my PARENTS.

Rightly so I supposed, since most of the guests are their friends.....apart from relatives, I only have 1 table for my school mates from S M All Saints.

Dad was gonna sing a song for my entry to the ballroom.....mom almost freaked out and tried her best to talk dad out of it. But it turned out really good and dad got quite a few good pat on his shoulder. The dinner was great, dad gave a speech instead of me - kinda weird but thot it was ok since we had like 3 dinners anyway and I gave mine in KL so we thot it was kinda ok too for dad to do it since the guests are mostly their friends and moreover I have been away from KK since 1992.

We had the dinner at STAR (Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort), was fabulous and great. The decoration and arrangement were so nice (thanks mom). The dinner was splendid (thanks dad). Got a complimentary Executive Suite too for 2 nites. Wow I have to say it was the best room you could get other than the Presidential Suite.

Huge suite, sea view, long bath, vanity top that was like 10 feet across, make-up station for the ladies, separate common area & dining area, all the branded toiletries from Aigner......best of all we could trash the room and it will be all nice and clean when we come back. Had room service for breakfast....mmmmm so nice......the taste of such luxurious life does get addictive......

And that, is the end of our marathon wedding dinners.....sweet dreams..........

14 Feb 2004, KL

The whole thing began with an even bigger bang on my head. Actually the street poster was staring at me when I was stuck in a traffic jam along Federal Highway. Le Tour de Langkawi is gonna pass through KL on 13 and 14 Feb and many roads.....MANY ROADS will be closed for that event.

14 Feb 04
Couldn't sleep much the night before, was quite excited. The "chee mui" were quite kind to me when I went to pick up my wife. Nothing much, they made me ate some unripe bananas, sang a song (but had to resing a few times because it sounded like I was "pulling a cow up the tree") and made me promised to take good care of my wife. Things went on ok so far. Then it dawn on me, quite a few guests were stuck in traffic jam, because some roads were closed off in stages. Praise God everything went on fine. It was a wonderful event, thanks to my wedding planner who did an amazing job arranging and taking care of everything. And also a lot of help from the CCFers too. But the journey back to Puchong was taking me 2 hours.....it would have taken 20 mins on a normal Saturday.

Dinner started late because most guests were trapped in traffic jam. Luckily most guests were having a good time catching up with friends and chit-chatting. The food was great. By the end of it.....we were all so tired. But the sense of relief was so great, 2 out of 3 done. The last dinner in KK was relatively stress free for us because my parents were coordinating it. But then again it was the largest of all 3 dinners.

Next stop......back to KK for the final dinner.

8 Feb 2004, Butterworth

6 Feb 04
The whole episode began with a bang. Parents, brother and relatives all flew in from KK for their bus trip to Penang on 7 Feb. Imagine the logistics of coordinating the time, air tickets (thanks to AirAsia, the hole in my pocket was somewhat smaller), transport around KL and accommodation in KL. A simple thing like having dinner is suddenly amplified by the number of people involved. Thanks to all the patience of everyone, everything went really well.

7 Feb 04
Then the trip to Penang, 1st we (CH & I) started late from KL, then we were lost because of the detour due to the landslide Bukit Lanjan. Praise God we arrived in good time. The pre-wedding dinner at my in-laws place was superb. The authentic Penang dishes they served earned tremendous reviews from my relatives and also my uncle's bro-in-law who were back together with my 3rd Uncle mom-side from Canada for a holiday.

8 Feb 04
Then dinner reception for my wife side. It was the usual chinese dinner with the karaoke all in. Pretty fun and loud.....what is an authentic chinese dinner without the karaoke and loud toasts. At the end of it was telling wife, "One done, 2 to go.....hi ho hi ho...."

Then it was back to KL to prepare for the church wedding and dinner.

Been there done that??!!......

Was talking to a colleague a couple of weeks back. She was mentioning about her preparations about her wedding next year and her predicament. Then I shared with her my wedding marathon.

So where shall I start.....the logistics. Well I couldn't wriggle my way out of any of the chinese dinners, so I had to have them at 3 places Butterworth, Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu all over 3 weekends. Quite an achievement actually. 8 Feb (Butterworth), 14 Feb (KL) and 21 Feb 2004 (KK).

It all started a year before that with the following criteria:-

1. Must be a Saturday.
2. After Chinese New Year (usually after Jan/early Feb).
3. Before July/August.

It was more for convenient sake rather than anything. And it must be God's plan because 14 Feb 2004 was a Saturday, it was after CNY and obviously before July/August.....duh!! And on top of that I scored some brownie points for being romantic.....hhhmmmm which yours truly is not always known for. Deciding the date was quite painless and we hurried on to book the church and everything.

Then the reality sets in. Logistics? Dinners? Where? Butterworth/KL/KK or all 3. Luckily we engaged a good friend of CH as wedding planner and she was really good.

Next.....1st Dinner - Butterworth.