A tribute from a son to his father ...

Yesterday, as many others ushered in the New Year with joy and laughter, a close friend of mine suffered the loss of his father. Hence, he wrote a short tribute to his dad as a token of rememberance and respect.

My Father

As I feel the keyboard under my fingers tip, I froze at the thought of not finding the right words to describe a man you know all your life.

My father, a man I (all of us) came to respect, turned to in times of despair, looked up to for inspirations, feared (when us “angels” accidentally got into troubles) and taken for granted but most of all loves very much. A man who lived life to the fullest and having his own principles in life, who barely barge from his belief. He has been described by many as being bold, brave and courageous but most of all for having a heart of gold.

Growing up, we often took our parents discipline, lectures and nagging as a form of disagreement in view or of irritations, only to realize how valuable those lessons are when we are on our own. There is just too many lessons that I have learnt from this man and I can’t think of any better than the following to epitomize the person that he is…………

(1) 12 or 13 yrs old I was, often after reading the newspaper, my father would cut out articles in the paper of peoples (regardless of race) appealing for donation or charity due to illness and disasters. He would then take RM30-50 and with the article, pass to his friend who happens to work for the papers to help submit his donation. Being the smart-alec at that time, I used to think that is a silly thing to do as the people are asking for ten and hundreds of Ringgit, how can a mere RM50 help them. Showing lack of wisdom, I told him what I thought and that day change the way how I feel about charity. My father told me that we human being must help each other whenever we can cause not everybody are as lucky as the next person. My contribution may be small but if the required people do the same, then a life might be saved and that is priceless. I always remember this saying; “If you can, always offer an extra place for someone during dinner, why waste leftovers when you can finish everything by sharing”.

(2) I have always admired my father for the many friends that he has, whenever he goes, there’s bound to be someone he knows. He has helped quite a few and a few has come to help or offered it when he did not even ask for it.

One day after school, I was having some problem with a friend and I complained to him that I do not want to friend this person anymore. Instead of being supportive, he taught me what being a friend is all about. Apart from family, one can’t live without friends, especially close friends. Making friends is easy but having good friends is not. Not only you have to respect, believe and be kind to your friends but the most important thing is to be honest to them. Sometimes your honesty may not be well received and may even be harsh but as long as you are true to yourself, then you have done what you can as a friend. Always remember that it is better to be told that you can be trusted than to assure people you can be.

As your last journey end at heaven's gate, your next chapter will begin ...

Your son,

Alfee

May you find rest and peace Alfee Sr. God bless ...

Station 1 Cafe @ Taipan, USJ

Hey fellas, it’s been a while eh. Well, I’ve been busy. Busy having a good time that is. Heh heh. :P

Well, Friday night’s BC was a BLAST. It was super ‘interactive’ to say the least. Wanna know what I mean … come and see for yourself this Friday.

Went to Station 1 Café with Alfee, Juls, Ping and SY after class. We ate, drank and laughed the night away to the melodies belted out by the 2 piece live band. Ping even ended up having her face washed with some ice cold Carlsberg that night … good times peeps … good times indeed. Next round … Las Caretas … just like the ol’ days. :D

Happy B'day Big Guy :)

Last night, the gymrats gathered at Starbucks Taipan to celebrate a certain '28' (give or take 13 years) year old's big day. List of attendees included the b'day boy of course (Alfee), Juls, Lorraine, Su Yee, Alex C, Johnathan, Annie, Ping, SY and meself. Can't believe I forgot to take a group photo but if you insist on seeing one, pls make your way to Su Yee's blog.

We got him a Nike 90 gym bag and a slice of chocolate brownie with thick chocolate sauce and melted marshmallows poured heavily on top. B'day boy was generous enough to fork out moolah to vengefully inject our bloodstreams with loads of caffeine and sugar though. Aiks ... looks like the lot of us need to hit the gym again tomorrow no? Hehe. We sampled their Strogannof Pie (Sheperd's Pie but ala chicken) and Passion Fruit cake. The pie was kinda good with the hard pie crust holding in the creamy black peppered chicken stew. As for the passion fruit cake ... well, I wouldn't recommend it since it gave a very artifical sweetened taste. Bleh. Me no like and SY seconded it.

But as they say, it's the company that matters most and I guess we all had a great time catching up again. :)

Oh and that last photo shows Alex C on one of his better days. :P

X'mas came and went

So how was your X'mas celebration this year? Was it good? Fantastic? Magical? Dissapointing? Boring? Well, if it's all good, then hooray for you. If it was not, well, there's always next year and the year after that and the year after that etc. Heh heh.

Mine was nothing spectacular. X'mas eve was spent having dinner at my uncle's place in Bkt Damansara. It was a pot luck party and food was aplenty. Roast beef, spaghetti, pork roast, creamy mushroom soup, steamed chicken, roast duck , stir fried prawns are just to name a few. Oh just so you know, I had SIX roasted duck drumsticks. Hahaha ... crispy & salty on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside ... simply YUMMILICIOUS!!! Oh oh ... and I drank soooooooo much wine. Haha ... wine makes this blogger happy. *Hic*

After that, went over to Steph's friend's place in USJ. Saw Wen made a bucket of sangria (wine + vodka + citrusy fruits) and it was oh so GOOOoooOOOd. Pictionary and Taboo were on the agenda and with the influence of the potent sangria, we had tonnes of fun. Haha. Jason was there with his Canon DSLR and a spanking new RM3k+ lens, so he was pretty much trigger happy the entire night with his camera. The rest obliged and shamelessly posed for photos. :D

On X'mas day itself, I went to church with my family and as usual had breakfast at a nearby mamak restaurant in Glenmarie. One of my uncle actually 'bungkus-ed' a serving of 'char siu' from a chinese restaurant behind and sneaked it into the halal mamak joint. All the sneaking was worth it though as it was one of the best 'char siu' I've ever had. So succulent & so flavoursome ... just the right amount of lean and fatty meat ... coupled with the thick sweet sauce ... it was divine!!! No wonder the seller bestowed the title 'Char Siu Wong' a.k.a 'Char Siu King' upon himself. A well deserved title indeed.

Went home and some relatives dropped by. Opened gifts soon after before heading to my uncle's place for a late lunch. Dinner was with some old friends at Marche, The Curve. It was good again to catch up with this bunch of lunatics and it was a memorable night indeed as Alban and Estee announced their engagement. Congrats to the both of you ya. :D Who would've thought that they would be the first in the gang to get hitched. Really happy for them. Went for an after-dinner-coffee at Starbucks. Later, some of them went for AVP2 while the rest of us headed home. Yes, some of us actually have to work the next day damnit!!!

The photos above depict some of the gifts I received this year. Su Yee and Alex C gave me a hand towel and Counterpain *Hahaha*, Eng Guan with the glow-in-the-dark lembu wrist rest pad, Ping with the bitter dark Beryl's chocolate from Langkawi, Derek with the keychain from Thailand and the Taiwan fridge magnets from Juls.

Well, at least there's New Year to look forward to no? You got any plans? I might be having a pot luck party at my place ... anyone out there interested? Haha. Till then ... take care and adios peeps.

Quick update ...

Oh my, with the holiday season approaching and with tonnes of work still unfinished ... 24 hours in a day just ain't enough. So what have I been up to recently ... let's see ... I went X'mas shopping. Mostly for gifts to be given out to family and friends. Oh and I caught National Treasure 2, Book of Secrets as well. Pretty decent movie if you ask me. It's more of a combination of The DaVinci Code and Indiana Jones. A fast paced movie that keeps the action going non stop. I like! Catch it if you have the time.

Managed to spend more time with my family as well which is a rarity nowadays. Took them out for dinner at a Korean restaurant and it was all good. Caught up with an ol' friend over dessert at Delicious Cafe and we reminiscenced over memories from the past. Hahaha ... talking as if I'm a 60 year old. :p

Went over to my cousin's place as well since she organised a pre X'mas luncheon. Food was scrupmtious but more importantly, it was the company that mattered most.

Ooo ... I went again to Pavilion on Sunday. Had lunch with Steph at Starhill's 'foodcourt' and opted for Spanish cuisine. The chicken paella, the spicy prawn pasta, the field mushroom soup with pinenuts ... oh and the Sangria ... simply yummilicious!!! The atmosphere was superb as well. Two thumbs up from me. And atthe concourse area, Nike was having some sort of advertising by getting a few bozos to pose as mannequins. So these guys simply dress up in Nike's attire and accessories and posed. I guess the only movement allowed was blinking (refer to pic above). Really tempted to go tickle them ... haha.

I guess that's about it for the time being. Will probably blog again after X'mas, so till then, do take care and HAPPY HOLIDAYS peeps!!! This the season to be JOLLY!!! :D

Early X'mas Pressie from Ping

Got an early X'mas gift from Ping yesterday. It's a li'll X'mas bear and pressing it's leg would not only light it up, it'll also croon a couple of X'mas melodies too. Really good to get me into the X'mas spirit. Fa la la la la. Hehe. Well, as you can see from the photo above, she got me a bumper sticker as well and I really do not think I can pull it off. Seriously. If I put it up, one day surely kena hentam nicely wan. Hahaha. :p

How're your X'mas preparations coming along? :) Ho Ho Ho.

Long time no see hor ...

Waaaaaaa … it’s been a while since I updated hor. A couple of things have kept me busy. Work, classes, visit to the doctor for physio treatment, lame attempts at trying to learn the new BC choreo … etc.

Ok let’s see where to begin … hmmm … ok, I went for the Cardio Wave training. So technically, I’m able to teach a Cardio Wave class if there’s a need for me to do so. After the training, we (namely, Su Yee, Alex C, Alexander, Jack, Ping, Annie, Johnathan, Brian, Ming, Jane, Lorraine, Juls and I) went over to Eng Guan’s lavish pad in Mont Kiara for a pot luck party of sorts. Food was aplenty and on the menu were vegetarian curry, noodles, KFC, nasi lemak, pizza, brownies, cakes, drinks, booze etc. We had a blast and by the time we left Eng Guan’s place … it was already past 2 a.m. Oh yea ... Alexander gives good massages and that's all I'm gonna say about it. Don't ask!!!

On Sunday, I attended an ex uni mate’s wedding dinner. It was held at Noble House, a posh Chinese restaurant off Jalan Imbi. Food was good and with free flow wine and a chance meeting up with ol' friends, it was a night to remember. As more wine were gulped down, the laughters grew louder and the unnecessary 'yam sengs' more frequent. Hehe. Oh yea ... Many congratulations and my best wishes to Eunice and her husband, Edmund. May their future be blessed with all things good that life has to offer. So next time I go over to Hong Kong, I'm assuming free accomodation thrown in ya. :p

On Wednesday night, Jon shot out an invitation to all in his class for a movie outing for Enchanted. So in the end, a couple of us made our way to Pavilion coz we couldn't get tickets anywhere else. The five of us (Jon, Alexander, Cress, Juls and I) squeezed into Jon’s sporty Neo and because we only have like 20 minutes to get from Sunway to Pavilion, Jon zig zagged through the KL traffic like a bat outta hell. Oh yea ... we gobbled down McDs in the car as well … the food, the speed, the adrenaline, the crap we talked about … it was really FUN!!! Hahaha. And you know what, we made in just in the nick of time for the movie. Yes, we ran like ‘siao’ from the car park lot to the cinema but who cares, again ... it was all part of the fun. The movie is well … nice. I like happy endings, so a romantic / comedic fairytale movie like this was just what I needed after a hard day of work and class. Would've been better if YOU were there though. Hehe. After the movie, we took a leisurely walk to Jalan Alor for supper. We soaked into the KL nightlife atmosphere and it was truly enjoyable especially since it’s been a while since I actually walked along the Bukit Bintang area at night. I feel all touristy ... dunno why. BBQ chicken wings and fried carrot cake were on the menu … yummmsss. :) A slow relaxing cruise back to Taipan and we bid each other goodbye and goodnight. A nightout like this was what I really needed. Thanks guys. :)

The many faces of Chewbaca II

Haha ... have fun with these peeps. :D Hohoho.

Belated B'day Outing

Last Saturday, I had a belated b'day celebration of sorts with a few of my college and uni mates. Dinner was set at The Banquet @ Bangsar Village II. As usual, service there was excellent and the food was good as well. We talked and caught up with each others' latest happenings. They gave me RM120 worth of MPH vouchers and I should really find time to catch up on my reading. Still have a couple more unread books at home left on the shelf collecting dust at moment. Sigh ... time oh time ... where art thou???

Anyways, after dinner, we made our way to Alexis and if you're in Alexis, you SIMPLY MUST HAVE THEIR SIGNATURE TIRAMISU. It didn't dissapoint. In fact,it was really really delicious. Some may find it a tad too sweet but not moi. Loved every single bit of it. Do try it if you happen to be in the area. :) Just remember to hit the gym the next day. Haha.

TF BC Tuition

After a back to back class (in TF Taipan and My Fitness), I led Joey H, Joey W and their friend, Jamie (I think) to Jaya33 for our BC tuition. Terence (BC HT) was already there and so was the rest ... namely Alex C, Su Yee, Jon Low, Abby, Jun Yin, Emma, Jo, Nicholas and Cheng. We were drilled non stop ... sets after sets of jabs, uppercuts, hooks and our kicks which included the sidekicks, knees and the backkicks. Boy it was tiringly excruciating!!! A quick summary recap on the essence of each individual tracks for the latest release followed suit. I wasn't listening much since all I could think off was FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD!!! Somehow, all I wanted at that time was nasi lemak.Yummmmsss and I suggested it to the gang. They were all up for it and so we headed to the food court at Jalan 223 and devoured. There were ten of us all together and binged we did!!!

On the menu were nasi lemak, otak otak, roti planta, roti bom, roti pisang, roti tissue, sotong etc. Really good stuff and of course, enjoying it with good friends always helped work up the apetite. I guess you can see from the photos above just what a blast we all had. Sometimes it's the simple things in life that brings satisfaction and it works on so many levels. Hope you had a good night too :)

P.S. Only managed to get 3 hours of slumber last night before doing this morning's 7 a.m. class. Luckily Emma was there to take 4 tracks off me. Now in zombie mode. Stay away from me if you know whats good for ya. :p

25 no more ...

Yesterday, I surpassed a milestone in my life … I bid goodbye to the quarter of a century mark. Yesterday … I turned 26 years young.

The day began early enough … a 7 a.m. class in TF, Hartamas. Somehow, despite having to wake up at an ungodly hour, the day seemed a li’ll brighter and the singing birds a li’ll chirpier. That’s because I took the day off. Hence, not having to rush to work after class and having the rest of the day to chill simply plasters a silly grin on my face.

Before the class started, a couple of the regulars began taking up their favourite positions in the studio. Carol was one of ‘em and she presented me with a gift wrapped in a Hard Rock Café bag. Inside, was a fine box of Marks & Spencer’s Belgian Finest Chocs. I felt so appreciated. :) Anna also remembered and told me that she just had to come to wish me a Happy Birhday. Are they not the sweetest bunch … :D

Since I had free time, it was the perfect day for me to get some errands done. First off, I went to get my hair trimmed. After that, it was off to the acupuncture center to treat my right arm. It seems to be getting better, so I guess the physician, Mr. Huang knows what he’s doing. Subsequently, I went over to Fitness First to meet up with Klevin to hand over some documents. 10 minutes later, I was out and got myself prepared for my lunch appointment.

Lunch was at Rakuzen with Steph. She booked a table and it was good thinking on her part too since the place was pretty packed with the office lunch crowd. As always, Rakuzen never disappointed as the food and service was excellent. We both went with the bento set … Steph opted for the beef steak while I had the silver cod. Both deserved two thumbs up. That wasn’t all, I even got a gift from Steph and it was a Stardust novel by Neil Gaiman. It held a significant sentiment for the both of us and it’s for us to know and you to find out. Haha.

Went home after that to rest for a bit and later had the chance to meet up with Steph again to give her a ride to the Toyota Service Center to retrieve her car. From the center, we adjourned to a nearby car workshop to get her front and rear number plates fixed. Why it needed fixing??? … well, only the third alphabet on those plates turned yellow while the others remained white … and this seems to annoy everyone who laid eyes upon it. Hehe.

Dinner was with my family at Shabu Shabu, Bandar Puteri Puchong. It was my first time there and I was pretty impressed with what I saw. Almost everything served was on a conveyor / kaiten belt like the ones you see in Jap sushi restaurants. You simply take them and dunk it into your individual steamboat pot. Food variety was aplenty and as peak dinner time drew closer, the place filled up with eager hungry patrons.

At home, I had a cake waiting for me. It was a Tiramisu and of course, there’s the customary b’day song, candle blowing and cake cutting. It may be a li’ll embarrassing but it just wouldn’t feel like a b’day if this tradition was to be broken in my family.

Final stop for the day was to be in Starbucks where I met up with the gym kakis. Who was there ... let's see ... Steph, Julian, Ping, Brian, Su Yee, Alex C, Jack, Eng Guan, Alexander, Annie and Johnathan Y. We had a great time there ... joking and laughing shamelessly. Don't think the other customers fancy us too much. Hehe. Even had a b'day song there as well. Good times peeps.

All in all, this year's b'day had been a blast and celebrating it with all the special ones in my life made all the difference. You know who you are and to you I say ... ARIGATO GOZAIMAS!!!

Mini celebration at Starbucks

Another early pressie ... this time from Ping Ping

Yes guys ... DROOOoooOOOoooL. Haha. For my b'day, Ping Ping went through all the trouble into making me this Trinity Brownie ... coz she knows I'm a foodie ma. Why trinity you ask .. well, simply because it consist of three layers of niceties. At the bottom, you get the semi soft cake-like layer ... it's chocolate and sinking one's teeth into it's divine texture sends my taste buds into a tantalizing frenzy. The middle section is made of sinfully sweet peanut butter and fluffy marshmallows ... and the top most layer is the where all the treasures are ... we have Toblerone, Hersheys, Mars bar just to name a few. Put all these together and you have a brownie worth killing for. I can tell some of you are already calculating how many RPM classes you need to push for to exorcise all those dreadful calories from this ... well, I can guarantee you that it's WORTH IT.

Something this good and even maney can't buy ... sigh, life just isn't fair huh. Well, start weeping then ... muahahaha!!!

Ping Ping ... domo arigato. You d best!!! :D