From Sitiawan to Kuala Selangor

Moving around with Ma is not easy. As she can't walk her wheelchair has to follow her. So for a family of six one car is not enough, we need two cars to move around with her. Last weekend, the kids were away for MYF Retreat. We took the opportunity to send her home for a fortnight. The last time we were home was for the CNY. So it was an exciting journey for her. We stayed in sister's house. 

The next morning it rained. Thought of going to Lumut for a stroll but after the drama of getting the kompiang, we only made it to Kampung Sitiawan. A sad place....very neglected and unkept (so Malaysian).

The river at Kampung Sitiawan. Low tide....very dirty. People say that the roti canai here is real good. It was over crowded. We decided not to patronise it.

Ma...her happy self. Managed to skype with brother and second sis in Vancouver before I left the house.

This is Siow Huang (Little Yellow)...sister's precious dog. She is fat and spoilt...quite a brat. I heard the radio discussed about the strawberry generation in China. Siow Huang reminds me of them. Fat, bratty, bored and she doesn't smile but have the look like the world owes her a favour. Unlike Zoe who is happy and always smiling unless she is tired, lazy or got a scolding.

We returned to Seremban in the afternoon. Decided to take the coastal road so that we can stop over at Kuala Selangor. So many traffic lights. No wonder we don't take this road. Google map brought us to this place....full of tourists. The water is dirty....styrofoam packs floating around. (Sigh...how Malaysian...will we ever overcome rubbish dumping mentality??)

There are two restaurants nearby and overlooking the river. The better restaurant is overcrowded so we went to the less crowded restaurant. Took a picture of the river from the restaurant. There is a counter to buy tickets for kelip-kelip (fireflies) tour....it's RM18 for adults. Not sure how it is now...we took the tour about 18 years ago and it was quite impressive. Like looking at christmas trees along the river.

The food we ordered....I like this a lot. Used a satay stick to get the flesh out. That weekend we ate lots of seafood....sis cooked lala and clams for us.

Kam heong crab....the ones at S2 is better. So nothing great about it. It was a lot of food for the two of us. Had noodles too. Finally when we asked for the bill, we were given a RM300 bill. Checked and it wasn't ours. The waiter returned later and told us someone had paid our bill. He left us....

After waiting for a while and realising that no one cares if we pay or not, we walked up to the counter and told the boss we wanted to pay for our meal. He checked....bill not there. So he recalculated and we paid him RM77.

When we arrived the parking was quite empty. By the time we left, people were double/triple parking.

Don't think we will come here to eat again. Nothing great.

Music classes

Dan's first experience with music class was at the age of four. He didn't like it; neither did I. After 6 months we stopped.

When he was in Standard Three we decided to give him another chance Told Mrs Ong to go slow with him and exam is not our purpose but to help him have knowledge of music and to enjoy it.

His purpose of learning the piano is to exercise his stubby fingers so they grow long like the sister's and he can play the guitar. That was the condition we gave him: if he wants to play the guitar he has to learn the piano first. (one day he told us that his fingers will never be slim because Mrs Ong's fingers are stubby too).

He has never shown any musical inclination. Spends less than ten minutes to practise the piano before class. Sometimes I feel that I'm wasting money. Thought of stopping
his music class if he shows no improvement.

This year, the whole scenario changed. He was asked to play the piano for the Christian fellowship in school. Lyn and I panicked on his behalf but with some coaching from the sister, he has mastered his chords well enough to play. Then the school choir was In desperate need of a pianist. He was asked to play for the choir which was going for competition the next day. Plucked out from the class the whole day to be drilled to play chords. He survived!!! (Lyn and I sweated at the thought of him playing at the competition).

Now he is the official pianist for
the school cf. His playing is still rough but he handles the chords pretty well. He will never be a professional musician but he can handle the instruments enough to get by.

The piano is being played by both kids many times a day for the fun of making music. Both kids help each other especially in playing new pop songs. Worth getting this new piano four years ago.

Dan plays the drum at the myf too. He is picking up the guitar now. At the moment the myf is desperate for guitarists. We are encouraging him to work hard at it so he can help the sister out when they train for carolling this year end.

Whenever I pick him up from music We would be so pleased. I am pleased that my money is well spent. He is pleased that he has music skills (not talents) that is helping him in school and church and most definitely socially too.

Perseverance and patience....worth it at the end of the day.

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Long time ago before the kids came, when life was simpler....without macbook, iphone, ipod, ipad, wifi.....I used to read real books.

At the beginning of each holiday, I would go to the book store and buy a few books. One of my favourite author is Thomas Hardy. I think I have all the titles that are in the bookstores.

His books are not easy to read. The flow must not be broken otherwise it's easy to lose interest. So holiday before the kids came was the best time as I can just read on and on and on without anybody disturbing me.

I like his books as Hardy shows how women are the downtrodden species of the human race. Poverty, disappointment, class difference.....nothing has changed today.

Tess is one of his best books. I've quite forgotten the story until I saw the show on youtube. Not easy  to watch .... so sad. That's how Hardy's book is; melancholic and gray.

I'm into episode 3 now and I've stopped to blog because I'm so afraid to see what would happen next (though I know what would happen next). Sigh....the show must go on ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0Wj2rOv308&feature=relmfu

chill...

It's been an extremely busy time...this patriotic month. Decided to look at some of my old pictures to chill. Looking at pictures digitally and holding a real album in the hand is just so different. But digital pictures are very flexible and one can just do wonders with it.

Some of my favourite pictures are sceneries. Seem to have lots of sceneries of the sea. I guess it's because the sea is so close to me...PD is less than an hour's drive and when I'm home in Sitiawan, the sea is just 15 minutes away.

Below is a picture taken near Lumut the last CNY.