Exam Fever!

It has been for more than a week now. Both my children are having their mid-year exams. So they are buried in their books;looking sleepy and tired.

Everyday, as they return from school, I inquired how they did. Some days, they were happy; on others, they were downright disappointed with their performance and on the verge of tears.

My son was rather unhappy yesterday as he had to re-sit his English paper. Tomorrow will the the last day of exam for him. However, he got a fever and had to retire early. I hope he will be well to take his Living Skills paper tomorrow.

Quote of the Day:

Heartsong

Downloading Songs from the Web

My son introduced me to this world on the internet. I did not know there were so many songs that are not copyrighted on the internet. So they are royalty-free to us. Until someone takes legal action against these sites, every one will be downloading them into MP3 players.

To be able to download old songs that are no longer available in the record shops is just great. Right now I am trying to download some songs from Mark Lindsey. It is being queued for downloading now but downloading is dead slow! We need faster downloaders.

And it's absolutely great to be able to hear once more Lee Marvin singing 'Wandering Star!'

Quote of the Day:

Heartsong

The Sedap Mamak Restaurant

Killing time is an issue each time we sent our daughter for her Chinese tuition at Aman Suria. For 90 minutes we had to be creative. At first, it was sitting at Kayu's to sample their roti canai, ABC and rojak. It was expensive but the ambience was good.

We then found the adjacent restaurant known as the Sedap Restaurant. Not as swanky as Kayu's, but its prices are really to our liking. Food was good and the teh tarik was heavenly. I think it is better than the teh tarik at SS2 Pelita. The satay is good too.

Tonight we were at the Sedap Restaruant. We had our usual cup of teh tarik. Then we ordered a kambing soup and a tissue tosai. Kambing soup was a bit heavy on the ketumbar; otherwise it is okay and they are generous with 4 juicy pieces of mutton. The tissue tosai was something new. A bit costly at RM2.50, it was like eating one large love-letter.

We intend to ty their rojak next.

Quote of the Day:

Heartsong

Annual Fees Poser?

The problem with credit card these days are more cards are being given out with annual fee waivers. I thought my bank would also be giving me a waiver as I have read somewhere that they are giving three-year waivers.

After a long arduous wait on the phone, I was informed that I would have to pay for my annual fees. I then asked what would happen to my loyalty points if I should unsubscribed all the credit cards. The Customer Relations Officer suggested that I liquidate all my loyalty points before the card ends its current duration. I then should ask for a waiver; failing which it was my decision to pay the fees or cut up the cards.

So, after selecting my product, I went to the nearby bank branch and had them faxed my redemption request form. I also signed a form asking for waiver of the annual fees.

According to Jimmy, the officer at the bank branch, all I need to do is to sit tight and wait for my next statement to see whether they have entertained my request or otherwise.

Quote of the Day:

Heartsong

Depression on the Bursa?

So the market took the cue from Wall Street and went down more than 11 points. Second liners which were chased up recently lost all their gains. Look at KPS; it is at RM1.17 - a price it attained in February. Don't look at Genting-it is down to a new hellish low. RCE is holding well with very heavy volume.

There was not much change in the direction in the afternoon session. Prices went down but managed to finish off-lows. All in all, a very depressing market!

Quote of the Day:

Heartsong

Kissing a Tree

What can you make out of this picture? I got in off the web.

It shows a pretty girl hugging and passionately kissing a tree.

Why do you think she is doing this?



Practising before the heavy date? Need a hug and the tree was convenient?

Whatever it is, this is one interesting picture.

Heartsong

The Feng-shui Master

They are a breed of the own. They exists on the pheriphery of normal logic, clothing their explanations according to signs and symbols.

It is a classic case of either you believe him or not. If you do, you tend to follow his evry word as if he is God. If not, you dispense with his advice and go on following the faculty of your logic.

To each his won, so they say.

Quote of the Day:

Heartsong

A Visit to Echo Park, Shah Alam

Yesterday afternoon, we went to Echo Park Shah Alam.






A gated community off the NVKE near to the Shah Alam exit, it is already in Phase 2 implementation. Right now only 6 families have moved into Phase 1. The club house is just being built. Security is quite tight.












A enclave for the rich and well-to-do, it is 20 kilometres away. It will take you about 15 minutes to drive to PJ.

Quote of the Day:

Heartsong

Nandaemon and Tongdaemon

I went to South Korea sometime in 1998. It was for 3-weeks course. The course was good and they brought us around.

More importantly, was what did we do with the free time at hand. For me and a friend, we decided to shop at the two famous markets of Seoul. Seoul was and is a fort. At the northern gate is where the Tongdaemon open market operates. It attracts a lot of tourists in the weekend mornings. Nandaemon is th night market and so we have to go early and leave early because the light rapid transit ceased its daily operation for the day.

The interesting thing is how do we haggle on the price. We could not speak Korean and most of the stall-keepers were non-conversant in English. The shopkeepers knew we were foreigners. The will quote fantastic prices in US $ which they will show us on a calculator. So, if you need something, you will use his calculator to offer a bargain price. He will give you another price somewhere in between and if that did not work, he will mumbled something in Korean and stop entertaining us.

Anyway I bought a pair of boots for my son. His feet were too stiff to use it and so a cousin got it as a gift from us.

The Problems with Potted Plants

I have a few potted plants. some of them are kept under the shade whilst others are open to the elements. Most are hardy. some need more watering; others don't.

Of late, some of these plants are acting up on me.

Quote of the Day:

Heartsong

Wills Can be Changed, my friend

Quote of the Day:

Heartsong

So Difficult to Get Students to Study

Be thankful if you have a child who is interested in books. The curiosity bug in them has been stirred and a habit develops. They read and they learn how to question.

The art of studying is to teach them the critical analytical skills. The 4Ws and the one H questions. The four Ws are what, who,when,where and why and the H is the how.

By using this approach the would have found the keys to the knowledge maze.

Question is: How do you get those who are not into books to study? If you can get them to put aside some time just to read, you may yet ignite the interest in them to study.


Quote of the Day:

Heartsong

Using Numbers in Writings

In written copy,there are certain conventions in the use of numbers.

All you need to remember are 5 rules.

Do not begin a sentence with an Arabic number;spell out the number

Not: 82 women were caught in the vice raid but: Eighty-two women was caught in the vice raid.

Spell out any number if less than three digits(less than 101) when the number is used as an adjective modifying a noun.

Not: During the first half of the 20th century, 28 4-year colleges and 14 2-year colleges adopted collective bargaining.

But: During the first half of the twentieth century twenty eight four year colleges and fourteen two-year colleges adopted collective bargaining.

Alway use Arabic numbers with A.M. and P.M. and do not add the redundant o'clock and morning and afternoon.

Not: Jon's first class began at ten A.M. in the morning.
But: Jon's first class began at 10.00A.M.

Use Arabic numbers for dates and page numbers.

Not: The date, July fourth,seventeen hundred and seventy-six, appears frequently on pages thirty-two, forty-eight and ninety-one of the history text.
But: The date July 4,1776 appears frequently on pages 32,48 and 91 of the history text.

Use Arabic numbers for addresses, dollars and cents, decimal, degrees, measurements, and percentages.

Jacob lives in Hill Street.(address)
Tom paid $300 for his new hand-phone.(dollars and cents)
The Dow-Jones went up 69.78 points in the morning. (decimals)




Quote of the Day:

Heartsong

Cheap Sex Gets Cheaper

I don’t know whether it happens in other places but it looks like Malaysia has its share of ‘firsts’ in many odd areas.

A local Malaysian daily, Harian Metro, reported that students are selling their bodies for a mere pre-paid card top-up of 10 ringgits (US$3). Imagine that! We are really talking about basement prices here.

Modus operandi - These girl students first chat up the men on the internet and after regular telephone sex sessions, go out and do the real thing with them afterwards. All for a top-up on their pre-paid card.

A first-person's report said that most of these girls are those who have been jilted or that their boy-friends have been two timing them and in revenge, they have got into the sex trade.

Quote of the Day:

Heartsong

Why Do Girls Strip for the Camera?

Is there something that girls know and men don't?

The most probable reason I can think why they bare all for the camera is image preservation. In the prime, when their physical body are at its best, beautiful girls would like to flaunt it. Values aside, it also brings in potential advertisement dollars, modeling career or even Hollywood.

Let us not talk about hardcore pornography. These beautiful girls can act in 'softer' movies without having to get involved in the various acts. Pink movies only show actions but I believe they get involved in the act as well.

What is your take on this?


Quote of the Day:

Heartsong

Almost Totalled the Car!

It was one of those days. when things can go wrong, it can get really wrong.

I said my prayers for journey mercies and gunned the engine. Taking the short-cut through the Section 19-Section 17 housing estates, I had to turn left to proceed on a hilly road towards the SPRINT highway. Wwhat do you know. This idiotic taxi driver stopped right in front of me on the t-junction to let off a passenger. As if that was not enough, this damn taxi driver immediately did a U-turn at the bend to get to the other side of the road to back from where he came from.

As he turned precariously, a cement grinder truck careened from around the bend at breakneck speed. At that particular moment, I happened to turn left onto the main road. Just my luck. To avoid hitting the taxi, the truck driver barreled towards me. You can see the gargantuan vehicle almost hitting the car. I drove onto the grass verge. God saved me! The truck was inches away from hitting me and mind you, never did he decelerate!

I counted my blessings! If not for God's protection the car would be certainly be totaled this day and I would not know what would be my fate.

The next time, you are on the road, be extra careful of taxi drivers. They will break all the rules to chase a few ringgits. As long as it's not their life or limbs that are at stake, they do not care two hoots about other users.

Quote of the Day:

Heartsong

Facial Beauty

Quote of the Day:

Heartsong

Blogging more on Godot's Way

As I am having problems blogging on both Family of Four and Heartsong, I will be posting more on Godot's Way. The blog is :

godotsway.blogspot.com

Cheers.

Quote of the Day:

Heartsong

Free nasi lemak, really?


These days, we have been getting some packets of nasi lemak gratis from our friendly nasi lemak seller, Norm. Every time the missus goes to market, she will chat up the nasi lemak seller. When there are only a few more packets left for the day, she will give my wife the nasi lemak either for breakfast or for lunch.


Quote of the Day:

Heartsong

Quote of the Day:

Heartsong