So you think you can play music?

When I was a small kid, I said that I wanted to learn the guitar. So my sister Gek Yong bought me a guitar. And I prepared to rock the world. But look what happened to me - I ended up in academia. The only musical talent I have is as the uninvited judge for American Idol. I didn't take any lessons (I think we were too poor) and the schools don't give a hoot about music. Maybe about 10 years ago, I bought one of those electric organ-piano thing and tried to learn how to play the thing by following the lighted keyboard. Nah, didn't work. I'm too dumb for musical instruments. Just like I'm too dumb for Chinese. Eh, make that the Chinese language.

So, the keyboard sat there and none of my three kids seemed interested. It was actually a test to tease them into showing some interest in music. Back up a couple of years to when we first came back from U.S. after my studies (taxpayers money involved) and we sent our son (then 3 years +) to a kiddy garten in Taman Pekaka on the Island. One day he came back with a note from the teachers. It said that he was given a music test. And the result? The test said he has not musical talent or ability. Our reaction was "so what" - I can't play any instruments; neither does my wife. And then "what the heck do they know anyway?".

And so the keyboard sat there. And then my eldest, Vivian, went to middle school (they call secondary school, "middle school" in Chinese). She joined the Rangers and hated it - didn't like the authoritarian regime - always scolding members, if I recall. She quit and joined the School Marching Band/Wind Orchestra. She started from scratch. No music training, didn't know how to read the score. I think she scrapped through the drumming test. And then eventually became the Chairperson of the Band. Two years later, my son, Brian, followed and joined the Band. And know what? He too eventually became the Chairman and also student conductor. He bugged us to get him a drum set but we thought it would drive us crazy. But we are indulgent parents so bought him a digital drumset thinking that he could just plug in the headphone and just drown himself in his cacophony and leave everyone else in peace. Oh, boy were we wrong. Even with the headphone on, the digital drums make one helluva a racket. And at midnight too! We used to yell at him to remind him the the neighbours have to sleep. He was oblivious to the noise with his headphone on.

In the meantime, Jillian, started taking piano lessons. And she too followed her siblings and joined the Band. And yesterday was their second last big performance after 5 years before they pack up to prepare for the big one - the year-end form five exams. So we all (whole family) went to watch and had a great time.

This clip was shot with a tiny compact digital camera and stitched together with Apple's iMovie.

Oh, on a pink sheet of paper was listed various donors and contributors. I received a special mention (in Chinese) at the bottom of the list thanking me for contributing "empty rice packages". Huh? Well, these kids know about polystyrene and didn't want to use it. They usually get packaged food for lunch and dinner on the day of the concert as they spend the whole day rehearsing. So, I was asked to help get the supply of Ecopak (because it is much more expensive for them to buy) and I decided to sponsor them.

Ah, about the kids. More than a month ago, the youngest said she had to go to School on a saturday morning to pick up something from a friend. So, yah, ok, one of us will have to fetch her. Come that day, she's waiting upstairs and my wife is waiting downstairs. And my wife and I were grumbling about why she's dilly dallying. One hour later, she said she was ready to go. I gave her a ear-full about making her mother wait. She just smiled. I was cooking porridge for lunch and then I went to take a quick shower (I think did some gardening too). They came back while I was still in the shower. As I came out, I asked my wife whether they wanted lunch yet. "Yah, I think they are hungry", my wife said. I said "who's they?". She just grinned. As I walked out, I got a little confused because I saw Vivian sitting on her bed, grinning away. "Eh, how did you get here?". It seems my wife's reaction at the School was even better. As their car was approaching the place where the school kids usually wait for their parents, my wife saw Vivian sitting there and asked "What's Vivian doing there?", looking very puzzled. Apparently the two sisters had conspired to surprise us - the ETA was delayed because of someone being late or something.

And then two nights ago, I was supposed to pick up Vivian from the bus stop. We were watching a clip from Brian's Facebook and then Jillian innocently said, "boy, his friends will be surprised to see him at the concert tomorrow". I looked at her and said, "but he's not coming back." And she said "Oh, yah, hor". And that's that. So, that night I went out to fetch Vivian from the bus terminal and Jillian came along. As we approached the terminal, Jillian said "there over there". I looked and said "ehh, doesn't that look like Brian". So, they did it again. My wife had even called Brian early in the evening and asked him where he was. He said "outside". And he was actually there next to his sister on the bus watching aneme.

The Three Conspirators - after the successful concert

So, what's the moral of the two stories? You tell me.

Oh, tomorrow is Mother's Day! And we are going for Japanese.

P.S. I got some funny reaction to my "Do Not Disturb" sign on my door. Someone even asked whether I am sick. Well, not physically. And how's my progress. Coming along, coming along.

Do Not Disturb - Unless your life depends on it

I put up that "do not disturb" sign on my office door this morning. I need to focus on writing up the Roadmap for the people-centred sustainable development agenda. Notice is valid until 31st May. That should buy me some peace and quiet. So far, I am quite happy. Managed to write a couple of pages which seems to make sense. Initial target is 20 or so pages. Just to trigger some thoughts and reactions, especially from the movers and shakers, the people who will make the decisions whether to accept the Roadmap.

So, I packed my stuff and wanted to leave my office. Got into my car and what to you know? It won't start.

Oh, wait, you didn't know I got my Hyundai/Innokom Getz 1.4 last week, did you? Yes, one week old and the baby won't start. Tried the power window. Works perfectly. Open up the front. Pretended to look for something or other. Haven't got the slightest clue what to do.

So, what to do? Call my wife lah. She called the salesman, who is on leave and had sent his car for respray. The technical advicer called me and said it could be the battery. But it's one week old and the windows work fine. The windows take only very little power. To start the car, it needs more power. Oh, I see.

So, how I asked? Can you come to the campus (their shop is on the Mainland)? The problem is they have no transport. The breakdown vehicle was sent to KL for maintenance (strange). Ask the salesman to drive you over. That's when I found out the guy sent his car for respray. "Give me 10 minutes. I will sort things out for you", said the technical guy (nice pleasant guy I met when I got the car exactly one week ago). About a minute later my mobile vibrated again. Wah so fast? It was the Manager, apologetic and asking me to hang on, he will send his people over (my wife called him because she couldn't trust the salesman who is barely out of his teens but managed to sell 7 cars the previous month). I told the Manager I was about to lambast his company. He explained that sometimes the car has been sitting in the factory or shop for too long and the battery wears down because of not being used. I said the car should come out of his shop 100% checked and perfect. Apparently, you can't check the batteries. Yah, I sort of believe that. They just go kaput overnight. In this case, over lunch.

So, I am waiting in the office wondering whether I should continue writing up the people-centred thing but I thought this is just as important.

So, what made us decide on the Getz? Strange as it seems we "fell in love" with the Getz while on holiday at the Gold Coast last Christmas. Rented two to drive around ('cos they were all out of people-movers). That and of course the RM7,000 discount offered on the Getz. It's very compact and has some nice little aids on the speedometer. They got rid of the temperature indicator so if it gets too hot the thermoter sign shows up in red. It's got a digital display for kilometres travelled but what I find interesting is you can display how many more kilometres you can travel with the amount of petrol left in the tank. Or you can choose to show consumption - it moves from 8.4 litres/100 km to 8.0 litres/100 km. That's kinda cool 'cos it shows how efficient your driving is. And if you display the number of kilometres before your tank becomes empty and you are idylling or waiting in a jam, you can see the countdown - quite scary. Made me switch off the engine while waiting for the ferry yesterday.

Will take it on a long distance drive to the Engineering campus tomorrow - assuming they fix the problem this evening. Generally a nifty car. Pickup a little on the slow side but overtaking is comfortatble. Gear change is smooth without feeling any jerks. Interior very spacious - I think the trick is in raise the roof of the car and giving deep slant to the windscreen. A four-star rating on the crash test.

I guess I should work more on my Roadmap. It's been more than 10 minutes for sure. Just got a call, the technical adviser is coming. So far so good.

I think I should tell you about the salesman. As I said he is barely out of his teens. My wife saw the adverts about the special offer. Called up one Hyundai shop after another but they don't sell Getz. Eventually, a girl in AutoCity gave my wife this fella Kim's number. But I said to my wife, wait, no need to hurry. And then my old faithful refused to start again. For the record, I was married to that car for 14 years (and we are still married if you must know). So OK, we went for test drive, paid the deposit and waited for the car. Then this guy Kim called my wife a few days later and said "your car is here, come make the payments". I told me wife, you go lah, not need two persons. My wife went and called me later. Guess what? No car. And this guy Kim said to my wife "I call you meh? Sorry, sorry, sorry". Of course my wife complained to the Manager. What the manager said was quite amazing. It seems this "kid" inherited a "disease" - the disease of "forgetfulness". The manager apologised and said this guy managed to sell 7 cars in his first month and got all confused. I think the manager was doing a friend a favour by taking this young kid under his wing. And I have to take my hat off to this manager - he was patient and understanding even when this guy made mistakes and was slow. I talked to the young chap. He said he can't study. So, what do you like to do? Eat lot, talk alot (actually, he said "Like to eat, Like to talk"). He's going to go far in sales.

Car is fixed. The technical adviser drove all the way from Butterworth. Checked the battery with a gadget. Took out a remote portable tiny little printer to print from the battery checker - I guess as evidence for replacement of parts. Got bitten by some huge red ants in the process. And now all done. I can go home. More than one hour (actually 2 hours) later than planned.

Go Straight to Jail

Spent the weekend on a (former) Penal Island, the Alcatraz of Malaysia. Locals (those of my generation and older) will be familiar with the threat - "Send you to Pulau Jerejak". Jerejak Island was until the late 1990s a detention camp where they keep criminals or suspected criminals. I am not sure, but I think this is also where they send the gangsters and secret society types under restricted orders - the police don't have enough evidence to convict them but "know" they are bad influence on society so have to quickly lock them up without due process. The detention camp has since closed and there has been talk to turn it into a tourists paradise. Or a tourist trap.

Well, to be fair, the students loved the place. They shared three to a room and these rooms are spacious. Actually, they were supposed to share 4 to a room but 11 students didn't show up despite confirming by phone. Hhhm, I think they should miss a turn and "go straight to jail". The students also enjoyed the food and the line dancing and the environment around the Resort. Lots of big trees have been retained. But construction is as usual shoddy. So when it rained, you have walk through puddles of water. And with the continuous stream of rain channelled down on to the rocks just outside my room window, I thought the sky had fallen down. And the rain washed out our outdoor programme on sunday afternoon. I think the students were very disappointed.

Ah, not only the no-shows who should go to jail. The Resort guys should also go to jail. When we were negotiating, they promised that transport would not be a problem. 60 people one shot, can handle ah? No problem, we have this and that; priority given to guest. So 8.30 am came and there was still no boat. Ah, ferry out of service, have to use smaller boats. By the time the "captain" left the Penang Island Jetty, it was already 9.30 am. I gave the guy a loooong piece of my mind. I said I am not recommending their resort in future.

Janet didn't waste time getting the students to get to know each other as we waited for the boat. This is called ice-breaking

Only because of the boat? Oh, my beef is more than that. Already my staff had visited earlier and found out that the promised WIFI only covers the ballroom area. We were promised WIFI is everywhere. "I want it in writing", I said. "No need, it's everywhere" - the Resort's sales rep responded. How about discount for the SPA? I give you 30%, to all USM participants. And then I discover from the web that EVERYONE gets 30%. So, not very honest about it. Hhm, we want smaller breakout rooms. Hhhm, Hah, emm - long story short, we can use the ballroom only, partitioned into two, that means two groups to one partition. After the first session, the manager was called. Can you do something about it? It's too noisy. He thought for awhile. Sorry, I can't do anything. There are actually two more smaller rooms. Sorry, cannot help. I went to take a look at the rooms. Nicely arranged with mineral water bottles (definitely not in my seminar room) on the tables. But nobody around. Maybe already reserved. BUT nobody is using it when we wanted it.

Talking about water. There was a huge plastic container (which was cover with a red cloth because the outside itself looked shabby) filled with water in the ballroom. I had given instructions - "I don't want to see any water in plastic bottles". And no plastic wraps on the food. Well, I was the first to drink. I didn't suspect anything. And then Abe filled up his tumber and saw particles. So we called management. OK, they took the who container away. Brought in one with a clear glass usually used for juice. Guess what. The first glass full by Lean Heng was cloudy (and stayed cloudy). The next glass showed brown particles in it. And we were told that the water was actually from mineral bottles! (not good huh? they don't understand why we don't want to use water from plastic bottles). So, back it goes. And out came several metal jugs with water in it.

One of my colleagues had a horrific experience (and she told the manager over breakfast - "I am so sorry about this", was what the manager could offer; and a huge freshly cut papaya). She had a sore throat. Called up reception, 4 or 5 times over a period of one hour, just to get some salt to gurgle. She got some "salt" from one of the staff. When she gurgled, it tasted funny. She's very sensitive and upon examining the crystal discovered it was MSG! Eventually, a technician who came to fix the air-con went to the kitchen and brought a salt shaker. Guess what? It was empty. Poor thing, she had to open up the bottle and tried to scrimp for the few grains of salt. Horror story huh?

Well, the bottomline is, it is not designed for seminars and workshops. So, please lah, don't sell seminar and workshop packages! Team-building, maybe - if you don't washed out by heavy rain.

Janet asked me in Langkawi - "why do you blog". "It's my release", I said. I guess also some people seems to like reading my blog. One of them in the picture is a fan of my blog.

Oh, what about the workshop itself? How did it go? Over lunch, I called a couple of students over and asked "So, how do you feel after listening to VC?". She said, "I feel like what we have done in the workshop is useless". My next post will address this.