cglow.com

When i was young, i’ve always dreaded waking up in the wee hours of the morning to follow my parents to sweep my ancestor’s grave during the Ching Ming Festival. Most chinese families do so to avoid the traffic jam arising from the once in a year occasion, especially when you have different “sites” to visit before the sun rises too hot.

My parents, as are most of the first/second generation Chinese community in Malaysia (My dad is 2 years shy of 80 and rode the seas to Malaysia from Fujian province when he was 2) are mostly into Taoism, mixed with elements of Buddhism.

Having some decorative fun with my nephew Rong

Like all things in life, Ching Ming takes on a different meaning when you’re older. While i am a self proclaimed agnostic,this has been an occasion where we used to have everyone in my family of 9 attend. And with many of my siblings away for work or migrated, and the passing of the older generation, the people who joins in gets scarcer by the years.

My Grandpa’s grave with the morning sun breaking. The colored paper has it’s roots from a legend to mark the presence of the next of kin.

My dad will normally talk of his deceased parents as if they were there - bringing back years of memories and history about our family - a poignant reminder that one day, he himself yearns to be remembered the same way. It makes all the incessant spewing of carbon dioxide from the burning of sacrificial papers worthwhile.

My cousin preparing for an ancestral offerings of joss-sticks, rice, fruits and tea.

Is this religious? i think not. Just like any other chinese festival,it is simply a gathering of family and relatives to reminisce and to give thanks, moments which are precious in our busy lifes. Like everything else,the symbolism of the act is meaningful but only if you subscribe to it. One thing’s for sure we’re all mortal beings - what nature taketh, nature giveth ~

Here’s not just one, but two choices of drinks for the undecided -

Saw it this morning when i dropped by Shell to pump petrol. It’s made in Singapore and expect to pay RM2 for the novelty.

Lame? Creative? Whatever.

After my recent ordeal with the baddies less than a month ago - i promptly lodged a complaint to dbkl@dbkl.gov.my and jka@dbkl.gov.my , emails i gathered via the DBKL website.

Yesterday - i received this letter in my mailbox :

I’m not sure if my local rep had a part to do in this - but credit must be given to DBKL where it’s due.  So … Terima Kasih DBKL for not relinquishing the last drop of faith we have in our governments and local councils.

Action speaks louder than words, or in this case a letter. How swiftly will my neighbourhood see the light? Or will i be a perpetual victim of earth hour and crime?

While slumdog millionaire was well told, the curious case of benjamin button is a marvellous show that everyone should see. A bit too long and melancholic for some, i nevertheless loved it to death because of the way it tickles our mind to interpret the themes of life.

Forgive Brad Pitt for acting like a wooden dork for most parts of the show, maybe he’s trying to act detached as he missed out playing with real kids. However Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton really shone in their roles. Go watch it !

Something unfortunate happened to me yesterday night. It feels rather surreal for me to write such a mail, when i see so many in passing in my own mailbox.

CRIME AT SETAPAK

Dear Neighbours of Jalan XXXX  -

My name is cglow and I stay at No YYYY, Jalan XXXX. I am 6 feet tall and by no means small sized.

On 6 March 2009 around 9:20pm I parked my car and wanted to enter my front gate when a man approached me and he mumbled something.  As I was very close to my gate, I immediately went in and he pulled me back and further hit me on both my head, neck and in a bid to protect myself my arm. Fearing for the safety of my family, my reflex response was to shout aloud and to struggle but little did I know he was going after my notebook bag.

His accomplice was ready on a motorbike to escape. At that point of time, I went a bit amok and actually went on to hit the man who robbed me and pulled down on my notebook bag. He lost balance, and I probably defended myself a few more times continuously shouting. I also lunged for my notebook bag and there was further struggle but as my family and neighbours was already coming out, fearing for their safety they escaped.

I then went to lodge a report at the Setapak police station, and when I explained to the Police on my bruises and my story – they asked me if I still wanted to lodge a police report? I said – YES, of course - Because I fear for the safety of my family and my neighbours. But later I found out that it seems that it is a dead case, as in the darkness of our neighbourhood and the panic I cannot even recognize the robber, his motorbike type and his license plate. In short – even if caught we have no proof. But nevertheless judging by the response of the officer, it’s sad to know that our Polis Diraja Malaysia is not here to PREVENT crime, they are available to you AFTER a crime happens.

The real point of this mail is to share my lessons learnt –

• When threatened - Drop your belongings do not struggle. In my case, I did not realize due to their timing of approaching me near my house, as I feared for my family’s safety.
• Shout as loud as possible. This is to bring attention and it probably saved me.
• Switch on your porch lights after dark. Light deters evil.
• Scan the roads with your car’s high lights. To check for robbers hiding out on your way home.
• Call 03-40232222 if there are suspicious activities. This is the Setapak Rakan Kop number. I cannot vouch for it’s effectiveness.

The irony is that we stay less than 100 meters away from the Setapak Police Station. If the police cannot help us we have to help ourselves. I will further progress this by checking with the right authority to get street lights for our roads. But for now - So please do what is right for your family’s safety and be vigilant.

_________________________
7 March 2009

I’ve always been intrigued with the idea of a detoxing, ever since one of my college friends explained to me the orific intricacies of coffee enema and how light it felt after that. Now dealt with a bulging waistline and fatty liver on my last health check, i thought i’d finally do something about it in the dying minutes of 2008.

My colleagues led me to Juvanex, a 7-days detox program that is supposed to flush out all kinds of stale matters dormant within you and makes you feel brighter, lighter and healthier at the end of the day. It comes with Total Cleanze(tm) which is supposedly a secret ingredient of fibres, probiotics and cleansing agents formulated into a lemon-ginger concoction.

On Day 2 i repeated my diet regime and by noon, i was getting a bad bout of carb withdrawal - i crashed. I weathered through it, ate the most fruits i’ve had in recent memories and had an early night as well. Needing a companion for this my wife joined me for 2 days on my day 3 and 4, where i was slowly adding back my carbs as there was just too many happenings and events to go to.  I ate healthily and consciously for most parts, and gulped down my final drink this New Year morning.

So does it work?

It’s really hard to tell. The effects was not drastic for a “solution” selling at RM135(discounted!) at Watsons. But one thing is for sure - when you are detoxing you tend to be super-sensitive of the food you consume and will naturally eat a lot of vegetables and fruits. You also tend to pay extra attention to your stool, inspecting it for special effects (hopefully of the nasty kind you never knew existed). End of day it does make me feel a bit lighter. Whether it’s due to the placebo effect of going on a detox or Juvanex itself i’m not too sure. Maybe both.

Not that i’m in the trend of setting new year resolutions but i would think eating right 358 days of the year is surely better than detoxing 7 days of the year. So here goes:

1. Breakfast - Gotta skip white bread. Eating muesli (need suggestions on brands most suck!). I’ve been taking lessons in carbohydrates
2. Lunch / Dinner - Gotta cut down on rice/starchy foods. Forcing through a portion of fruit or veg.
3. Workouts - Gotta fit in an additional day of aerobic sports in my week.

So there goes. Happy New Year 2009 !

Today is the day all chinese people get older, and families gather to eat glutinous rice balls. My mom-in-law has build an army of rice balls all from the natural colorings of dragon fruits, pumpkins and pandan leaves. Yummy.

Ok i didn’t take a picture of my phone as i’ve been using this for the past 3 weeks so the beautiful OLED screen is getting smudgy. Mine looks exactly like the well captured picture below - screen glare inclusive.

If you need extensive reviews get out of here and read some links below, like -

www.mobile-review.com -or- www.mobile88.com -or-  www.trustedreviews.com

because that’s how i decided to buy the phone, freaking reviews. And the fact that my Nokia Navigator 6110 was so badly abused it’s time to trade in a new one. Here’s my little Top 5s.

Top 5 +++++

1. Beautiful AM-OLED screen with excellent contrast
2. WIFI. 3G. Bluetooth…. and FM Transmitter !
3. Great Battery life. I turn on WIFI and Bluetooth the whole day it’s never turned off on me. Mini-USB charger.
4. GPS. Nokia Maps is constantly improving and the phone can geo tag images - of food.
5. It’s got Nokia’s menu. Everyone else’s don’t make sense.

Top 5  - - - - -

1. Keypads. The slimmer profile means the keys are more flushed and gives me finger ache.
2. Software Stability. Crashes once in a while needing a battery reboot procedure. Need firmware upgrade.
3. Totally Useless features - Navipad “wheel” navigation. Breathing? No wonder it’s in the same menu.
4. Sound levels. Even worse than my old phone and has a bit of cracking at top volumes
5. N-Gage Games. Totally Crap games. Stick to the PSP.

My Top 5 Uses

1. RoadSynch - i’m using this as Mail for Exchange can’t synch my corporate mail. I find Push mail really bad for spousal relationships but works wonders if you like .. work.
2. Opera Mini - i use this very much as an RSS reader to catch up at my bedside. Still the most intuitive mobile browser and it’s free.
3. Nokia Podcasting - i prefer short video podcast, but the good audio ones are great to listen to when travelling back in a car, with the FM transmitter in play.
4. Youtube - looks great on the OLED and streams great over WIFI
5. Audio Themes - Real fun to play with sounds. It makes me want to open and close the slide incessantly.

I’ve gotten this from one of my colleague, a factoid that has been floating around the web commenting on the recent reduction of personal EPF contribution from 11% to 8% -

Assume monthly basic salary is RM4000.
- If your monthly EPF contribution is  11% ( RM440 ), taxable income = RM3560, income tax payable = RM77.
- If your monthly EPF contribution is    8% ( RM320 ), taxable income =
RM3680, income tax payable = RM109.

Conclusion: If you choose to contribute 8%, you will end up paying more income tax to the government, which will make the government richer. Finance Minister Najib said this measure is meant to boost up the slow-down market, but from this example wee see that the money does not go into the market. Instead the money goes direct into the government’s pocket through the greater amount of income tax that we will have to pay. Obviously this measure does not help the market at all. Do we still want this kind of government that doesn’t have the best interest of the people in mind?

so curious as to how this affects me i have done a quick calculation (with assumptions) as below -

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=prZW_0CZISNyTEkq1vKAfRw

The RM6k Tax Relief is meant for both EPF+Life Insurance and is deducted off your annual gross pay. So if you currently have not maxed out your RM6k deduction with life insurance already, you might have a potential tax loss. Practically, This is reduced to a negligible amount via other forms of personal income tax relief like books, computer and welfare related reliefs.

So the real conclusion is that the choice depends on your current income tax relief status as tax is calculated on gross and there is a cap to how EPF affects your taxes, unless you die die want the 5.8% EPF dividend if it does not drop for the coming 2 years. In a crisis, some might actually like it !

Welcome to my virtual house … however it’s still under heavy renovation.

google’s lively is an in progress jab at linden lab’s pioneering second life. The anime influences for the avatars are unmistakable, and adds the fun factor to entice younger audiences. But otherwise, it’s really more of a novelty at the moment, with the typical google influences scattered all over it. Watching youtube on your virtual LCD and having a photoframe to show off your picasa web albums comes naturally with lively.

… or maybe one day i can accessorized myself with an android phone to surf the web with. Now that will be surreal (and a sign to get a life).