Happy bday nizam, babah loves you soo much!

we just had one of our sons' bday party today. It wasnt exactly a grand celebration but nizam was happy that he celebrated his 8th bday this year. He was haunting us all weeks for his bday to be celebrated. He was actually born on the 24th Feb and since it was just a day after our National Day we couldn't really hold it on the day he wanted. His friends whom he invited from his school were thrilled when we told them them it was going to be a swimming party at our compound's pool. We also hired one of those huge inflatable slides just to make sure the kids would have a lot of fun things to do. unfortunately missus caught the fever bug. She wasnt feeling well all day and it looked pretty serious. She actually nearly fainted several times but stubborn as she usually is refused to see the doctor by saying she had taken her medications. She ended laying in bed all day though she managed to show herself just to say hi to some of the children's parents who came along with the kids and went back to bed soon after she learned that she nearly fainted on the floor on her way to the ladies'.

As I expected not all the children in Nizam's class came as it was just a start of the easter's school holidays and being a school for expats, most of the children would probably have gone back with their parents to their home countries or gone somewhere abroad for short term break. Despite that we had a good fun time and the children were loving it too. we all know when we were kids there would be a couple of things that we couldnt keep our selves away and water and the slides would be on top of the list. some of my adult guests too joined in the fun by hopping and jumping on the inflatable slides. Obviously I wont publish them here. I myself have always wondered how it was like sliding on those fun-looking inflatables but being expected to maintain a certain set of decorum, I had to refrain myself.

Haiti Earth quake

am I the only one who is wondering why there isn't a single rescue team from the rich OIC countries being sent to help Haiti? I only saw the Turkish team giving their hand. Shame on us :-(

Tiger Woods

Ok, this doesn't seem to go away. After we heard Tiger Wood's admission of his own should I say dalliance, he suddenly became the joke of the twitterverse and the net all over. Even the CNN couldn't help but join in the bandwagon of the tabloid world. Everyone seems to rush in digging up a piece of the story. Twitter's popular tweets were on jokes which I thought were hilarious. But jokes aside, I really pity this guy. I supposed when you are a public figure and rely your income on public endorsements, part of the bargain is that you forfeit your right to privacy. I have been following him as I am such a big fan. In fact I went to see him played golf once in a Johnny Walker Classic some years ago in Bangkok. Funny, I actually bought a package ticket to fly to Bangkok just to see him played. The Tiger effect is that many people who play golf and some that I know don't, are actually drawn to watch golf because there is Tiger playing. I actually will get my self glued if Tiger is playing on the sports channel. He is such a golf wonder, the way he drives the golf ball miles and miles away and the way he gets the ball rolling into the hole with his putter makes you wonder how he could ever do that. Anyway, in the Bangkok tournament, he was reportedly paid $1 million USD appearance fee. Thats right just to appear he was paid that amount of money! But he didn't disappoint us, he actually won that tournament. For the winning prize, it was much much lower than his appearance fee.

well, I just hope in the coming days, the news on his transgression will just go away. Let this be just his private affairs for him to sort it out with his wife and family. Because as for me, I just want to enjoy seeing him play golf again and win as many majors as Jack Nicklaus if not better.

Mandiri (ability to be independent and not dependent on others)

Do I sound heartless if I keep reminding my kids I would charge them rent if they still stay with me if they turn 21? well I do exactly just that albeit with the best of intention. I want my kids to think that his dad whom they cheeckily say their "24 hour atm" will not always be there to support them. I want them to be aware that everything they have now is not just there by pure luck but really by sheer hard work. I keep telling my kids that I was already away from my parents since I was 11 and I actually never asked a single cent (which is actually true) since then. Okay I did go back once a year during the school holidays and stayed with my parents but I never asked any money from them as I had my scholarship allowance to cover my expenses everytime I came back to Brunei. By the time I finished school at 22 and back to Brunei, I already had a job and I actually gave my parents money to buy groceries and I helped them cover the household expenses.
When I think of it now, the greatest gift that my parents gave me was allowing me to be away that early age. I dont have any regrets for leaving them at that early age. I learned to become very independent. I was ever more determined to study hard and worked my way up to get a good education. No, I wasnt fed on a silver spoon. I wasntnt a spoilt brat. My early years were spent at a Government malay school not a fancy private or international school. I was only given 20 cents a day (and sometimes with no pocket money at all). I want to remind my kids now unlike their atm machine dad, they are now in the most expensive private schools and its fully covered all thanks to the previleges given to their "atm machine" . In fact when I was at a young age, me and my eldest sister were already taught on how to earn our own pocket money. I remember the time when my mum used to leave us at Pantai Muara selling keropok and snacks at the weekends. I also remember the time I would be selling kacang rebus (steamed groundnuts) everytime there was a "sabung ayam" in our kampung. Honestly I had no idea if that time cock fighting was illegal or if it had entered our legal dictionary as a crime of cruelty to animals. I would also be going to the rivers trying to catch mud crab (which we call membintur) and the nearby forest for edible wild mush room and "bayam hutan" (wild spinach) or rabung nibung. These are edible young shoots of the wild spiky nibung palms. The spiky torns are actually sharp and can cause nasty prickly stings if you accidently step on them. Their tiny torns can get stuck under your skin and can become infected if you dont squeeze them out.

I actually became quite an expert on the art of survival. I know mushrooms that grow wild on trees expecially rubber trees are edible and those that grow on land are dead poisonous. I know where would be the best places to get karamunting or kelamunting which are wild berries, rebung nibung and occassionaly I would follow my older cousin, abang usop to catch the pelanduk (mouse deer). At that age I became so stupidly daring too. I remember when I was about 9 or 10, Abang usop, my brother and I went to the river estuarine in Serasa to catch the mud crab. one of our traps actually lost its nylon rope which we would normaly tie around the mangrove tree along the estuarine. The estuarine was probably 10 0r 15 feet deep and I challenged my brother to look for the lost trap in the murky waters of the estuarine. My eldest brother didnt dare to jump into the water and I did. I actually found the trap. Now of course, I realise that wasnt the wisest thing to do as now I know that estuarine is actually infested with crocodiles!

It has been awhile

wow. it does feel like that I have just awoken from a coma. I have not visited my blog and neither have I attempted to write anything until tonite. I am really sorry stercus. As you probably have heard. I have changed job, changed house and in fact I have changed "ma maison et mon pays" (no, I havent changed my nationality). Je suis maintenant un ambassadeur. yes, that's right. You heard me. It is a new job, a new country and you can say a whole new life for me and my family. And as you can imagine, there is a lot of adjustment to make not only for me but for the entire family. Moving to a new country is never easy. In our case, we have to leave many loved ones behind and some of them I would never even know if I could still see them. I have a very sick mother and mother in law who is suffering from a stroke and a dad who has a chronic kidney failure who is still stubbornly wanting to look for a donor despite advices from a doctor that he is better off on dialysis.

After 3 weeks here, I can say that I am now slowly adjusting to the pace of life here. Its really a beautiful land and the people are really nice too. I will probably start a new blog at least to log a daily account that my family and I encounter during our stay here. The question that I have to decide is whether I should make the blog public. well, I will have to think hard about it later.

I certainly will need to keep a daily diary of things that I do here. At least one day in the future, I will be able to look back and reminiscise the bits and pieces of our life in this new country we now call home at least for the next 2 or 3 years.

About dad...

I bought my dad a lazy sofa for him today and he was so happy. What happened was he wanted to take one of my prized posessions away. I have this 2 pieces of Castilla limited editions lazy chairs which I bought in Singapore. He said he wanted to take away one as he needed one for him to watch TV. I told him there is no way I would give up those chairs even if he only wanted to borrow them. I know dad so well. He would take my cars for a ride and I could guarantee my own life, they would end up getting bumps and knocks here and there! No I am not exaggerating. At one time he took my Ford Ranger and it came back with a big dent right on the front bumper. I actually asked him how it happened and he said he was hit by a car. I know dad so well. He would not admit to anything. Anyone who saw the dent on the Ford Ranger could actually tell that it was caused by a self accident. I didnt want to argue with dad so I ended buying him another Ford Ranger so that he wont wreck my own! strangely enough, his Ford Ranger is now nearly 2 years with him and there is yet to be a single scratch on the car. it still looks brand new and he wont let another soul touch that Ranger! I guess for him its ok to wreck his sons' cars but big no no to his own.

ATI

if an organisation doesnt have accountability, transparency and integrity (ATI) mechanisms in place, believe me its people inside will try every opportunity to abuse its powers. These 3 pillars form the very principle of good governance. The best form of accountability is still public scrutiny. That is why public offices are encouraged to have feedback mechanisms such as having in place suggestion boxes and customer satisfaction surveys.