A decade went by so quickly in the New Millenium. I can still remember typing out our annual newsletter to be sent out by snail mail in Dec 1999 that is scanned here. As technology became more available I started my first webpage greeting and updates in Dec 2000 with the first blog appearing in the year 2005.
Today we also have social networking programs like Facebook which was ranked by scientists from the British Science Association as the no. 6 in the top 10 'inventions' that changed the world. Apparently every day around the world, more than 3 billion minutes are spent by computer users on Facebook. Online social networking has allowed people to rekindle friendships with friends they lost touch with years ago and that is certainly true for our family. It has also helped us keep closer together as family members who are so spread out geographically today. We have enjoyed the blessings that family can become friends and friends can become family as quoted by our friends the Dallings in Portland USA on Facebook recently. They have already celebrated their 50th Anniversary together.
I recently took time to compile all the greetings and updates we have been sending out to friends and family since 1992. I have posted them in our main website http://www.familylane.info/ on the left red column half way down the page onwards. It is interesting to note the chronological order of the communications and when each new mode was used!
We hope this online message and greetings from us gets out to you on a timely moment on this auspicious day.
We wish you the very best in BODY, MIND & SPIRIT for another decade at least, past 2012 hahaha!
Our Never Ending Christmas Story on video is now completed below for more hahaha. Remember it's always mixed with fiction and truth. The real truth with details can be deciphered if you take time to browse through all our posts in our websites, blogs and facebook summarized in our familylane website above. GOOD LUCK!!!
To begin from the 1st post at anytime, click here. Click "Newer Post" at the bottom for the next post or the left arrow at the bottom when viewing on smart phones. Do the opposite to go backwards.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Saturday, December 25, 2010
The Never Ending Christmas Story Dec 2010
Our Never Ending Christmas Story first started in Dec 2006. It began first with just a pictorial blog story which had true and untrue parts in it. Readers were warned this and told that those who received a DVD at the end of the year could unravel the true story. For those who never got hold of the DVD, the video has since been uploaded online here.
In Dec 2007, the Story continued with more photos added to the one in the previous year but presented in a video clip. All photos of the family are authentic but readers are warned again that the events of the story are part true and part untrue created for purposes of humour only.
By Dec 2010, our Story had lapsed a couple of years without an update, not because we had lost our humour but the family had gotten busy with the Father not having the time to continue the story. The good side is that we now have even more experiences and photos to continue our Never Ending Christmas Story this season so here we go : ( Post dated event : The completed video clip version can be seen here )
In Dec 2007, the Story continued with more photos added to the one in the previous year but presented in a video clip. All photos of the family are authentic but readers are warned again that the events of the story are part true and part untrue created for purposes of humour only.
By Dec 2010, our Story had lapsed a couple of years without an update, not because we had lost our humour but the family had gotten busy with the Father not having the time to continue the story. The good side is that we now have even more experiences and photos to continue our Never Ending Christmas Story this season so here we go : ( Post dated event : The completed video clip version can be seen here )
The story continues with a Facebook conversation that started on Dec 18, 2010.
Geok Lee : Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas CD playing in the background
Good morning Ern! It's one week before Christmas! And we haven't decorated our house yet.
Ern: Are you really going to decorate it?
Geok Lee: Yah...we'll hang laundry all over the house..hahaha
Shuan Chong : No joke! It's still a huge pile. I don't want to go to the back room!
Ern : i'm the one who hanged them all! So i've done my part for the christmas deco :D
Geok Lee : ok...we'll leave it after Christmas to take them down LOL
Merille Yong : joke of the day! =D you guys are too funny...
Shuan Chong : Solution: Escape to KL!
Sun Fu Chong : Yeah the decorations here just need ironing only, no need to hang any more!
Geok Lee : Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas CD playing in the background
Good morning Ern! It's one week before Christmas! And we haven't decorated our house yet.
Ern: Are you really going to decorate it?
Geok Lee: Yah...we'll hang laundry all over the house..hahaha
Shuan Chong : No joke! It's still a huge pile. I don't want to go to the back room!
Ern : i'm the one who hanged them all! So i've done my part for the christmas deco :D
Geok Lee : ok...we'll leave it after Christmas to take them down LOL
Merille Yong : joke of the day! =D you guys are too funny...
Shuan Chong : Solution: Escape to KL!
Sun Fu Chong : Yeah the decorations here just need ironing only, no need to hang any more!
Jenny Han : Hahaha... you guys so cute... me house not decorate either...
Ai Lian: Do you guys need more decoration? I can send some over. Hahahah.
Su Min Chong AHAHAHA...I literally laughed out loud when I read your status, mom =D
Have you found your Christmas present yet?
Dad makes another post to Mom's Facebook wall :
Sun Fu Chong thinks he has out done the neighbour in hanging the decorations!
Yes TIME seems to be a major challenge for most families and for the Chongs, there is no exception, especially near to the year end at Christmas time. Each member of the family spends their TIME differently as we can see from their activities in the past year.
Dad the head of the family has always been advocating to follow the ways of the round O for Optimal Time planning.








... and later finished college to wear a square hat!
Now having only covered all the girls and one boy only so far, let's finish with the rest of the boys starting with Dad :
Remembering earlier that he was left confused whether to follow the West or East, he finally decided to choose to be a Nationalist and focus on his own country of Malaysia!
Yes he is the advocate of Optimal Time usage, always using the bicycle as a symbol of the Circle of Life. "Keep riding" he says and you will always have a balanced life!
It is interesting to note that boys inevitably follow their fathers for good or for bad as the following pics depict :
It is interesting to note that boys inevitably follow their fathers for good or for bad as the following pics depict :


Well perhaps not always following in the same way...
Now the Countdown begins.....

Heard on Sunday night after Christmas from Mom to the boys : You can help take down our Christmas tree now!
Hope everyone had a joyous Christmas weekend and the Holidays!
Here is how Singapore is lit up for the Christmas Season :
Here is a photo for Georgia Simmons who left some comments on this blog posting below :

Friday, December 10, 2010
Are tortoises intelligent?
When I was a child, I was told the story of the Tortoise and the Hare that showed how a slow and steady tortoise could win the faster rabbit in a race. One might think the Tortoise became a winner purely due to the complacency of the rabbit who overtook the tortoise in the beginning but rested and slept midway thus allowing the Tortoise to eventually pass the rabbit and crossed the finishing line first.
It is interesting to note that our family had experience in raising tortoises and rabbits together when we lived in Kuala Lumpur as the pics below show :



Remember in the Story, the rabbit only over took the tortoise in the beginning of the race and in our home as per the above pic, two rabbits went past the slow tortoise.
One day the family had moved to Singapore and we had to leave behind the tortoise and the rabbits to fend for themselves. Well several years had gone by and just today I decided to drop into the old house to visit the same indoor garden where the above pics were taken and here is what I found and shot on video :
In the race of life, it seemed that the rabbits had gone missing but the lone survivor and winner of life was the tortoise I had found. Do you think tortoises are intelligent after watching the above video clip?
All my life I knew dogs were intelligent as recorded in this blog post but I guess after today, I can confirm so too are tortoises or at least our tortoise!
It is interesting to note that our family had experience in raising tortoises and rabbits together when we lived in Kuala Lumpur as the pics below show :
Remember in the Story, the rabbit only over took the tortoise in the beginning of the race and in our home as per the above pic, two rabbits went past the slow tortoise.
One day the family had moved to Singapore and we had to leave behind the tortoise and the rabbits to fend for themselves. Well several years had gone by and just today I decided to drop into the old house to visit the same indoor garden where the above pics were taken and here is what I found and shot on video :
In the race of life, it seemed that the rabbits had gone missing but the lone survivor and winner of life was the tortoise I had found. Do you think tortoises are intelligent after watching the above video clip?
All my life I knew dogs were intelligent as recorded in this blog post but I guess after today, I can confirm so too are tortoises or at least our tortoise!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Funeral service and burial of an old friend's father
Dr Lam Shih Kwong is the old friend from early secondary school that many of us who know him from school days may regard him more like a close family member than just a friend. It is probably due to his always warm and sincere personality that he has maintained all these years to the present. The fact that his parents were from Penang and mine were too and that his father and my second brother both once worked in Telecoms together made me feel that closer kinship with him.
After school, he became a busy doctor while I was busy with a large family, church work and running a business. Time and distance did keep us apart for many years and we met only on occasions of our class reunions. Sadly it was the ocassion of the passing away of his father, on 25 Nov 2010, that brought us together again this time round which was a time of deep reflection for me. Lam York Kee, the name of his father, still rang very clearly in my mind after all these years. I knew his father from the days in St. John's school when I visited his home and in later years could speak to 'Uncle Lam' as we would call him, on the phone whenever I tried to locate where the busy doctor was to invite him for some kind of old boys gathering.
Uncle Lam was 88 when he passed on, exactly the same age as my Father when he passed away the same month of November too last year. I did a live broadcast of the funeral service and the burial at the Nirvana Memorial Park in Semenyih for the classmates who could not be present on this Monday morning which can be viewed below :
After school, he became a busy doctor while I was busy with a large family, church work and running a business. Time and distance did keep us apart for many years and we met only on occasions of our class reunions. Sadly it was the ocassion of the passing away of his father, on 25 Nov 2010, that brought us together again this time round which was a time of deep reflection for me. Lam York Kee, the name of his father, still rang very clearly in my mind after all these years. I knew his father from the days in St. John's school when I visited his home and in later years could speak to 'Uncle Lam' as we would call him, on the phone whenever I tried to locate where the busy doctor was to invite him for some kind of old boys gathering.
Uncle Lam was 88 when he passed on, exactly the same age as my Father when he passed away the same month of November too last year. I did a live broadcast of the funeral service and the burial at the Nirvana Memorial Park in Semenyih for the classmates who could not be present on this Monday morning which can be viewed below :
Here are some photos of the well organized funeral for family members and friends present :
More photos can be viewed by clicking here
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
The Happy Story of our Kak Tun
While we paid tribute to our Lady Diana in Ipoh recently who was always there to help mom with a new baby that came to our family for the first month, we now turn to the Iron Lady who came as a domestic helper from Indonesia right after Ray, our sixth child, was born. She came as a timely aid to help mom with not just being a nanny of our youngest Ray but really became like the big sister of all the children and hence her appropriate name, Kakak Tun or Kak Tun in short! See the pictorial story below that has a happy ending :






See her on video in our family Sun and Sea adventures in Port Dickson



She would return to her Javanese village and build her own house with all her money saved working with our family. She also found a worthy male to be her husband to be married.
Mom and Ray left on Monday for the long journey to her village, by flight and car, to celebrate the joyous occasion with her family and village folks. Mom will add her story and pics here soon. Getting internet connection to post pics or videos here would probably be difficult so it will take some time to see the wedding photos here.
Meanwhile we Congratulate Kak Tun for her Happy Wedding Day and wish her to have a happy family like ours! Also I have added the google translator tool to this blog so that the Indonesian readers can read it in their own language. Try it! Technology is amazing!
Ahh looks like Mom and Ray got to the wedding safely and found wifi somewhere in the village to post the following pics on the wedding day of 24th Nov 2010 :


Ray with the Bride and Groom

The Solemnization Ceremony

We look forward one day when we get to reunite again and maybe by that time we have to call her Mak Tun with her pack of children!
To see the entire album of pics that Mom took in Indonesia, click here.
Post-dated Events
Story shared with a friend on facebook. Click here to see the facebook post. :
Guys, check up news on CNN today on Modern Human Slavery happening in Malaysia the BoLe land. This should raise more then some eye brows!
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