Another year already? I remember when we were just ushering 2014 as the new year!
Click photolinks for the stories of the old year and forgive me for not completing the Christmas story yet! The horse year kept us all galloping with many things to catch up with but with this New Year of the Goat, it's time to quit 'Horsing' around as the yanks say! However I think it's still appopriate to say for this new year, "Be a Man but keep the 'Kid' inside you!"
Glad I had a chance to say good bye to some Horsie friends in December last year before I went home!
Glad I had a chance to say good bye to some Horsie friends in December last year before I went home!
Here am I with the owners all dressed in red to usher in a new year last December!
Valentine's Day before CNY
Technically, we didn't horse around on Valentines Day 2015 but.....you've got to have the heart of a young goat to ride up these hills of Malaysia. Take a look at the video!
Valentine's Day and Night Special from Dad the KL City Kid on Vimeo.
...and definitely dogs are still always in fashion!
Dont' you think so?
Hope you liked the local production video above. Maybe you live to view one by TV Malaysia filmed in Singapore entitled, "Love Singapore Army Style."
Dressed for CNY
How time flies as I am reminded of it in the post of a friend from US, Jessica Mccoy, promoting a trip to San Diego which triggered me to share my Snake to Goat story in the comments section of her facebook post.
Into the Lunar New Year around the world
So glad to have facebook, this is not a sponsored advert by them okay?? Busy as I am, stuck in 'Kayhell'(eve), rushed to JB(1st day) late to get into Singapore just this morning (2nd day) and heading to Kuantan tomorrow (3rd day) , thanks to facebook I can see other families uniting different parts of the world, brothers together, sista gatherings etc with the following sample pics I could gather into the 2nd day of Chinese New Year.
Into the Lunar New Year around the world
So glad to have facebook, this is not a sponsored advert by them okay?? Busy as I am, stuck in 'Kayhell'(eve), rushed to JB(1st day) late to get into Singapore just this morning (2nd day) and heading to Kuantan tomorrow (3rd day) , thanks to facebook I can see other families uniting different parts of the world, brothers together, sista gatherings etc with the following sample pics I could gather into the 2nd day of Chinese New Year.
My buddy with his brothers in Melbourne Australia.
My friend of a friend with her sistas up in Alor Star northern Malaysia.
My school mates in Seattle Washington.
My grand niece reporting from Penang, "Second day of CNY ! Right now u and me want to go makan breakfast so bye !"
My good friend and her Chinese community in New York City celebrating with food galore!
....and my poor boys without me and eldest son reporting, "So in the end, we did go to McDonald's... after spending the whole first day of Chinese New Year spitting on CNY taboos in the face by cleaning up our post-bed bug apocalyptic house. No better way to spend time with the family"
So at dawn of the 2nd day, I was speeding on the roads of Johore to get to Singapore asap. The beauty of the landscape and morning sky mesmerized me. It was as if the sky was coming down to touch the earth! I was hallucinating with the imagination that up there was another world just like ours.
I kept gazing to the sky on the quiet lonely road viewing as if I was looking down at their world. Can you see their sea on the top right and the land formation on the left? Is that the face of a poodle looking down to their land from above? I must have been hallucinating!
It looked like Reno in KL!
Suddenly I was awakened by a cat and knew I had arrived in the Lion City!
In time for family gathering dinner at Mom's oldest brother's home...
...and doing the 'Lo Hei' also known as 'Prosperity Toss' consists of raw fish mixed with shredded vegetables . This is the secret behind why this small island is so prosperous!
Post by Sun Fu Chong.
Here comes the KL City Kid, starting the new trend of prosperity ride! Do you get the punt? Come join the 'Kid' this Goat year for a prosperity ride in Singapore!
Third day and it's party time in Kuantan!
Welcome by the honorable Host and Hostess
with the two Hakka brothers wishing you Huat! Huat ah!
...just testing the sound equipment
First the Properity Toss or lo hei (Cantonese for 撈起 or 捞起) for everyone
Then dinner is cooked and served hot!
Special table reserved for the boys from Singapore!
Nice to meet Yee who is a mutual friend of my Toastmaster friend in KL
After dinner the chef doubles up as a singer too!
The women are great singers themselves.
While some others are taking their chances to Huat Huat!
4th Day and Church on Sunday in Kuantan
Great Lesson for Sunday school by Duncan Horne!
... and Dogs are still definitely in fashion!
After our Church group meeting in Kuantan, we had a nice photo taking session with the Horne family before heading out for a long drive to drop the boys off at the border town of JB next to Singapore, avoiding massive traffic to cross over Singapore and I had to find my way back to KL for assignments to be followed up.
6th day in Klang for meetings
Where do I get so much energy to be all over the place many have asked me and shake their heads! Is it because I think I'm Superman? The honest truth is I'm as vulnerable or weak as the next man but I'm a purpose driven person. I have my priorities as shared in the blog post. Yes I do get tired. Yes I do need to rest but after I have rested, I'm on track again to follow the passion of my heart. The journey is fulfilling in every step I take as I see the connection that no one else sees. The spirit testifies to me I'm on the right track. This must be self-actualization that my good friend Carlos in facebook is writing about who shared a beautiful truth with me here.
7th Day!
Ahh... the 7th day, the number that has inspired me to write a never ending story of 7 which still continues to this day. My life, my work, my relationships can be spun into stories that involve this number as I have discovered. Call me a creative writer maybe but I've acquired a passion to write driven by too many real and wonderful experiences of my life, many happy and some sad, that I wish not to forget perhaps for the values I've benefited from them.
As I shared with my 4 adolescent and adult boys while driving them to Kuantan for the party on the 3rd day, I regard myself simply as a vehicle or messenger of the message. As they've always seem to learn better from my short talks while driving them to school everyday when they were young, which stopped after they moved to Singapore where they only needed to 'tap' with their EZ-link card to use public transportation, I used a short time in a long drive to explain this very important concept I felt they needed to know an important principle and some of my thoughts. I wanted to highlight that one should not become confused between what is the message and who the messenger is.
One mistake readers of my blogs can make is thinking all my writings are about ME and MY family as if I'm overly proud about US and Our success to want to brag it to the world. Another mistake is one may feel feel I'm a preacher as I keep referring to our CHURCH or GOD who are both great influencers of my life. Yet another mistake can be a reader may feel I or WE may be projecting an image of always being right in thinking or wanting to win all the time like Superman perhaps?
As an imperfect man and their father, I could only share from my Heart and Mind which have been recording all my everyday experiences as long as I can remember. That was the very first objective I had when I started to write my personal journals and that was so that I would not forget important experiences of my life. Then when blogs and social media came out, I was impressed with how the younger generation express themselves so honestly and sincerely that I decided to try to do the same and started my own blogs so that perhaps I can be connected to them better. These were of course more public in nature compared to personal hand written journals and diaries.
In short I wanted them to beware of wrong assumptions and misinterpretations of life and of others. At the same time, do not be afraid to make a stand of what you believe worrying that others will misunderstand and misinterpret you or your message.
8th to the 15th day
The count down to the Chinese New Year celebrations and the count down to towards the end of the 15 days celebration only brings awareness to me how quickly the days go by. Life really is about a series of beginnings and endings where time in between can be quickly forgotten but the start and end is always somehow remembered as we tend to celebrate life in those special moments. It is this phenomenon that sparked my post with the question, "Are we Happy in our life or are we happy about our life?"
I just remembered on our Church fast Sunday of March 1 where I made an extended fast and took a reading of my blood sugar level that came out with this optimal reading :
Yipee!
The rest are usual maintenance of vehicles and our things :
Making new friends :
A guard at the old Standard Chatered bank who started work there in 1971 when I just began my secondary school in St John's Institution nearby.
Checking the old school to see that the trophy we donated is still there.
Reminiscing the old school days from the field...
...and knowing indeed that 'Real Dreams Never Stop/"
15th day our closing ceremony
Everything is set where the son who wears the tee-shirt, I am with Energy, Shuan was a great help in the kitchen with me as he was always with Mom in the kitchen helping out. Han brought a guest, Helen from Toronto Canada, a college mate from Yale-NUS. Is nice to have a woman join us else it will be a all guys affair in what I call the boys' camp!
A kick off with the 'Prosperity Toss'. Listen to the video at the beginning for the explanation of why we do traditional things last for the Chinese New Year celebrations.
Shuan is taking the lead to serve. As a 2nd lieutenant in the Spore army on National Service, he looked as a very well trained officer!
We had 'hot pot' or 'steam boat' of a large variety of food which includes sea caught prawns, fresh oysters, squid, salmon, pork, chicken, quill eggs, toufu, 3 varieties of mushrooms and vegetables
After a sumptuous we all turned blue for our closing ceremony :
The Supermen get a new blue outfit
We can't help but change in Singapore as our building gets upgraded or painted regularly to blue this new year!
Dad doesn't mind the change. It's nice to be carried for a change compared to the years he had to carry them! The above photo was taken 10 years ago in the year of the Rooster!
On land or on sea,
Chinese culture is over 4,000 years old. Some things don't change like the respect of the children to their fathers
They are humbly growing up to be strong men one day, very soon indeed and these special memories I keep in my heart forever and ever as the Mom of our family looks on in our home in the background.
