Life’s 10 Simple Pleasures

Life’s 10 Simple Pleasures 1. To be able to see 2. To be able to hear 3. To be able to speak 4. To be able to read 5. To be able to write 6. To be able to play sports 7. To be able to have a good education 8. Having enough food and a roof over my head 9. Having just enough wealth to keep me comfortable 10. Having a happy & supportive family behind me

World Cup Feva

Ok...This post may seem a bit too late.Been sleeping from 7 am till 5 pm here,especially now we are going into the knockout phase.All for the World Cup season.Luckily I am currently having a long break now.However,things here are rather different from the way we catch football back in Malaysia.There are no mamak.Dang....no Nasi Lemak,teh tarik and etc since most shops close before 7 pm,excepting the Chinatown and pubs,which aren't the kinda place I would like to catch football. Australia made it through to the last 16. Whoah......A country where football means rugby and with the same population size as Malaysia got into the last 16.I wonder whether I will ever get to sing Negaraku in a World Cup Finals match.That will definitely be something good to remember. Australia is playing Italy. As much as odds favour the Azzuri,but we must always remember South Korea in 2002. Till then adios.

"Rugby is a beastly game played by gentlemen. Soccer is a gentleman's game played by beasts. Football is a beastly game played by beasts. " -Henry Blaha, 1972-

Names Again

The last post didn't quite come out as what I had in mind. I always have the propensity to lose focus on things I am doing. Anyway,on names,yeah English names,like Sheena,Elena,Tina,Xena,Zina,Kannina Some people I heard have some of the rather unique name,like Devil, Apple and etc. English names seem to help others to identify you more easily,especially in a generally English speaking community. Anyway,I used to ponder whether I should take up an English name as well,but in the end decided against it.Boys be boys,girls be girls,Xiao be Xiao although it can be quite ambiguous when calling out my name in a different tone or compelemented by different lah or ah. Example Siao-ah!(in a rather frustated tone) = crazy-ah Siao-ah?(questioning tone = is it Xiao? Siao-ah=(calling Xiao) Siao-lor= It is Xiao. Siao-lor=Laugh lor Hao Siao=Good Xiao Hao siao=darn small Hao siao=good laugh one of the many examples,no doubt the first 3 definitely gave me a hard time interpreting what the other party really means. Anyway,so there was once,when I was feeling rather mischievous,I identified myself with an English name. Well, in Coffeebean,after you order your drinks especially the ice-blended,you are required to wait for a while before they call you out loud to collect your ready drinks at the other side of the counter. Normally,it will be different people handling the drink and the cash counters. So,one day,I thought,maybe I should try to adopt an English name,something different,something I haven't seen in my friends' names. Finally, I decided on one name. I went to the counter to order my drink and introduce myself as "Mcginnis." I have to repeat it a few times and the guy didn't quite catch it,and I finally I spelt the name for him. Hehe.....it is going to be a real trouble for the guy handling the drinks counter. Then,while I was waiting there,it suddenly dawned on me,what if the guy mispronounce it and I have to get to the counter and collect it. All eyes in the cafe would be on me then. Darn. It may backfired.A few possiblities I thought of, he could come up with "Mr Mengganas,Mr Mengganas" Darn..... A friend of mine came up with a rather interesting way to pronounce it.. "Mr Manganese,Mr Manganese" Unsurprisingly,she was a science student too.She even laughed at me for thinking of a name coming from the Periodic Table in chemistry. Anyway back to the cafe,the moment of truth.The guy manning the counter hesitate a while before hollering: "Mr Mac-Genies,Mr Mac-Genies" Some stifled laughters were heard. That must be my drink, for no one would have such a funny-sounding name,I thought.I quickly ran to the counter to collect my drink before all the searching eyes in the cafe pinpoint where that name was coming from. Darn...what did I get myself into then? That would be that last time I am pulling such stunts.Anyway,the "correct" way I heard of pronouncing this name would be "Merck-Ga(i)n-Ness"

Name

Those who know me personally knew that I am quite a caffeine-addict. Well,I hang out quite often at Coffeebean or Starbucks(if really desperate) with a good book in my hand. Darn,that makes me sound like a loser. Ah.....never mind. I personally like reading quite a lot. As the saying goes quite sometimes ago in the radio back in Malaysia,"the more you read the better you're read." Wah,remember all these sayings, give my England a bit of "chim" sound to it. Anyway,back to the main topic. English name or rather Christian name you call it,some of us have it,some of us don't have it and probably some of us thinking of having it. I am actually comfortable with people calling me by my just my surname actually - Xiao(as in the chinese han yu pin yin) During my younger years, of course,kids being kids, a lot of people made fun of my name especially my surname,which I take it well,for well,because of my the name people call me,people remember me. Nevertheless,I was quite proud of my name then.So the name did serve me well until one day the English teacher(way back in 1993) said,"Who would want to volunteer to read the passage?" No one volunteered as we just got into Standard 3 that time. The teacher was a bit foreign to us,just like us to her but she well remembered there was a boy by the name of Xiao and so she boomed "Xiao,read." "Oh shit!" wasn't the first word that came to my mind then.My England was still in its infancy then. "Alamak,"I thought. My England not powderful enough then. The passage was so long somemore. Luckily I managed to cope quite well until I came across a slightly foreign word. Hmm...maybe I could impress the teacher by reading the word out aloud like any other words(you see,most people,soften down their tone when they are not sure)Then,it happened. The whole class bursted out laughing uncontrollably.The word?

MOSQUE

The"smart" me then read it as....

MOS-QUE

...reason being: Mos= "mos"quito Que= "queue" TRAUMA!!!TRAUMA,man...I tell you guys TRAUMA!!! However,I am actually grateful for that, I would never forget how to pronounce the word.Luckily,I had a good and kind English teacher to thank for that too.(not too sure about the standard of English in primary school now) Thank you,Ms Parvinder(I think this is her name),or whoever who used to teach English class in 3 Biru in SRK St. Joseph,Johor Bahru in 1993.If you happen to be reading this blog,teacher,I have a proud confession to make,I am sorry you only caught me TWICE with your "flying chalks" excluding once the "flying duster" I got from you when I talked in your EVERY class during the year. Hehe.....remembering old times......the name still serves me quite well,when some of my former schoolmates walked up to me and called me Xiao here in Melbourne.Sorry if my goldfish-memory can't recall their name,but hey,you only know Xiao but not my last name so that's fair enough!

I Thought...

.....I am quite an optimistic guy until I came across this blog, a real life story about a girl hit by cancer. She is just 25 years old.It was with regrets that I wrote this,for I was not lucky enough to have met you in real life,much less know you. This is a girl who made my optimism seemed like nothing. My deepest condolence to her family. May God bless them all. With that said,I would like to thank you for sharing your life with the rest of us. You might not be reading this but I am quite sure the view from among the stars is just as clear.You have given me quite an insight on the people whom I might be meeting and dealing with in the future in my line of duty. I will be sure to remind myself to keep my humanity and compassion,to treat every patient no less equal than the others. You made me realise I might not have and would never have the ability to win the battle against death,but, might have an effect as great as death itself,if not worse,with every words I spoken,every faces I made or action or inaction I took. Lest I forget,by any means,be sure to guide me back here to what I have written myself. I miss home.Being so far away do leave me with a feeling of insecurity.Pray that there won't be any untoward incidents happening to my family while I am away,and hopefully nothing too when I am with them.I have a bad feeling I can't desribe.Is it the coming exam or something else?