Day +395 : A Potluck

I am fine today.

A few church cell groups combined to have a potluck dinner at my house. There are about 45 cell group members and their family members turned up for the event.

My wife cooked very delicious herbal eggs for the potluck. The eggs were cooked in the herbal soup for two hours last night. After that, we continue to soak them in the soup until the evening today. This allowed the flavour of the herbs to seep into the eggs thoroughly :-)

The delicious food.

Children and adults busy taking the food.
What made them to have such a ‘huge’ laugh?

See you next post :-)

Day +394 : Promotion path of a minister

I am fine today.

I attended monthly company meeting in the morning and enjoyed a good lunch with the staff after the meeting. In the meeting, my boss declared that he assigned me a new role – consultant.

My primary job is to “look here and there” in the company to see if anything can be done better :-) Apart from this, he would like me to be his “right hand” man which I guess is pretty simple to accomplish; just stand on his right side whenever I see him:-) Apart from this, he expects this position to be “pressure free” since consultant is the one who ask people to do work, but not the other way round. So he advised staff not to assign job to me :-) This would keep me relaxed.

I had been a minister without portfolio for the past few months. Now I only realize that the promotion path of a minister is not necessary Prime Minister, Chief Minister or Menteri Besar. It can be a consultant too :-) With this promotion – from a minister to a consultant – the side effect of being a minister without portfolio as mentioned in my Day+260 blog (A minister without Portfolio) also disappeared altogether :-)

See you next post :-)

Day +393 : This time, the question, not the answer, is out of topic

I am fine today.

Yesterday afternoon, when my wife and Daniel were walking into the house coming back from school, I saw Daniel talked to my wife in a very angry tone. I wondered what irritated him so much.

My wife told me later that he was complaining that the Chinese test paper was out of topic. He said that one of the questions carried the word “老铁马(Old Iron Horse?)” which teacher never taught before. My wife told him that “老铁马” simply means bicycle.

One of his classmates reported to my wife that Daniel scolded the teacher because of “老铁马” :-( I don’t think he dares to confront the teacher face to face, he must be complaining his teacher among his classmates when the teacher was not around. When my wife questioned him about this matter on the journey back from school, he became angry again.

Daniel is a 10 year-old boy who is studying primary four. He is very hot tempered and started to be rebellious recently :-( At home, he scolds me more than anybody else because I am the one who forces him to do homework and study. Most of the time, I tolerate his unreasonable act; in an attempt to let him releases his angriness and dissatisfaction. However, if the situation turns to a point beyond my tolerance, I just flash the “rotan (cane)”, and this turns him into a good boy instantly.

Who says “rotan” is not good?

See you next post :-)

Day +392 : What an inefficient administration!

I am fine today.

One of my nieces started her campus life in Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) the beginning of July (Day +361 : Busy sending off my nieces to universities). She stayed in the residential college of the university.

The enrollment letter and associated documents reached my home village late, so she went for registration without them. Then my sister sent the documents to her residential college through PosLaju service – a courier service of Pos Malaysia. When my niece went to check for the documents, the college administration office denied that they received the document despite the fact that they signed the receipt. They just said to my niece that the document was missing :( In the end, my nephew found the document in Hal Ehwal Pelajar (Student Affairs).

This is not an isolated incident. About two weeks ago, I sent my niece a JPA loan warrant through courier service. Until now she hasn’t received it despite numerous checking with the college’s administration office. The courier service provided me the proof of receipt which bore the Penolong Pentadbiran (Assistant Administrator) signature on it. But when my niece checked with the Penolong Pentadbiran, she said that she did not receive it. Where could they place the warrant? If I were not mistaken, the warrant will be expired if it is not cleared within one month from the date of issuance. Worst of all, failure to clear the warrant automatically disqualified her from the loan. I am very sure the warrant is now expired and she missed this important source of financial aid :-(

We still don’t know where the warrant is? My niece told me, “The university is big, but the administration here is ‘kelam kabut ‘(a chaos) “

I believe this is caused by the ‘tidak-apa (couldn’t careless)’ attitude of the staff. It looks like recent hike in government servant’s salary does not bring any improvement of their attitude. “More money is good, but ‘tidak-apa’ still ‘tidak-apa.” Macam ini, mana Malaysia Boleh? (With this kind of attitude, how Malaysia Can?)

See you next post :-)

Day +391 : Sayonara, my friend Sporanox

I am fine today.

You might wonder who this Sporanox is. It is an anti-fungal drug that I took continuously for about one and half year.

This morning, I noticed that the pharmacist did not give me Sporanox yesterday, and I am very sure that the doctor did not “off” the drug. The only drug he adjusted the steroid, which he reduced from 1 tablet(5mg) a day to 1 tablet per alternate day. In order to make sure that the prescription was correct, I called the doctor this morning. He confirmed that I no longer need to take Sporanox :-)

Previously, the Sporanox helped to wade off any potential fungus attack and now my body’s immune system has to do the job. I pray that it will do it well.

A picture of this colourful friend :-)
See you next post :-)

Day +390 : Follow-up

My Blood Count Today:
Red Blood Count (HB) = 147 (Normal 130-180)
Platelet = 138(Normal 150-450)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 6.5(Normal 4 - 11)
Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC) = 4.68 (Normal 1.5 - 8.0)
ALT = 96(Normal 30 - 65 ) - Last follow-up reading
AST = 36(Normal 15-37) - Last follow-up reading
GGT = 267(Normal 15-85) - Last follow-up reading

I am fine today.

I went to do follow-up this morning. The platelet and HB count continue to improve over the last follow-up result. I only get last follow-up (6 weeks ago) liver function test result today. All reading that I monitor - ALT, AST and GGT level - increased with ALT and GGT level exceeded the normal range again. I do not know today’s result yet.

Doctor reduced the steroid (Prednisolon) to 5mg (1 tablet) alternate day. He said, even the dosage is small, but take it off abruptly might cause huge reaction. With less and less steroid, I think I will be having less and less energy and more and more tired :-(

My mouth and eyes continue to be very dry. I need to apply artificial tear regularly. I used to use Biotene mouth wash – a very good mouth moisturizer – to moisturize my mouth, but recently, it caused pain to my teeth. I believe this is caused by sensitive teeth. Could GVHD result in sensitive teeth? Anyway, doctor recommended OralBalance jell to moisturize my mouth and it works great :-) but the price is double the Biotene mouth wash :-(

I went to follow-up at 12:30pm only and reached home at 4:00pm this time. The only consequence of going late is that I could not get the liver function test result on the same day. This doesn’t matter as I believe the doctor will study the result and call me if the treatment course needs to be adjusted.

My next follow-up is 6 weeks later.

See you next post :-)

Day +389 : Concert Sharing (2)

I am fine today. Continue from yesterday...

You can download the recording here.

我活着是神迹 (2)

我如何面对这样严峻的考验呢？当我抬起头来仰望神时，我所有的顾虑一扫而空。我从神那里看到盼望，一个超越黑暗和死亡的永恒盼望。这个盼望就是主耶稣在圣经上说应许的，信他的人有永生。我对我自己说，我若离开这个世界，美丽的天堂就是我永恒的家园，在那里“没有眼泪，也不再有死亡，悲哀、哭号、疼痛”。有了这个思想之后，我心就安定了。

除了盼望之外，我也将我的生命完全的交托给神。同时，将我所牵挂的太太和孩子们也一并交托给神。虽然我不知我明天是否依然活着，但我深知神的手正紧紧地牵引着我走人生的每一段路程。不论是越过荒山野岭或是走过辽阔平原，我的神都在我的身边陪伴着我。有了这个思想之后，我的心得到极大的安慰。在病痛之中，心中仍然充满喜乐。正如圣经所说，“耶和华是我的牧者，我必不至缺乏，他使我躺卧在青草地上，领我在可安歇的水变。”“我虽然行过死荫的幽谷，也不怕遭害，因为你与我同在；你的杖，你的竿，都安慰我”。

在九个月之中，我接受了四轮的化疗及一次的骨髓移植，总共在医院里住了150天。每一次的疗程都犹如经过死荫幽谷。我看过许多生死别离，也失去了许多在病房认识的朋友。另外一方面，我也体验到生命的神奇与可贵。在治疗过程中，我看到我们身体的无数器官都在非常精确及平衡，日夜不停的自动操作。例如：我们不需要特意的控制我们心跳的速度、我们呼吸的次数、或者控制我们血液里的红血球、白血球及血小板的指数等。表面上看来，这些器官非常自然的操作，其实里面的过程是异常的复杂和神奇的。神所创造的生命原来是如此的神奇，我今天活着岂不是个神迹么？亲爱的朋友们，不只我活着是神迹，你今天活着也是神迹。神爱我们，他为我们预备了耶稣，叫每一个接受他为救主的人都可以超越短暂的今生，得到永恒的生命。朋友们，不要再犹豫了，现在就接受耶稣为你的救主，让永恒的生命成为你一生中最大的神迹吧！

See you next post :-)

Day +388 : Concert Sharing (1)

I am fine today.

I would like to share with you the sharing that I recorded for the concert as I mentioned in Day +379 : A concert about Life and Love. It was written in Mandarin.

我活着是神迹 (1)

生命，不是没有神迹，乃是我看不到神迹。

生命，充满神迹，但我却问，神迹阿！你在哪里？

生命太自然了，以至我把神迹当自然。

直到有一日，我生病了，

我蓦然清醒，原来自然就是神迹。

我活着就是神迹。

我于2005年十一月被医生诊断出患上急性血癌。这个诊断对我来说是项非常严重的打击。因为在这之前，我每天晨跑3.5公里、喝绿茶、吃燕麦和其他健康食品及听古典音乐等。同时，我的个性乐观，时常保持开朗的心情。所以我从来没有想到我的健康会出这样大的问题。

医生说我的情况非常危急，需要立刻进行化疗。从那时起，我就开始漫长及危险的治疗过程。起初，医生说整个疗程需要差不多六个月的时间来完成。但非常不幸的是，详细检验报告出炉之后，医生说我需要做骨髓移植。这是因为我血液的染色体(chromosome)出了重大的问题，以致我的血癌是属于最危险的那一种。这意味着我需要更长的时间来治疗。

回想那是的情况真是糟糕透了。我的太太怀孕五个月，还有三个幼小的孩子，万一我有何不测的话，谁来照顾他们？除此之外，我也顾虑到我的收入，长时间不能工作，我们如何生活？还有，每一轮的化疗，都有生命的危险。骨髓移植的风险就更高。医生说骨髓移植的死亡率差不多20到25巴仙，也就是每四个骨髓移植之中，平均就有一个遭遇死亡。坦白说，我真的没有把握我是否经得起这样激烈的治疗。

To be continued and see you next post :-)

Day +387 : The naughty one gets better reward (5)

I am fine today. Continue from yesterday...

This interesting phenomenon is also appearing in some business organization. Those employees who are faithful and dedicated are very likely be neglected by the boss while those naughty employees who behave otherwise would normally get better reward. For example, when an employee throws in a letter of resignation, the boss would normally react instantly by ‘counter offering’ the offer given by other company. The boss fails to find any reason to reward the faithful one because they are “too good to be better rewarded”. In the end, the unfaithful employee gets better reward :-)

However, don’t simply throw in resignation letter after seeing this post. In order for you to qualify to be “the naughty one that gets better reward”, you must be very useful or almost indispensable to the company. Otherwise, you are doing your boss a favour by ‘disposing’ an ‘unwanted’ staff from the company :-)

See you next post :-)

Day +386 : The naughty one gets better reward (4)

I am fine today. Continue from yesterday...

When my uncle saw the poster, he fell into a rage (大发雷霆) until he almost ‘terpelanting’(fell on the floor). He demanded two of us took down the poster immediately; else he would report this to police. He said we would be put into jail, because students were prohibited into politic. We never thought that this would hurt him so much. We obeyed his demand in no time :-(

When I saw him two weeks ago, I was quite surprised to learn that he already switched to opposition party. What made the drastic change? The main reason is that he was furious when he witness that those villages that support the opposition received more development fund. He did not switch camp quietly; he went to question and scold (大闹一场) the MP first and then announced in front of the MP that he would no longer support him :-)

My uncle took almost his whole life to learn the lesson that “the naughty one gets better reward” and became naughty in the end; as naughty as Richard and me more than twenty years ago :-)

To be continued and see you next post :-)

Day +385 : The naughty one gets better reward (3)

I am fine today. Continue on the above topic...

One of my uncles was a very faithful BN supporter. This uncle is very kind and close to us. He always purchased delicious junk foods for us when we were young :-)

On year, during election campaign, naughty me and my brother, Richard decided to support the opposition party, DAP. We erected a big poster next to our house with a very big rocket (DAP party logo) and some writing that portrayed BN MPs as cunning and irresponsible; only gave goodies such as pebbles (to surface the muddy road) just before election and disappeared almost instantly after the election.

Part of the writing that I can recall was as follow (If not the bone marrow transplant, I might be able to recall the full writing):-

国政自称做得好，
议员中选隆州躲，
。。。
两粒石头把人骗，
。。。

To be continued and see you next post :-)

Day +384 : Finally, the maid arrived

I am fine today.

We welcome our new maid yesterday. It took us more than 4 months to employ this maid. We book a maid on 9 March (Day +248 : I booked a maid), but on 3 April (Day +272 : Three things to thank God), the agency told us that the maid could not come due to some unforeseen circumstances. Then we chose a maid again (Day +278 : We choose a maid again), but again, this maid failed to come due to serious illness. On 8 June, we choose another one (Day +339 : We choose a maid again), who came yesterday.

My wife is busy training the maid now. I hope the she will perform well; else we might become the maid’s maid.

May God bless the maid.

See you next post :-)

Day +383 : The answer

I am fine today.

The answer to my blog “Day +380 : What had happened to this bottle?” is as follow:


The bottle is distorted due to difference in air pressure. When I opened the bottle to drink water, the air pressure inside the bottle was adjusted to the air pressure in the sky which is a lot less than the pressure on the ground. When I landed, the pressure inside the bottle maintained but the pressure outside the bottle increased. So the bottle was pressed in by the stronger pressure outside the bottle.

Daniel managed to guess correctly with the above explanation :-)

See you next post :-)

Day +382 : The naughty one gets better reward (2)

I am fine today. Continue from yesterday …

Over the years, the villagers saw a very interesting pattern in the allocation of development fund; those villages that supported the opposition party always got more fund than those that supported the Barisan National (BN).

The Members of Parliament (MPs) play an important role in the allocation of development fund. They need the villagers’ vote to win. In order to tempt the naughty villagers that support the opposition party to switch their mind to support them during the election, they give better reward (allocate more fund) to them.

On the other hand, they are very sure that the good faithful villagers would support them, so it is not very useful to reward them. In the end, the naughty one gets more reward :-)

To be continued and see you next post :-)

Day +381 : The naughty one gets better reward (1)

I am fine today.

When I was in my home village about two weeks ago, I saw the contractors there very busy expanding and re-surfacing public main roads. Most people over there see this as a sign that the election is approaching.

Heavy work on the main road that connects Bintangor to Sibu.
Apart from the main roads, there are many small private roads that lead to individual villages from the main road. These private roads are maintained by the villagers. Sometimes, they also receive funds from the government to improve or maintain the roads. I need to use his type of road to access my house in the village.

Government allocated RM50,000 to surface the private road with concrete. My house is on top the hill.
To be continued and see you next post :-)

Day +380 : What had happened to this bottle?

I am fine today.

I accidentally discovered some interesting phenomenon of this mineral water bottle on my flight from KL to Sibu. I did an experiment on the returning flight and manage to repeat the phenomenon :-)

I brought a bottle of mineral water into the airplane. I took a photo of the bottle before the flight took off.
Then the flight took off and I managed to finish the water half way through the journey.

I noticed something happened to the bottle after the plane landed.

What had happened to the bottle? I give you a few days to think. A photo of the resulting bottle will be shown on Monday with possible explanation :-)

See you next post -)

Day +379 : A concert about Life and Love

I am fine today.

Dream Faith Music is using my quote about life – It’s a miracle that I live (我活着是神迹) – in their upcoming concert in Labuan and Beaufort, Sabah. The full quote is available in my Day +181 blog.

A banner of the concert. Click it to get a larger view.

In addition to this, I also recorded a short sharing for them to play during the concert. I spent whole day writing, practising, recording and editing the sharing until midnight :-) My wife teached me how to pronounce many Chinese words which I could not pronounce accurately.

If you live in Labuan or Beaufort, I invite you to attend the concert. I would like to give thank and glory to God if my experience or writing bring encouragement to people.

See you next post :-)

Day +378 : First movie after transplant

I am fine today.

I went to watch the movie called “Transformer” with my wife, Daniel and Adriel in the evening. Joseph couldn’t make it because he hadn’t come home from school yet as he study the afternoon session. He will be watching the movie some other time.

I understand from my nephew that the figures in the movie are based on the classic Transformer cartoon and comic which I never have a chance to see or read before. For the first time in my life, I came to know the good robot Optimus Prime and the bad robot Megatron :-)

The Optimus Prime - Protect.

The Megatron - Destroy.
It is an interesting movie with very good computer graphic effects. I highly recommend it :-)

See you next post :-)

Day +377 : A kind auntie

I am fine today.

An auntie came to visit me while I was visiting my third sister. She used to sell food in the school that I studied my Form 6 about twenty years ago. We never met after I left the school. I couldn’t remember her at all, but she still remembered me :-)

This kind auntie is a good friend of my third sister’s mother-in-law. She is very concern about my health.

I took a photo with her.
See you next post :-)

Day +376 : Life in home village (4)

I am fine today. I am now on the flight from Sibu to KL. Not bad AirAsia, this time 15 minutes delay only for the last flight :-)

I drove from my home village, Sg. Mador to Sibu in the early morning. When I reached Sibu, the first thing that I did was to purchase some ‘Gong Biscuit’(光饼) for my wife. Gong Biscuit is a Foochow food which is not available in KL.

After buying the biscuits, I ordered Fried-Soup Mee(炒煮面) for breakfast at the Sibu market:-)

A very big bowl of Fried-soup Mee cost RM2.50 only. More delicious than the one that I had in Bintangor.
After the breakfast, I roamed around the market and took some photos. The market is huge. It hosts hundreds of stalls. This following photo was taken in the middle, so the size is double of the one shown here.You would be fascinated how they sell live chickens - wrapped them using newspaper! As simple as that :-)
Three dejected (垂头丧气) roosters :-( Big-head prawns – a type of plain water prawn. The stall owner told me that he caught the prawns using fishing net. It cost RM35.00 per kg only :-) I returned to my 2nd sister house after visiting the market. I slept most of the time as I became tired very easily lately.

My neighbor invited me and my sister family for dinner in the evening. He ordered crispy and delicious ‘Philippine Pork Leg’. A big dish cost RM23.00 only.
Photo with my neighbour and my 2nd sister during the dinner. All the foods are healthy except the pork leg :-)After the dinner, my sister sent me to airport. Apart from the Gong Biscuits, I also brought back a few chickens:-) These chickens are more delicious than the one in KL :-)

See you next post :-)