My own inconsistent spelling paradigms

I picked up the Wordle habit recently, and today's puzzle tripped me up a bit. As a product of mostly British schools I stubbornly stick to "ou" vs. "o" spellings, although I've picked up the nasty habit of using "z" instead of "s" in a lot of places. I even realised it earlier today when I did a routine spellcheck on an old document and I was prompted to change the document region from American English to British English, just to keep my "ou" spelling. This is all just an excuse to explain today's 5 guesses required.

Checking in on BOINC

Start of a new year seems like a good time to set a milepost for BOINC progress. I'll compare my progress later in the year, although I don't expect significant progress, since I'm mainly crunching on a GRC pool. Still, I may add or switch around projects. The strangest thing is I still haven't been knocked off the top 100 list for the country.

Hello from The Future! (2022 edition)

This goes out to those on the other side of the world, including my sister. Yes, it's a #dadjoke, but I'm a dad, so it's allowed!

A goal for 2015

It's a simple one: I want to read more, and write more. I've already got a selection of unread books that I bought at the Big Bad Wolf Sale last month, and even some from the previous year. So that first part of my goal should be easy enough to achieve. It's the writing part that worries me some. We'll see how it goes.

Starting the new year with doctors visits

Urgh. What a way to ring in the new year.

This is just a quick update. Last week of December I go for my medical checkup that's required as part of contract renewal. About a week later I get a call from HR saying the blood test came back with some abnormality (elevated liver enzymes), and I have to go in for a follow-up with the radiologist. Just hearing that word kinda freaked me out. First working day of the new year I go back for the liver ultrasound. Good news, and bad news.

Good news - liver seems fine, except - bad news - lesions have been detected. Four of them, with one being particularly large at roughly 7cm. I meet a surgeon, who checks me out, tells me not to worry, then orders a CT scan - just to be sure. So off I go to get a CT scan, and I'll meet the doctor again this Saturday.

Hmm. Hepatatic hemangioma. Most likely benign, the doctor tells me. And, it's quite common.

Ok, I'm off to bed. Tired, and I feel bloated after all the water I've been drinking to flush the radioactive isotopes out.

Changing shampoos

I recently bought a new bottle of shampoo. I’ve been using Himalaya shampoo for several years now. It’s an organic-based product, with many different plant extracts as the main ingredients. I’m not one to experiment too much with personal care products; if I’ve been using something for a long time and it hasn’t been giving me problems, I’ll stick with it. So I was just a little bit confused when Himalaya came out with a new bottle design. I wasn’t sure it was the same product, since previously my shampoo branded itself as a “protein shampoo with conditioner, normal hair”. The new bottle said “protein shampoo, gentle daily care, normal hair”. The shop attendant said it was just a new package design, so I went with it.

Just the other morning, I opened the new bottle as my old bottle had emptied. When I poured out the shampoo, a new colour greeted me: it was brown-black. So I took a closer look at the bottles, and discovered the difference.

The old shampoo listed sandalwood (santalum album) and shikakai (acacia concinna) as the main ingredients, with others being indian paper birch (betula utilis), ushira (vetiveria zizanioides), banyan tree (ficus bengalensis), musk root (nardostachys jatamansi), fenugreek (trigonella foenum-graeceum), soapnut (sapindus mukorossi), common wheat (triticum sativum), and lemon (citrus limon). The bottle tells me that:

Fenugreek is rich in Natural Proteins that nourish the hair roots and prevent hair loss. Musk Root promotes hair growth. Shikakai detangles and softens the hair.

The new shampoo lists licorice (glycyrrhiza glabra) and amla (phyllanthus emblica) as the main ingredients, with others being chebulic myrobalan (terminalia chebula), eclipta (eclipta prostrata), chickpea (cicer arietinum), belleric myrobalan (terminalia bellirica), and henna (lawsonia inermis). This time, the bottle tells me:

Chickpea: Rich source of natural protein.
Amla & Black Myrobalan: Natural hair tonics that strengthen hair roots.
Licorice: Helps promote hair growth.

In other words, nothing to worry about; it’s all just still clever marketing. Organic-based, no animal testing shampoo! (It’s just something to wash your hair with.)

PriceWatch: Himalaya Shampoo

Item: Shampoo, 400ml, Protein Shampoo for Normal Hair
Brand: Himalaya
Price: MYR 22.90
Date of Purchase/Survey: 01/05/2011
Place of Sale: MidValley MegaMall, KL

Organic-based product, not tested on animals.

PriceWatch: Petrol in Malaysia

Item: RON95 petrol
Brand: any
Price: MYR 1.90 / liter
Date of Purchase/Survey: 27/02/2011
Place of Sale: any petrol station in Malaysia

Despite the fluctuations in world oil prices brought on by the recent events in the Middle East, the Malaysian Government is maintaining the subsidized price of RON95 petrol in the country at RM1.90 per liter. For now.

PriceWatch: Parking, KL

Item: Parking
Price: MYR 9.00 / entry
Date of Purchase/Survey: 29/01/2011
Place of Sale: Menara TA One, Jalan P Ramlee, KL

Parking in the centre of KL sure is expensive. Right next to the office it’s RM9.00 per entry, even on weekends. There was a time when it was less during the weekends. RM7.00 per entry I thought. Maybe that was on a Sunday though. So if I’m only going to be in the office for a 3-4 hours or less, it might be worthwhile to park at Suria KLCC instead.

P.S. Yes, the PriceWatch format may not fit so well for a service such as parking, but you can make sense of it.

It’s a New Year? Ok

I’m not greeting the New Year with any resolutions. No clichés about losing weight or doing volunteer work or anything like that. I’d rather not set myself up for disappointment. Yes, you should set goals for yourself. Yes, you must have some method to measure your success. Yes, you should give yourself a deadline so that the goal is achievable. Hmm. I seem to have made the case for resolutions. Nevertheless, I say no! Instead, I shall remember all the good things from 2010, try to keep learning from all the bad, and keep reminding myself: yes, I too deserve happiness.

So it’s a new year, huh? Ok then. Let’s get working on achieving happiness, however you define it.

Happy New Year, everyone! I wish happiness for you, wherever you are.

I should be somewhere else

Maybe “should” is too strong a word. Ok then, I “want” to be somewhere else. But life doesn’t always turn out the way we want it to. Usually something gets in the way. A “commitment” of some kind, whether time, or money, or attention, or some combination. We all have them. Our jobs; doctor’s appointments; class schedules; mortgage payments; project meetings; and the list goes on.

So I’m sitting here wishing all these commitments could take a break, when it hits me. I get it. I know why parents always want to “spoil” their children. Forget making them happy and seeing their smiles. Forget giving them a better future or more fulfilling life. It’s about living vicariously.

When else are you unburdened by commitments that hamper your free spirit? Only as a child do you have the freedom to go through your days without a worry in the world. Before there are timesheets, before there are examinations, before there are roll calls, before there are campuses to cross, before there are teachers, before there are homework assignments, before all that - there is exploration of your world. There is you - and there is the world. There are paintbrushes and colouring books, fields to jump in and slides to go down, butterflies to chase and gardens to water, toys to play with and the boxes that substitute - all there for exploration without concern for anything but that it’s there.

So if you want to eat something specific - fries, or ice-cream, or sliced apples - it’s there. If you want to go to a mall - someone will take you. If you want to go to a park - someone will take you.

And that’s what parents should do. Take care of the commitments. It’s what you do as an adult. Protect your child from the disappointments of life. They’ll come in soon enough, those disappointments. Can’t stop that; no way to avoid it. And when those commitments get you down, live vicariously.

Take care of the commitments so someone else gets what they want and gets to live life.

Where were you... when Aung San Suu Kyi was freed?

This post is part-diary, part-momentous-occasion-noting. It’s like that Zen question: “if a tree falls in a forest and no one’s there to hear it, does it make a sound?” (Ok, I checked; it’s not a Zen question, just a philosophical riddle. Same diff.)

In today’s electronic world, if you don’t blog it, or tweet it, or FB it, did you have any reaction? Were you even aware of it, whatever “it” is? Certainly there are benefits to this. At least, years from now, if I can’t recall the story, I can look it up. This is what I was doing when “it” happened.

So where was I when Aung San Suu Kyi was freed from house arrest?

It was Saturday evening and I was home after having sent A’isyah back. She had her certificate presentation day in the morning where she had performed with all her schoolmates, and we had spent most of the afternoon making Play-Doh ice cream. So I was sitting and drinking some warm water with honey for my sore throat when my koi messages me a CNN headline:

Aung San Suu Kyi release after 15 years of house arrest

She was asking me to remind her who that was. :-)

The leader of the democracy movement in Burma/Myanmar being released after decades of persecution by the ruling military junta is certainly a momentous occasion. After all, Aung San Suu Kyi was the symbol of the human rights abuses of the Myanmar leadership. That, of course, was always a thorn in ASEAN's side vis-a-vis international relations. What a different world it would have been if her party’s victory in the 1990 general election had been recognized instead of nullified by the military.

Of course, just because she’s been freed now doesn’t guarantee a different future for the people of Myanmar. After all, they just had (a sham of) an election days before her release. So the military government probably feels they have a mandate to lead. And they could just very well place Aung San Suu Kyi on house arrest again in a few months. It’s not like they haven’t done it before.

Still, let’s be optimistic.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

So yesterday was a public holiday (selamat Aidiladha to those I didn’t already greet) and a day off for me. The night before I had thought about catching HP7, the latest installment in the Harry Potter series. Yesterday was the premiere for Malaysia, so there were bound to be lots of screens showing it. It being a public holiday made it more likely that seats would be difficult to find, as opposed to a normal premier mid-week. When I checked online through GSC's e-ticketing service, I managed to find single seats easily enough. So I was off to the movies!

Of course, this made some people just a tad jealous. I’m not exactly the biggest Harry Potter fan. Yes, I’ve read the books. Yes, I’ve watched the movies. Yes, I’m quite familiar with the lore. But no, I don’t remember all the little details. I don’t go crazy about the latest news in HP fandom. So here I was, hardly a hardcore fan, going alone to watch the new Harry Potter movie on opening day. :-)

And it was a thoroughly enjoyable movie. To channel Ron: “Brilliant!” ;-) The mood was perfectly captured, with mounting dread weighing on the scenery and the costumes and the characters’ bearings. I thought it was a story well-told, with good pacing and nothing seeming out of place. It’s been ages since I read the book, so I can’t comment on how accurately it portrayed scenes from the book (other than to note some obvious parts that were different of course). But the script and the director really captured the essence of the story.

One thing to really appreciate are the special effects, which are there to help in the story-telling, and not as something tacked on for wow-factor. That’s what separates the great movies from the B-movies.

Even if you’re not a Harry Potter fan, if you know of him, you owe it to yourself to watch this movie. It’s that good. And then, of course, you’ll wait a year for Part 2 to be released; just like the rest of us.

Five years later ...

It’s been five years since I decided to (finally) start a blog. My original inspiration was A’isyah, and today she turned five. It seems a lifetime away, and in many respects, it was. I have nothing against how my life has changed from then. But no matter what, A’isyah plays a big part in my life.

When I started blogging, I never intended to exhaustively chronicle my life, or my parenting, or A’isyah’s growing up. As a matter of fact, looking back at my blog - which really won’t take that much time - I’ve touched on a wide range of topics. There have been times when I blogged frequently, and even liveblogged while watching TV.

In all, I’ve delivered a little bit of everything, and nothing, just as I promised. :-) Here’s looking forward to the next five years! And other things to celebrate!

The shadow of the father

My sis sent me an sms earlier: "Dad’s on Wikipedia!" (Bored much? Hehe. Can I get my laptop back?) Soon after, there’s a short clip on TV about today in history. 10 years ago today, TiungSAT-1, Malaysia’s first microsatellite, was launched from Kazakhstan. And my dad’s picture flashed on screen. The timing of the sms and the "today in history" clip is coincidental; the Wikipedia entry is not a personal page, but just a list.

Still, it gives me pause. Nothing too mindblowing. I’ve thought about this before. It may not be a very big shadow, but there’s still a shadow cast by my father. Nothing I need to really crawl out of though. We don’t have that much in common, and I don’t operate in the same circle.

I wonder what others think though.

Holiday season’s over

The three week holiday season is coming to a close. First we celebrated Hari Merdeka on 31 August (although I came into the office to work on my tender exercise). Then we celebrated Hari Raya Aidilfitri on 10 and 13 September (good break). And finally we celebrated Hari Malaysia on 16 September (our first Malaysia Day celebration, although I spent it starting to get sick). This is the last weekend of the two week school holidays also, so A’isyah will be going back to school tomorrow. KL will come alive again, and the traffic will start snarling.

Minority racism in Malaysia

From the Letters page of The New Straits Times, 26 August 2010:

Shocked at biased attitude

We are from Sabah and most of us, even though we are born Muslim, do not consider ourselves Malay, especially when we have Kadazandusun parents or grandparents whose forefathers were Chinese or some other race.

1Malaysia is nothing new to us as we have been living it here in Sabah since Malaysia was formed in 1963.  My daughter has lived in Australia and the United States for the last five to six years.  After she graduated and worked a year in Australia, she wanted to come home.

Being in the film industry, she would have more opportunities to work in Kuala Lumpur.  She is now trying hard to adjust to life in the capital.

When I spoke to her on Aug 21, she told me she was meeting a real estate agent who would show her an apartment in Ampang.

Imagine how she felt when the real estate agent asked if she was Malay or Indian.  When she asked why that was relevant, the real estate agent told her “because the owner doesn’t want to rent to Malays or Indians”.

As she doesn’t consider herself Malay, the real estate agent agreed to meet her.

Having only been in Kuala Lumpur for slightly more than a month, it wasn’t easy for her to find her way to where they were supposed to meet.  This agent, who called himself Kenneth, became angry when she couldn’t find her way and made a racist remark.

When I called Kenneth, he was rude and hung up on me.  When I called his company, I was told Kenneth had been fired earlier.  But the man who answered was very rude too; he, too, hung up on me.

I am utterly shocked at the standard and the attitude of these real estate agents.  How on earth is my daughter going to find a place with such people around?

F. Arif

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Make what you will of it.  I’m just copying from the papers.

PriceWatch: Lipton Green Tea

Item: (Lemon) Green Tea, 500ml

Brand: Lipton

Price: MYR 2.40

Date of Purchase/Survey: 26/07/2010

Place of Sale: Foodcourt, Lvl 8, Menara TA One

Assuming that there aren’t any other pricing variations between a tuck shop found in a commercial building, and a bakery found in a shopping mall, there’s a 30 sen premium for the Pokka bottled lemon tea.  Basically, you’re paying 12.5% more for Pokka compared to Lipton.  Hmm.  Makes you think.  And A’isyah prefers the Pokka.  Hehe.

PriceWatch: Pokka Lemon Tea

Item: Lemon Tea, 500ml

Brand: Pokka

Price: MYR 2.70

Date of Purchase/Survey: 24/07/2010

Place of Sale: BreadTalk, MidValley Megamall

World Cup history tonight

Doesn’t matter who lifts the trophy after tonight’s Holland v Spain match. It’ll be a historic result, since neither team have ever won the World Cup. It’s been a thrilling ride so far, with a fair share of surprises and upsets. My dream final of Brazil v Argentina never materialized, after both teams were ousted at the quarterfinals. Still, I haven’t been disappointed. Overall it’s been a fantastic display of world-class football, and the teams have given their all.

Now it’s off to bed for me so I can wake up for the 2:30am game. :-)