I sent this email to an ex-colleague, who at long last is leaving (along with a few others) that old employer of ours.

 

——————————————————————–

Hi [ ]

 

You, [ ] and [ ] have impressed me immensely with your staying power/patience. A couple of months with these clowns from Khazanah and other such characters were enough to tell me I should find alternatives. Sometimes when I am too busy and pressured I longed for those less taxing days working with these imbeciles but the downside of these days would be too much of a price to pay. I guess often the over-riding need to have a job and pay bills means we often do whatever that is available, no matter who we have to work with.

 

Anyway, good to know you are moving on to better things. LLM and academia sounds good and I am sure with these added strings to your already impressive bow, you’d be snapped up in no time.

 

My family and I have been in Melbourne for a little over a year now. My wife and daughter are going to Malaysia for a holiday in about 2 weeks, and will stay there for 3 weeks. So over the Christmas/New Year period, I am all alone without my family with me… L

 

My wife works for [ ], one of the oldest retailing groups in Melbourne, as an internal auditor. She is enjoying her work. Her office is in the city and she commutes by train every day (about half hour). My daughter goes to a school near our home and is doing well. More importantly she is enjoying school here. I am in a suburban legal firm close to home, only about 10 minutes’ drive away. There are 6 lawyers here, including the principal/sole proprietor. We do SME type of commercial work, mom and pop shops, conveyancing, wills, debt collection etc. Chappalang la. Our home is in Mount Waverley in the eastern suburb, about 20km from the city.

 

Life is good, although it has been difficult to leave a relatively stable and secured life in Malaysia to start anew all over again. It is a price I have been prepared to pay for a long time now, bolstered in no small way by my dealings with the sort of buffoons you are about to say goodbye to. Sorry if I sound a bit harsh but I honestly believe that with these lazy, greedy, corrupt Melayus remaining in power Malaysia’s downward spiral will find no respite. Unfortunately I don’t see the sort of fundamental changes necessary to turn things around. I am therefore digging in to rebuild here in Melbourne, rather than returning to my familiar (and therefore feels safer) old haunt.

 

If you and your family find yourselves visiting Melbourne, do give me a call and we can catch up over coffee or wine, both of which are fantastic here in Melbourne.

 

Please send my best wishes to [ ].

 

Regards,

 

 

Theresa’s relatives

A whole bunch of them got together in Blackburn last night, in Uncle Seng and Auntie Ann’s home. A couple of elderly grand-aunties were visiting from Malaysia, together with some cousins from Newcastle, NSW and everyone got together for dinner. One of them was a 72 year old lady who used to be a temple caretaker and must have her Guinness everyday. She regularly dispensed advice on Chinese customs and practices and spared no one if she thought any of these customs or practices were being adhered to. Most defer to her and last night was no different. Except of course, she had a stroke 2 years ago and is no longer the peppy hot little chilli she used to be. She was more subdued and I wasn’t sure if this was confined to her current visit or it has become a permanent change but she has got off her Guinness and her staple now is regular red wine. Plenty of De Bortolli 4 litre variety was on serve last night and by the time we were bidding our farewells she looked a little glaze. The cousin from Newcastle said, for the umpteenth time, that he didn’t think this grand-aunt was going to have another visit down under. In the course of the evening several phone calls were made to Malaysia, cajoling Theresa’s parents to make a visit soon. That would be nice. Thankfully all I had last night was a couple of beers and some bourbon, so I woke up this morning perfectly normal. Except of course, that this morning was to see United’s exit from Europe.

United’s Woes

My beloved Man United has been in the dumps this season. Not even the memories of Georgie Best could lift the performance in Lisbon’s Stadium of Light this morning as we went down 2-1 to Benfica, the subject of Best’s torments more than 30 years ago. I thought Scholesy’s goal in the 16^th minute was a bit fortuitous and I was unfortunately, proven right. After the opening 10 minutes of controlling play, we allowed Benfica to take over in terms of both work rate and intelligent play. Rooney could not work his stuff, Ronaldo was still playing tricks to satisfy himself and Van Nilsteroy was starved of good balls. Scholes may have scored in the last 2 games he has played in but he is no where near his best creative self of old. Certainly, for all his tenacity, Alam Smith could not be said, by any stretch of the imagination, to have controlled the mid-field. Not in the Keane way. No, there really is only one Keano. Until we have someone remotely like him (an Essien, Makelele or Gerard) we will not be able to reclaim supremacy, either in the EPL or in Europe.

Still, maybe because I have not been on a regular diet of United games, this morning’s loss was a lot less painful than it would otherwise have been. It’s all a question of expectations and habit I guess. I’m glad I acted on the hunch that making an ECL final was a rarity and therefore hopped onto a plane in May 1999 and headed for Barcelona. That night in Nou Camp still ranks as one of the best experiences I have had in my life. Totally unforgetable and unfortunately, probably never to be experienced again.

Happy Kiddo

Last night we took her to see the latest gaffe from Ms Rowling. It was surprisingly quite entertaining and while we were watching credits roll at the end, I thought: “Mike Newell directed this?” That explains its higher-than-expected entertainment value. I remember thoroughly enjoying Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Anyway, as it was a long movie, we rushed to catch the early evening screening at 6.15pm. and so skipped dinner. Half way through I felt hungry and when the movie finished, my dearest wife was either hungry herself or she heard my tummy rumbling. “We are going to Bob’s Kitchen are we?” she casually remarked. No one objected and for a change, there was no queue outside this little simple Chinese diner. We had a very satisfying noodle and dumpling.

Right from the moment we left the cinema, throughout dinner at Bob’s kitchen, right through the drive home (amidst thunderstorm and heavy rain) kiddo couldn’t stop talking about Messrs Potter, Weasley and Grainger. She was still at it this morning over breakfast and I tried extremely hard not to mute this excitement although I am about as interested in the magical world of Hogwarts as I am in croquet. I make the usual obligatory “You think so?” and “Why do you say that?”, only half following whatever that was pouring out of that considerable facial orifice of hers. For the umpteenth time, I wonder how is it that my wife and I are both relatively quiet folks but kiddo turned out to be such a wonderfully active chatterbox. Again, I remind myself of my parental duty to stoke, not dampen, such enthusiasm. To cajole and encourage instead of stomping out such liveliness, no matter how unnatural it is for me.

 

Silent Me

There’s this joke about 2 blokes having their drinks in a bar somewhere. Half an hour later, one asked the other: “So how has work been?” “Alright”, the other bloke replied. 45 minutes later the first bloke said: ”Going anywhere this Christmas break?” “No” the other bloke replied. 30 minutes later the first bloke said “And…” to which the other bloke immediately turned to the first bloke and said “Look mate, if I wanted a conversation I would have stayed home, okay?”

To a large extent this is true of me. I’d much rather sit down, have a drink and read something or listen to some music or watch television instead of talking. Having company is great but not necessarily company which requires constant chatting. It’s not a bad thing but I’d rather have company who is okay with not chatting. Strange huh?

This morning Elysia and I prayed as we usually do, before leaving home. The difference this morning was we prayed mainly for Tuong Van Nguyen, the convicted Melburnian drug trafficker who has since died, having been hanged in Changi prison in Singapore. We also prayed for his mother. I took the opportunity to impress upon kiddo, why I often thanked God for each new day and for small pleasures and other such things in life. I don’t know if in the course of parenting an 11 year old, a tragic event like this could be used to press home several hard lessons. The obvious one – don’t do or deal drugs – is mentioned quickly. The more subtle one needs more time. Those relating to making choices in life. Tuong Van made a series of choices in his life which led to his conviction of a serious crime in a land which meant mandatory death penalty. From then on his choices became severely limited. How do I teach Elysia to make choices in life which would continuously open herself up to ever more choices? For the ability to truly choose is real freedom and real wealth. The more you are free to choose, the wealthier and more free you are. It does not depend on how much money one has or how smart one is. It depends on wisdom, and true wisdom comes from fearing God. The bad choices are those which limited subsequent choices. I think this sounds airy and all but I believe this nails it for me. Trick is – how do I make kiddo see that?