Month: August 2006

Beer Rising


Apparently, beer is making a bit of a comeback in the land of the Rising Sun – I never realised it was in the retreat. Asahi has always been a crisp dry beer that I enjoyed very much. Anyway, good to know. Cheers.

“So, I commend the enjoyment of life.” (From the Bible – really. Eccl 8:15)

Let the Battle Begin… sort of


The English Premier League has started again. In Malaysia, this meant a get together at the clubhouse and a sort of anticipation (or more aptly these days, hope) of another forray to England or Europe to catch one of United’s games. Alas, these days, I dont event get to watch every game I want to anymore. Yet another cost for leaving Malaysia for these shores, where football is only now gaining currency (it has recently been called “football”, as opposed to “Soccer”).

United came away with a thumping 5-0 whack over Fulham, with Rooney the star, again. His being in-tune with Ronaldo was a relief to see. It’s also good to see Scholesy in action again.

Chelski also had a good win, 3-0 over City. It was good however, to read the following line from The Independent report:

“Jose Mourinho’s team still exterminate the small fry and some of the football played in Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea revolution still has much the same appeal as a summer holiday in Siberia.” It also had the following to say about Ballack:

“…makes you wonder where Ballack fits into a midfield that looked a lot more coherent than in the 25 minutes he played at the Millennium Stadium last week. The injured midfielder was presented to a rapturous crowd at half-time and perhaps there was a subliminal message in the rogue pitch sprinkler that soaked him: not everyone here can see a role for the captain of Germany.”

Well there IS a role for Ballack being in Chelski – it is to deny other EPL teams from getting him. Essien, the superb midfielder, was heading for United until Kenyon and his Russian Mafia shanghaied him…

If only I can find some mates to watch these games with…

“So, I commend the enjoyment of life.” (From the Bible – really. Eccl 8:15)

Ah… Spring, Glorious Spring


Aug 15 was when I left Sharrock Pitman Legal. We had a breakfast, as a firm, on that morning. David can be a gracious employer at such times, and was. I must say I did not expect this in any way at all. Mid way through the breakfast (at the favourite SPL brekky haunt, Shine), he presented me with a very good bottle of red (a Penfolds 2001 St Henri’s Shiraz) and a weighty coffee table book, “Speeches That Shaped A Modern World” (with considerable Australian bent, of course). It is now just over a week since I left and I can still close my eyes and see, through the blinds of sharing window in my room, David lumbering along the corridors, from his room into the reception area where either Heidi or Lynette would be typing out his dictated work. Otherwise, I see Lynette outside my room, at the door, asking about this account or that file. Or, I could still hear Tim speaking patiently and interminably, on the telephone to some very unusual client (typically family law client). Or, Cordelia or Andre’s laugh. Liz has left less impression, but probably because I had worked with her for a shorter period of time.

One phase of my new life in Melbourne is now past. I cant say it is a phase I would like to return to but it was, nevertheless, a phase which had given me a rich experience.

Last night was my grandmother’s 88th birthday. What a grand old woman she is. I have written about her in this blog before and when I think of her, I realise what I have written is but a tiny representation of what a character she truly is. I often wish my father had taken on more of both of my grandparents’ traits.

On Saturday, kiddo had a “Tournament of the Minds” event at the Swinburne Tech Uni campus at Hawthorn. It started at 8.30 am so it was an earlier than usual start to a Saturday. It was one of several reasons why I am still here instead of being in Klang, and celebrating my grandmother’s birthday with everyone there. That’s one pain a migrant goes through – torn between the needs of the my own family here and those of my extended family in my hometown. It has been a busy week for both Theresa and kiddo and it was therefore a bad time for me to go away and leave them alone here.

We did have a great time yesterday though – after church in the morning, we took kiddo to a Malaysian diner where they served (on every 3rd Sunday of the month) great Hainanese Chicken Rice, which kiddo proclaimed a great dish. Theresa had her usual char koay teow and I had my “special laksa” (with yong tau foo). Usually after a full and late lunch like that we dont have dinner and yesterday was no different, a more-active-than-usual afternoon notwithstanding. After lunch, we headed for Jells Park as it was a gloriously sunny 19-degree afternoon. We walked quite a bit, had ice cream, then came home where I washed the car and Theresa did some gardening.

I now wonder what the next few weeks hold for me – if I should return to work sooner or if I would still get to visit mom and dad in Klang. Next few weeks would remain busy for kiddo and Theresa, so I would just leave things to God – am now learning to live in peace, leaving things in His mighty hands.

“So, I commend the enjoyment of life.” (From the Bible – really. Eccl 8:15)

Hello world!


Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!

Spring Is Here…It is!


Adieu Mr Sharrock

The last week – 10 days have been eventful – I finally resigned from my firm, and told the boss that I am planning to make a trip to Malaysia. I am hoping this happens by late next week. It’d be great to catch up with my parents again, as well as my brother. I finish with this place on Friday. I had wanted to leave earlier but the boss thinks I can and should do more before I leave. It doesn’t make a big difference to me but I always think it wise to let employees who have resigned, leave as early as possible, as the notice period would be unproductive at best if not outright harmful. I now have a great sense of relief, never having fully settled down although I have worked here for almost 1½ years.

Bumping into Relative in Cyberspace

I received quite a few emails on Saturday – a number of them from someone who thought she may be related to me. She must have, for some inexplicable reasons, found this site interesting enough to read through so many entries. Maybe it’s just the thrill of reading something filled with familiar details. It turned out she was right – she is related. She is the daughter of my grandmother’s step sister, I think. She now lives in England, but her mother still lives in Melbourne. It’s freaky how 2 related persons who probably wont recognise each other on the streets and live in opposite ends of the world, should stumble and meet in cyber space. It took a lot of effort on her part – ploughing through various entries and put a number of details together to decide I was related to her.

Old Do’s and Don’ts

The missus was upset on Saturday night, when she returned from her ladies’ group meeting which had done on the whole afternoon. A couple of leaders said, during the meeting, that the 10 commandments are obsolete, they are no longer valid. We are living in the age of the new covenant, they said. Missus vehemently opposed that view and said so. As a result, the leaders thought she needed a bit of correction and yesterday morning in church, one of them gave her a book – something about living in the age of grace. I thumbed through it and yes, of course, the bit about the laws no longer having any hold, was there somewhere.

“Tsk tsk” is what I’d say. I think there is a big difference between saying under the new covenant we are no longer saved by obeying the 10 commandments (the laws) and saying, simply, that the 10 commandments are no longer valid. Just because a meal was free doesn’t mean it didn’t cost anything. God’s laws require compliance, not so that we could be saved, but because we have been saved. God doesn’t change – I think it is called God’s immutability – so, if He required some things to be done, they remain His requirements. The old covenant may have become obsolete, but the laws do not and would not. That’s my lay person’s understanding anyway, so let’s see how they react to missus’ uncharacteristic (but great) outburst.

The “outburst” on Saturday must have warmed up the missus considerably – this morning was a very chilly 3 deg but she didn’t utter a word about it. As usual, I crawled out of bed first and turned on the heating but she didn’t say anything about the cold at all. It has been a long winter, but I can already smell spring approaching – and I’m not just talking about the weather. Adieu Mr Sharrock.

“So, I commend the enjoyment of life.” (From the Bible – really. Eccl 8:15)