....and eye for an eye.

As Randy Jackson would say,

 "Hey dog, dog....yo, yo, yo not the only one with cataract in them eye!"

"I got one on my left eye too!"

Randy does not have a cataract in his eye, I do. This dog now has cataract in his left eye.

When I was about 12, Tua-kor (still remember my grand-aunt of Toh Aka Lane?), had cataract in her eyes and she got them removed at the hospital. From what I can recall, it was terrible and painful; and post-surgery can even change your personality.....from fussy to fussier and fussiest!

"Ah Seng, switch off all the lights! Let the blinds down. So hot and bright today" ....when the sky is cloudy and rain has started to fall.

I knew I had a cataract on my left eye for 2 years already, but just 2 weeks back it started to show its colours - well, its non-colour to be exact.

I haven't played on my guitar for 3 months. ....and when I took it out of that lovely Gibson hard case, I thought I was seeing things. Grey guitar when it should be brown?... my eyes were playing tricks on me.

Two weeks ago, I wanted to drive good ol' wifey to Penang and visit Dan, Becky & Scarlett. I winked at wifey by closing my right eye. Lo and behold, it was just like blurry....

....and greyish all over for a moment, and then like an empty silver screen after a movie has ended in a cinema! The back-seat driver had to take over from me at the wheels, ha!

Wow, it was a good experience as a back-seat driver. I kept telling wifey, "Turn left" ..."Now go straight, 100 meters" "....take a u-turn, that'll be easier," ...."don't go, lights about to turn red" - like a Garmin GPS. Wifey was getting back a few doses of her own medicine, hahaha!

I'll be checking out the opthalmologist afterwards. To get it over and done with. By whatever process available as long as my left eye isn't gouged out, hahaha!

At least today with new medical technologies my Tua-kor missed, cataract surgery is generally performed with minimal sedation and generally takes less than 30 minutes. I may just need to return for visits within the first few days and again within the first few weeks after surgery.

A little research tells me more about cataracts that I want to share with you.....

• Early symptoms of cataracts include blurred vision, glare, and difficulty reading.

• Cataracts will affect most people and become more prominent as we age.

• Cataracts can be diagnosed when the doctor examines the eyes with specialized viewing instruments.

• The decision to proceed with surgery is primarily based on the amount of difficulty you have performing your routine daily activities.

• Treatment for cataracts is surgical removal of the cataract with implantation of an artificial lens.

• There are a variety of intraocular lens types that can restore vision in different ways.

Eye-catching footnote: Cataract surgery is a safe and effective way to restore vision with serious complications occurring in only 1 in 1,000 cases------>

.....like this guy operated at the wrong place (at the forehead instead of the eye) and had to fight the doctor ending up with 2 front teeth lost! kekekeke.....    

Well, the footnote says it all, so it's not 100% safe & effective. But I still hope for the best, to work out an operation date with the doctor.....and most certainly, I hope to overcome that trauma and not to become senile after that.

Most likely, I'll become a pirate with an eye-patch for a week, and stay at home having only candle-light dinners with wifey at home.

...and instead of becoming fussier & fussiest like Tua-kor, I hope I become funnier & funniest as I blog, post-cataract surgery.

...and become the new cool dog....hear that Randy? Wish me luck!

See ya with a new left eye!



Dear Anonymous Po Po,


In the meantime, I'm gonna let my PC wear shades!....See?...I've some bright ideas - I cut out a piece of tinted green plastic folder to fit into my laptop screen. I'm never short of ideas, kekeke.....

Countermeasure works very well! ....no more glare!

I'm satisfied!

....and it's Friday the 13th!

Yeah, Freddy Krueger's on my mind! ....and mind you, The Shinning and naughty Chuckies seem to be everywhere. Today is Friday the 13th, and this is also the month of the hungry ghosts - you see all kinds of ghosts everywhere!

Happy ghosts too!...........

Looks like I'll name my room "Chucky" - waddaya think?

...ok, I'm not a good horror story-writer, I didn't scare ya.

Let's just take a look at my new study. After 12 solid hours of arranging my books and work-station layout and audio set-up, I am indeed relieved!

This is the entrance.....

As you enter, you see a column of easy reading materials for ((((guests)))) if any. ....and you are most invited. There are books and magazines on mind-mapping, art, guitar playing, photography, golfing, palm-reading, face-reading, body language, feng-shui, Analects of Confucius, Lao Tze's Tao Te Ching, several books on Sun Tsu's Art of War etc2. Guests who love to read will never get bored here.....

Next to it is my hi-fi with a fat "hahahaha" laughing Buddha sitting right on top of the CD player, next to a bowl of money plant.

Behind the laughing Buddha on the wall, a "made-to-order" chinese calligraphy of my middle name (((chee))) which means "determination and a strong and consistent will". Man, I need that...I can't live without that!

On the right is the 2nd PC set for extra work at the 2nd station - and (((guests))) may use it to surf the net. Maybe mess around with the hi-fi. ......only when I'm not slogging at my work-station of course.

.....and this is how it looks like when I peek-a-boo from my workstation into the second hall of our home.

.....and this is the view out the sliding window from my chair at the main work station.

My neighbours came visiting yesterday, and I told them that I am like a security guard for them since I'm usually holed up in this "guard-house" They went, "Hahahaha!...kekeke!.... so now our monthly maintenance fees will be much increased!" ....Funny. Very Funny.

I didn't know I have so many books, many are kept inside the cabinets. This year, I had given away at least 35 books to my subordinates and friends; especially those who have started to go off-campus or attend night classes to improve themselves. Even so, if I pile up all those books I keep in my study now, it'll be 20-feet high! .... no wonder wifey always complain whenever she clean my old book shelves, ...sigh* I owe her a lot.

That's my work-station! ....

and a poster to remind me to always "use the brain" - THINK!

I love this lovely study cum "retreat" .....after 12 hours of hard labour and now in pajamas, I say "Peace Be Upon Ya, Bros & Sistas!"

....and tonight is Friday the 13th, go out and have a great evening. Freddy Krueger is always on my mind, I'm not goin' no place nowhere! ....heheheh, triple negative for ya!

Have a 1st ghostly weekend in the month of the hungry ghosts; pray a lot, ....and EAT a lot.






GROW FAT ....and slim down next month during the moon cake festival with more moon cakes!!

....and now for my study

I remember those good ol' days when I had to study under a parafin lamp and incandescent bulbs in a room filled with 5 other siblings. It was much later around 1969 that we had flourescent lamp tubes.

It was tough, but we all made the grades - nothing really great to shout about, no straight 'A's but something worth treasuring about; something that has enabled me to proceed with my advanced diploma, MBA and now becoming a PhD candidate all on my own. I call that education, a lifelong learning process. My wife was a pillar of strength for me - She had to keep quiet everytime I hit the books. My kids too...Becky & Sam also took to the books albeit Becky went into fashion and art magazines, while Sam heavy into cook-books!...mind ya, cook-books (computer games included) kekekeke......

It has been two days, the job is about done. My study room shall be ready in the evening - and I'll have a new cocoon in a reading and research nest cum SOHO. I am really excited!

Friendly Franlee and his crew shall be working on a new TV cabinet after this, so the temptation will be there to start with a DVD first - I would like to start with "Deception" How 'bout that?

I designed my study completely, got in a great and friendly contractor.

His name is as you can see on his face is Franlee Frankie, as in Friendly Frankie.

Even with his cleaning up ever so oft, the floors and work areas at the backyard get messy again and again. Wifey ((((as in picture))) has been sweeping and sweeping all day long, and here I am taking a few shot and hitting at the keyboard. Talk about male chauvinism? Hope what I'm doing is not making me one.

I have a table top which goes almost 300 degrees all around the wall (except the entry point) with lots of compartments for books, files, stationeries - I included a magnetic white-board & soft boards to pin some favourite pictures, like those of my grand-kid Scarlett.

My hi-fi stereo will be there for soft soothing music, and I have a nice sliding window beside one point of the table top. There are 5 lamps for me to adjust the room's lighting and ambience - according to my mood of the day, hah!...so man, this is cooool! ((((at least to me)))))

Well if I compare this to the parafin lamps I had in Toh Aka Lane when I was a kid, I'd be damned! This is luxury, but I have no regrets...just making up for lost time. Several of my rich classmates had stuff like this when they were kids but they happen to be just too young to know how to use and optimise their study rooms.

Well with proper use, this study room when fully operational should inspire me to do much better in my study, work; and for it to become my own education and learning centre that may further bolster my mental and critical agility; and academic progress.

I'll give you a few snap-shots when all is ready and stuffed up. I'll be many grand le$$, a "many-grand-le$$" grand-pop. See ya!

....and what in the world am I up to?

It's been a month. And there has been nothing from me.

"Where in the world were you yeesang? Did you join a political party?" No, no, no.


Having a writer's block? No.

Getting lazy? No.

Busy with a new girl friend? - I'd be killed by my wife by now, aaarrrrgh!!!!...

So what in the world have I been up to since the World Cup Finals? No excuses, I was BZ (*busy). BZ as a bee, much busier than I've ever been my whole life. It wasn't a big thing, really, but I was BZ. No BS (*bull-shitting).

I was nearing the end of my semester and I have committed to submit my research intent and prepare the PhD proposal for defence.

I have to be really prepared, in every sense of the word, to face 3~4 professors specialized in the field I intend to research on. They may want to critique my proposal ...urgh! that'll be daunting even for an old hand! Anyone can BS investigating officers, but to BS a PANEL of professors? That's not quite possible.

"Viva Voce" we call it, is giving me the nerves.

Many butterflies in my tummy,

a big fat pain in the neck,

a head full of what-ifs, and not forgetting......

a donkey on my back and stuff like that.... whatever you can think of to get adrenalins pumping - as if I didn't have enough during the World Cup!

I've done the first part, and now into my second part.

The third part will surely be unnerving. Don't worry, I'll be ready - otherwise I won't be here blogging.

Maybe in a day or two, I'll come back to earth with a few hee-hee-hee happy blogs. So you see I wasn't running away from ya, I was just taking a short break that has just ended.

Be good, and happy reading!  Always feel free to post your comments.

....and who will win the 2010 FIFA World Cup in waka-waka land?

Having been World Cup crazy since the 60’s let me share with you issues about football styles in the World Cup competitions.

It changed dramatically after 1970....and Malaysia was about to come into the big picture!

Brazil was no longer the dominant samba power it once was and England, the great inventor of the game, had lost its way...kekeke....till today.

....and Rooney? ....Rooney who? Did he play recently? You mean Alfred Rooney?---------------->

Brazilian samba football and Italian catenaccio were spent forces, while "Total Football," noted for its inter-changeability and versatility, ruled the game.

"Total Football" came to the 1974 competition in West Germany, just two years after the Munich Olympics Massacre in 1972 where 11 Israeli athletes were killed. (Yeah, terrorism isn’t a new thing). 

The Malaysian Football Team qualified for 1972 Olympics in Munich by beating Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Philippines. They even defeated the United States 3-0 but lost the other 2 matches losing 3-0 to West Germany and 6-0 to Morocco. We were that good. With a team like that, Malaysians started to dream about introducing "keronchong" or "silat" football into the World Cup in 1974 or 1978!

The World Cup in 1974 was played against a backdrop of tension and unease, without Malaysia, and of course I watched the final in tension and unease too; only to lose a heavy bet!

In total football, a player who moved out of his position was instantly replaced by a fellow teammate, thus retaining the team's intended organizational structure. In this fluid arrangement I observed that the Spanish were better than the Germans at the recent 2010’s semi-final. No player was tied down to their assigned position; any player could be an attacker, a midfielder and a defender. And it wasn’t a Spanish striker who scored.

Yes, we’ll get to see more total football in action this Sunday between Spain and the Netherlands in WaKa wAkA Land. It should be a loud and exciting ”vuvuzela” match, and as usual – I expect the Spanish to be the matador, the exhibitionists, the ones who’ll display style and hopefully, kill the Dutch Cow that gives us Dutch Lady UHT. If that happens, we’ll have no more milk, so wage for the Dutch to win this time, kekeke!

....and sometimes I wonder why a cumulative viewing audience of 30 billion people around the world has actually watched the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Now I think it is simple; because the World Cup is important. It brings the human race together.... at least for a month of togetherness... a lot of finger foods, lotsa beers & bets, annual leave, sick leave, silly excuses to get away from work, good conversation tag lines, stories of untold but short-lived miseries for some and instant happiness for others; ....and of course, bleary “panda” eyes during working time.

No wonder we always look forward to the World Cup even though Malaysia has slipped to number 8 out of the 208 FIFA member countries count – from the bottom up!

In 1980, Malaysia qualified yet again for the 1980 Olympics, but boycotted it for political reason.


.

........Malaysia Boleh! (Malaysia Can!)....Malaysia can do anything! The whole world better watch out for grand-pops in Kapitan Soh Chin Aun and Santokh Singh (the great Malaysian footballers of yester-years) may well make a come-back to the game. At least they have done so in recent TV advertisements...hehehe...

Otherwise, our girls are gonna make an all-new Malaysian team for the next World Cup...and start a new football style!