There is a guy whom I called dad. He's not my blood-parent. I am related to him because I married his daughter. But I respected him like (and maybe even more) than my real dad.
Well, I find that he's a real role model for me. Lots of good friends around him, talks slowly but clearly what he wants (a trait that my real dad and myself lack in), hangs around with his family and not rushing around doing things that are puny and useless, thinks before he talks and thinks before he acts, knows his stuffs and he makes sures things are organized well (especially household things) and so many good traits I can't even put into words. Its just the little things that certain people does that makes you comfortable and have confident in him.
But that certain people is no more with us, especially with his family. He had lived a good and meaningful life. Everybody around him accepted the fact that everything must come to an end. Everybody came to terms that he had done all he could in life and he did it well. And I totally agree with them.
What I don't understand is why all the good people in this world have to pass from this world early? I didn't shed a tear as I think there's nothing to regret in his life. But during the funeral mass, when they sang the song Amazing Grace, tears swelled in my eyes... then I regreted that the family would never enjoy his company anymore. His future grandchildren wouldn't have the privilage to know such a good man.
As such, I could only pray that his soul would find eternal rest and peace. I could only pray that there'll be more people in this world who'd be as kind, considerate, loving and caring as him. I could only emulate him and try to be a better person like him. And most of all, I could keep his memory always in my mind and hope that he'd watch over all of us from Heaven.....
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
My 1st Solo
Finally after much waiting, sleeping, more waiting.. finally the day came! Good sunny weather (minus the strong wind), instructor is available, I'm alert and wide awake and there's available slots in Jandakot (by the way I think I've mentioned that Jandakot is the Southern Hemisphere's busiest airport but I can't stress enough of it)... and then I'm off!!My solo bird is VH-LTM. Instructor is Andrew Spencer - a cool guy who bikes and keeps fit for hobby. Don't think there's a better instructor for my solo check than him though he's busy most of the time. I first did few circuits with him until he thinks that I'm competent to do a flight safely on my own - have to work for his trust!
Then he'd get out of the plane (of course after we landed! No, he didn't take a parachute with him and jump out mid air if that's what you're thinking of). He'd then gave me some last minute instruction and wished me luck. With my taxi lights on so that he can recognize which is me, he'd stand at an open location to see my 1st flight. I then take off, do a circuit and then land. Then I picked him up and then we headed back.
Anyways, only after I landed did Andrew tell me that its more stressful to be out of the plane watching me taking to flight and land on my own than be in the plane cause there's nothing that he can do to help me if anything goes wrong. Luckily (actually its more of skills and talent and practice.. ahem.. ahem.. ok, I'll stop with the bragging here...) I landed safe and sound and manage to post this online...
Saturday, November 10, 2007
9/11/07
How was this day for me? Been few years since 911 incident. But the chance to fly today feels great for me.Woke up around 9am, played Need For Speed 2 on Xbox, did some flying on Flight Sim, then did actual flight with my instructor on a Max 12 knots crosswind. Obviously not the best time to go solo but a good practice after being shelved for 2 weeks..
Anyways, landing haven't come as naturally as I hope it would be. Anyways, watched Sin City until pass midnight and now I can't get myself to sleep. Thinking about exercising until I'm wide awake. The guilt of missing one day's gym is getting to me... will try to read Harry Porter and the Deathly Hallows and put me to sleep... good morning everyone!
Anyways, landing haven't come as naturally as I hope it would be. Anyways, watched Sin City until pass midnight and now I can't get myself to sleep. Thinking about exercising until I'm wide awake. The guilt of missing one day's gym is getting to me... will try to read Harry Porter and the Deathly Hallows and put me to sleep... good morning everyone!
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Red Bull Race Coming to Town!
Everybody was excited! The city is abuzz with life! Engines are zooming overhead! Carnival mood is everywhere! Jandakot is quiet for the first time in many days.The focus is at Langley Park and Swan River just south of city. Red Bull Air Race is literally the F1 in the sky. The aircraft was superb and magnificent. Built for racing and thus they don't have flaps that are normally used for landings. It will reduce the aerodynamics of the aircraft and the pilots don't want that.
The race starts with static display of the aircraft. Visitors can go upclose with the aircraft. I just missed the display when I reach Langley Park. After that, there were some air show- formation flying, some aerobatic show and the introduction of the race circuit using a helicopter. I'm amazed that the helicopter can do a half Cuban 8.
Only during Red Bull race would one see any aircraft flying nearer to city's skyscrapers. The skills of the pilots are superb! Turns, spins and sideslipping and also withstanding high 'G' forces when they do tight turns.
Wish I could learn to fly like them!
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
What am I doing here?
One wonders when she/he reads my blog if I'm here in Perth for holidays or training. Well, I'm here for training but there's more news of me travelling here and there simply because there's not so much actual training going on to date.
I'm almost 3 months here and yet the progress of training is crawling snail pace. I'm not 'complaining' but its just that we're so used to working all the time (this is especially true for a Foochow like me. Well, probably I emulated my dear mum. She had to do something at home like hand wash clothes etc even though she's retired). But situation is as such and thus I need to make the most out of it. Just that knowing me, I work better when there's dateline, some pressure and something to do! Without all this, my motivation just dips off the chart and everything else (like going for exercise, shower, eat) is shelved...
Luckily there's people like Nic that I can go to gym with or play tennis or table tennis (not to mention beating him most of time inculcate that feel good effect).
Anyways, sleeping is now major part of my daily activity. Well, with this public announcement that I want to turn all that around, I have no excuses except to execute it to my best of abilities..
Macha and me catching fourty winks
Backman's article
Malaysia's PM seems to be failing his people at every chance
by Michael Backman
The Age
October 24, 2007
ON OCTOBER 31, Abdullah Badawi, Malaysia's Prime Minister, will have been in office for four years. Abdullah came to office promising to fight corruption and to be a breath of fresh air. He has failed on both counts.But he has achieved one remarkable feat none of his predecessors could: he has united most of his country's elder statesmen, established businessmen and intellectuals.
They are united in their utter dismay at his performance, a point that many such individuals made to me on a recent visit to Malaysia.The despair is compounded by the near impossibility of getting rid of Abdullah.
Before 1987, anyone who wanted to challenge the president of the ruling UMNO party (and hence prime minister), needed to get endorsements from just two divisions of UMNO. Previous prime minister Mahathir Mohamad had that changed after his finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah challenged him for the leadership and almost won.Would-be challengers must now acquire the endorsement of 30 per cent, or 58, of 191 divisions. This means that the prime minister's office needs to pay off fewer than 150 division heads with government contracts and licences to ensure their support.
Critics within UMNO are anaesthetised by patronage and sadly the Prime Minister probably thinks that he is doing a good job because his inner circle constantly tells him he is. He is their ticket to riches, after all.
Ramadan has just ended and once again Malaysia has been treated to the spectacle of government ministers and other officials fasting and playing the pious Muslim on the one hand and stealing from their fellow Malaysians on the other.Abdullah has had three chances in recent times to show that times have changed in Malaysia and to clearly assert his authority when presented with examples of such theft.He has blown each one.
The first was when it emerged that his Trade Minister, Rafidah Aziz, had handed out to her relatives, government officials and former officials hundreds of lucrative licences to import cars - without any clear procedures or transparency. A good leader would have fired Rafidah immediately. She is still there.
Another opportunity arose with revelations by the auditor-general last month of fraud and corruption in government purchasing. Some of the more flagrant abuses were at the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs. It had wasted millions on purchases such as paying 224 ringgit ($A75) for sets of screwdivers worth 40 ringgit, or 1146 ringgit for a 160 ringgit pen set.More seriously, the ministry's head, who had the authority to approve contracts worth less than 5 million ringgit, was found to have approved contracts for almost 450 million ringgit. The ministry claimed that the then minister and now Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein had written a letter of authority for the purchases but this disappeared during auditing. Despite all this occurring under Hishammuddin's watch, he remains in the cabinet.
The third incident relates to an ongoing scandal at the Port Klang Free Trade Zone - Port Klang is Malaysia's main shipping port. Essentially, the port authority was forced by well-connected individuals to buy far more land than planned for the free trade zone and at highly inflated prices, even though it could have compulsorily acquired the land, literally saving billions.This and development costs, and "professional fees", blew out the total cost for the zone from 1.845 billion ringgit to 4.2 billion ringgit. It is a scam of outrageous proportions and is just the sort of thing that is turning foreign investors off Malaysia in their droves.Rather than make arrests, the Government is using taxpayers' funds to bail out the authority. The auditor-general tipped off the responsible minister (a term I use loosely) - Chan Kong Choy, the Transport Minister - about the problems, as did a foreign partner in the zone, but Chan ignored the warning. Has Abdullah fired Chan? Of course not. Has the previous minister Ling Liong Sik been questioned by the police? Of course not.
These three instances were good opportunities for Abdullah to show his ministers who is boss. Well, he certainly did that.One might ask what on earth the Finance Minister has been doing in the face of all this waste and theft. Or, indeed, even who is the Finance Minister?
Extraordinarily, it is Abdullah. In a break with tradition, he occupies that post as well as being Prime Minister. The firings should start with him.After all, it's not as if Malaysia has a shortfall of ministers.
On the contrary, Malaysia has no fewer than 72 ministers and deputy ministers at the federal level. By way of comparison, Australia has 32 ministers and assistant ministers. Is the quality of public administration in Malaysia more than twice as good as in Australia? Let the facts speak for themselves.Malaysia is truly at a cross-roads. It has many good people with great potential but it is slipping beneath the waves of mediocrity, weighed down by officials intent on an orgy of plunder while the ship's captain stands idly by.The process of government needs to be dramatically and urgently overhauled. Malaysia needs a dynamic, strong visionary leader who is up to the task. Instead, it has Abdullah Badawi.
by Michael Backman
The Age
October 24, 2007
ON OCTOBER 31, Abdullah Badawi, Malaysia's Prime Minister, will have been in office for four years. Abdullah came to office promising to fight corruption and to be a breath of fresh air. He has failed on both counts.But he has achieved one remarkable feat none of his predecessors could: he has united most of his country's elder statesmen, established businessmen and intellectuals.
They are united in their utter dismay at his performance, a point that many such individuals made to me on a recent visit to Malaysia.The despair is compounded by the near impossibility of getting rid of Abdullah.
Before 1987, anyone who wanted to challenge the president of the ruling UMNO party (and hence prime minister), needed to get endorsements from just two divisions of UMNO. Previous prime minister Mahathir Mohamad had that changed after his finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah challenged him for the leadership and almost won.Would-be challengers must now acquire the endorsement of 30 per cent, or 58, of 191 divisions. This means that the prime minister's office needs to pay off fewer than 150 division heads with government contracts and licences to ensure their support.
Critics within UMNO are anaesthetised by patronage and sadly the Prime Minister probably thinks that he is doing a good job because his inner circle constantly tells him he is. He is their ticket to riches, after all.
Ramadan has just ended and once again Malaysia has been treated to the spectacle of government ministers and other officials fasting and playing the pious Muslim on the one hand and stealing from their fellow Malaysians on the other.Abdullah has had three chances in recent times to show that times have changed in Malaysia and to clearly assert his authority when presented with examples of such theft.He has blown each one.
The first was when it emerged that his Trade Minister, Rafidah Aziz, had handed out to her relatives, government officials and former officials hundreds of lucrative licences to import cars - without any clear procedures or transparency. A good leader would have fired Rafidah immediately. She is still there.
Another opportunity arose with revelations by the auditor-general last month of fraud and corruption in government purchasing. Some of the more flagrant abuses were at the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs. It had wasted millions on purchases such as paying 224 ringgit ($A75) for sets of screwdivers worth 40 ringgit, or 1146 ringgit for a 160 ringgit pen set.More seriously, the ministry's head, who had the authority to approve contracts worth less than 5 million ringgit, was found to have approved contracts for almost 450 million ringgit. The ministry claimed that the then minister and now Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein had written a letter of authority for the purchases but this disappeared during auditing. Despite all this occurring under Hishammuddin's watch, he remains in the cabinet.
The third incident relates to an ongoing scandal at the Port Klang Free Trade Zone - Port Klang is Malaysia's main shipping port. Essentially, the port authority was forced by well-connected individuals to buy far more land than planned for the free trade zone and at highly inflated prices, even though it could have compulsorily acquired the land, literally saving billions.This and development costs, and "professional fees", blew out the total cost for the zone from 1.845 billion ringgit to 4.2 billion ringgit. It is a scam of outrageous proportions and is just the sort of thing that is turning foreign investors off Malaysia in their droves.Rather than make arrests, the Government is using taxpayers' funds to bail out the authority. The auditor-general tipped off the responsible minister (a term I use loosely) - Chan Kong Choy, the Transport Minister - about the problems, as did a foreign partner in the zone, but Chan ignored the warning. Has Abdullah fired Chan? Of course not. Has the previous minister Ling Liong Sik been questioned by the police? Of course not.
These three instances were good opportunities for Abdullah to show his ministers who is boss. Well, he certainly did that.One might ask what on earth the Finance Minister has been doing in the face of all this waste and theft. Or, indeed, even who is the Finance Minister?
Extraordinarily, it is Abdullah. In a break with tradition, he occupies that post as well as being Prime Minister. The firings should start with him.After all, it's not as if Malaysia has a shortfall of ministers.
On the contrary, Malaysia has no fewer than 72 ministers and deputy ministers at the federal level. By way of comparison, Australia has 32 ministers and assistant ministers. Is the quality of public administration in Malaysia more than twice as good as in Australia? Let the facts speak for themselves.Malaysia is truly at a cross-roads. It has many good people with great potential but it is slipping beneath the waves of mediocrity, weighed down by officials intent on an orgy of plunder while the ship's captain stands idly by.The process of government needs to be dramatically and urgently overhauled. Malaysia needs a dynamic, strong visionary leader who is up to the task. Instead, it has Abdullah Badawi.
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