Fab, Chip(py) of the old Gunners block

Midfield players always have a special aura to me and during my younger days how i  wish i had the strength and stamina  of Bryan Robson,the long range passing of Glen Hoddle and of course the sweet left foot of Liam 'Chippy" Brady.

Yes, Liam Brady without  a doubt was an icon at Highbury in those days.

His outstanding FA Cup Final display in 1979 cost United their defeat..admittedly was not too happy when seeing such an outstanding talent from an opposing team.

Chippy Brady oozes class and that Arsenal team of course was more exciting than a later team assembled by George Graham, hence the tag "Boring Arsenal".

Watching the weekend game recently between the Gunners and Middlesborough, another outstanding midfielder caught my eye and envy..yes Ces Fabregas.

Wow man, such masterful display and he was the main reason for the recent resurgent of this Arsenal team. I remembered a few seasons ago how he "single handedly" defeated Manchester United at their own den, Old Trafford.

Please do not repeat the same kind of performance this Wednesday in the Champions league semi final .I just dont want to have a sense of Deja Vu if Fabregas will become a chip(py) of the old Gunner block, Liam Chippy Brady who also single handedly destroyed Manchester United in that 1979 FA Cup Final!!!

Well, Fab you though is one hell of a player that i admired and while you are wearing Red at least it is not a scouser's red!!!

Black Dog Bone, memories of the 70s

While doing some office work at home and listening to radio music Sinar FM ;suddenly the programme caught my attention...yes, the Dee Jay was doing some special feature on that Singaporean rock band, Black Dog Bone.

Wow, awesome , memories flooding back for i grew up literally on a daily dose of Black Dog Bone music.

Their songs were the ones that kept me company on wintry nights in UK ,missing home a bit and indeed their songs gave the necessary comfort.

Have i watched them performed live?

Yes i did  a few years back they were performing back here in Kuching. 

A real enjoyable night as we all strummed and sang to the tunes of their evergreen music.

Songs such as "Relax", "Geram", "Hati kau di lukai lagi" , "Jangan Lukakan Hati Ku "and no one can render these songs better than their lead singer, Jatt. 

Indeed the Rock Group, Black Dog Bone will always have a special place in my heart and nothing give me a good  mood than to hear a Black Dog Bone song.

Thank you Jatt for the great memories......

In search of a great cuppa

Normally during a hectic day i would have my usual dose of coffee, i always lose of the number of cups i have drunk but i do know 5 is a normal count.

My friends and colleagues were very aware of my coffee obsession and they will always laugh whenever i told them at what great lengths i normally went through just to search or experience a great cuppa coffee.

Kuching my home town do not offer much choices so i normally just relish making my own cup at home on my coffee machine. Still give me a great treat for i still have in my stock premium coffee such as coffex and Illy .

The Hilton cafe though to me still best place to have a great cup and they only use Coffex brand coffee..hmm not bad.

In my search for a great cuppa i can relate many stories of drinking coffee at various places and some even unique! Well, once i did have a glass of coffee with hot charcoal(yes ,believe me)at a roadside in Jogjakarta.

KL of course has its own great joints to offer you coffee. Without fail if i am at Suria KLCC, San Francisco coffee outlet is a must place to stop by for a cuppa. The Starbucks at Berjaya Times Borders is another fav, the Cofffee Bean at Low Yat is also a good place to relax over a good cup of Americano.The KLIA airport Marche outlet is also a must stop place for coffee .

The most interesting fact about coffee is that it is the second most traded commodity after oil, believe that huh....

Sabrina San, please stop this obsession

My daughter,Sabrina (the girl half of my 15 year old paternal twins) has raised her obsession of anything Japanese to another height.

She's been pestering me to sign her on to the students exchange programme this coming December  IE a 2 weeks programme in Japan organised by "Yayasan Antara Budaya".

The TV  has been blaring with her Japanese drama shows which i can barely understand ,as usual the characters are young teenagers and some have their hair dyed blond as if being a Beckham look alike is a cool thing in Japan now.

 

The irony of it all this daughter of mine can pass as a Japanese with her more Chinese looks!! 

Have i been to Japan myself? Yes, once almost 12 years ago on a seminar of some sort.

What i remembered  was their efficient and fast bullet train and the officer announcing to us of their daily programme for our entourage from Asean , read this...

Protocol officer: "Gentlemen San, our programme for today will be;

8.02 Am Breakfast

8.24  am  arrive at train station for field trip

8.25 am train departs .......bla bla 

Hmm that's what i remembered, the punctuality and preciseness of the timings.

Excuse me can i have a 3 minutes 25 seconds break for the toilet please??

I though was not at my best behaviour i remembered while walking around their beautiful park and singing to the tune of the theme song from the movie,"The Bridge Of River Kwai"...haha i can envisaged Alec Guinness grimacing at my untoward behaviour towards my hosts.

Ya Sabrina , i too have some fondness for Japan even though all my acquaintances do not have blond hair but more of those keep nodding their heads at almost once a minute but then they are all great guys !!!

Her twin brother Faizul meanwhile is so oblivious to what's going on around him as he battled his way in the PC game, Counterstrike and DOTA.....

Like any doting parents, we never realise how fast your children has grown and as they reach their teenage age,new things, new obsessions will occupy their mind. Nonetheless as responsible parents  we will always give them space to grow their own minds .

Kuala Lumpur...a "decent" taxi trip

Just back from KL, this time round spent the weekend there as well for celebrating both my significant other and my elder daughter Diyana's birthday.

Previously my Kl trip has always been a rush but this time round has been able to savour a bit of the KL that it is today. Not impressed honestly with the behaviour of its taxi drivers.

In all my travels i have never met such unsavoury and unethical behaviour from taxi drivers. Places like Singapore,Bangkok,Jakarta, Ho Chin Minh, Manila places that i have all been to has their taxi drivers normally courteous and charged you by the meter reading.

KL taxi drivers? " Dua puluh ringgit lah Bang, traffic jam tau" (20 Ringgit,traffic jam you know!!!) and this for a RM5 ride.

Anyway i have though found another great place for coffee...PapaRich Cafe in front of Federal Hotel. Coffee though not as great as even compared to the Secret Recipe Long Black but cheaper and you can have free Wi-Fi. The ambiance is relaxing and one can always opt for its rich texture bread than the usual helpings of Roti Canai or Nasi Lemak. So, no complaints!!!

Besides Diyana's constant nagging for a decent birthday present, the family has a nice quiet dinner at Suria KLCC(where else?) ,am really tired of that shopping complex because it's near to Petronas Twin Towers and so naturally every time in KL? Where to meet? Suria KLCC lah ...

Am happy though that Diyana got a conditional offer from Imperial College,London for her Engineering Degree ,i cant convince her that she can possibly have a better career pursuing other vocations!!!!

So the weekend has been all right and as expected i relented to Diyana's request for a "decent' birthday present!!! Nothing knew.

Peter Gabriel..an icon in my youth

Genesis the pop group was a phenomena in  my youthful days and Phil Collins is the more well known face of Genesis.

Phil Collins embarked on a successful solo career but hey have anyone heard of Peter Gabriel? He was the original lead singer of Genesis .

Peter Gabriel ,too has a successful solo career and a great song he did a duet with Kate Bush in the 80s still remained one of my all time favourites.

It  epitomise the spirit of the day, ya 'Don't Give Up" was indeed a great song..enjoy it as i always do!!!

Stimulus packages,the Malaysian way

As i read today's Newspapers, headlines were all about a potential by-election (again?) at Penanti,Penang.

Our Prime Minister's dismay at such an unnecessary "politicking" and money spending is understandable.

True to my nature though, i just cant help smiling at such a Malaysian phenomena of having a series of by elections.

I smiled wryly because i realised this is a new formula (Made in Malaysia) for a real effective stimulus package agenda.
Everyone cant help noticing the infusion of monies and development funds to the by election constituency. I read that at a recent by election in Batang Ai(not Air, please) a development fund of 70 Millions Ringgit was pledged. Wow,awesome!!

The spending again by the campaigners, the throng of VIPs who will of course will not want to have their lunch at a roadside,this is indeed a real and effective stimulus.

The best part of this stimulus package is that the monies go directly to the populace ,indeed i now cant help realising that an effective antidote to a recession is a BY ELECTION.

So,Mr Obama can you take a leaf from the Malaysian way of dealing with the present doldrums in the economy, yes Mr Obama trust us Malaysians to be innovative, thinking out of the box and we don't need a Greenspan wisdom to resolve our economic recession.

As in the 1997 crisis, Malaysia has also shown a way of dealing with the issue without any IMF bail out ..yup MALAYSIA BOLEH.