Category: Daily Whatevers

This is one of my favourite rap songs from Thailand:

What is the force that binds the stars
I wore this mask to hide my scars
What is the power that pulls the tide
I never could find a place to hide

What moves the Earth around the sun
What could I do but run and run and run
Afraid to love, afraid to fail
A ship’s mast without a sail

I may have been a military man, but for 28 years of my life (68% of my life as of today), I was part of the Royal Malaysian Police’s family. My father was a Staff Officer, Special Branch, at the Police Headquarters at Bluff Road (now Jalan Bukit Aman in Kuala Lumpur). He then became the Staff Officer, Special Branch, Selangor, a month after I was born.

When I was a year old, he became the Officer in Charge of Police District, Ipoh (OCPD), at the age of 28. 5 days after the May 13th, 1969 tragedy, he served as the Chief of Staff (Police) in the National Operations Council (MAGERAN) under the late Tun Hj Abdul Razak bin Hussein, before becoming the Head of Special Branch, Selangor 7 months later. In less than a year, he was the Chief Police Officer (CPO) for Melaka state (from 7th September 1970) and then the Chief Police Officer for Selangor from 6th December 1971. 13 months later he was the Director of Special Branch at the Police HQ in Bukit Aman, and the Deputy Inspector General of Police 2 days later on the 1st February 1973.

He was made the Inspector General of Police on 8th June 1974 when his predecessor, Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Ismail, was gunned down by communist terrorists next to the Lee Yan Lian building near Bukit Mahkamah (where Maybank building now stands). My father’s last day as the IGP was on the 15th January 1994.

It’s Race Day today in Australia and the beginning of the first Formula One season without Michael Schumacher. Not that I’m a fan of Schumacher because he reminds me of Tyra Banks…self-righteous and all.

Anyway, as it is, Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari is leading with one more lap to go, but with Fernando Alonso and Louis Hamilton in the McLaren Mercedes following very, very closely; which goes to show that the Ferrari is a superbly powerful car, but good driving also matters. Louis Hamilton is in his Grand Prix debut and has yet managed to secure a podium finish.

Another driver to watch is Robert Kubica from Poland who is with the BMW Sauber team, who managed to tail the leaders in fourth place before he was forced to retire from the race. He is in that team replacing Jacques Villeneuve.

This is going to be a great season with no clear winner in sight.

I know what you were thinking. You were thinking of someone who’s done a great sin in Bangkok (Dosa is Malay for sin), but this is not so. Dosa is what in Malaysia we call Tosai.

It’s a nice cosy little restaurant near the corner of Sukhumvit soi 19 in Krungthep (Bangkok)…or shall I say, was. Dosa King is now being relocated elsewhere as its lease of the current premise has run out. That is sad though. I quite like that little corner, not too far away from Robinson’s.

Whether I was staying at the Emporium Suites at soi 24, or somewhere closer to Nana, Dosa King would be my favourite eatery when I’m alone. Yes, it sounds absurd that I would go for Thai food when I’m in Malaysia, but have North/South Indian vegetarian food when I’m in Krungthep. But that was the routine. I first came across this restaurant some 4 years ago during a deployment exercise, and it immediately became my “must visit” place everytime I was in Krungthep.

I’d start off with Papad Masala or Masala Papad…a very spicy papadum and usually with some Vegetable Samosas. Absolutely love them. These would be followed by Rava Dosa Masala (mixture of semolina and rice flour with onion & potato filling, sambar and chutney), Saffron rice, Alloo Mattar (potatoes cooked with green peas in hot curry) and the Malai Kofta (vegetable dumplings cooked in onion and tomato gravy with spices & cream), and of course, Sweet or Salty Lassi to complement the food.

It was a nice experience sitting in that place…that at times you forget you are just some 10 meters away from the hustle and bustle of Thanon Sukhumvit. A newspaper in hand would make you disappear totally while you enjoy the delicious food. I just hope they don’t relocate too far away. It should still be a short hop away from a BTS station. And if I ever get the chance to go back to Krungthep, I’d go back to Dosa King.

I went for my follow-up check up yesterday morning, so more blood test; after 45 days on Vytorin 10/40, Niacin and Pristin Fish Oil. My younger brother had had his angiogram done. The cardiologist is not too happy with what he saw as my brother’s Left Descending Anterior Artery is 20% blocked/damaged at its stem as opposed to being further downstream where it would be somewhat easier to remedy.

This is the typical young smokers’ disease. My brother smokes around 26 sticks a day. He exercises regularly, even more than I do, but eats very little of fish and other white meat. What he had forgotten is that my paternal grandfather died of a heart attack at the age of 41 (when my father was 13 years old), why my father had his first attack at the age of 37. My father was a chain smoker too, then, and gave it up immediately; went for his first coronary bypass at the age of 42, an angioplasty at the age of 57, then his second coronary bypass at the age of 61.

Me..everyone expected me to have a bad medical test result. Very little exercise and so on. My first lipid profile back on January 15th is as follows:

Total Cholesterol: 6.4mmol/L (desirable <5.2)
Triglycerides: 1.97mmol/L (desirable <2.28)
HDL Cholesterol: 0.96mmol/L (desirable >1.42)
LDL Cholesterol: 4.6mmol/L (desirable <3.4)
% HDL-Cholesterol Ratio: 15% (desirable >25)

Everything was undesirable except for my Triglycerides’ level.

With Vytorin 10/40 and the increase in my number of dives, the new results are as follows:

Total Cholesterol: 4.1mmol/L (desirable <5.2)
Triglycerides: 1.17mmol/L (desirable <2.28)
HDL Cholesterol: 1.36mmol/L (desirable >1.42)
LDL Cholesterol: 2.2mmol/L (desirable <3.4)
% HDL-Cholesterol Ratio: 33% (desirable >25)

No wonder they call Vytorin the miracle drug. It’s not cheap too. A box of Vytorin 10/40 for 30 days costs more than RM300.

My dosage’s gone down to 10/20 now.

It’s also time for me to watch what I eat. My kids still need me.

Tony (Icecool)‘s father passed away this morning. Tony’s father served in the Royal Communications Regiment before switching service to the Royal Malaysian Air Force, and retired a Warrant Officer.

My prayers are with Tony’s father as well as Tony and family and may God grant them the strength to overcome this darkest hour.

In the words of General Douglas MacArthur: “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.”

Sound the Last Post.

<embed src=”http://www.dva.gov.au/commem/commac/studies/LastPost.mp3&#8243;

อาจเพราะว่าเธอไม่เคยถาม อาจเพราะว่าฉันไม่เคยรู้
เราสองคนที่เป็นอยู่ ก็เพียงแค่เพื่อนกัน
อาจเพราะว่าเธอไม่เรียกร้อง ไม่เคยต้องการไม่เคยใส่ใจฉันจึงคิดไป ว่าเธอไม่มีใจให้กัน
จนผ่านเวลามาเนิ่นนาน
เธอกลับมาทำให้ไหวหวั่น บอกกัน ว่ารักฉันหมดหัวใจ
ฉันเปลี่ยนไปแล้ว สายไป เธอควรเก็บใจไว้
ให้กับคนที่เขารอเธออยู่เสมอ
มันไม่ทันแล้ว ขอเธอ อย่าเสียเวลากลับไป กลับไปหาคนที่เขารอเมื่อเขารอเธออยู่ตรงนั้น และรักเพียงเธอตลอดมา
เลือกเขาจะดีกว่า อย่าเปลืองเวลากับฉันเลย
ให้เขาเป็นคนที่ได้รัก และเธอกับฉันก็เป็นอย่างเคยให้เราสองคน เป็นเพื่อนที่ดีต่อกันเรื่อยไปจนผ่านเวลามาเนิ่นนาน เธอกลับมาทำให้ไหวหวั่น บอกกัน ว่ารักฉันหมดหัวใจฉันเปลี่ยนไปแล้ว สายไป เธอควรเก็บใจไว้ให้กับคนที่เขารอเธออยู่เสมอมันไม่ทันแล้ว ขอเธอ อย่าเสียเวลากลับไป กลับไปหาคนที่เขารอจนผ่านเวลามาเนิ่นนาน เธอกลับมาทำให้ไหวหวั่น บอกกัน ว่ารักฉันหมดหัวใจฉันเปลี่ยนไปแล้ว สายไป เธอควรเก็บใจไว้ให้กับคนที่เขารอเธออยู่เสมอมันไม่ทันแล้ว ขอเธอ อย่าเสียเวลา
กลับไป กลับไปรักคนที่เขารอ

I must commend the Education Minister for finally realising that subjects taught in Chinese schools should be taught in Chinese (Mandarin perhaps). However, pupils from these schools should have the command of the Bahasa Malaysia.

Coming from the time when multiculturalism never existed in school, I truly hope that ALL students, regardless of race, be forced to learn ALL the major languages (Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and Tamil), and study in the SAME school, so that it would be easier for us all, especially those who will be inheriting this nation from us, to bring down the race barrier and think like how we (my generation) did.

I don’t understand this term multiculturalism. During my time, when we were doing our elementary education phase, I never thought of my other classmates like Wong Choon Wah, Michael Foo, Michael Leong, Chow Kah Sung as people of another race. We played together, ate together, stood on chairs together (punished)…we were friends, and we were one as Malaysians. As we grew up, those older than us poisoned us with these stupid “rights of each race” and “mother tongue” issues. From the increased race barriers come a generation that plaster the rear screen of their vehicles with stickers that say: “Die as a Muslim”, “Jesus Loves You”, “Sathya Sri Vaheguru”, “Amithaba” and so on. Then we become a nation filled with people who are not only race-conscious, but also apprehensive towards the religion of others.

It’s time to change back to the old ways.

This is all because of the pictures on Najwa‘s blog. I remember listening to this song by Teerapak “Ten” Manechot called นับหนึ่ง:

จากวันที่เธอทอดทิ้งกันไกลห่าง ฉันคงหมดความหมาย
มันทำให้คนหนึ่งคนแทบตาย เมื่อเธอเดินไปกับเขา
แต่มาวันนี้ตัวฉันเริ่มดี เกือบลืมที่เคยปวดร้าว
เวลาช่วยฉัน ให้ลืมเรื่องราวที่เคยผ่านมากับเธอ
แต่มาวันนึง ฉันได้เจอ เธอนั้นอยู่เคียงข้างเขา
ฉันเหมือนดั่ง ต้องเจ็บปวดร้าวเหมือนเคย

* จากวันนี้ ฉันต้องนับหนึ่งอีกครั้ง
เพื่อลืมเรื่องราวที่ยัง ค้างคาในใจ เมื่อเจอเธอกับเขา
จากวันนี้ ฉันต้องทนเจ็บและเหงา เหมือนเดินกลับมาที่เก่า
หัวใจดึงดัน ก็ที่ตรงนั้นเคยเป็นของฉัน ฉันยังไม่ลืม

จะไม่โทษเธอ และไม่โทษใคร โทษใจตัวเองเท่านั้น
ที่มันไม่ลืมเจ็บมาก็นาน โกหกตัวเองเรื่อยไป
เวลาคงทำให้ลืมทุกอย่าง แต่มันต้องนานแค่ไหน
สิบเดือนไม่พอ สิบปีหรือไง ที่ฉันจะลืมภาพเธอ
เพิ่งรู้เมื่อตอนฉันได้เจอ เธอนั้นอยู่เคียงข้างเขา
ฉันเหมือนดั่ง ต้องเจ็บปวดร้าวเหมือนเคย

Of course I prefer Ten’s version when he played this song during Peacemaker’s concert back in 2003-2004. The ending’s nicer.