Posts tagged ‘Family & Friends’
The thousandth man
One man in a thousand, Solomon says,
Will stick more close than a brother.
And it’s worth while seeking him half your days
If you find him before the other.
Nine nundred and ninety-nine depend
On what the world sees in you,
But the Thousandth man will stand your friend
With the whole round world agin you.
‘Tis neither promise nor prayer nor show
Will settle the finding for ‘ee.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine of ‘em go
By your looks, or your acts, or your glory.
But if he finds you and you find him.
The rest of the world don’t matter;
For the Thousandth Man will sink or swim
With you in any water.
You can use his purse with no more talk
Than he uses yours for his spendings,
And laugh and meet in your daily walk
As though there had been no lendings.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine of ‘em call
For silver and gold in their dealings;
But the Thousandth Man h’s worth ‘em all,
Because you can show him your feelings.
His wrong’s your wrong, and his right’s your right,
In season or out of season.
Stand up and back it in all men’s sight –
With that for your only reason!
Nine hundred and ninety-nine can’t bide
The shame or mocking or laughter,
But the Thousandth Man will stand by your side
To the gallows-foot — and after!
~ Rudyard Kipling
To Li, who was unknowingly my thousandth (wo)man last night. 
Ps. This was the foreword to Jeffery Archer’s A Prison Diary Vol II: Purgatory. Archer’s Prison Diaries are a recommended read.
Thicker than water?
Chinese New Year ’06 was celebrated in USJ this year with the Leong side of the family. CNY is the annual event where red is guaranteed as THE colour of the moment, and it is a family tradition of mine to be decked out in shades of red on the 1st day. The odd ones out in the picture by the way, are my paternal grandparents. 
It’s also a family tradition to take family potraits. This one is of the Leong adults. Next to my grandma is my 2nd aunt (who came back all the way from UK!). Immediately behind her is my youngest aunt and her husband. And next to him is my uncle and his wife.
The men…..
…and the women…
and (finally), just the grandchildren. That’s my cousin Ming sitting next to my grandfather. He’s a lawyer too.:P
I make no secret of my IMMENSE dislike for him. And if I were brutally honest, I’d probably say I have no love for him at all. What has he done against me personally to effect such strong sentiments? Only 1 event stands out in mind. The Chinese New Year when I was studying in Taylors, the Leong family had a similar reunion for the occasion. Back then, my grandparents were still living in their own home in Petaling Jaya. It was an old house, the one my dad spent the substantial part of his childhood years in. The layout of the house is such that the rooms lie off the side of a long corridor which leads to the kitchen. So if you’re inside the room, you can’t really see who’s coming and going along the corridor until they are right in front of your bedroom door.
The 1st day of CNY, my sister banged her bedroom door against his arm by accident. He was coming down the corridor. She was going out of her room and hadn’t seen him coming. My sister apologised profusely but he went ballistic and wouldn’t let the matter go, even hours later. At last, I had had enough of his grumblings and I said:
“My sister has apologised to you many times already so what else do you want? How many more times do you still want her to say sorry before you will be content?”
Which……made the situation worse of course. He then embarked on a major sulk and refused to have dinner. Yes, this 70-something old man was sulking like a 5 year old child! But the sting is, my dad said I shouldn’t have said that because it was disrespectful. Hmph. So, it doesn’t matter that he was being completely childish and deserved to be told off but nope, he’s older so he’s always right and you can’t say otherwise. Right, I’m sorry but I have issues with that.
Maybe, looking at the bigger picture, I just hate the notion of having to respect someone UNCONDITIONALLY just because he’s an elder. So f***king what? Is age a prerequisite for deserving respect? What if you happen to be a total bastard, am I suppose to respect you still just because you happen to be older than me? This whole asian value of respecting elders is half bull. The argument is that elders are more experienced and wiser, therefore you should respect them. But I think this: a wise person doesn’t mean he’s old. Similarly, an old person doesn’t mean he’s wise.
And so, respect the man who treats my grandma like a slave? Who has ‘funny’ pictures on the walls of his bedroom? Who was a regular casanova in his younger days? No, I’m sorry… but I don’t have the strength to do it.
Anyway, enough about that and back to what we did over CNY this year. After the frenetic pace in KL, it was good to escape to Ipoh for a few days. I just love the scenery in Ipoh. Just look at those hills surrounding the city. If I were rich, I’d buy one of those many old mansions dotting the city. Those in the old colonial style are just gorgeous.
I said feasting didn’t I? Here’s proof! See if you can make out the 12 dishes.
In Ipoh, we met up with my eldest aunt and her family. People say I look like my eldest aunt. Photocopy.
So that was my CNY this year. Straight after that my sister went back to Oz and Boy resumed college in KL. I know that story about my encounter with my grandfather makes me sound like a regular gangster. But I think my siblings like the notion of having a gangster older sister who wouldn’t let anyone mess with them.:) If anything, that encounter with my grandfather was worth the blood sweat tears just to show him that I won’t stand for him treating my siblings like dirt.
Where did I get the big ass chip on my shoulder from? Maybe it’s the ghost of my maternal grandmother. Yes, I have another maternal grandmother. But, that’s a story for another day lah. Enough angst for now.
Dinner and dance
So after the aww-moments and cheekiness of the morning events, it was time for the wedding dinner.
Our tables had smuggled alcohol to go with dinner
I needed the alcohol more than most
Coz I was the emcee for the night!! And I had to present a short speech in hakka! After being out of practice for 4 years, that was the part that stressed me out the most. I think I sailed through all right though. Didn’t offend anyone with my crummy intonation anyways.
The dinner programme included the usual cake-cutting…
…champagne-pouring
…and the yam seng-ing
The classmates were not satisfied with the general yam seng so we made the couple come over for an individual table yam seng. Just for us y’know. And wah liaw eh…the noise our 2 tables generated was LOUDER than the general yam seng earlier. I think the rest of the hall must’ve thought we girls were drunk.:P
My table with the bride & groom
Both tables in a group shot
We finally coaxed Li to sing a song to cap off the dinner. She WOWed the crowd man. And so impressed the band that she scored us free entertainment when we next get married. Heh.
After the oldies packed home, we adjourned to dance the night away at the hotel’s watering hole. Chelle & Kyle’s wedding was THE event of last year. They are a beautiful couple and I wish them a long and happy life together (with lotsa babies 
).
Wedding!
Kyle married my old school friend Chelle last Dec 26th
The wedding service was 8 am in the morning at St Pauls
Group shot after the ceremony
It's official!
The bridesmaids
Ups-a-daisy
Rolling out prosperity and sons
Are the indonesian stories of bride diapers true?
Red worms and white balls
80 years!
On 16th September, family members descended onto my wee hometown to celebrate my grandmother’s 80th birthday. Yup, the same grandmother who recently had that heart valve replacement operation. Too many pictures were taken to put them all up here so here are a selection of my favourites…
At the first of 3 back-to-back dinners. That’s Hester, my wanderlust cousin. Can you tell she’s my age?
Grandpa said the sweetest thing about Mama: Although she may be 80 years old now, to me, she is still a beautiful middle-aged lady.
There was also a thanksgiving service at church. Typically, the guests arrived late. They should’ve known better. My grandpa is a stickler for punctuality. No matter, at least it gave the family time for photo ops whilst waiting.
It is understood that the grandchildren MUST present an item at all these family thanksgiving services. This, to our grandfather, usually means us having to sing a song. This time round, we decided to save ourselves (and the audience) by opting for a short movie clip of pictures chronicling our grandma’s life.
Can’t escape the speeches though…:)
In between all the official functions, we did have manage to have some quality family time with each other though. Family reunions are interesting because you can actually see how the family tree is growing with each reunion. My grandparents have 4 great grandchildren and 1 on the way to date. Naomi and Phoebe are a part of that next generation.
The 2nd dinner at Holiday Inn gave us an excuse to glam up.
Doesn’t she looked pleased with her cake? Note my eldest aunt with the outstretched arm doing some covert matchmaking. Yes, these reunions can be tricky for us girls. Standard lines heard: “Wah, your daughter so big already ah? So pretty! Any boyfriend yet?” 
Mum was sitting at the VIP table with grandma whilst the rest of us were on the sole vegetarian table. We managed to get one shot for our personal album though.
Make that 2…
The longevity buns we had for dessert looked a bit ummm….well, use your imagination. It doesn’t take much to figure out why my brother has that expression on his face.
The grandchildren plus great grandchildren.
Wish I could claim credits for all the photos but they were mostly the work of my cousin-in-law Michael. Big man with big heart.:) Anyways, hope you enjoyed my picture story. Until the next Yao family reunion, thanks for watching.
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