.... also of going downhill

If something is worth doing, it is worth doing well. Golf, for example, is fun if your drives are straight and your putting accurate. If a few lessons could improve your play, it is worth the cost. You can say the same for almost all endeavors. "Ageing" is also one of them. Ar.. but then, there are no " Ageing lessons. " Do we simply slip into old age with the full package of Alzheimer and Dementia ? No, we grow old. It is a process and with all processes we are able to see the stages . So, there is time for us to take steps and measures to overcome this and that. There are ways to age gracefully and not just allow the process to take its toll if we care to act.

Taking about ageing, there are a few don't which Y S comes across and find then quite true :-

1. Do not bore anyone by talking on and on about your health. Your health is yours to care.
2. Do not tell the same story to the same person more than once.
3. Do not neglect old friend for when you remember them and want to see them, they may not
be around anymore.
4. Do not let anger rule your life. Avoid confrontation.
5. Do not assume that age makes you wiser and the world is waiting for your advice.
6. Do not live in the past. It is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. We have only now which we call
"the present."
7. Do not miss your remaining opportunities.
8. Do not be a grumpy old man or woman.
9. Do not annoy relatives and friends with your problems. If you need hearing aid, get one.
10. Don't fret your birthday. Enjoy the remaining years.

... of going over the hills

When Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) was in his teens, eer...many years ago , Charles Atlas was his idol. Y S had a newspaper cut out black and white picture of this massive piece of beef stuck right in front of his study table to facilitate fantasizing. This was a 97-pound weakling who turned "The world's Most Developed Man."

There was also this cartoon of a skinny kid on the beach who lost his girlfriend to a sand-kicking muscular bully. This kid resolved to develop his muscles like Mr Charles Atlas so that " Nobody's gonna to kick sand in my face anymore !!! " Coming from a small kampong / village, gymnasium was never heard of those days in the 1960s. So, Y S could only resolve to lifting bricks and metal chair. No wonder no muscle was built at all.

Mr Charles Atlas in most advertisement was fond of lifting beaus , not weights. LOL

Going down hill at 50 plus, out of the blue, Y S is hooked on exercising and iron pumping. This was one activity which Y S could never form as a habit when he was younger. But now, somehow it has become a habit, and provides Y S the BEST reason to get out of bed early in the morning.

Having discovered exercise late ....oops... err.... later in life, it is no illusion that when Y S glances in the wall mirror of the gymn and sees this gray hairer pumping iron, it is hard to keep smiling.

Habit formation ( both the good and bad ones) is intrinsic and in the case of exercising, your body simply misses it like the poor drug addicts who longs for his fix. They say that a natural chemical "endorphins" is released during rigorous exercising. It makes one feels good - a feeling of euphoria. It is a mood stabilizer. It is "runner's high." And this is what Y S finds out to be absolutely true.

Of course, Y S never dreams of a body like Mr Charles Atlas or " Rambo" but when you are going down hill in age, you somehow have to cling on to any trunk, branch, twig and glade of grass to slow down the process. Y S have seen retired friends who lose their body mass and also their stature too fast for they are not yet living out their bonus years . ( Life is 3 scores and 10. That is 70. Bonus years meaning the years after 70 !!!) On the contrary, the active ones are still golfing away. There is one Y S met at the driving range, 82, and he could drive 200 yards !!!

" If I 'd known I was gonna live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself. " Eubie Blake, composer and pianist said at 100 !!!

... of foot wear

Yours Sincerely has always been taken aback by the cost of branded shoes these days which could be as much as a few hundred ringgits. School going kids wouldn't mind spending their parents' limb on "Nike," " Concourse," " Adidas, " " Hush Puppies, " etc etc etc Their logos seem to have the magic of projecting the image of the wearers. So for those who cannot afford a genuine, they would settle for the fakes from across the border.

Y S picks no quarrels with the fact that there are shoes with better and more protective soles that preserve the knees, especially for weight challenged people but not for the economically dependent school going kids who seem to craze over the brands' logos. ( Well, they learn it from the adults. Y S even spotted some adult owners of the nation's cheapest car, the "Perodua Kancil" spotting Mercedes or Honda logo. LOL. The local expression fitting this is " Sedap Sendiri " or "for personal pleasure only." ) Y S' nieces and nephew are no exception. When they come avisiting, Y S never failed to keep their expensive shoes indoor, or you will never know what would happen to them!

Well, the closest Y S came to during his school days was "Fung Keong" or "Pagoda" brand school canvas shoes. This was heavily scrubbed clean and coated with white lime polisher to appear smart during the weekly school assembly. And the worst thing that could happen was to accidentally step on your classmates' shoes. They would revenge by stepping on your shoes. In this situation, the teacher's blackboard duster always saved the day. It was used to white powder up the shoes again. In the I960s, " Pagoda" brand canvas shoes only cost about RM1.50. On rainy days during the monsoon season in Kelantan, the canvas shoes were kept dry by only putting them on when one arrived at the school. No slippers were tolerated in whatever weather !!! On many a rainy day, Y S ' Mum had to dry our canvas shoes over charcoal fire so that we could go to school in dry shoes. This was the discipline of the old days.

Later when Y S was in secondary school, Y S' Mum was introduced to " First to Bata then to school" so Y S was upgraded to the $2.90 canvas shoes. You see, all the "Bata" shoe prices always ended with 90 sen. And the same pair of school canvas shoes was used for all occasions: school, sports, outings etc etc etc. Y S was amazed by the number of shoes owned by younger people these days. Well, in Y S' days you did buy new shoes when your old pair was still wearable.

As for indoor wear, the klick klotting clogs were the standard footwear. Their competitor, the rubber Japanese slippers, could not overtake them. The latter had been know to cause a few broken limbs since they could be very slippery on wet surfaces. However, one also needs to be skilfully balanced on clogs but they are somehow more stable. The "klick and klotting" they produce especially on hard floor were useful warning alarm those days that Mum was closing in, flight!

The clogs were always of bright red and the toe piece of the older variety was not nicely made of plastic but black old tyres. Clogs, unlike shoes of these days, did not enjoy private ownership which their branded expensive cousins do these days. They were rather like communal wear. Several pairs were places at the front or back door or certain parts of the house which warrant their wearing. You "klit klot" on the pair that fitted you best. They were also provided by budget hotels before the advent of the rubber Japanese slippers. One annoying thing Y S observed was that the V-shaped bit was always cut off in front of the Japanese slippers provided by the budget hotels so that guests did not forget to remember not to check out with them. LOL

And, of course, while the later generations of clogs, their branded cousins, shoes for all sorts of occasion, get to go to tiled, marble, parquet, carpetted, etc etc floor, the poor clogs of the old days are still used for grimy, slimy, dirty, wet, muddy, mossy etc surfaces. And these clogs were specially suited for "klit klotting" in toilets, bathrooms and all unassumingly places. Being 2 or 3 inches above the ground, they protect the feet dry or free from contacting dirt from soiled surfaces. Fancy today, you can still see such "klit klotting " clogs at the VIP bathrooms of the Royal Kedah Club !

These are the richer Dutch cousins of our local clogs.



These rubber clogs are getting popular. The "ogiginal" ( original) could also cost a limb but there are lots of imitations to suit your budget. Y S read that a kid broke his toes wearing one of these rubber clogs on his way up the escalator in Singapore. It seemed that the side of his rubber clog rubbed hard on the side of the escalator and started to melt causing him to lose his balance, fell and broke his toes.


Y S wonders why shoes and clogs crossed his mind tonight. Well, what's wrong with some musings, eh ?

... of another 4-lettered word - "TIME"

An old but still workable giant sundial Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) saw in China. Imagine how many of our clock towers (The one near the junction of Jalan Putera, Alor Setar and even the one in Sungai Petani town stopped working for ages.)


This is the famous clock tower Y S visited at the main town square in Prague, Poland. Crowds gather to see the images and hear the chimes at 12 noon. A few hundred years old and is still ticking to the last second!!!

Y S observes that many 4-lettered words are intriguing and one of them is " time." It can be spent. It can be stolen. It can be made. It can even be killed. Some have too many on hand. Some never seem to have enough. Some are on time. Some are in time. Others are behind time. Yet we are controlled by time and we are dictated by the clock day in and day out. There is time to sleep; to wake up; to eat; to clock in and work; to fetch your children here and there; to do this and that; to rest etc. And it goes on in a vicious circle. Everyone is caught up in the web of time.

Do not think that retirees have all the time on earth. Well, if they do, they still have only 24 hours ! So , many think that retirees have too much time that they have to volunteer for this and that services, especially in church. " Oh, you're retired so you have time. Why don't you do it? "
Do you do something because you have the time or you do it because you believe in it? Y S subscribes to the latter. Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.

People who make the worst use of their time are the same ones who complain that there is never enough time and seem to envy those who seemingly have more. And the one thing you can't recycle is wasted time.

Make every second tick. Celebrate life. Live to the fullest.

...... of " Satay Celup" or " Dipped Barbecued"

Look at the sauce. What does it remind you of?

Yours Sincerely was in Malacca town sometime ago and was in need of dinner. Being unfamiliar with the place, it was difficult to find an exotic place to dine. So, Y S made a few rounds around the small town and ... lo.....behold...... Y S spotted a mightily crowded eating shop. That must be the place.

So, Y S parked the car and made a bee-line to this " Satay Celup" restaurant or literally translated as "Dipped Barbecued" and not grilled over the fire. It is an assortment of skewed seafood on sticks which you have to dip into boiling hot spicy peanut sauce. It is the sauce which you normally take together with your ordinary "satay." However, this one is very much thicker and it is being boiled and boiled over and over again and again. At its base is a mulch of plentiful bits of peanuts. Younger daughter commented that the sauce is like used car's engine oil. Well, it looks like it anyway.

Since this is a free flow buffet, you can stomach as much as you want. So, as usual you can see the "Kiasus" or "go getters" dashing for the more expensive morsels of food - prawns, cuttle fish, abalone (faked), to list just a few. And in front of the queue, as usual again if you are in Malacca, are those "cousins" of ours from the tiny island south of Johore.

Anyway it was a good experience and another one off Y S' bucket list of food.

"If it looks good and tastes fine, eat it" Andrew Zimmen

.... of celebrating late fifties !

" yam seng..." Salute to the late fifties.


Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) received the following e-mail and felt that it is wasteful if not shared with others who are on the way or on the dot or off shot the late fifties. So, read on .........

" I would not trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I' ve become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend. I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.

I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before thay understood the great freedom that comes with aging. Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 am and sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60s and 70s, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love ...... I will.

I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet ski. They, too, will get old one day!

I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually only remember the important things.

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car ? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face, So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.

As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I 've earned the right to be wrong.

So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be.

And I shall eat desserts every single day if I feel like it. "

So, let's celebrate life in the late fifties . Live on. LIFE is for the living. There is plenty of time to be DEAD.

Sign up for the cruise you always talk about.
Dine at that restaurant you always wish to.
Take that walk around your neighbourhood which you never have time for.
Wash your car in the rain and make your neighbours laugh
Drive through that stretch of the highway which you always wish to try.
Check into the hotel which you read about.
Hit that golf ball which you always think is so crazy to do so.
Sing that song with your tuneless voice in the karaoeke .
etc . etc. etc. etc ...

And embrace your loved one and tell them you love them if you are still inhibited !!!

When we were born we cry and others laugh. Make sure that when we go, others cry and we laugh ...................................

........ my new world.

This is where many golfers dream of playing golf - picturesque, tranquil and expensive. There really are golfers who would jet around with their equipment just to enjoy their games. Many a wife has been sadly turned into " Golf Widows." As for Yours Sincerely ( Y S ), the golf course at Royal kedah Club, a stone's throw from the house, is all I can dream of.

This is the view from the tee-off green to the first hole. You see, the fairway is very wide so it is good for lousy golfers like Y S and yet many of my balls can go " O B " or out of bound. On a wet day, it is hard to find lost balls as they are embedded in the soft ground. Hunting for lost balls seems to be a side line for the caddies and attendants. How I wish golf balls come with a chip sensor to be found by detectors. " Beep...beeeep....beeep..." and you know where your OB balls are.

This is the three- quarter- way rest hut for golfers and if you play in the afternoon between 3.30 an 5.30 pm, cold iced water is free flowed. I think it is provided by courtesy of the caddies. There are two categories of caddies at Royal Kedah Club. The "A " caddies costing RM20.00 are the seniors with more experience to guide you and give you a tip or two while the " B " costing RM15.00 are the rookies who just carry or tow along your equipment.



This is another fairway leading to the second hole. Green and pleasing to the eyes in spite of the controversy over chemical pollution which golf courses produce. Y S will blog more in other posts.

" Go play golf. Go to the golf course. Hit the ball. Find the ball. Repeat until the ball is in the hole. Have fun. The end." Chuck Hogan.

All is fair in love and golf.

....... some food for thoughts

How true ?

..... of being Home Alone

Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) is in the "Home Alone" mode since his better half is in KL helping the younger daughter to spend her long holidays. Y S finds it befitting to have a short respite for absence, they say, makes the hearts grow fonder. ( Not out of sight, out of mind. I Hope) The two of us are like king crabs. Wherever he is, she also is. So, a short separation is also enriching for this is also a preparation for the long separation. Whether you like it or not, one party has to go first and the first to go should be happier than the one left behind. ( Sad, eh! )

Being " very married " Y S and better half are always seen together almost all the times and the short separation provokes inquiries from friends here and there : " Where is your wife? " Well, it begs a question : Must a husband be always seen with his wife and vice versa ? Again it depends on how the couple has been managing their modus operandi daily. Y S has friends who have NEVER EVER been seen with their spouses ! Strange !

" Home Alone" can be a traumatic experience not only for children but also for old adults. Of course, Y S does not mean the type which Kevin McAllister suffered when he was accidentally left behind while his family went on a holiday. There were no predators, bobby traps etc etc......

But , there is the nitty gritty things of doing the chores which are shamefully alien to Y S - sweeping, washing, ironing, boiling water, cooking, making the bed etc etc etc. Anyway, Y S rises to the occasion and takes the bull by its horn. And, to be really HONEST to you ladies out there, especially career wives, you fellas are GREAT. You can balance your career and house work. SALUTE . Y S discovered that " A housewife's work is NEVER done. "

There are clothes to wash. While the washing machine has been hailed as one of the housewives' friendliest gadget, it only washes and spins the clothes. It does not carry them to the washing lines under the sun neither does it fold or iron them.



And who says that cooking is fun ? Cooking is only enjoyable for people like Chef Wan, Anthony Bordain , Andrew Zimmer and "The Take Home Chef" on Astro. They cook and cook, but do not have to cut and cut, and wash and wash !


This is Y S' first enthusiastic attempt at cooking on the first day of better half's departure. It is fried rice with mango salad.

Y S cleared up the plates, not because it is finger licking good, but such plates are easier to wash. LOL

However, by the third day, Y S settles for the newly opened restaurant at Taman Golf. Having been told that Y S ' better half is away for two weeks, the restaurant proprietor smiles from ear to ear: " Oh...you can always eat here."

To all housewives and especially wives with careers - SALUTE !