.... of public transportation

Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) did his bit for the environment and also for the love of other road users who had the necessity to drive. During the last Chinese New Year, he went down to Kuala Lumpur ( K L ) by coach, MARA Liner. The senior returned ticket comes with a RM20.00 discount and you practically have the whole coach to yourself. ( Business is so bad for this company that the coach hardly carried 8 passengers for a 34 seater both ways ! ) Y S also saved on petroleum and did not burn extra rubber on the highway. And perhaps saves a few hundred ringgits from the police coffer.

Sinking himself on a single seat, Y S slept and slept, and dreamt and dreamt for 6 hours before he arrived at Pudu Sentral, the coach terminal in KL.



There was no need to fight for space on the festive congested highway or to play hide and seek with the police on their speed trap spree.

Y S also did not have to put up with the raging stalkers who are normally found in very fast-driven and expensive cars. They would appear very suddenly behind you, tail gated you and the front of their vehicle fills up the whole of your rear mirror while you are struggling to over take the vehicle on your left at more than 110KPH. These stalkers would flashed and flashed their high light as if they could not slow down and are in a great hurry. You feel as if they are going to bull doze you off the road if you do not make it to the left lane fast enough. If you could not make it to the left lane fast enough, their loud horn would blast you to eternity.

Fancy you get more and more of such drivers as you are nearing KL, somewhere after Tapah. As they overtake you, you get no chance to have a glance at them. Their heavily tinted windows shadow them. Their registration plates are single or double digited. Somehow, these drivers are above the law !!!!

Once in a while, it is nice to be driven. You get to relax and enjoy the scenery and you arrive refreshed and ready for your programme.

A change to the rigid life routine is refreshing !

..... of our club's gymnasium

Have you ever realised that putting on weight is a whizz but removing it off, especially from around the waist can be exhausting and for some it remains there " until death do we part. " Yours Sincerely's ( Y S ) N Zealand trip was where Y S was pampered with food by his daughter and this was followed by the Chinese Lunar New Year where Y S and family spent it with his sister who loves to cook. The result was a few kilos around the waist.

Fancy that a few weeks of feasting could easily cause an increase of 3 or 4 kilos but several months of exercises could hardly remove it. They call this quantum physics.

So, Y S has sentenced himself to the RKC ( Royal Kedah Club) gym every morning and has made several interesting observations.

The gym is like the golf driving range. There is a certain fraternity which inspires free and unsolicited advice. Within your ear shot, you can hear tips on how to do this machine and that machine, and how this diet and that diet has worked effectively. And how this and that person has his or her this and that muscle torn and suffering from this illness and that etc etc etc.

Often you see the serious ones hard at work. They could not afford a smile. They sweat profusely and are proud to show you that their sweat drips down like rain drops on the floor and machine. If they shake their heads hard enough, they would stain the walls with their salty sweat. Their t-shirt is normally soaking wet and they pant and grunt to despise your under-effort at exercising.

Often Y S observe a middle aged lady but still in good shape: slim, supple and firm. This particular lady is a bit of an exhibitionist. She would hop on this and this machine and work on them effortlessly. And her finale is always how she contorts her body to the left and front, left and right, also effortlessly. She could sit and her fore head could touch the tips of her toes repeatedly. A feat for a lady of her age. And she does all that proudly in the full view of the gym spectators of all shapes and sizes. All admiring but some envying and a few sneering, perhaps our of jealously !

Also often Y S spots the " rollers" who are always over-weight and visit the gym perhaps for the first or first few times. They are a bit conspicuous and never announce their appearance or disappearance. They would quietly roll on the treadmill and walk for a few minutes. Then roll on the cross trainer. Then roll on the multi-gym. Then hop on the exercise bike. Then roll on the leg machine. All these for a few minutes each. Then stand and admire the weights on the storage rack, perhaps saving them for the next visit. BUT .... but they will never miss the vibration plates .................................................


Some plant themselves on this machine until grass could grow beneath their feet. Y S' only worry is that they might entangle their small and large intestines ! Or if they constipate, they may have to dash to the toilet ! LOL

Y S does not know which category he belongs to ! Y S just wants to maintain whatever muscles the Good Lord has given him before they are rudely snatched away by age , especially untimely snatching. To young readers of this blog, start saving your muscles when you are young.

So, exercise on.

... ...... Of confusing practices in the Malaysian Catholic Churches

Dear Editor,

“Being a Catholic convert and having left far behind many Chinese pseudo-cultural practices, I am confused and aggrieved by how the church is accommodating such practices during the Chinese Lunar Year Masses year after year in the name of acculturalization.

I particularly refer to the use of red candles; big joss sticks; the offering of food; three bows before a replica of the ancestral tablet and the setting up of a red ancestral altar adorned with sugarcane beside what should be the only altar of Christ in the church.

Reflecting over how I took a firm stand and in the process hurt my family for not partaking in ancestral worship, I am aggrieved to see that the Church seems to encourage it. Some say that it is not worshipping but merely showing respect to the ancestors. But then we have “All Souls’ Day” and “All Saints’ Day” specifically for that purpose. The semblance of what I used to partake in and what the church is condoning now is too close to confuse me.

Of course, I am not against such acculturalization but simply want the church to take a firm stand on this matter for the benefit of the faithful like me.

If the setting up of a red ancestral altar, the lighting of red candles and joss sticks, food offering, and bowing before the ancestral tablet are allowed, I am glad that I can fully participate in the forth coming “Cheng Beng” festival in April !

Thomas Chua
Alor Setar