Winning

Lately I have been thinking about the word winning a lot. I am not in any kind of competition whatsoever right now but I am just thinking that the main objective of any competition is to win.

In my opinion, the notion that it is not winning that is important but playing fair and to the very best of your ability, are totally incorrect. Usually the coach will tell this kind of crap to the losing team just to console the players while the winning team would be rejoicing at their win to the nth degree.

When I was growing up, I never win any medal be it academically or in sport. I may be in the top 10% in school in Sandakan but I never won anything that deserved a medal. I was the type that had to study to excel. In another word I had to work hard. Unlike some of my classmates who were so smart and did not have to study but can get better marks than me.

Being the shortest one in class meant that I could never shine in the sport arena. The closest I got to represent my primary school in sport was in table tennis. For those of us who were representing the school, we had to practice a lot during class time and as a result we missed a lot of classes. But in the end i could not remember now but we did not get to represent our school at all. Or was I the only one who got kicked out from the team? Haha. Either the competition was scrapped at the eleventh hour or it clashed with our examination time.

When I was studying high school in Down Under, my classmates and I entered Maths competitions. During those times I did win some certificates.

The only medal I won in my entire life was in senior high school for an inaugural Asian Studies Award. For that the school gave me an individual small plaque and my name was inscribed on the school plaque for that award.

In 1 Corinthians 9:24, the Apostle Paul had this to say “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”

So winning is definitely not everything, it is the only thing.

Humid Weather

Oh man, what is happening here?

The time is after 8p.m. on a Sunday night and yet the weather is so humid. It is 30 degrees Celcius in my room and the fan is on full blast.

I had a good three hours sleep before dinner tonight.

I did not join anyone for lunch after Celebration. Instead I went to Tong Hing Supermarket, Damai Plaza thinking of getting some ham for sandwiches but there were none left. The supermarket is selling gazillion amount of chocolates but I was good, I did not get any.

I went to Strawberry Cake House and bought a loaf of banana cake for Aunty Alice before stopping by Consfood to check out if there was anything I could buy there. I found some turkey ham – smoked and normal ones and some chicken ham. The price is cheaper as compared to Tong Hing Supermarket as well. So next time I would go to this shop first before going to the supermarket.

Canaanland Celebration

In my point of view, Rev. Lee delivered one of the best sermons today.

Not too long ago I was praying that he will preach on the book of Revelation and today he finally did. I was so happy my prayer was answered. Thank you Lord.

But I kept on yawning despite the fact that I had almost eight hours of sleep last night. Normally I sit at the back but today I sat on the third row from the front. So it was kinda of embarrassing to be yawning at the rate I was going eventhough the sermon was interesting.

Close Call

Eventhough today is Saturday, I worked until 6p.m.

On the way home as I was waiting for cars in two lanes to clear in order to cross to the far lane, I only paid attention to cars and nothing else in sight.

As I came out from the junction, if I had acclerated straight away, I would be dead meat by now. No, I am not the dead meat. Someone else would be. I would have knocked down a Timorese on a bicycle. I missed him by a nick of time. I was shaken for the next ten seconds.

Thank God for His protection upon me and the Timorese.

Dinner at Home

Braised Chicken with Potatoes, Eggs, Pork Slices

Japanese Beancurd

Prawn Omelette

Veges

Sliced Pork with Tomatoes

Aubergines with Dried Prawns

Dinner at Home

Kurma Chicken

Brocolli with Sliced Pork

Deep Fried Wanton Prawn

Steamed Beancurd with Minced Chicken and Mushrooms

House Maid is Back

The house maid is finally back today after going home to Indonesia since 25 September 2008, a period of almost two months.

She was sick when she arrived back in her village and her father had the audacity to scold my sis-in-law when she called the maid to enquire when she was coming back here since she was supposed to go home for only one month. She has the history of gastric and therefore anything could have happened after she left our house on her journey back home.

She arrived back in Kota Kinabalu three days ago but was sick again and therefore she decided to stay with her relatives before coming back today.

Natural Fish Massage at Kg. Luantin, Ranau

I got to know about fish massage through an ex schoolmate in March this year but the one she went to in Kuala Lumpur was a man-made thing.

The fish massage available at Kg. Luantin is in the river. We were welcomed and briefed by the village head.

At present there are only three types of fishes that have been trained to massage the feet, back and front of the body, though not at the same time. They are as follows.

Garap/Pelian

Lontong

Buintol

On seeing that there were so many of us, the village head said that the fishes had been overworking and therefore may not be able to cater for all of us.

In the end only the boss’s second son who has smelly feet (also known as Hong Kong feet) went for the dip in the river for RM3. For someone who just wants to view the process, RM3 will be charged as well and RM5 is charged for a camera. Everything is too commercialised!

The people in our car decided not to stay and started our journey back to Kota Kinabalu.

Before we reached Kundasang, the rain was pouring. When we passed by the fruits and veges stalls, we were glad we did not leave it until on the way back to stop by to buy fruits and veges. Most of the stalls were closed due to the heavy downpour.

The rain and the mist caused visibility to only a few metres and therefore the journey back home took us almost two hours.

Sabah Tea Garden

The weather was also very hot at Sabah Tea Garden.

After the boss ordered lunch, we went exploring a bit to enable the waiters to set up the table for us. No guided tour was available and so we could only view the machineries used for processing the tea leaves from the outside of the processing plant.

We rested at the dining table before lunch was served consisted of the following.

1. Fried Noodles – the best. The smell was very tempting when it first arrived on the table.

2. Fried Keow Teow

3. Fried Rice

4. Beancurd Hotpot

5. Beef with Mushrooms

6. Fried Choy Sum

The pot of tea served smelled fabulous. Eventhough I seldom drink tea, I tried a cup and it tasted different from any tea I had ever tried before. That was probably because of the freshness of the tea leaves.

Everyone was really hungry by 1.30p.m. No one talked but was busy eating.

Fruit Stalls at Kundasang

Before we proceeded to go to Ranau to meet the rest of the people, we stopped by the fruit and veges stalls at Kundasang. I was hungry by then.

We started looking at the first fruit stall until the last. After that none of my colleagues were in sight. I walked back to the first fruit stall and bought some longans and rose apples for RM11.

I walked across from the fruit stalls to the veges stalls. This time I did not want to walk all of the veges stalls before deciding on what to buy.

Instead I chose one stall and bought all the following veges for RM16.

1. Six medium tomatoes.

2. Ten small capsicums.

3. Two packets of green beans.

4. One cauliflower.

5. Two cabbages.

6. One packet of Shitake mushrooms.

7. Three lettuces.

8. Six carrots.

We met the rest at Ranau town and walked around for a while to wait for the boss and his family to arrive. The town was extremely hot and we were all sweating profusely.

Our next stop was the Sabah Tea Garden but two carloads of people decided not to go there and therefore they had lunch at KFC.

Three carloads went up to Sabah Tea Garden.

Celyn Resort Kinabalu

On the way back from viewing the majestic mountain, JL asked whether I was ready for breakfast. I had to go back to our room to pass motion and to have a shower first. I joined some of those colleagues who had woken up for buffet breakfast.

The menu consisted of the following.

1. Fried Noodles

2. Fried Rice Noodles

3. Bite Size Sausages

4. Baked Beans

5. Scrambled Eggs

6. French Toast

7. Chicken with Shitake Mushroom and Carrot Porridge

8. Nasi Lemak

9. Corn Flakes

10. White Bread for Toaster

11. Orange Cordial

12. Mixed Sliced Fruits

I sat next to the little 5 y.o. fella and he kept on looking at what food I was eating. I had everything on the buffet spread except the fried noodles, corn flakes and mixed sliced fruits.

As we were enjoying our breakfast, the mist kept on enveloping the outside surroundings but the weather was not cold at all.

I went exploring with my digital camera and took photos of the plants and flowers. I also struck on a conversation with the Indian family and got to know them.

I sat with TI and his family at the Valley Lookout and chit-chatted until it was time to pack our bag to check out from the resort at 11.00a.m.

Plants and Flowers at Celyn Resort Kinabalu