Celebrations (Losing My Ethnicity?)

This year Chinese New Year came and went, just like that. It is my fave holiday when I was a kid - the new clothes, the firecrackers, the kuih kapit, the reunion dinners, meeting up with old friends, meeting relatives which just mysteriously appear once a year and the wonderful smell of freshly minted cash. However this year, it was just another day for me. Just a call to my family to wish them Gong Xi Fa Cai and that was it. Probably there was no festivities here and not many fellow Malaysians here to yum seng with. And there goes my CNY 2006.

Valentine's Day however marks the 2nd year anniversary of my proposal to Lila. Can't believe how time flies and 2 years had passed. I for one think that V's Day is too commercialized where restaurants are packed and roses are expensive. I for one was running out of ideas on what to do and what to get. A friend told me that Jim Brickman (a pianist) is in town and so I got tickets for the night. Of course Lila do not know who he is and I haven't been to a piano concert since I was a kid. It turned out to be a wonderful romantic evening with self-declared Mr Romance. I had liked his music a few years ago but his tunes got kinda same, that is his signature I guess. He had a few interesting guest artist - an electric violinist who could make his instrument sound like an electric guitar and also a male and female vocalist. Jim played a lot of his hits and it is funny seeing him playing quite intensely on the piano. His left leg was moving a bit weird while playing. All in all, he had an encore and ended the night with no surpise, his love song Valentine: ... I will give you my heart, Until the end of time, You're all I need, my love, my Valentine.

Overwhelmed

It has been almost 1 month since I updated the blog. Time really flies when things started to be busy. Let me see what has happened for the last few weeks... Lila's relatives came to Arizona and we opened up our apartment to them, they got us started on a home-based business, did all the mortgage paperwork for our new house which will be ready next month, shop around for tickets to fly back to Malaysia, my project at work is near its deadline, gave the 60 day move-out notice to the apartment owners, packing all our stuffs in the apartment to ready for the move, do some shopping for things to bring back, tried doing my US taxes myself for the first time and gave up halfway, etc... HELP!!!

And one fine morning, my Camry wouldn't start at all. It was coughing for a few weeks especially in the mornings but I tot it was due to the cold weather. I tot when I come back from Malaysia, I will bring it to its regular checkup. How can Toyota (which is known for their quality and reliability) and especially my Camry which is 1.5 years old fail me? But that morning, it just wouldn't start. So I took a lift from a friend to work, prayed the whole day for a miracle, felt depressed the whole day too. It really felt like my family or someone whom I really depended on every day had cancer or something like that. The next day, it would not start and then I had to call a towing company to tow it to the nearest Toyota workshop. So I followed the tow truck and spent a 1-2 hours waiting for the repairs. The mechanic came up to me and handed me the keys and told me that the battery died and there were no problems with the car. Since the battery is still under warranty, I got a new one for free, I don't need to pay for the towing cost ($70) and they also gave me a free car wash. Phew... what I learnt was that my prayers were really prayers which are convenient prayers - so that I don't have to suffer or go through hardships. But in most cases, it is NO and I need to go through all these experiences. And another is I should not worry unnecessarily. But one thing's for sure, from every experience there is something good which comes out of it.

So when recently, my good non-Christian friend forwarded me some "junk" emails, I normally don't really pay attention to emails like this... but I just took some time to read it and it is an interesting inspiration imagination about someone's chat with God. Here it is:

GLORIOUS CHATTING

God: Hello. Did you call me?

Me: Called you? No. Who is this?

God: This is GOD. I heard your prayers. So I thought I will Chat .

Me: I do pray. Just makes me feel good. I am actually busy now. I am in the midst of something.

God: What are you busy at? Ants are busy too.

Me: Don't know. But I can't find free time. Life has become hectic. It's rush hour all the time.

God: Sure. Activity gets you busy. But productivity gets you results. Activity consumes time. Productivity frees it.

Me: I understand. But I still can't figure out. By the way, I was not expecting YOU to buzz me on instant messaging chat.

God: Well, I wanted to resolve your fight for time, by giving you some clarity. In this net era, I wanted to reach you through the Medium you are comfortable with.

Me: Tell me, why has life become complicated now?

God: Stop analyzing life. Just live it. Analysis is what makes it complicated .

Me: Why are we then constantly unhappy?

God: Your today is the tomorrow that you worried about yesterday. You are worrying because you are analyzing. Worrying has become your habit. That's why you are not happy.

Me: But how can we not worry when there is so much uncertainty?

God: Uncertainty is inevitable, but worrying is optional .

Me: But then, there is so much pain due to uncertainty...

God: Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.

Me: If suffering is optional, why do good people always suffer?

God: Diamond cannot be polished without friction. Gold cannot be purified without fire. Good people go through trials, but don't suffer. With that experience their life becomes better, not bitter.

Me: You mean to say such experience is useful?

God: Yes. In every term, Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first and the lessons afterwards.

Me: But still, why should we go through such tests? Why can't we be free from problems?

God: Problems are Purposeful Roadblocks Offering Beneficial Lessons to Enhance Mental Strength. Inner strength comes from struggle and endurance, not when you are free from problems.

Me: Frankly in the midst of so many problems, we don't know where we are heading...

God: If you look outside you will not know where you are heading. Look inside. Looking outside, you dream. Looking inside, you awaken. Eyes provide sight. Heart provides insight.

Me: Sometimes not succeeding fast seems to hurt more than moving In the right direction. What should I do ?

God: Success is a measure as decided by others. Satisfaction is a measure as decided by you. Knowing the road ahead is more satisfying than knowing you rode ahead. You work with the compass. Let others work with the clock.

Me: In tough times, how do you stay motivated?

God: Always look at how far you have come rather than how far you have to go. Always count your blessing, not what you are missing.

Me: What surprises you about people?

God: When they suffer they ask, "why me?" When they prosper, they never ask "Why me?" Everyone wishes to have truth on their side, but few want to be on the side of the truth.

Me: Sometimes I ask, who am I, why am I here. I can't get the answer.

God: Seek not to find who you are, but to determine who you want to be. Stop looking for a purpose as to why you are here. Create it. Life is not a process of discovery, but a process of creation.

Me: How can I get the best out of life?

God: Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear.

Me: One last question. Sometimes I feel my prayers are not answered.

God: There are no unanswered prayers. At times the answer is NO.

Me: Thank you for this wonderful chat. I am so happy to start the New Day with a new sense of inspiration.

God: Well. Keep the faith and drop the fear. Don't believe your doubts and doubt your beliefs. Life is a mystery to solve, not a problem to resolve. Trust me. Life is wonderful if you know how to live.

The World's Most Exotic and Rarest Coffee

My oh My. This is dedicated to all the coffee lovers out there. Was watching VH1's The Fabulous Life: Top 40 of 2006 about the ludicruous and extravagant indulgences of the rich and famous. Then to my surprise, among the Top 40 was shown a map of the island Sumatra, our dearest neighbor Indonesia. Hmm... it seems like the world's most exotic and rarest coffee does not come from Starbucks, Coffee Bean or Costa Rica but from the poop of the luwak animal. Lawaknya! Haha! It cost USD$300 for a bag of those coffee beans and supplies are quite limited. I am not sure whether those poor farmers in Indonesia knows about how much those beans fetch in the USA and I guess they can be millionaires just collecting luwak droppings. The luwak eats only the ripest coffee cherries and since it is unable to digest the coffee beans, it will graciously deposits them on the jungle floor. Seems like their stomach acids and enzymatic action involved in this unique fermentation process produces the beans to make it the world’s rarest coffee beverage. So if you do happen to travel to Indonesia, make sure you try out kopi luwak. Perhaps you can also experiment with kopi manusia at home. :)

2006

As I type the year 2006, it reminds me of a Chinese movie I watched recently called 2046. I just watched way too many movies recently thanks to Netflix and the empty weekends (probably will blog on that later). 2046 is a room in a motel where the writer based his futuristic story in the year 2046 about the people he met. 2006 for me is not a room but probably another year waiting to be surprised. I was quite amused by the preaching last Sunday when the pastor mentioned that our current Gregorian calendar came to existence 400+ years ago. For us, it is the year 2006, for the Chinese it is the year 4073, Hebrews 5000 something, Muslims probably 600+, Indians I'm not sure and probably for God just a few seconds?

Ok, for the fun of it... I did not celebrate the dawning of 2006. Probably I'm old and wanted some peace and quiet at home with my wife. The city of Tempe hosted a huge block party nearby because the Fiesta Bowl (a big college football championship) is in town. Blues Traveller the group is performing and there's projected to be 150,000 people. So I'll just forget it and stay at home because I don't intend to fight for a parking spot somewhere. Plus there's church service the next day and Lila is teaching in the children's ministry. For the US, the definitive countdown place is in New York City where a big ball slowly descended and when it reaches the bottom, lights will flash out brightly. Yeah, those lights are sponsored by Phillips (go figure how commercialized everything is). I'm also not sure what is the significance of this ball on New Year's? Perhaps when someone ask how are you feeling this New Year? Your reply will be "I'm having a BALL!" Anyway, they will record that segment and when Arizona reaches 12am 2 hours later, this segment will be shown again. That's the gripe I have for staying in the west coast instead of the east coast. Many supposedly live events like the Oscars, Grammys and even American Idol finales are tape delayed in the West coast so by the time we watch it, you can actually know the results earlier if you surf on the Internet.

Hmmm... sounds like I'm getting more cynical as I grow older. Anyway, as I was laying in bed with my wife, we tried to think of what have we accomplished last year. We have:
1. Travelled a lot. Portland, North Dakota, Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas plus many 2 hour trips to neary San Francisco, Napa Valley. Finally sat on a Greyhound bus for the first time on my butt numbing 1.5 days journey to North Dakota.
2. Relocated to Arizona and bought a house here. Also had to take care of my own apartment in the meantime and buy my own furniture.
3. Found 2 nice Chinese churches. 1 in Sacramento before we left and 1 in Chandler.
4. Made new friends and luckily no new enemies. Prob a few frenemies (a phrase from Sex and the City describing your friends who are also enemies).
5. I think quite a lot of other stuffs after looking back. Can't complain too much and need to count my blessings one by one.

Since I have never fully fulfilled any of my previous resolutions... will just list them down. What the heck!
1. Be a good husband and family man. Not really up to expectations so far and had been quarrelsome, impatient, bad, hurtful. Yeeks... need I say more and you might wonder that is Ernest? :) Hope that I can also help my parents back home in some way.
2. Daily devotion and read through the Bible at least once. In my quest and lust for the world, God has taken a back seat. Are you still there in my car, God? Perhaps should either let God drive or sit beside me in the front seat.
3. Further my education by taking an MBA. Not that Married But Available course but the real degree in the hopes that it could help in the future somehow.

That's it I guess. No need to write more and then be disappointed next year that I didn't achieve any of them. There's 11.5 months to go now and before I end, Happy Gregorian New Year!

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas

I have been deciding for the past few days whether to write the second part of our Christmas trip to Las Vegas or just let it stay secret (like the tagline from the Las Vegas ads). There were certain aspects which I like about Las Vegas. As a recovering shoppaholic, I was impressed with most of the shopping malls within the Las Vegas strip (especially inside the hotels) which open till 12am and they still stay open on Christmas Day. There were also plenty of partying clubs with cover charge above $100 to countdown to the New Year with invited stars like Goo Goo Dolls, Shannon Elizabeth, etc. And also due to the explosion in Las Vegas tourism and real estate, there were many resorts/hotels which opened or got into this thing called timeshare or vacation ownership. In a nutshell, vacation ownership is a multi-billion $ business and it is something like joining a vacation club and then able to vacation anywhere in the world for a cheap price which can also be passed over to the kids after we die. However the cheapest membership option is around $11k which is not cheap. The good thing about attending this vacation ownership presentations is the many free gifts they provide. But for me, the hardest is to say "no" because I'm a person who can't say "no" easily. We were tempted a few times to join the club but eventually I stuck to my ground and decided not to get it. We attended 3 presentations on the same day in the morning (because there's nothing much to do in LV in the daytime) and the fruits of our wasted time were $50 Planet Hollywood dinner, $100 shopping voucher at the Treasure Island hotel, $50 free slot play (which my wife used to win another $50), $200 tickets to watch a show called Zumanity, another 3d/2n stay in Las Vegas which can be used at another time plus a 5d/4n stay in Hawaii. So not too bad for a hard day's work attending talks.

Since prostitution is legal here, there were many hispanic people passing out callgirl cards. They have a certain style of hitting the cards (with a clicking sound) and passing it out. There were many topless pics strewn across the floor, not to mention there were many unwholesome shows too. So before long, the surroundings would influence the mainstream. The show Zumanity by Cirque du Soleil was an example of that. Cirque du Soleil was formed by a group of poor street performers in Canada and now they have taken over Las Vegas and the world with their mixture of circus and fantasy. Each big hotel has their own Cirque show: MGM Grand hotel with Ka, Treasure Island hotel with Mystere, Bellagio hotel with O and New York New York hotel with Zumanity. Even one of the ex Cirque bigwigs, Franco Dragone, is the creator of Celine Dion's A New Day show at Caesar's Palace.

My friend told me that he saw Zumanity before and it was different. Since I got those expensive tickets for free, I was looking forward to see what it was all about. We took our seats for the 10:30 pm show after enjoying ourselves at the Irish pub nearby. Zumanity is a cabaret style type of show with a woMan emcee. S(he) was quite foul-mouthed funny and made dirty jokes. The show was all about exploring our sexuality with many risque circus fantasy performances and some funny ones. There's no outright full frontal nudity but lots of topless ones which after awhile, doesn't seem unique anymore. The people giving us the tickets said that it was supposed to look tasteful. One of the performance photo which I found on the internet is the one called 2 lilies of the pond, which is something like topless chinese female acrobats doing their weird body contortions and stunts just like water lilies. Normally on family oriented shows, they are fully clothed but now you can see their ribs bending at odd angles because they weren't clothed. Gross! There were other weird characters in the show like a pair of fat lady twins, a dwarf, a half man half beast, plus others. The funny parts are the jokes and audience participations. There were other performances which I think is not good to be mentioned here. In the end, Zumanity is not just another side of Cirque du Soleil but it also brings out the dark side of our humanity.

Becoming Santa Claus

Las Vegas. Much has changed since the last time I was here in 2000. Just 5 years and there seemed to be some noticeable differences. Nevada has been the No.1 state for population increases for many years whereas Arizona is No.2. In all, since 2000, Nevada has grown 20.8 percent, compared with Arizona's 15.8 percent (Arizona's population is now nearing 6 million people). That doesn't include the 37 million tourists cramming the Las Vegas strip every year, plus all the red-hot real-estate developments around which had made many people rich. Traffic was bad and the drivers reminded me of Malaysians. There are many shopping malls on the Strip and who needs another Chanel, Gucci or Tiffany's just a block away?

One of the most influential people who transformed the Las Vegas strip today is Steve Wynn. Who is he? Not like Donald Trump who is very famous, Steve Wynn is a low key real estate developer. He is the owner of the hotels Treasure Island, Mirage, Bellagio and the newest one Wynn. The Wynn hotel has a Ferrari and Maserati (lower end) showroom in front whereas the Bellagio was featured in the movie Ocean's 11 and it is my favorite hotel because of its beautiful posh interiors and its delightful waterworks show. The water danced to the Christmas music every 15 minutes and the performance of Handel's Messiah (the one with the famous Hallelujah, hallelujah) was spectacular with the waters shooting off to the sky with thunderous symphony.

One of the famous Las Vegas attractions is the food. There are many world class restaurants here with 5 star or 5 diamond ratings. Wolfgang Puck, Emeril Lagasse are a few world class chefs who operates their restaurants here and it cost around $75 to $3-digits for a 3 course meal. So did some research on the top buffets in Las Vegas and decided to have dinner at The Buffet at Bellagio which some voted as the #1. Whereas 5 years ago I went for the cheap buffets, this time I am going for the higher end... probably as taste buds grew older, they get more picky. For $45 (after tax and tips), I stuffed myself with all the king crab legs, kobe beef, foie gras, sushi, lamb ribs with mint apple jelly, wonderful desserts and other exotic dishes. According to the buffet statistics, it took 88 chefs to prepare all the food. On Christmas day, we went for the #2, the champagne brunch at the Carnival World buffet at the Rio hotel where it cost $30 (after tax and tips). This buffet had a lot of food choices compared to the Bellagio but the food doesn't sound as posh. Nevertheless was able to sip champagne with a plate full of crab legs which I never had the luxury of doing before in my life at this time of day. I do love all chocolates with hazelnuts (Ferrero Rocher, Baci's) and had been searching futilely for hazelnut icecream for a long time and they had hazelnut gelato. Yummy!

After awhile, all the crab legs and prawns doesn't taste too good anymore. They used to be my favorites and I feel like vomiting every time I think about them now. This is so sad - gluttony. It is kinda ironic that I am paying so much to eat and put myself closer to my grave. Having cholesterol on the higher side doesn't help either. The good thing is we had to walk a lot from one end to another and that burned a lot of our calories. Haha... I think I can become Santa Claus next Christmas with my growing belly. Some food for thought: With all the hotels combining all the excess food, I think it is possible to solve world hunger, but why poverty still exists? Perhaps the rich keeps on getting richer while the poor keeps on getting poorer.

Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men

First of all, to those who reads my blog... MERRY CHRISTMAS! Yeah, Christmas is sometimes a bit depressing for me. Why? Since I'm getting more Americanized or perhaps Westernized, I always don't know what to buy when Christmas approaches. This is true especially fwhen it comes to my wife and her family and this adds a lil bit more pressure. I do buy things for my wife throughout the year and what is so special about the Christmas gift? And my wife's family who is now my family is very fruitful and had multiplied tremendously... so I have to think of what presents to get for each and everyone of them. Not sure whether they like this or that... why can't they be chinese and I can just give them an angpow without thinking too much?

There are many efforts in the US now to take out the religiousness of Christmas and to make it a secular holiday. There were reports that some major stores are replacing the greeting "Merry Christmas" with "Happy Holidays" and even renaming the "Christmas tree" as the "Holiday tree". Talking about Christmas trees, my wife likes decorating for Christmas and I seem to think it is a waste of time, effort and money to buy a tree and other decorations since we don't have our own place yet. Ahhh... my inner Scrooge is manifesting now. These are some of the cultural clashes that we have. To add to my Christmas misery, malls are so packed with shoppers and most of the time, it is hard to find parking. And yes, I think that Christmas is now being too "commercialized". Haha... my wife hates this word when I mentioned it. :)

But Christmas isn't always that bad. I like the Christmas parties, Christmas songs and Christmas movies. For some people in America, Christmas season doesn't start until their Christmas movie "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is shown on tv. This cartoon classic was first shown in 1965 and it has been showing every year since. I have not really seen it before but I read that it has religious undertones in it which really perked my interest to watch it this year. It was funny and the jokes radiate even though it is now 40 years later. It was a movie which nearly didn't make it to the tv screen because television executives hated it from the start. It was criticized as being too religious—Linus quotes straight from the King James Bible (Luke 2:8-14). It was criticized for featuring contemporary jazz, an offbeat choice for a cartoon. It was criticized for not having a laugh track. It was criticized for using the voices of real children. So many criticisms but yet eventually it ignored all these negativity and became an unforgettable classic. How true this is in real life and this can teach us a valuable lesson to endure all criticisms to excel in what we believe in.

Anyway, I'm taking a vacation tomorrow to Las Vegas for the Christmas weekend. Hahaha... how ironic, celebrating Christmas in Sin City. So to end this blog, just wanna wish you again "have yourself a merry little Christmas", world peace (ala Miss Congeniality) and also be good to your neighbors. Here is one of the best scenes in A Charlie Brown Christmas...
Charlie Brown: [shouting in desperation] Isn't there anyone out there who can tell me what Christmas is all about?
Linus Van Pelt: Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you. Lights, please. [a spotlight shines on Linus] "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were so afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you this day is born in the City of Bethlehem, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men'". That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie brown.