Al Stewart and Peter White

This is a wonderful album which I never fail to take out from my collection to give it an occasional spin on the turntable. Year of the Cat is considered to be Al Stewart's best studio album. Doesn't the saxophone part give you a thrill when it comes on in the song?

Incidentally, playing the guitar on the album was Peter White. Who's Peter White, one may ask? Well, all I can say briefly is that he is an accomplished musician who is best known as a smooth jazz and fusion jazz guitarist. However, he also has a 20-year collaboration with Stewart on the latter's albums. He was part of a fusion jazz band called Windows, but also as a recording artist in his own right. I've three of his compact discs from the early 1990s, titled Reveillez-vous, Excusez-moi and Promenade. At the time that I started buying these compact discs, I had yet to know that White was an integral part on Stewart's team. That realisation came much later.

Side One: Lord Grenville, On the border, Midas shadow, Sand in your shoes, If it doesn't come naturally leave it
Side Two: Flying sorcery, Broadway hotel, One stage before, Year of the cat

New tools in the spiritual toolbox

When it came to retiring from my job at JobStreet.com in December 2009, my office mates had thrown me a farewell party on the final day of my working life with them. The inevitable farewell speech was required of me and I stood up hesitatingly not knowing what to tell them initially. Then I remembered having read a book by Ajahn Brahm, the abbot of a Buddhist monastery in Western Australia.

Out of the many memorable and inspiring stories in the book, a few had left an impression in my mind and I resolved then and there to share my version of one of the stories with my soon-to-be-former colleagues.

It was the story of the emperor's three questions. Before I go on further, I may say that when I related it, there was full concentration from my former colleagues. Not a sound from them. I hope that the story had left an impression on them too.

Here then is the story of the emperor's three questions, as related by Ajahn Brahm in his philosophical book for all ages, Who ordered this truckload of dung? With apologies to the abbot, I have taken the liberty to exclude what I feel would be adding unnecessary length to my own post.

Long ago, an emperor sought a philosophy of life. He needed wisdom to guide his rule and govern himself. The religions and philosophies of the time did not satisfy him. So he searched for his philosophy in the experience of life.

Eventually, he realised that he required the answers to only three fundamental questions. With those answers, he would have all the wise guidance he needed. The three questions were these:

1. When is the most important time?
2. Who is the most important person?
3. What is the most important thing to do?

After a long search, he found the three answers on a visit to a hermit. What do you think the answers are? Look at the questions again, please. Pause, before you read on.

We all know the answer to the first question, but we forget it too often. The most important time is "now." That is the only time we ever have. So if you want to tell your Mom or Dad how much you really love them, how grateful you are for them being your parents, do so now. Not tomorrow. Not in five minutes. Now. In five minutes it is often too late. If you need to say sorry to your partner, don't start thinking of all the reasons why you shouldn't. Just do it right now. The opportunity may not come again. Grab the moment.

The answer to the second question is powerfully profound. Few people ever guess the correct answer. It saw deeper into the question than I'd ever imagined. The answer is that the most important person is the one you are with.

I recalled asking questions of college professors and not being fully heard. They were outwardly listening but inwardly wanting me to go. They were outwardly listening but inwardly wanting me to go. They had more important things to do. That's what I felt, and it was a rotten feeling. I also recalled rousing my courage to approach a famous lecturer and ask a personal question, and being surprised and so pleased that he was giving me his total attention. Other professors were waiting to speak with him, I was a mere long-haired student, but he made me feel important. The difference was huge.

Communication, and love, can only be shared when the one you are with, no matter who they are, is the most important person in the world for you, at that time. They feel it. They know it. They respond.

Married couples often complain that their partner doesn't really listen to them. What they mean is that their partner doesn't make them feel important anymore. Divorce lawyers would have to look for other work if every person in a relationship remembered the answer to the emperor's second question and put it into practice, so that no matter how tired or busy we are, when we are with our partner, we make them feel as though they are the most important person in the world.

In business, where the person we are with is a potential customer, if we treat them as the most important person for us at that time, our sales will go up and with it our salary.

The emperor in the original story escaped assassination by fully listening to the advice of a small boy on his way to visit the hermit. When a powerful emperor is with a mere child, that boy is the most important person in the world for him, and saves the emperor's life. When friends come up to me after a long day to tell me about their problems, I remember the answer to the emperor's second question and give them total importance. It is selflessness. Compassion supplies the energy, and it works.

Most of the time in your life you are by yourself. Then, the most important person, the one you are with, is you. There is plenty of time to give importance to yourself. Who is the first person you are aware of when you wake up in the morning? You! Do you ever say, "Good morning, me. Have a nice day!"? I do. Who is the last person you are aware of when you go to sleep? Yourself again! I say goodnight to myself. I give myself importance in the many private moments of my day. It works.

The answer to the emperor's third question, "What is the most important thing to do?" is to care. "To care" brings together being careful and caring. The answer illustrates that it is where we are coming from that is the most important thing.

So what again are the emperor's three questions? Here they are again, with the answers:

1. When is the most important time? Now.
2. Who is the most important person? The person you are with.
3. What is the most important thing to do? To care.

Stony stare

Every time I visit the Khoo Kongsi in George Town, I never fail to marvel at the pair of stone statues of Bengali guards which stand silently at the entrance into the main building. Especially, their watchful eyes stare dolefully, even disapprovingly, at the hordes of visitors. If the statues could think, I wonder what are in their minds?

PY 229

A week ago, I was wandering through the heritage precinct of George Town during Penang's annual Chinese New Year celebrations. Apart from the usual cultural exhibits of everything Chinese and the overwhelming presence of hawkers hawking Penang's street food at the turn of every corner, there was also a display of vintage cars.

I wasn't surprised to find this brilliantly red Mercedes Benz among the cars. My surprise was in seeing the car's number plate: PY 229. Why? Because this number plate used to adorn an old Datsun car in Seberang Jaya on the mainland. In the 1980s, it belonged to my father-in-law. It was his pride: the first and only car that he had ever owned. But he decided to part with his prized vehicle when the whole family moved to Bandar Mutiara in Simpang Ampat.

We had no idea what had become of the car but someone bought it up and transferred the number plate to this Benz. The number meant nothing to my father-in-law but it must have meant something to the number plate's new owner.

Penang's oldest schools

So today is the 100th anniversary of Chung Ling High School. My friends from CLHS are celebrating the Chung Ling Centenary with a grand reunion dinner on their school grounds tonight. Good for them. Congratulations. Yet another school reaching a respectable old age. That coming in the wake of my own alma mater, Penang Free School, celebrating her Bicentenary (200 years) on 21 October 2016 last year. Free School leads; others follow behind.

Which brings up the question of which other secondary schools in Penang have celebrated or will celebrate big milestones in their long histories? I've been doing some digging up and made up a list of those schools that were established before the onset of the Second World War. Naturally, the list is not exhaustive and chances are great that I may have missed out on a few great names or the year of establishment may be wrong. Either way, do let me know. Here is my list:

Penang Free School (established 1816)
St. Xavier’s Institution (established 1852)
Convent Light Street (established 1852)
St. George’s Girls' School (established 1884)
Methodist Boys’ School (established 1891)
Methodist Girls’ School (established 1892)
SMK Methodist Nibong Tebal (Anglo-Tamil School) (established 1898)
St. Mark's Secondary School (Butterworth English School) (established 1901)
Chung Hwa Confucian High School (established 1904)
SMK Agama Al-Mashoor (established 1916)
Chung Ling High School (established 1917)
Jit Sin High School (established 1918)
SMK St. George (St. Anthony’s School) (Balik Pulau English School) (established 1918)
Penang Chinese Girls High School (established 1919)
High School Bukit Mertajam (established 1927)
Union High School (established 1928)
Hutchings Secondary School (established 1928)
Convent Butterworth (established 1930)
Kolej Vokasional Batu Lanchang (established 1931)
Convent Bukit Mertajam (established 1934)
Convent Dato’ Kramat (established 1935)
Phor Tay High School (established 1935)
SMK Agama Al-Irshad (established 1936)

Among the primary schools in Penang, I can only recall the following ones that were set up before the War and are still in existence: SK Permatang Damar Laut (established 1864), SK Ayer Itam (Ayer Itam Government School) (established 1881), SK Teluk Kumbar (established 1882), Pykett Methodist School (established 1891), St. Xavier's Branch School (established 1906), SK Juara in Cherok To'kun (established 1908), Hutchings School (established 1928), Francis Light School (established 1930), Westlands School (formerly Government English School Northam Road, established 1922) (established 1935) and Wellesley Primary School (formerly Hillview Government English School, established 1924) (established 1936). No doubt, there may be many more, especially since I haven't also dug up anything on the Chinese primary schools yet.

BM Hill, revisited

By my estimate, it must have been about six months since I last stepped foot on the hiking trail that ran beside the stream at the Bukit Mertajam recreation park in Cherok Tokun. I had the opportunity to do so this morning and by a good coincidence, I had decided to bring along my camera. So here are a few pictures that I took along the way: and no, I did not go to the hill's summit or even till the tea house. I exited the hill track at the metal steps and made my way down by the tarmac road.

A monk's bowl

I had the opportunity to take a peek inside a monk's bowl today and what did I see? I saw different morsels of food that devotees had contributed towards the monks' mid-day meals. A mixture of rice, cooked dishes, cakes and fruits...all still neatly arranged in the bowl. It could have been a worse combination, the Australian abbot Ajahn Brahm once said, having to eat curry and ice-cream together from the same container.

Ray Peterson: Missing you

The first time that I had ever heard of Ray Peterson was on Skeeter Davis' album called Here's The Answer. Unlike other records, Davis' album consisted of her singing answers to six original country songs. Thus, Peterson's song, Tell Laura I Love Her was answered with Davis' Tell Tommy I Miss Him. This album seemed to be very popular here because I've seen so many copies of it in second-hand record stores.

Peterson had at least two versions of this song and I particularly liked the version that had appeared in the Davis album. Recently when I listened to the version in Peterson's album, Missing You, which was supposed to be a collection of his greatest hits, I felt impassive. The song failed to register the same feeling of pathos and poignancy. It was as if it was sung by a different person.

Several years ago, I came across a YouTube video of Peterson singing The Wonder of You. I know that the song was made popular by none other by Elvis Presley but to hear it delivered by Peterson was to see the song in a different light. It was all tender and nostalgic. The Wonder of You is also featured in Missing You.

Side One: Corinna Corinna, Ya ya, Hey little one, Hooked on a feeling, Tell Laura I love her, Love the understanding way

Side Two: Goodnight my love pleasant dreams, The wonder of you, Me myself and I, Funny how time slips away, I can't help it (if I'm still in love with you), Missing you

Three moons of Jupiter

I woke up a bit early today - actually, six-thirty in the morning is not early - and went out of the house to enjoy the cool morning air. It's second nature for me to glance up to look at the stars, moon and what-not, and I saw what I believed to be the planet, Jupiter, in the still-dark sky. So I went for my camera and snapped a few pictures for confirmation. Yup, I was correct. The bright spot in the sky was indeed the largest planet in our solar system. Plus, three of the four Galilean moons could be seen clearly. Couldn't view the fourth moon: I think it was either transiting in front of the planet or occulted behind it.

The solar terms defined

It is appropriate that today, being technically the first day of the Chinese New Year according to the lunisolar calendar, should be devoted to me saying something about the Solar Term.

The Solar Term is an ancient Chinese invention. But before I say anything else, I should first mention that just like the earth can be divided into 360 imaginary longitudinal degrees, so can the heavens above us.

Through thousands of years, the learned astrologers in ancient China made it into their art form. They divided the heavens, or sky, into 360 degrees with the zero-degree celestial longitude defined by the Vernal or Spring equinox.

The Chinese astrologers went further by grouping the heavens into 24 solar terms, with each solar term corresponding to 15 degrees of the sky. During the year, the sun will be seen to transit from one solar term to the next.

In technical terms, the Coming of Spring or Li Chun (立春) (or as we say in Penang Hokkien, Lip Chun) occurs on the first day of the first Chinese solar term when the sun crosses the 315-degree celestial longitude which is usually on a fourth of February. (There are occasional variations, like in this year which Li Chun occurs today, 03 February 2017. I had elaborated on this here.) The true Chinese New Year actually starts on this day, irrespective of the new moon's appearance any time between the 21st of January and 19th of February.

Likewise, we know that the Clear and Bright festival or Qing Ming (清明) (or Cheng Beng) takes place on the first day of the fifth solar term (sun crossing the 15-degree celestial longitude), usually on a fifth of April. I say "usually" because every now and then, there may be a one-day difference. Note: Cheng Beng occurs three solar terms or 45 days after Lip Chun.

Another pertinent point of interest in the Chinese lunisolar calendar is the Winter Solstice or Dong Zhi (冬至) (or Tang Chik) on the first day of the 22nd solar term when the sun crosses the 270-degree celestial longitude usually on the 22nd of December. Note: Tung Chik occurs three solar terms or 45 days before Lip Chun.

Najib wishes you Happy CNY

High School Bukit Mertajam's 90th anniversary dinner

I had the opportunity last month to attend the 90th anniversary dinner of the High School Bukit Mertajam, of which my wife happened to be an Old Girl of this school. When we first got wind of the dinner - that would be at the end of November - she had asked some of her friends whether or not they'd be interested to attend but then received no reply at all from any of them! She was disappointed and she told me that she wouldn't want to go either as a result. I had also approached one or two people whom I knew to be from the High School but they were not interested too.

I too was disappointed. You would think that their old school days would hold many pleasant memories for them; memories that would make them want to come back and enjoy the company of their old friends. Or were they waiting for their school's 100th anniversary to roll along before they join in the fun? I hope not. That would be in 10 years' time. Are you prepared to wait 10 years? You'll be 10 years older and no telling whether you'll still be free then. Or healthy then. No, don't wait. The time for your reunion is now.

I had already underwent that same ritual, having immersed myself fully when my old school, Penang Free School, celebrated her Bicentenary last October. I know how it feels to meet all your old school mates again. I would call on everyone to celebrate and meet your own school pals whenever you can. Or even if you think that you can't, please make time for it so that you can. You won't regret the decision!

Anyway, my wife eventually did go to the anniversary dinner. One of her friends came back from Kota Kinabalu and that was good enough a reason for her to buy a ticket (two tickets actually, because I went along too) at the very last minute. We even went out of our way to pick up one of her old, retired teachers along the way. My wife was happy and excited to have renewed her acquaintance and rebuilt her friendship with several people there and as for me, I was happy enough that she was happily enjoying herself.

Portrait of Donny Osmond

I grew up with Donny Osmond. Shocking, wasn't it? But it's true. In the late 1960s, the Andy Williams Show and the Donny & Marie Osmond Show were regular features on local television while I was on the other side of the tube watching them weekly from the comfort of my home in George Town, Penang.

Knowing that in those days, the syndicated variety shows were often seen on Malaysian television years after they were produced overseas, Donny Osmond came across as very young when compared to my age then. Thus, I was rather shocked recently to learn that he is only three years younger than I. He's not even 60 years old!

This record, Portrait of Donny, was released in 1972 at which time he was already a veteran performer aged 15 years old. Obviously, with songs like Puppy Love, Hey Girl and This Guy's In Love With You, the album was targeted at his millions of female fans in the United states.

The picture which the record company used on the cover of the record showed a Donny Osmond who, I suspect, could possibly be one or two years younger than his actual age then! Do I still hear pre-pubescent American girls still swooning and screaming away at their teenage idol? Oh ho ho ho...

Side One: Puppy love, Hey girl, Going going gone (to somebody else), I've got plans for you, Promise me, Let my people go
Side Two: All I have to do is dream, Hey there lonely girl, Big man, Love me, This guy's in love with you

Cock and hen year

I haven't displayed these two cups for a very long time...

Warmest greeting, 2017

Rolf Harris: All together now

Let's not get distracted by the legal problems facing Rolf Harris - he is now serving time in a UK prison for indecent assault on four female victims - and appreciate his positive contribution to the music industry. In September 2007, I had written about his record, The Best of Rolf Harris, which is a compilation album containing some 14 songs from his vast repertoire that had spanned a career of television shows.

More recently, I managed to pick up another compilation album of Harris', containing 12 songs from his shows. Of these, only two songs were replicated; therefore I guessed that it would still be a jolly good buy. However, having spun the record later at home, I have to give this album only a mixed reaction. The first side of the record was very enjoyable but the second side wasn't. I have to admit that I was getting bored and feeling more anxious for this side to finish playing as soon as possible. So what were the songs on this album?

Side One: I've lost my mummy, Gosport Nancy, Waltzing Matilda, Click go the shears, Wild rover, The court of King Caractacus

Side Two: I'll be hanged, Botany Bay, Maximilliam Mouse, Six white boomers, The overlanders, Wild colonial boy

FOOTNOTE: Since I had somehow failed in September 2007 to list the songs that featured in The Best of Rolf Harris compilation album, I suppose this is as good a time as any to do so:

Side One: Two little boys, Tie me kangaroo down sport, Hurry home, Big dog, Bluer than blue, Carra barra wirra canna, The court of King Caractacus
Side Two: Jake the peg, Fijian girl, I know a man, Nick Teen and Al K Hall, I've lost my mummy, Sun arise, If I were a rich man

And as for The Definitive Rolf Harris, the featured songs in the compact disc were: Two little boys, Tie me kangaroo down sport, Court of King Caractacus, Iko iko, Waltzing Matilda, Wild colonial boy, Botany Bay, Click go the shears, The wild rover, Big dog, Carra barra wirra canna, Sun arise, War canoe, Nick Teen and Al K Hall. Jake the peg, Six white boomers, Sonny, Tie me huntin' dog down Jed, Two little teardrops, Sylvie, If I were a rich man, Letter to Narelle, Stairway to heaven.

Mondo Rock: Come said the boy

The first time that I had come across this band known as Mondo Rock was on a compilation compact disc of Australian music which I had picked up while holidaying in Western Australia some years ago.

There were good tracks on that CD featuring various Aussie acts such as Midnight Oil, Little River Band, Crowded House, INXS, Cold Chisel, Savage Garden, Rick Springfield, Dragon, Kylie Minogue, Men At Work, John Farnham, Australian Crawl, Russell Morris, Masters Apprentices, Sherbet, Split Enz, Mondo Rock, Axiom, Ted Mulry Gang and yes, even the Bee Gees, spanning the years from the late 1960s till the 1980s. Heard of them? Yes? No?

Anyhow, Mondo Rock's name sprang up again when I was browsing through the second-hand vinyl records at Joe's Mac in the AmCorp Mall earlier this month. I came across the band's fourth studio album which was called The Modern Bop. I flipped the cover over and among the 10 titles on the back, the name of the second song, Come Said The Boy, sprang out at me. Another bell rang. That was exactly the same song that was picked for the Australian Legends compact disc. Without a moment's hesitation, I included this record into my "must buy" list.

I must say that my spur-of-the-moment decision was well worth the RM17 that I put down for the purchase. There was not a dull moment in the 10 songs. I never got tired of playing this record and I was certainly give it a few more spins before putting it away in the cupboard.

Side One: Lovers of the world, Come said the boy, Happy families, The modern bop, Take me away.
Side Two: Baby wants to rock, Flight 28, Marina, Cost of living, In my house.

Come Said The Boy was a rather controversial song. When it was released in December 1983, the song was banned by many radio stations in Australia because of the suggestive lyrics. Despite the absence from the airwaves, Come Said The Boy became the band's most successful single, peaking at No. 2 in the Australian music charts.

Hollow assurance

Just days after I had written about my wife's harrowing experience with the fraudulent usage of her credit card in Singapore, Bank Negara Malaysia came out with an assurance that "contactless cards cannot be cloned or used for unauthorised transactions by fraudsters." What bunkum! It's a hollow assurance that cuts no ice with either my wife or me. Neither does it cut any ice with my friend in Kuala Lumpur who had not one by three credit cards compromised.

While fraudsters are running wild in the country stealing electronic data from the newly-issued RFID-based credit and debit cards in the country, this is just a plain old-fashioned denial and misinformation that such electronic theft is impossible, or at the very least, very difficult. The fact that it does occur has been brushed aside. Whatever for? The central bank should request the card issuers in the country to educate their card holders properly on the best way to safeguard their electronic information, not dismiss the threat of theft.

Only thing is, it is not a threat. It happens, because with the proper equipment, skimmers can steal electronic information from as far away as 30 feet. The thieves don't have to stand close to you; they don't have to brush themselves against your body or your bag; standing 30 feet away is as good as standing closer to you.

Joe's Mac

Over a course of two visits to Kuala Lumpur - once in December last year and more recently, earlier this month - I have picked up several second-hand vinyl records from the Joe's Mac shop at the Amcorp Mall in Petaling Jaya. Those weren't the first times that I had set foot into this interesting shop but from my delightful experience during the past two visits, they wouldn't be the last, if I can help it.

Main reason is because of the wide range of second-hand records I found there but the other reasons would be that I found the records clean enough - Joe and his staff must've cleaned them up after acquiring them from the sellers - and there were very little surface scratches too.

Nevertheless, I still had to resort to cleaning up the records in my own way after I had returned to Penang in order to remove most of the surface noises, namely, the pops and crackles. And I must say that the resulting sound was marvellous. I couldn't have been more satisfied. I'll try and describe the records I bought in the next few weeks but in the meantime, excuse me as I play them through my hifi system first!

Beware your new RFID credit cards

Christmas 2016. My wife received a Christmas present on the 25th of December last year. Not quite the sort of present that you would expect on Christmas Day, though. We were just about to leave the Nandaka Vihara Buddhist meditation centre at Cherok Tokun on that day when she received a text message on her mobile at 1.48pm. Two minutes later, another text message came in.

Both SMS carried similar messages: that her credit card had been used for two transactions. Now, the problem was that her credit card was with her, in her purse. She told me about the messages which, at first, I dismissed as a scam message. Then she showed the messages to me and I became alarmed. These weren't scam messages; these were real notification messages from UOB Bank.

I asked her to telephone the Call Centre number on the back of her card. At 2pm, she spoke to one of the call centre staff there to report the incident and immediately, her card was stopped. When we got home, I deduced that the transactions had taken place at the Swissotel The Stamford and my wife decided to call the hotel in Singapore to alert them, even telling the hotel manager of the time that the transactions had taken place.

Not satisfied with these actions, she later called the bank's Call Centre again to seek assurance that her card had indeed been blocked. She also inquired whether a Police report should be made but was told that there wasn't a need for that. However two days later when she spoke to someone at Bank Negara Malaysia's branch in Penang, she was advised to lodge a Police report. So we had one done at the Perda Police station and with this report filed, she then emailed a formal written complaint to the UOB Bank's Customer Advocacy & Service Quality department, with carbon copies to Bank Negara Malaysia and, for good measure, the Consumer Association of Penang too.

Her parting words to UOB Bank's CASQ were, "I shall hope that you will commence investigation immediately to determine how my credit card account came to be debited with these two transactions. I am very concerned and wish to say here that I am not responsible, and shall not be responsible, for these transactions and will not be paying for them." Definitely. Why should she be paying for them when these fraudulent transactions were not made by her?

This was a new RFID-based credit card that she had received not too long ago. The activation of this card was made in September, I think, and since then, she hasn't been making much use of it, preferring to use another credit card that offered her more benefits. So, this card had remained mostly in her purse. How then could her credit card details be stolen? How could her credit card be duplicated or cloned and used physically? Aren't there security features on a credit card that can alert merchants if it is cloned? How do banks account for the unused cards in their possession? How can we safeguard our credit card details in future? During the process of delivering new credit cards to the cardholders, what steps have the banks taken to ensure that the courier service personnel are trustworthy? What sort of measures are there to protect consumers who are victims of fraudulent card usages? These are just a few of the more urgent questions that need to be addressed not only by us, the consumers, but also by the banks and the authorities.

Anyway, on Wednesday, UOB Bank telephoned my wife to inform her that the Swissotel in Singapore has not put in their claims for the two transactions. Presumably, based on my wife alerting them on Christmas Day itself, they might have already taken action on the person or persons who had tried to book themselves into the five-star hotel. I really hope so. And I hope the hotel had also reported the incident to the Police over there. Such frausters should be caught and put away.

As a footnote, I must add that one of my friends in Kuala Lumpur was also hit by this RFID credit card scam recently. Also, my son told me that one of his superiors in the company he's with was also affected. So apparently, my wife's was not an isolated case. We all have to take real good care of the credit and debit cards in our possession as these are now all RFID-based cards.

A second footnote: the Police constable at the Police station told my wife that this was the first such case that had come to her (that is, the constable) notice. Perhaps, victims have not been making reports to the Police. In my opinion, they should because once more reports come in, the commercial crime division may be in a better position to pressure the banks to tighten up on their security measures especially during the delivery process which I suspect may be the weakest link.