Friends of the NRA Fundraiser

This year the County Line Friends of the NRA fund raiser was held at a barn in nearby Herald. The barn is a lot bigger than the hall we rented for last year's fund raiser. But the acoustic was horrible. There were about the same number of people this year when compared to last year's event.

Everyone on my table agreed that the bar-be-cued tri-tip, salad and beads were delicious. Simple but superb.


For twenty dollars, you get a mug where there were between $20 - $100 worth of raffle tickets in it. Of course it is a game of chance and you do not know whether you have more than $20 worth of tickets when you buy a mug!

Red necks clinging to their guns and religion? Heheh, the joke's on Obama!

Silent auction items.

Jewelry on silent auction. There were a few pieces that I really liked and found it hard not to make a bid on them!

There were some really interesting items on auction. A professional auctioneer led the auction.

This special edition hand gun was one of the items put up for auction.

This bronze deer sculpture was one of the items on auction.

I had hoped that I would at least win one item this year. I bought a $20 ticket on the Sarah Palin Freedom Board, for a chance to win this gun.





I bought a $100 worth of raffle tickets and had hoped to win at least one of these beauties. Alas, Lady Luck was not with me that evening! :-(

Maybe next year, eh?

"To disarm the people... was the best and most effectual way to enslave them."

-- George Mason, speech of June 14, 1788

Ballet

Last week, Denice was invited to join her classmate to her dance class during their Bring a Friend Week. Denice was very excited about the event and looked forward to it.

Unfortunately when we arrived at the dance studio she had an anxiety attack, cried and refused to even enter the studio. She already had her tap dancing shoes on but it was like making her take a shot at the doctor's office!

Anyway the dance teacher let us in the studio and we sat in a corner and watched the kids go through their exercises. I encouraged Duncan to join the girls just to encourage Denice. He had a lot of fun!


I found a pair of ballet shoes for Duncan and he put them on. He didn't care they were pink!




Towards the last 20 minutes of the class, Denice relaxed a bit and started imitating the moves from her corner. She still refused to join them on the floor though.


Can you see Denice in the mirror imitating the dance move? I was busy taking photographs and did not notice that she had started following some of the dance moves.


But at the last 10 minutes of the class, she joined the other kids for the story telling session and also followed some of the moves.

In the car, on our way home, she said she wanted to go to another of the dance class. Too late Denice, you had your chance and you blew it!

Actually, we are planning on sending her to a dance class. The fall classes are now open for new students. They also have jazzercise for adults at that dance studio. I might sign up for that too.

I love my iPhone!

Two nights ago, as I was doing research for a review I was going to do, the lights suddenly went out. My surge protector beeped for a while and then my computer completely shut down. We suspected that someone had crashed into a power pole because the lights flickered twice as if trying to get power from somewhere else.

Anyway, it remained dark for at least 45 minutes. BUT, about 2 weeks or so ago my mother-in-law upgraded my Motorola Razr phone to an iPhone 3G. That means despite not being able to use my desktop computer, I was still able to browse the internet and read up on the days news online using my iPhone by candlelight! Woohoo!


I really love my iPhone. It has a calender and I am now using that feature on the iPhone. I don't have to scribble on my appointment calender hanging on my wall for upcoming events. I like the fact that the iPhone calender has an alert feature, and that helps remind me of the appointments that I have for the day.

Previously, I never thought I needed a PDA because I didn't have to keep track of too many things. Moreover, I did not think I was going to be able to learn how to use one! Heheh. But now my kids are in kindergarten, and there are appointments that the kids have to go to like Duncan to his speech therapy, or their dental appointments and my weekly meetings with some ladies at church and also reminders for upcoming events.

Also I like the alarm feature. I use the alarm to remind me to pick up the kids after school, and take my hypertension medication. Without these alarms, many times I would most definitely have forgotten to pick up my kids or take my medication!!

My favorite feature on the iPhone (besides the phone itself and the built-in iPod) is the internet browsing capability. The family plan that we are on (paid for by my in-laws) includes unlimited web browsing. That means while I wait for Duncan to finish with his speech therapy, I can browse the web! Forget about a bulky book!! And while I eat my breakfast at home, I can read up on the days news on my iPhone instead of holding a newspaper! Woohoo!

Yes, yes, I am quite enamored with my iPhone!

Criminal background check

Some weeks ago, a friend shared how she discovered a convicted sex and violence offender was living a few doors down the road from her home. Someone had left a 'INDIANA SEX & VIOLENT OFFENDER REGISTRY' in her newspaper box and that was how she discovered that a convicted sex offender was one of her neighbors.

I think if we are concerned about whether or not there are convicted child molesters and other convicted felons living in our neighborhood there are free resources like the online Offender Search database of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department website that we can look up.

But if you are an employer or a landlord and wants to do a Background Check or a Criminal Check of your potential employee or tenant, a sheriff's department Offender Search database is not going to be enough. You want a company or a service that can provide a comprehensive criminal check showing felonies, misdemeanors, sex offenses and more at the state and county levels. For such a comprehensive service there is usually a fee involved, but the information you get regarding your potential employee or tenant is worth the fee you pay.

As a parent, I appreciate the fact that the people my children are in contact with, like those at their school and my church, have each gone through a thorough Criminal Background Check. As a parent I cannot be too careful about whether or not the adults that they are exposed to have a criminal history.

It has been a while since I looked at the sex offender registry for the county I live in and I think it is time that I look it up again!

Discrimination in special ed services

I took Duncan for his first speech therapy session for this new school year last Monday. From what I observed during the session this speech therapist will be good for Duncan. She was firm and got Duncan to do what she wanted. Duncan is the kind of kid who finds it difficult to sit still for long and focus on the activity at hand.

The only disappointment I have over this speech therapy thing, is that Duncan is only entitled to 15 sessions this year. Why? This special ed service receives federal funding and one of the conditions that this service is offered is that the child must attend a public school. Duncan is in private kindergarten. I thought the condition was unfair and discriminatory. As a taxpayer, I have no choice whether or not I should pay the school taxes. Part of the taxes I pay goes to the schools in the school district that I live in.

I have a meeting scheduled with the therapist and another therapist the middle of next week, to see if there was anything they could do to fit Duncan into one group speech therapy session, that is, besides the 15 one-on-one session that he is entitled to.

I think my health insurance covers speech therapy, but who wants to drive 10 miles to go to a speech therapy that lasts half an hour when there is one offered just 2 miles down the road? I hope the therapists can work something out for us because I believe there shouldn't be any discrimination in the special ed services offered. It shouldn't matter if your child is in public school or private school.

Kelantan Maghi Part 2

Last month before we made our way back to California, we visited Kelantan. It had been more than 25 years since I was last in Kelantan and I don't remember all that much about Kota Bharu. There were two things I remembered most about that first trip. One, I couldn't understand a word of the Kelantanese dialect, and two, I enjoyed the different foods there.

This time around, I did not have difficulty understanding anyone, probably because they mostly spoke the proper Bahasa Malaysia except with their Kelantanese accent, and the food was as fabulous as I remembered! Er, except for the tough squid that I had at the food market!

One of the things that surprised me most, something I never knew about Kelantan, was the number of Buddhist temples found there. And I am not talking about little temples! These are large temples with large statues of Buddha in them. I did not associate Kelantan with Buddhist temples. In Sabah and Sarawak, and even Penang, yes, but Kelantan?

This is the entrance to the Thai Buddhist temple called Wat Photivihan.
This reclining Buddha is huge. You would expect to see a Buddha statue like this in Thailand but this Buddha is found at Wat Photivihan in Tumpat, Kelantan.


A pose with Zawi. Zawi was kind enough to take us around Kota Bharu and surrounding areas when we visited Kelantan.



This sitting Buddha is found at Phram Buddha Bharameedharm Charmruslok ... whatever that means!



I thought it strange that there were dragons in this Buddhist temple and statues of Chinese deities.

In the evening, after a day of sight-seeing Buddhist temples and being driven to some other attractions in Kota Bharu, we met up with a few bloggers and their friends and family at a restaurant serving Kelantanese cuisine. It was a popular restaurant and Doug was impressed by the food he ate.

L-R: Awin, Zawi, Pakpayne, Kamal, Doug and Captain Yusuf, and Duncan in the front. Wan Aziz is not in the picture.

Doug is now keen to see the other states in Peninsular Malaysia after that visit to Kelantan!

A cupcake party

Denice, Duncan and I were in Malaysia for almost three months during the summer. Because it was such a long holiday, I decided to enroll them at a kindergarten owned by a friend of mine. I did not want them to spend their days watching TV at their grandparents' home and neither did I want them to forget what they had learned before they went on summer break!

On their last day of school at the kindergarten, I bought cup cakes and some orange juice for the kids at the kindergarten.


All the kids at the school wore uniforms except for Denice and Duncan and two others, I think. Since Denice and Duncan were enrolled at the school for a short time, it wasn't required of them to put on uniforms.



I think they enjoyed their cupcakes if the pictures above are any indication! The icing decoration on each cupcake was different from the rest. As you can see from Duncan's picture above, most of the kids ate the icing on the cake first before they finished off the cupcakes!

Denice and Duncan were each presented with some farewell gifts from the school. I did not expect that from the school and the gifts were greatly appreciated.

Teacher Janet, the principal of the school, presenting Denice with a gift.

Duncan receiving his gifts from Teacher Cecilia.

Teacher Molly was Duncan's favorite teacher. I think she reminded him of his favorite baby-sitter. He would drag Teacher Molly out to the car at the end of the school day. He wanted her to come home with him. Or he would tell me to take him to Teacher Molly's house. The kid was quite enamored with the teacher! I think she was quite sorry to see Duncan leave when it was time for us to return to California.

I am glad the children got to make new friends during the summer and the next time we return for a visit, they will be too old to go back to that school.

Fortune in the ear lobes

It has been said, mostly by the Chinese, that those who possess thick ear lobes are destined for great luck and wealth.

One of my friends possesses such ear lobes. When she was a college student, many "towkays" commented on her ears. She did not understand what it was about her ears that the Chinese "towkays" saw as "banyak nasib" (very lucky). It was later on that we realized that they meant the shape of her ear lobes.

I think, for my friend, what the Chinese "towkays" saw in her fortune was certainly true. Recently, I visited my friend's new home and I was suitably impressed. I wished I was a better photographer and knew how to capture the beauty of her home much more clearly.






The house is quite close to a main road but you will understand why that fact didn't bother her.

This is the view from the balcony. Her husband loves to jet ski, so having a home that is just across from the beach is an asset for him.

My friend is married to a man who wasn't born into wealth. And neither is he a businessman who founded his fortune on his business acumen. He's a man who possesses a job skill that is in great demand, and he is willing to travel far to make that money ... what I call money earned through his own sweat.

I think my friend is blessed materially and financially, and the best part of it all is that neither she nor her husband stints on their wealth. They are generous to a fault.

To Sibu in a Fokker

The first leg of our flight back to California was via Sibu. A blogger friend had just got married (we missed the church wedding) but we did make it to the wedding reception held at the Rejang Ballroom at the Tanahmas hotel.

I was quite nervous about flying in a Fokker to Sibu from Miri because it has been decades since I last flew in one! Days before the flight, I had been agonizing over the weather conditions. As it turned out, it was one pretty smooth flight with hardly a bump!

This was the plane that we flew in to get to Sibu. I do not know where it originated from before it proceeded on to Sibu. There were many foreign tourists getting off that plane before we boarded it to get to Sibu.


We let every one else get on first. Of course Doug couldn't resist taking pictures of the plane! He was a helicopter mechanic at one time and he loves everything to do with aviation!

More posings for Daddy!

Denice and Daddy sitting across the aisle from Duncan and me. The plane flew mostly along the coast of Sarawak before flying inland towards Sibu. Like I said, I was quite surprised at how smooth the flight was. The last time I flew in a Fokker, we hit several air pockets and that experience is burned in my mind! Hehe.

Kelantan maghi

We (Doug, kids and I) arrived in Kota Bharu yesterday. We flew in from Sibu (after a 2 nights stay there) to Kuala Lumpur and then onwards to Kota Bharu.

Zawi was on hand to greet us on our arrival. We had so much luggage (all of 91 kgs!) that we hired a taxi just to transport our luggage while Zawi drove us in his car to the hotel.

The last time I was in Kota Bharu was in 1981. I do not remember much of the city except for the old market which happens to be very close to the hotel we are staying in. One of the first things that struck me this time was the large number of swifts flying in the sky in the evening and the sounds of the birds. Later I discovered the loud bird noises were actually recordings. I don't remember where exactly I heard the same kind of recordings. It seems that some shop owners in Kota Bharu are using the top portions of their shop lots as places for the swifts to build their nests. A coffee shop owner told us this morning that there was much money to be made from the bird nests that the birds built on their property.

The other thing I found quite amusing was when I left Doug and the kids in the hotel this afternoon while I went out for a shampoo. I first went to a salon that I had seen earlier in the day but only to find out it was only a beauty salon. I asked the lady in the shop where the closest hair salon was, and she told me there was one in the next block. I walked along the kaki lima and looked up for a sign that showed a hair salon. I didn't see any. Then I asked a hardware store owned by a Chinese couple, and they had to think long and hard for the location. :-) It was actually a few doors down on the third floor. I had to ask some men sitting at the entrance of the stairs if there was a hair salon upstairs, and they all told me there was one on the third floor. Salon is too fancy a word to describe the place. It looked like a barber shop - the kind my father went to! I did get my shampoo, nothing liked what I got at the hair salon in Miri! The hair dresser did her best to style my hair the way I wanted it, and she told me most of her customers didn't bother with any fancy styling because they would put their tudung (head scarves) back on after the shampoo! The price of my shampoo today can't be beat! It only cost me six ringgit!

This morning we took a taxi to Kampung Kraftangan and then walked to the other museums close by like the War Museum, and an old palace. Er, can't remember what's it called! I enjoyed looking at the architecture near the place.

The wi-fi connection from our hotel room is not very reliable so I won't bother trying to upload any pictures just yet. Stay tuned for the next installment.

Vacation coming to an end

Doug is arriving on Thursday 7th August, and that means it is time to go home. We have been in Malaysia for about two an a half months already and by the time we actually leave for California it will be just a week short of three months.

But before we actually board the plane for home, we will be making two special stops. On August 11th we will be flying to Sibu to attend a blogger friend's wedding reception. I met her for the first time in Bintangor over the Gawai holidays last June. She is marrying a Canadian and Doug and I take this opportunity to wish her and her future husband a long, happy marriage.

After Sibu, we will fly to Kota Bharu on August 11th to meet up with Zawi. It so happens that during our trip there, three other bloggers will also be town. Zawi will have his hands full entertaining the visitors! Zawi has even organized a Kelantan bloggers get-together to welcome the visitors. I look forward to that gathering.

We'll be spending just one night in Kuala Lumpur before we fly home to California. I wished I actually had more than one night though. We are planning on spending that evening with a few friends over dinner. Its been years since I saw one of those friends. I am really looking forward to that evening.

The kids are totally oblivious to the side trips we'll be making before we head home! They are just happy that Daddy will be here in a day's time.

I am looking forward to being home myself. Blogging is not that fun with an unreliable internet connection! Home is where my reliable DSL connection is! Spoken like a true blogger, eh!