Moving Up

A recent conversation with a friend came to a topic which left me puzzled.
What is the single most important indicator of you moving up in the society?
Is it by progressively moving up in your career and be famous at work? Or , by advancing in your studies to take on Masters or PhD? Or, is it by the branded and designer clothes and possessions that you single-handledly accumulate? Or, is it by how many invitations you received for drinks or dances in the nightclubs? Or , even how many friends you've accumulated over FaceBook?

It didn't help that my girl friend of twenty-something answered a big "YES" to all the above. Well, I on the other hand, can't help but think she has a skewed perception on what social recognition is and why it is important. I mean, seriously, what sense does it make to move up in the society by chasing after materials, qualifications, careers and popularity? These are, but fleeting moments of triumph in one's life.

I remember reading about the who's who in the Malaysian society. These are usually rich and affluent people (the Tunku's, Datuk's and Datin's) but they use their materials, name and status for the good by influencing the paths of the society.

Then, there are also those selfless individuals who contributed to humanitarian effort by involving themselves in disaster reliefs. Their sacrifice of time, effort and money deserves a recognition in our society.

How about those entrepreneurs who dared to live their dreams and in return brought huge investments to the country and created jobs for countless people? They mentor others so that the mentee can be better than who they are. Such selfless sharing of knowledge and skills will impact and change lives.

Now, shouldn't these be our benchmark in striving for social recognition?
Realistically, we cannot all be like these outstanding individuals.
But, if we promise ourselves to get rid of the shallow motivations and resolute to serve others first, then, I am sure we are on the right track to moving up in our society!

Yummy Foo Chow Food

I found these pictures as I was going through my folders. These are two of the many Foo Chow delicacies. Ooh, they're just so yummy and so out-of-this-world!


This is the famous sweet glutinous rice. The foo chows called it "sumee poan". It's made of glutinous rice (of course) , red dates, raisins and a lot more sweet stuff which I don't even know their names.... but the special thing about this, is that this dish is usually reserved for wedding dinners only. The old folks believed that eating this during your wedding will bring much "sweetness" into your marriage. Hence, the sweeter it is, the better. It was a real treat that we managed to order this for lunch when we took a trip back to Sitiawan not too long ago.


This is the famous pork fishball. well, as the name says it - there's pork, stuffed into the middle of the fishball. It's quite common now to find this even here in Kuala Lumpur (KL). You can call me bias, but the ones in Sitiawan always seem much bigger and taste better than the ones in KL.

Hmmn, this reminds me, I got to snap more pictures of our Foo Chow dishes. Next CNY will be a great time cause Dad, the Amazing Cook, will again exhibit his culinary skills for our reunion dinner. Yippee!

a close call

I almost killed something. Well, this praying mantis blended in so well with my floor mat that I didn't realise it was there. Almost squashed it with my feet...yikes!