Man-made Christmas

'Santa Claus is coming to town...'. Wait, I see a flaw in this: Christmas is not about Santa Claus!

What do the first 6 letters of Christmas spell? Christ. Christmas is not 'Santa Clausmas'.

Although some children believe that Santa Claus is real and gives them presents (well actually, I wish that he is real too), he doesn't exist. But, those children are not wholly wrong; he did exist,
once at least...

Santa Claus is popularly linked to St. Nicholas. Nicholas was born during the third century in the village of Patara which is now on the southern coast of Turkey. He is well known for his generosity to those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships. He died on December 6, AD 343.

Well, I guess some children believe in Santa Claus because their parents say so. Those parents want to make Christmas more exciting for their kids or they want their children to behave well as 'Santa will give presents only to good children'.

However, getting back to the point: Christmas is not about Santa Claus. It's about Christ. Jesus Christ who came to earth as a baby. He lived a life of sacrifice and finally was crucified and died for our sins. From that, he showed us the way to go to heaven.

Merry Christmas!

Delicious Pre-Christmas Dinner

Last Friday, my family and I went for a pre-Christmas dinner and get-together for relatives. The dinner was great, and the best dish was the Roast Lamb. It was so tender, juicy and tasty! Not one morsel was tough! Not surprisingly, the whole roast lamb was eaten up. It was the best roast lamb I've ever eaten! The lamb was imported from New Zealand and the woman who roasted it is in great demand for this dish especially during festivals. Of course, these things always have a downside... it costs RM 700 for 1 roast lamb.

The woman said that during Hari Raya, she gets huge orders for her roast lamb. In just 1 day, she could be roasting 10 lambs at a private party while her husband would be roasting another 10 lambs at another private party. Wow! 20 lambs in a day which works out to be RM 14,000 worth of lamb!

Just thinking of roast lamb makes my saliva run!

Painful Hula Hooping

Last Sunday, in my church, during free time, I played with a toy/equipment called the hula hoop.

My brother had previously taught me how to hula hoop the correct way after seeing a young orang asli boy doing it like a professional.

In my opinion, it is not effective to move your hips in a circle because the hula hoop being lightweight turns/spins faster than your lower body (waist down). One should instead move forward and backward to synchronise with the turning of the hula hoop. When the hula hoop is turning towards your back, you should move your lower body to the front and when the hula hoop comes around to your front, your lower body should be moved backwards. It's a really fun 'sport'.

I'm still far from being a professional at hula hooping. I get too excited and thrust my stomach forward and backward too vigorously. I did so much of that last Sunday... that till today, my stomach muscles still hurt. I wonder... when will the pain go away? It really hurts when I laugh, cough or sneeze and my brother keeps trying to get me to laugh! When he runs out of good jokes, he tells me really, REALLY slapstick ones.

Cat Kills Helpless Squirrel

3 days ago, I posted about my cats. I started off by describing the mischevious things my ginger cat has done. 1 day later... he killed a helpless squirrel.

The squirrel was probably after our ripening comb of bananas which is hanging in one of our banana trees in my back garden. My cat who lives in my back garden must have seen it, pounced on it, and killed it.

I was shocked when I first saw the dead squirrel. Then, I remembered that cats belong to the same family as tigers and both the big and small cats are hunters.

Still, it is strange how cute and playful cats can mercilessly terminate the lives of cute squirrels...

Lyon Van

I am sorry I've not been doing my Lyon Van posts on Fridays. Yes, I think I will post when I have the 'inspiration' to write... :-)

Ice Skating Again!

It all started with one single telephone call from my friend, Jordan, last Thursday.

"Can you, your brother and your mum go ice skating with us?", he asked. I was overjoyed. After discussing with my mum, I called him back and said that we could go the following Wednesday. After that, I called 2 other close friends who got permission from their mum to join us.

I used to go ice skating every Tuesday with my mum and my brother for about 2 years. We've stopped skating regularly for about 3 years now partly because the ticket price has gone up. An entry ticket on a holiday costs RM 19.

I was so excited to go ice skating again! Try out my old skills and stuff like that!

And soon, the day came... Yesterday, we got up excitedly. Jordan's mum drove us to Sunway Pyramid. We reached early, at 9.00 am. I wore my skating shoes quickly and I was on the ice again! However, about 45 seconds later... Wham! I fell! I hurt both my knees and my right elbow. I left the skating rink for a while to 'recover'. I looked at my injuries which I figured would turn into blue black, nasty little things!

In a short while, I re-entered the skating rink. I was a bit more cautious and soon, I got back my skating skills. However, very quickly, I got something worse than injuries from falling. I got ... blisters! Well, actually, I got one but I wasted 10 minutes of good skating time as I had to leave the rink again to put a plaster over the blister!

The ice rink was resurfaced at 12.00 noon. We all decided to skate some more till 2 pm. We had a simple lunch. I ate a hot dog which tasted delicious. My brother had a burger which unfortunately tasted a little weird. I also had a mango freeze (mango juice with small bits of ice, like a slurpee from 7 eleven).

We re-entered the rink at 12.30 pm and skated till 2.00 pm. We left, after skating for 4 1/2 hours!

2 of my friends came over to my house and played Counter-Strike with my brother and I for about 2 hours.

What a day it was yesterday! We didn't realised how tired we were till we found ourselves waking up only at 12.30 pm today!

My Cats

Most people I know do NOT like cats. That includes my neighbours and my friends. Yes, my cat has caused some mischief like going up my neighbour's roof, going into their house and scaring the daylights out of their grandmother, and stealing a piece of uncooked meat from the kitchen of another neighbour...

However, I still I do not know why people dislike cats.

Once, there was a white and grey mummy cat who brought 3 cute and playful ginger kittens to our back garden.

Like all mother cats, this mummy cat was very protective of her kittens. Maybe, she was overprotective.



Even though my mum, brother & I would give her and her kittens food and water everyday, she would growl and hiss at us - even when we were 5 feet away. It was as if she thought we were going to kick her.

This went on for about a month. Finally, she became tamer and stopped growling and hissing at us. A few weeks later, when her kittens were old enough to be on their own... she left them.

Finally, we could ACTUALLY touch the kittens and raise them up to have a good life. However, it was not that easy. Everytime we went near the kittens, they growled and hissed at us, or they simply ran away. Instincts learnt from their mother! However, there was one kitten out of the three, which had a crooked tail, which did not do any of those things. He would let us pet him for a while, and then leave.

After about 3 weeks, we finally made friends with the kittens. I said to myself, 'Mission accomplished!'

The kittens grew up in our back garden. We gave them food and water and had much fun playing with them.



Then, disaster struck!

One kitten... grew sick and disappeared ...

About a month later, another kitten grew sick and went away too...

And there remained, the kitten with the crooked tail; alone, without any friends (of his own species that is...).



But no! The story doesn't end there! The mummy cat came back with 4 more kittens!

That was about 3 months ago, and the 2nd batch of kittens have grown a lot since then... but disaster struck again! My favourite kitten from the 2nd litter has gone missing... I fear she's dead...

And now, there remains the ginger cat and the three kittens...

Giant & Mydin War

I will speak about 2 signboards located side by side in USJ; they are owned by Giant and Mydin. They are not some lousy advertisements; seriously, they can make you laugh...

In the past (since Mydin set up business in USJ, just beside Giant), in the present, and most probably in the future, these two hypermarts have been, are and will be, fighting each other.

First, the Giant signboard. It says, 'We lead, others follow'. And in between the words 'others' and 'follow', there is an arrow pointing to Mydin's signboard, on the right. Another funny thing is that the words 'We lead' are in yellow (one of Giant's colours) and the 'others', the arrow and the 'follow' are in blue, Mydin's main colour.

Now, to Mydin's signboard. A big sign says, 'Why pay more? Why pay more?' with a BIG arrow pointing to the Giant signboard, on the left. Mydin also boasts that they have 1560 parking spaces and that Giant only has 500+ parking spaces.

I've never liked any signboard as much these two. I always look out for them when we drive past them. They're located at the Jalan Kewajipan traffic light crossroad into Giant/Mydin. This is called Signboard Warfare.

Lyon Van

Lyon Van is a blog that I am starting. If you want to read it, I have a link to it in this blog. It is a fiction about a young boy of 14 whose name is, of course, Lyon Van. It is set in medieval times and I write it for personal pleasure.

I will try to update the blog every Friday and I hope you’ll enjoy reading it.

March for Free and Fair Elections

2 days ago, I watched a powerful YouTube video on tomorrow's peaceful rally and march. Click here to watch it, if you've not.

Tomorrow (November 10th) will be a day to remember. More than 100,000 Malaysians are expected to gather in Dataran Merdeka and to march to the king's palace to petition for free and fair elections in Malaysia.

There are complaints that the Malaysian Government presently has 91 % of the seats in Parliament because of unfairness in the elections.

I sure hope that the aims of the rally and march will be achieved.

Chocolates & Braces

My brother has been seeing an orthodontist and has been wearing braces for 5 months now. He still has a long way to go... he has to wear them for about 2 years!

I still remember the visit to the orthodontist just before my brother fitted his braces. The assistant said that my brother should buy a burger, sink his teeth into it and enjoy all the BIG bites because he will not be able to do that for the next 2 years.

On the day that he fitted his braces, he learned that he cannot eat chocolates. *Gasp* Yes, no more chocolates for 2 years. Yes, not 2 days, or 2 months, but 2 YEARS!

Seeing my brother’s suffering, I have made a resolution that if I should wear braces, I will eat lots of chocolates and savour them before I fit my braces. Or maybe I will get treatment from a different orthodontist? Who knows...

The Giver

The Giver by Lois Lowry is a book I've just finished reading.

Synopsis of the book:
Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the Community.
When Jonas turns twelve, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now it's time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.

Although the book is teen/adult themed, I found it a very interesting book. It all started with my mother who read it. Then she recommended it to my brother. And then, knowing me, one who doesn't want to be left out, I read it too. Currently, my brother is reading the book again because it is definitely worth a second read.

Besides grabbing people's attention, it is a short book, with only 180 pages.

I think it's one of the more interesting books I've read so far.

Sasquatch Safari

My brother and I recently invented a new game called Sasquatch Safari.

One of us is the Photographer and the other, the Sasquatch. The Photographer must take a photo of the Sasquatch in order to win the game. If the Sasquatch touches the photographer first, the Sasquatch wins.

When the game starts, the Photographer and the Sasquatch are separated by about 20 - 25 feet distance.

We play in the family hall where there are a lot of objects for us to hide behind. Also, the fun is in using my dad's old digital camera (8 years old) as there is about 1 - 2 seconds delay after you press the button to shoot the photo, before the photo is actually taken.

To make the Sasquatch move more slowly, we sometimes make the Sasquatch walk on fours.

Most of the time, my brother and I reach a stalemate where no one wins. However, we like this game as we have to move a lot. Even the photographer has to 'hide' from the Sasquatch so that he can surprise the Sasquatch.

I like this game better than Hide & Seek (where the person hiding sometimes waits ages in one spot before he is found).

My brother and I are usually tired out after playing this enjoyable game.

Unfortunately we have to stop playing this game as my dad says it is easy to accidentally trip and drop the camera while running around and we would have to pay RM 300 out of our pockets....

A 'Koko' Next Year

Alright, so my mother ISN'T going to have another baby.

I am talking about being another type of 'koko' (big brother). I'm talking about being a 'koko' in my Sunday School next year.

I am currently in the Standard 5 class in my Sunday School and I have not given any thought to being in the Standard 6 class, the oldest class next year.

I have hardly ever been the 'koko' in a group except when my mother asked me to help with softball with the Standard 1 Sunday School class a few years ago.

My brother has been a 'koko' a lot in his life basically because he has a younger brother (that's me), and my mother only has 2 sons.

I'm getting excited to be a 'koko' next year.

My 11th Birthday

It all started at 12:00:01 a.m. My mother was already asleep... Suddenly, my father and my brother who were still awake shouted, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" I felt happy. After my dad congratulated me for being 11 years old, I finally went to bed.

I woke up and looked at my watch; it was 9.00 a.m. I got up from bed, got ready and went downstairs and started playing computer. It was a holiday and I was given 2 hours of computer time as it was my birthday.

At about 11.30 a.m., my family & I had a simple but delicious brunch of Indian food in PJ and then headed to 1 Utama.

My father collected some tickets for the movie that we were going to watch (The Seeker: The Dark is Rising). We then hung around 1 Utama until it was time for the movie at 2.30 p.m.

I expected only a FEW advertisements, but there were at least 13 advertisements before we could actually watch the movie. I even commented to my brother, "Hey, I came here to watch a movie, not advertisements!"

I was actually a bit disappointed with the movie as some parts were utterly predictable. But... it was overall good and I'll still rate it a 7/10.

After the movie, we went to the bookshop and read some books. My brother bought Catch-22.

Then, came the highlight of my birthday... Japanese buffet dinner in a restaurant called Shogun where there was a wide variety of Japanese food. I had 3 California rolls (I like them a lot) and much more!

When I reached home, I finished my last bit of computer time and went to bed, happy and satisfied.

The Fattening of the Four

The four whom I am talking about are my father, my mother, my brother and I.

It all started with a single Royal Rangers Council of Achievement on the 30th of September. That was when my brother and I received some very high awards that is the Gold Medal of Achievement and the Gold Eagle awards respectively.
My family and I decided that we should celebrate our achievements by having 2 nice places to eat in (my brother and I get to choose one place each).

On the very same day, my family and I ate Domino's Pizza as my brother's celebration.
Tomorrow, we are going to eat at Pizza Uno, my choice (I know, my brother and I just love pizzas).
In another few days time, we are going for a Japanese buffet to celebrate my birthday.
Not long after that, we are going to celebrate my mother's birthday by going to eat again! She says she wants a fancy restaurant that she's never been to before.

I am getting guilty pangs about my weight! =(

How I Came to Play Baseball.

It all started with my older brother playing softball at Royal Rangers (something like Scouts) slightly more than a month ago.

My mother and I saw my older brother playing then and at dinnertime, my mother told us that she used to play softball when she was about twelve and she enjoyed the game a lot. So we decided that we should go to the park one day to play softball.

A few days later, we went to the park very near my house to play softball. A Caucasian man named Jim was passing by the park. He offered to teach us how to play baseball because he said that it is more exciting. He was a good teacher. That was when we decided that we should pick up baseball instead of softball.



We have played baseball for quite a while now in the park and many different people have come to join us.

I find the game very interesting and exciting. I like to bat most of all. It is nice to hit the ball and see it fly. I always aim to get a home run. Between my mother, older brother and I, my older brother is the best player. He always gets a few home runs every time we play. I've gotten quite a few myself too.

Camp H.S.

Perhaps you are wondering why the camp was called 'Camp HS'. It was because the camp was mainly for Home Schoolers (HS). But non-home schoolers were allowed to join as well.
The camp was held in FRIM (Forest Reserve Institute of Malaysia), Kepong. There was a total of 30+ campers including a baby.

DAY 1

My family and I arrived at the camp site at about 1.40 p.m. (40 minutes late). My brother and I had to set up a 2-men tent which we were going to sleep in. It was a dome tent.



After we finished, we adjourned to the main hall. There I learned a new and enjoyable game which doesn't even have a name. That was the main game of the camp. After camp briefing in the main hall, we played the 'nameless' game until about 4.00 p.m. when we went for an obstacle course.

We did a few stuff, not much actually, and then went back to the main hall to make a sort of banner. We had to write on it what we did right and what we did wrong during the obstacle course. We had to decorate the banner as well. I hardly did much on the banner except give a few ideas and did some decorations.

After banner making, we played more of the nameless game and then had our dinner (a barbeque dinner).

After dinner, we were supposed to go night trekking but unfortunately the rain stopped us and we cancelled the trekking. There was a nice campfire but nobody was around it because of the rain. What a waste!

At about 10.30 p.m., my brother and I decided to take a bath even though the bathroom was very dirty and smelly. After our bath, we felt that it was worth our effort.

Then, we went back to the main hall where most of our friends were. We were up till about 2.00 a.m. when the lights were switched off and everyone went to sleep (or did we?).

My brother and I left for our tent but we couldn't get to sleep for about half an hour. Finally, we brought our stuff to the main hall to sleep. We found out that they had been telling ghost stories and were screaming and laughing until the Camp Organizer came and asked them to stop being so loud. Then everyone became silent which was when we joined them.

DAY 2

We woke up and ate breakfast of eggs and baked bean sandwich.

After breakfast we went trekking. I hardly enjoyed the trek mainly because of the leeches and the trekking guide was speaking in Bahasa Malaysia most of which I didn't understand. After the trekking, we ate sweet and juicy watermelon and also boiled sweet corn.

When we broke camp, we ate lunch together in a restaurant (the food was good) before leaving for our homes.

The Aftermath

When my brother and I reached home, we had to keep our clean clothes and put to wash our dirty ones.

While I was keeping my clean clothes, my brother saw a black strand about 2 cm long and 3 mm fat. We found out that it was a leech! I rushed downstairs to get some salt which I sprinkled on the leech. After it died, I got a lighter and my brother and I burned it up until it was nothing but carbon.

That was probably one of the most fun parts of the camp (although it was already after the camp).

Count your blessings...

There are two boys from two different orphanages whose names are James and Jack.
James is walking down the road when he suddenly sees Jack eating 2 chocolate chip cookies.
"Oh my goodness, you are so lucky, Jack! Do you know that my orphanage doesn't give snacks at all! I wish I were in your orphanage!" James tells Jack.
Jack gives James a weird look and says, "Hey, be grateful for your main meals! This is my lunch!"

It's a joke I made myself.