明、理、薿、暄
动了手术之后这十几天，在家疗养没事干就沉思。其中想着为儿子们写首诗，也想着把儿子们的名字从双字改为单字。大儿子明谛、二儿子理谛和小儿子薿谛，把谛字去除，各自名为明、理、薿，再加个暄字来凑足四个字。而贺暄这个名字中性也很好听。
翯和合鹤
霞顺十鸣
霓蔼礼一
虹祥拜声
万气佛冲
里薿如云
暄重来霄
。，，，
诗里的藏头为贺姓氏的藏音。大儿子和二儿子的名字再以藏音各自藏二、藏三于第一和第二行里。第三儿子藏六在第三行，暄就藏七在第四行。
鹤为中华文化里的吉祥之鸟。鹤响亮的鸣叫声冲上了云霄而得到了光明（阳光）。是以明白事理的先导，要冲破隔障（云霄）才能看清楚（阳光）一切事理的对与错。
第二行看似有点佛教的味道。它是以佛学（非宗教）里的哲学为基础。在佛学和这诗里，佛的意义博大精深，指的是有高等智慧而非一般凡夫之人类。如来是指大自然宇宙里头的一切知识和定律。这第二行意味深长。指的是以底姿态、诚恳地追寻大自然宇宙里头的一切知识和定律以增加本身和人类的智慧。
第三行则有和气、顺利、慈悲和吉祥之气薿薿。兄弟姐妹之间和周边人和蔼地相处。
当之前所有三大条件达成之后，三兄弟不只德高望重，人人敬仰，还让贺氏的声望气势如虹，名扬万里。
他们能不能做到，那就要看看他们长大后对这诗的领悟和造化了。或许他们做不来也无所谓，但愿他们努力为达成诗意，将之传承于后代。
献丑了。
问心无愧
在这短短几星期之内，所发生的一却事情，都不是局外人所能理解的，包括当事人在内。这些变化有如风云难测。被人冠上莫须有的罪名，再加上这些人和周围的人的一极化思想，要做到问心无愧，谈何容易。
接下来的，不会只是一场暴风骤雨这么简单。现在最重要的是把手上的软件工程开发出来，抢先把一却安顿下来再说。
Sports Day 2009
Today is the first time for Dmitry to involve in a sporting event organized by his school. We were up early and sent Richie and Nik to grandma’s. By the time we were at his school, there were many people already. We found a place to sit.
Dmitry took part in a multi-game and 4 x 50m event. His team was in 4th place thus he did not win anything but his old folks, LA and I won prizes in parents’ events.
LA won first place for threading a needle. She was the fastest of all leaving behind other mothers with a big gap. I won a second place for picking up a mineral water bottle using a drinking straw and ran 10 meters to the finish line. Both prices were bath towels.
The prize is not important. What important is to show Dmitry sporting spirit from his daddy and mommy.
Before the opening ceremony
Good adaptation
This is the sequel of my previous post, School Registration Day.
Yesterday was the fourth day in school for both Dmitry and Dietrich. First, let’s talk about Dietrich. He has been adapting very well and not too difficult of sending him to school compare to Dmitry two years ago. He will walk straight into his class, put his bag down and then go to the playground to play with his friends. The only thing I notice is that he has been cool to everyone there. He is not having the same trait as Dmitry and Dominik.
Yesterday when I was there to pick up Dmitry after school, I saw him walked out with his good pal, Haiqal, who is in another class. I met his father on Wednesday. I noticed Haiqal was carrying a huge bag on his back so I told Dmitry about it. To my surprise, he asked Haiqal, “Mengapa bag awak besar?” (Why is you bag so big?). Dmitry is multilingual. He can speak English, Mandarin, bahasa and Chinese dialects Hokkien and Hakka. He can understand Cantonese but can’t speak because we don’t speak Cantonese at home.
I think I will start to pick up again some Polish at home with LA. She has been speaking some Polish words to the boys such as Dziękują (thank you), Mleko (milk), Dobry rano (Good morning), Dobre południe (good afternoon), and a few others. We can get some help from our Polish friend, Michał.
This morning after sending Dmitry to school, I spoke with other non-Malay parents who we met. Susan (Chinese) and Sharon (Eurasian-Indian) are worrying about their sons for not be able to catch up because they are weak in bahasa. I told Susan not to worry. It is only matter of time for her boy to learn.
I am glad to see Dmitry has such a good adaptation at school and fairly good command of languages.
Oh yeah. I spoke to some of the teachers there. Although they are Malay, they can speak very good English. Some of the Malay parents who I met can speak very good English as well. I find that the school has very good open policy. On the way back, I heard the headmistress talking to Susan and assuring her that her son would do well and he could speak English while learning bahasa.
School Registration Day
Today is Dmitry’s registration day! We woke up a bit late today and got ready then rushed out the house by 0730. We dropped Richie and Nik at grandma’s.
We enrolled our boys into national school. There are a total of 42 students in his class. Three Chinese including Dmitry and four Indians. The number of Chinese and Indians are not many. During the parents briefing session, we were surprised to hear that the school is teaching Chinese language to non-Malay students. However, enrollment is opened to everyone. Enrollment forms were given out at the end of the briefing. Many Malay parents were rushing to the forms! By the time LA submitted the form, there were already more than 50 enrollments! Another surprise for us.
The Chinese education is always an issue in Malaysia. I don’t see why should they make an issue out of this. Chinese who have migrated to the West, do not demand special education for their children. Instead, they blend into mainstream education and society. So, why the FUD?
The answer is very simple, the Chinese politicians want to control and manipulate the Chinese population so that they can have their votes. Those fucking Chinese politicians! Please mind your own politics and stay out of education!
What a dinner!
After my karate class, I went down town to pick up my parents. The traffic was massive. Getting into town took almost 30 minutes and getting out of it took another 15 minutes. When we reached home, the two older boys were ready. Dmitry was wearing his new watch. We were going out for dinner on the last Sunday of 2008. I quickly took my shower then we left the house at around 1900.
Some days ago, our friend recommended a Hakka restaurant at Taman Merdeka, Batu Berendam. We were very eager to try out this restaurant.
Kids’ first karaoke
We were invited by LA’s sister and her husband to Su-Ann’s be-lated birthday celebration. We embarked to PJ around 1100 yesterday and arrived at her brother’s house around 1400. Almost all of LA’s family members were there. We had some light food for lunch then took a rest.
We headed to Neway Karaoke Box in One Utama at 1700. The karaoke box was huge. The lounge was big enough to fit in all 20+ of us. It was a buffet dinner with free karaoke. The food was very nice and everyone was enjoying and had a full tummy.
As for our boys, this was their new experience, a new one. They had no idea what karaoke was about. Dmitry was really enjoying singing with his cousins. He sang Beauty and the Beast and Reflection (theme song in Mulan). I would say not bad at all at his age. He could recognize all the words in the lyrics. He was good comparing to his old daddy. Ha.. ha..
Dietrich joined him for a few kid’s songs. Dominik roaming around and having fun with all sort of food. He really enjoyed the food and the noises there.
We left for Melaka at 2245 and touched base at 0115. The kids were soundly asleep after a fun karaoke and tummy filling buffet session.
A relaxing Christmas at home
First, we wish all our family, friends and readers a Merry Christmas.
We decided to stay home this Christmas. The main reason was recession and heavy traffic everywhere. The price of petrol had fallen to RM1.80 per litter causing everyone to start taking to the roads with this more affordable price. Our petrol consumption has become even lower because of the cheaper price and the driving habit we picked up after the price hike a few months back. We planned our outings and routes so that we hit the roads less often.
On Sunday night, we went to the Portuguese Settlement to see Christmas decoration. Nothing unusual, same as it is every year, but for the fun of the kids. It was a four days before Christmas and the traffic there already built up. Some silly-no-brain drivers were part of the cause of the traffic jam in the settlement.
We spent whole day watching movies and listening to Christmas carols at home. What a relaxing Christmas.
Oh yea! My wishes this time… you know, don’t you?
Kung Fu Panda
Just finished watching Kung Fu Panda with LA and kids. It is a really nice comedy with good meaning. My boys like to watch animation and Dmitry has been asking me many times, “Daddy, when can we watch Kung Fu Panda?” Finally, there it is.
The CG animation has brilliant colors and Chinese culture cleverly blended into it. I think it is the best CG animation ever that involves many great complexity. I am not going to talk or comment about this movie because it has been released in cinema sometimes ago. It is pointless for me to review it now. But one thing which has caught my attention is near the end of the movie. Po’s goose father Mr. Ping, tells him about the secret of the secret recipes of the noodle soup. Ping says, “The secret of the secret recipe of the noodle soup is nothing at all. There is no secret recipe.” (I hope I get the line correct, I am lazy to play the video again). Then Po realizes why the dragon scroll is blank. He then defeats his enemy, the much feared Tai Lung, with his determination and courage together with a little enlightenment.
The moral of the story, there is no secret recipe to become success. Courage, determination, faith, hardworking, persistence, strive and a little enlightenment are the secret ingredients of success.
Oh yeah, I forgot, a dream and a miracle are also secret ingredients in the secret recipe. So, dare to dream for a miracle and realize it.
For those who have not watched the movie, I strongly recommend to have a watch. You will certainly have a good laugh.
Happy Diwali and a great start for Richie
First, our warm wishes to all our Indian friends a very Happy Diwali. Nothing special over the weekend and on the Diwali itself yesterday. Except we watched a Hindi movie, “Om Shanti Om”, on Sunday night. Yesterday, we visited Dmitry’s classmate and her parents who were celebrating Diwali. At night, we watched a Tamil movie, titled “BOSS”.
Today? Richie went to school for the first time to get him familiar with schooling life so that he can accustom easily when he starts his school officially next year. It was quiet at home with only LA, Nik and I. Nik was able to enjoy quiet moments without Richie bullying or disturbing him.
Two more kids get pox
Well, Dmitry had recovered from his chickenpox and began schooling this Monday. Unfortunately, Rich began to get the symptom on Monday late morning when LA noticed some red spots and small blisters popping out on his face. By Wednesday, he had blisters all over his body.
And today, guess what? Nik begins to show symptoms. His outbreak is slow with fewer blisters. We are supposed to meet up with LY tomorrow but it looks like impossible. They are so afraid that their daughter (same age as Nik) may get the chickenpox too.
Well, all three of them have gotten their chickenpox.
Pox Party
Hurray! Let’s have chicken pox party! Wait a minute… Am I going crazy? Who wants to have chickenpox? Huh… You see. In the past, parents would throw a chicken pox party when their children got chickenpox. The idea was to let other children to contract the virus naturally rather through inoculation. Once a person has contracted chickenpox, he/she will have immunity to chicken pox for the rest of his/her life. The only drawback is that person will have a chance to have shingles when the immunity gets low.
Dmitry has got chickenpox this morning. I didn’t see any when I had bath with him yesterday. So, the doctor gave him one week medical leave and advised him to stay at home. Nowadays people are so afraid to let their children to get chickenpox. This is a sign of overly protective. Children should not be sent back to school. But I personally think that why not as long as the children have no fever and as long as personal hygiene is taken care of.
Lets go spread some virus! He…he… 
Yummy little cup cake
LA had baked some little cup cakes. She decorated them so well that you wanted to eat them. If you look at them for a while more, you wouldn’t want to eat them because they were so colorfully beautiful.
These photos were taken in May and I did not have time to process them and to write a post. I was processing Dmitry’s graduation photos last night so I conveniently processed them together. Some good and mouth watering pictures to get rid of the eye sore.
Protected: Dmitry’s graduation photo session
Dmitry had a great start
Well, looks like the strategy is working. We decided to start Dmitry on reading books of older children like Enid Blyton. We bought some of Blyton’s books yesterday to cultivate reading habit. This morning while he was waiting for me to get ready to send him to school, he sat near the bookshelf and read one of the Blyton’s. I saw it but I did not speak a word about his action but just letting him enjoying his reading alone.
This was the story. Last night before going to bed, I took those books into my working room and wrote the post here. The books were on my desk till this morning. After I was done with emails, I took the books to the bookshelf. He saw me taking the books and asked me why I took his books. I replied, “well, daddy found it interesting to read so daddy read it last night.”. He replied without hesitating, “Those are my books. Why do you read it?”. I knew it was a right moment to inspire him so I replied, “Daddy finds it interesting so daddy wants to read it no matter what book it is.” Then I turned away without speaking too much and ate my breakfast.
After some moment, I saw him reading one of the books. He has been inspired and I hope he will continue to inspire himself. When I was ready to go, I saw the other two little brothers holding Blyton’s books in their hands. The two brothers are not at the level yet but, well, that’s a great start.
Cultivate reading habit
Dmitry is able to read some Peter & Jane’s books. He has done reading some of the books. We got some more books this morning at the bookstore. Three books by Enid Blyton. Well, perhaps it is too early for a six year old to begin with Enid Blyton but I think it is not too early. First, it is good cultivating a good reading habit at early stage. Second, it is time to introduce books with less illustration.
Enid Blyton’s books can be boring for a six year old without too much illustration. All the illustrations are in black and white, no color. In my opinion, the earlier to start off with more text will train a child’s critical reading skill. He may not understand too much at the start but eventually his mind will become more receptive.
Here are the three books we bought.
Blyton’s books often mirrored fantasies of young children leading their minds to imagination and to explore. Although I only read one or two of her book during my younger days in school, I like Blyton’s because of her unique presentation of stories with fantasies and allow imaginative freedom in young children. Her books will help improve children’s imagination and provoke critical thinking as well.
Well, let see how Dmitry moving along this direction.
Huge disappointment and backing off
I used to be firm with my principles in most things but there’s a huge disappointment after all I have done. It makes me realize at some point, I will have to back off and start thinking about my own ambition. In the past 5 years of experience working with university students, I learned a lot from them in the way of handling disappointment and also enjoying the fruits. One of the project I will never forget is the 2006 FYP at UTAR. My team won a trophy, a consolation trophy to be precise, but the students decided to present it to me for memory. I have seen most of my teams to pull through their projects and graduated. Some are continuing their graduate study which I am somehow proud of their achievement.
I have not revealed my feeling towards them so far. But somehow this comes to me suddenly and I realize it is time for me to move on and leave behind my principles and pride for the betterment of my life.
I have decided to continue my study and to pursue my goal once I dreamed so much. Some readers or friends may say I am impulsive. But this thought has been in my mind since 2 years ago and I am waiting for the spark to light it off. I have found the spark though.
First astronomy lesson
After the TV, I went to lock the outer gate. The sky was clear and I could see the full moon and many stars. I saw the brightest star twinkling on the lower left corner not far away from the moon. I guessed it was Jupiter. Jupiter is the largest planet and one of the four outer gas giants or Jovians in our solar system. To be sure, I checked with Stellarium on my Mac and confirmed it was Jupiter.
Then I called the boys and mom to gaze at the sky and told them it was Jupiter the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet in our solar system. I told them that Jupiter would take about 11 years to orbit the Sun compare to one year for our planet earth. The two older boys responded with a big “Wow!” Nik was rather excited and very vocal.
We could also see some other stars and Ara, Triangulum Australe, Libra and Virgo constellation. They were magnificent.
The kids had their first astronomy lesson and so did I. I learned that Pluto is no longer the ninth planet in our solar system. Instead, the International Astronomical Union or IAU has reclassified Pluto as one of the four dwarf planets together with Ceres, Makemake and Eris.
I will reconsider to acquire a telescope soon. I almost invested in a Meade’s ETX-90PE in 1998 but for some reason I did not. I will consider a larger model, ETX-125PE.
I became interested in astronomy when I was first introduced by two persons. One was Dr. Ghaffar and Khoo. Dr. Ghaffar is a nuclear physicist and Khoo is my ex-classmate and a mechanical engineer. Both of them were very involved in star gazing. Khoo had even built his own 12″ diameter Newtonian Reflective Telescope.
I almost invested into one as mentioned earlier but I didn’t. At some point, I became very interested in astrophysics. Writing software to model celestial body can be interestingly challenging. Perhaps I should go get a Ph.D. and become an astrophysicist. Or, perhaps, one of the boys will become a renown astrophysicist.
One great Sunday out
We have planned to go to a temple at Muar for weeks and finally the day came. We went to pick up grandma at 1030, bought some fruits in the town and heading to Muar around 1130. The journey took around half an hour thanks to the new express way.
We went to Muar to find that temple with Richard some time in April. Being the agnostic me, I haven’t been to such temples in years. Being curious, I went with some hope. But I guess the effect will not come so soon. Those Chinese friends who believe in such “Gods” will understand what I am talking about.
There were many people at the temple and we finished our business around 1445 or 1500. Then we headed to Muar town center for lunch. After our late lunch, we visited an aunt there. Grandma chatted with her sister for a while then home we went.
When we arrived Melaka, we stopped over at Jusco to buy some more fruits and a few shirts. Then we all had our dinner at KFC. Reached home around 2030. We were so exhausted and went to bed quite early.
What a Sunday!
Durian, durian, durian
It is durian season. Last night when we were at grandma’s place, she and grandpa asked D if he liked to eat durian. We had been talking about durian feast since couple of weeks ago. So, tonight we decided to buy some durian to give grandma and kids a treat.
We drove to Bukit Baru to source for durian. Finally found a Malay stall opposite SRJK Kek Seng. Bought 9kg of durian and proceeded to grandma’s. The kids had not been to grandma’s place for months. The kids were really enjoying at grandma’s place. We stayed until 2330. The kids will definitely wake up late in the morning. They usually sleep early but once a while we allow them to sleep during weekends so that they can adjust to adults’ timing. They must be sleeping soundly by now.
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