She had faith in him....

If it was a dream, he sure would like to have wake up from it. There was an excruciating pain in his left leg. As Mac walked out from the convenient shop after getting a loaf of bread, a car had smashed right into him and clipped him against a lorry parked in front of the convenient shop. The car had clipped his left leg. He couldn't feel anything else except the pain in his left leg, it was the longest 15 minutes of his life as he waited for an ambulance and the fire brigade to untangle the wreckage to free his left leg.

By the time he was freed from the wreckage, it was at least another hour's worth of pain. Mac had lost a lot of blood and he had to undergo a 4 hour surgery and a lot of blood transfusion to keep him alive. Having lost both parents to a car accident, there was no one else around him except for his girlfriend, Alice.

When he finally regained consciousness, he found Alice beside him and he noticed there wasn't any feeling in his left leg knee down. That's when reality sank in and he realised his left leg was amputated knee down. He went crazy not knowing how to react. He flipped and started throwing whatever he could get his hands on while Alice tried to calm him down. The doctor had to rush in to inject Mac with a depressant to knock him out for a while.

Alice didn't know what to do to help Mac. That one leg he lost, was more important to him than anything else because he was a professional athlete who runs marathons. It was his livelihood.

As the days went by, Mac eventually calmed down but it was still evident that he could not accept the fact that he had lost the very means of making a living. Depression was seeping in and Alice soon found herself fighting an uphill battle trying to keep Mac from giving up on living. Day by day Alice visited Mac after work, sometimes bringing work to the hospital and worked while she kept Mac company. She was afraid Mac might do something crazy if he was left alone too long.

When it was finally time to start his physiotherapy, Alice fought hard to encourage him to go for the physiotherapy sessions. She stayed by him making sure he underwent the therapy sessions fully. The therapist had to make sure Mac got used to the prosthetic leg. She could tell in the look in his eyes Mac detested the idea of having to put on a prosthetic leg but all she could do was to encourage him and keep him from giving up on himself. Every night she cried from the exhaustion and fatigue of being there for Mac but she refused to give up.

Eventually Mac got used to his new leg and started walking around quite normally but the whole process took Mac close to a year. It was one year of agonizing pain from therapies upon therapies. One year of heartaches. One year of self pity and one long year being a pain for Alice.

That day when he finally got home, as he entered the front door, Mac dropped all his bags and turned to Alice, tears in his eyes, he hugged her tightly. As he hugged her, he kept on saying, "I am so sorry Alice, so sorry................". Mac knew he had Alice to thank for. She had always been at his side throughout the whole ordeal and never gave up on him. She had faith in him, more than a beach got sand. It was that faith in him, that helped him recover for the shock of losing a leg and it was that same faith in him that kept Alice by his side...........

Enjoy nature respectfully and responsibly!

Having been brought up in the city and living in the city since I was born, the sight of nature has always been fascinating and interesting to me. Nature for a guy like me so used to the city would probably as close as the sight between heaven and earth. Over the holiday weekend, I found it a perfect time to do some hiking in the outskirts of the city, where land is still very untouched and safe from any development. New to hiking, I followed a seasoned hiker friend to check out some of what nature has to offer for a city-slicker like myself.

It was a hike up Gunung Tuk Wan. It was about a 3-hour hike up and down. In fact it continues after you reach the peak Broga Hill. The pictures above were taken at the peak of Broga Hill. A couple of quick shots, admiring the beauty of the scenery before we continued to head on to the peak of Gunung Tuk Wan. It was tiring but very interesting - breathing in fresh air, seeing lushes amount of greens around me, the sound of insects creaking, birds with wingspan so big that you could hear the wind in their flaps. It's an amazing treat to my senses.

Take a look for yourself, the beauty nature had allowed me to enjoy when I reached the peak of Gunung Tuk Wan:

It may not be beauty at its finest, but it sure is miles better than what the city has to offer me. Compared to the hazy air I get stuffed with and all the pollution in the city, this was as close as heaven could get for me.

The best part of it all, is being able to hike up there and enjoy all of this with a friend who shares the enjoyment of it. Surrounded by the beauty of nature plus sharing the beauty with another appreciative person, heaven just got better for me!

Despited enjoying everything mother nature had, one thing saddened me when I was hiking. The beauty of nature is slowly deteriorating with the increasing number of visitors up Broga Hill. At the peak of Broga Hill, as you look out into the horizon, you will see a wonderful scenery but onces you look around you, you will immediately see the epitome of human irresponsibility. I saw rubbish thrown all over the peak, plastic bags, remnants of unfinished food and beverages - garbage left there without any consideration of what sort of damage it could do to nature.

I felt sad for mother nature and a deep rage inside me seeing how much disrespect is given to nature. It was the distinct human trait of taking but not giving anything back. Mother nature gave us her beauty to enjoy and admire, yet we take it for granted and destroy her beauty by unnecessarily leaving garbage around the peak of Broga.

We have to understand that before you and I know it, someday nature may not be around anymore for us to enjoy with the burgeoning population growth globally and the more industrialised we become. We have to start loving and respecting nature. If not now, when?

determination in her eyes

It was a hot Sunday afternoon, at least for the better first two hours when I was rock climbing. I reckon it was probably hitting close to 33 degrees. It was seriously hot! And there I was harness strapped around my thighs and waist with my two bare hands holding on to the rope. I was belaying a first-time rock climber. Belaying is a pretty interesting task during a rock climbing session especially when the life of the climber literally rests in your hands.

This first-timer was different this time around. She didn't make it the first try, she tried the second time, third time and by the fifth time she decided to come down to take a break before going at it one more time. So as she was panting, whilst trying to recover her strength before going at the climb route again, I gave a few pointers as to how to place her feet and hands to get a proper foothold to push herself up. What I saw, was something quite different from other people I notice.

She kept insisting on trying the route up. I may not have rock climbed for long but I have climbed long enough to know a tired climber when I see one. I could at least tell her fingers were simply too tired and incapable of grappling the stones. Her legs were probably tiring out seeing that she could no longer grip the rocks with her toes well. Before she could pass the first level of rocks she slipped and fell. That went on for another 45 minutes or so but she kept on pushing on.

As she got tired, she took more frequent breaks in between but kept on trying until she was completely exhausted. So tired that the following day she found it difficult to grip stuff with her fingers.

But throughout the climb, I saw one very important point in her - determination. There was pure determination in her eyes. It was the sort of look she that told me she didn't want to lose to a bunch of static rocks and that she was challenging herself. Determination is something hard to come by as many have rather comfortable upbringing in this day and time when parents don't wish for their kids to suffer like they did. Sadly, the protective approach has eroded the current generation from standing on their own two feet and going all out to reach out for what is worth it.

It was the determination in her eyes that has give me a push to work out more to better my rock climbing and everything else that I do.........

P.S. this post is way overdue when it was intended to be posted on the 18th of August 2010... but here goes.....

man and machine ~

The cello is a wonderful music instrument. To me, at least. I still remember the moment I held the first cello, which eventually became my very first cello. The smell of the wood, the surface of the finger board and the feel of the cello strings. Then there's the bow - a simple piece of wood with horse hair. From that moment on, I knew in my heart it was going to be a start of a very long relationship between man and machine.

I am blogging via mobile while on my way for a gigue in Alor Setar. As I am on the road, it becomes a good time to just watch the road go by and have some flashback moments.

I still remember clearly trying to play my first few notes. It was definitely tougher than it looked despite the fact that I already have music knowledge from learning the piano. But whe i finally got the basic notes right, the sound of the cello was simply amazing. It was bold yet gentle. It was strong yet refine. Simply amazing!

Till this day, many people ask me, "Why the cello?". No particular specific reason per say and quite honestly I really think it was love at first sight. But the first thing, one word i can use to describe the cello - "personal". The very moment the cello is placed between my legs and i let it lay on my chest, it's just so similar to hugging a teddy bear. I can easily wrap my arms around the cello. To me, because I am so physically close to the instrument, it's like being able to speak thru the music i make by playing the cello. It's like being emotionally connected to the cello.That's as personal as music can get.

Although i started off my music education on the piano, the cello quickly became my major instrument. That's just goes to show how close i am to my cello.

As i am travelling up north for this gigue, i am all excited to perform. Not because i want to show off my skills but i want to show people what the cello is all about. Man and machine in harmony...... a machine not that of speed, power or design but a machine that of audible beauty.

Finding it in his heart ~

There was an old chap I met at the physiotherapy centre where dad visited quite a fair bit after having undergone a total heap replacement. This old chap was on a wheelchair and doing some physiotherapy workouts. I observed him for a while doing some light weights while on the wheelchair and I saw the look in his eyes. It was not that of rage, anger or despair but that of resolve. A tremendous amount of resolve to strengthen himself despite being bounded to the wheelchair for the rest of his life.

As I was leaving, I had to settle the bill and this old chap rolled out with his wheelchair, panting from all the workout he was doing. I guess he had to settle his bill as well. He smiled at me and I smiled back.

"Tough workout eh?"

"Phew... tell me about it. Being on a wheelchair is a whole new experience for me."

"What got you on the wheelchair?"

"Motorcycle accident. Was riding my bike home one evening, next thing I new someone rammed me from the back. By the time I woke up, I was lying on a bed in this hospital with my wife beside me."

"Sorry to hear that. Did you know who hit you?"

"Yea, he owned up to it. He did pay me compensation but that doesn't change the fact that he placed me on a wheelchair!"

"Sorry to hear that..... You must really hate the guy."

"I did hate the guy up until this morning when I woke up and finally realised hating that guy isn't going to change the fact that I am stuck to this chair on wheels. I found it in my heart to forgive him."

I found it amazing because I don't think I would be capable of forgiving someone who caused me to be on a wheelchair. Especially for someone like me who is so active in sports. Taking away the use of my legs would be a cardinal sin!

He had one simple reason - "I realised I could have been the one on the wheel and cause another to lose the use of their legs. I still have my life and I still get to be with my family. That alone is something I should be thankful for".

Forgiveness, compassion and a kind heart are attributes that are slowly depleting in the current age of modernization and burgeoning world of commerce, where time waits for no man and all that matters is money matters...... this old chap made it look so easy.......

hope, faith, charity

It was a simple act of not accepting the cash. A simple answer of, "No, I am not going to accept your cash, keep it." It was when Jo bought a mini generator set for his uncle who suffered from muscular dystrophy. A damaging disease that literally robs you of your muscular abilities. His uncle had to survive on a life support machine to keep him breathing. Every time his housing area had a black out, his wife had to literally rush him to the hospital nearest to his home and there was very little margin for error in timing.

That's when Jo decided to get his uncle one of those mini generator sets to power the life support systems if in case of a black out. The ones you see night market stalls using. Jo contacted me because my dad could get slightly cheaper prices for one of those generators.

On the day we went to get the generator and took it to Jo's uncle's house to set it up and sort of just let the family members know how to run the little thing. That's when I saw the first case of muscular dystrophy. He was really skinny and there was life support machine by his bed. The muscles in his body was depleted so badly that he could hardly move even his arms when he spoke to Jo and I.

When we were about to leave, Jo's aunty wanted to pass him the money for the generator. "No, I am not going to accept your cash, keep it. The genset is for uncle. He took care of me as a kid, he deserves it." His uncle was so happy for what Jo had done for him.

They say there are those who survive from hope, faith and charity. I say there are those who live hope, faith and charity. Jo had hope - hope for a man who took care of him when he was young, a good man who became bedridden due to muscular dystrophy. Jo had faith -for he was a strong believer in the Bahai' fatih, a religion that believes strongly in unity and he believe God was telling him that his uncle needed the mini generator to keep surviving. And Jo showed charity - an innate ability to give without looking back, to give without require something in return, to give because he wanted and because he knew it was the right thing to do.

And that, my dear readers (if there are readers out there, that is), is hope, faith and charity epitomized in our current world.........

a little box

It all started when he picked up a nicely shaped stone when he was at the park with his mother when he was 5 years old. He decided he wanted to keep the stone and asked his mother where should he keep it. His mother gave him a little box. It was a colourful box that was used to store a mug. Jimmy boy place his stone in that little box. That little box was like Jimmy's little treasure chest.

That little stone was the impetus to Jimmy's habit of collecting items around him that were unique or simply special to him. Although, most people simply thought he was collecting rubbish.

Within a span of one month, Jimmy had filled up the little box his mother gave him. In there you could find all sorts of stuff. From stones, marbles, cards, leaves, even patterned tissue! It was Jimmy's little vault of unique items.

As the days, months and years passed by, that little box became so full Jimmy had to find a new box if he wanted to continue collecting random items he found interesting. Collecting random items he saw in his daily life quickly became a second nature of his. The number of boxes grew with the number of items he continued to collect. So much so that he had to keep all the smaller boxes into a bigger box.

As the years went by, Jimmy eventually grew out of his eccentric habit.

When he realised he finally stopped collecting, he saw that he had turn the house store room into a "museum" for his humble collection of random items. His mom took the trouble to furnished the 10 X 15 feet room with wall racks where all the boxes were placed neatly.

He walked in one day and started taking a look at all the little things he picked up along the way of growing up. It brought some really memorable moments back to him. The Zippo lighter he found in a park, a Metallica guitar pick he picked up near his university entrance. So many items that Jimmy surprised himself! Going through his collection, he had unconsciously spent half a day in the room.

When he finally got out, he had to ask his mom why she never complained about his habit, that would have been considered as rubbish collecting to most mothers. "Hey mom, why didn't you stop me from collecting stuff?"

"Why should I my dear? All of us have unique hobbies and different ways of expressing yourself. When I noticed you had this little thing for collecting random stuff at 5, I decided why not give you some encouragement."

"Encouragement?"

"Can't really say encouragement but I wanted you to try things out on your own. At 5 years of age, any child would be inquisitive and you were down right open about it. I found it amusing and at the same time I think it was just a good way for you to explore the environment around you. It gave me a good opportunity to see you grow. You may not know but I notice the items you pick up and they have changed as you grow. All those little items in those little boxes are my memories of you. How you have grown and I think it probably encouraged you to become who you are now professionally, an archeologist. Hahaha......"

..........................................................................

We view things differently just like how many would view Jimmy's habit as rubbish collecting as opposed to collecting memories like the way his mom viewed it. At the same time, each of us have our own ways of satisfying our curiousity and have different hobbies that appeal to us....

Go on out there and explore the real you.... you might just surprise yourself... if a little box can do so much wonders, I am sure you can do more!