Samuel Symons: A Fighter

I was at the gym when I saw Red Symons on tv. I was like okay, like the guy, he’s interesting. So I tuned into that channel.

Little did I expect it to be a story of his son. Samuel. Samuel who inspired the lives of so many. Samuel a fighter. Samuel who was given a death sentence when he was just four years old. Samuel who then defied the odds and went on to graduate from Year 12.

At such a young age, he was diagnosed with brain tumor and had to have brain surgery and radiation therapy. Radiation, which doctors said could possibly leave him brain damaged, but if untreated would most certainly leave him dead. Such an inspiring story. Everyone loves a happy ending, but the news did not stop there.

The tumor was removed but it came back. As all brain tumors do. The following two were benign but then came the shock of thyroid cancer at age 16, which was left untreated by doctors for 6 months. That caused the cancer to spread through his body.

After 18 years of battling numerous operations. And an astounding 80+ MRIs, Samuel has something to say. And I quote: “I think after being so close to death that I could give it a little peck it on the cheek, even then I don’t tend to think about it because I was too busy trying to live. I never have thought about death and never will,” Sam said.

I ask myself, what if I was the sick one? I am one not unbeknown to sickness. Having been a terribly accident prone person, growing up presented lots of challenges. However, as Samuel put it, you just learn at an earlier age to try to live. It’s your life, no one can take that away from you. I know or try to keep myself as far away from danger as possible, which unfortunately sometimes brands me as a coward. But I’d rather live than die because of my own clumsiness. Thank you.

Recap 2009

2009 wasn’t a great year for me. I achieved some goals… Mind the ’some’…

The biggest thing for me was that I finally put a leash on my weight and reigned it back in. It was not a very pleasant experience, but nonetheless I achieved my goal of getting to 55kgs.

However, this year I have another big goal, which is to loose a further 5kgs. Well it’s not such a big feat considering that I’m thinking of doing it over a period of 12 months. But mind you, weight has been an issue I have battled with all my life. It’s not as easy for me. Exercise on it’s own does nothing to me. It has to be a combination of food and exercise. And those are my biggest weaknesses.. Laziness trumps everything in my life. Secondly, I live to eat…. Haha….

In 2010, I have bigger aspirations too. I am going to loose that excess 5kgs. Just so that I can be in the normal weight category. Believe me when I say 55kgs just barely made me one nose length below the overweight category. Therefore I’m striving to be at least of BMI 22. Healthy range. Let’s see if that is achievable. Secondly, I want bigger things for my career.

There are lots of things that can happen based on that one decision. I can either find a bigger company to work in or continue in my current company and work my way up. Or one last option would be for me to leave Australia and help my parents back home. It’s at least a business and the things I’ll be taking care of would be a stark difference to that of what I’m doing now. So it’s a decision. And a hard one. But as my weight loss has proven, if I put my brain to it I can achieve anything. So wish me luck everyone….

And let me know what are your thoughts? Should I find a bigger company? Continue in this company? or go back home??

Back in Brissy…

After the long awaited holiday, the long dreaded back to work spasm has entailed. And to put it lightly, it sucks.

Holidays as always rock the world, but as everyone knows you get nothing for free, and that’s the price to pay for playing too hard.

Back to work is, to be expected, worse than the back to school syndrome.

Lots of things to pick up and life drones back onto the last cut where things were left.

This time back there are lots of things to consider. Decisions to be made. People to face. My life has hit it’s crossroad and it’s time I faced it like a grownup.

Holidays: Hong Kong Star Struck

I really can’t believe my luck. I was really really over the moon happie… I didn’t know it was so easy to bump into stars in Hong Kong. In my short 4 day trip I met a total of 9 TVB actors. Albeit 7 of them all in one go but it still counts.

2010.01.17 – Mong Kok

蔡其俊

We went to Ladies Market for a little bit of shopping. It was a Sunday therefore the crowd was intense. It seemed like the entire population of Hong Kong was congregated at these few streets. There were bargains everywhere. Smack bang in the middle I saw a lot of people converged on this small group. As I tried to jump to take a closer look I saw the TVB logo. Instant !!!! We crowded in for a better look and saw 蔡其俊 and a few other actors.

It was quite the scene. There was also a ‘Feng Shui’ guy there who was promoting a new show. It was quite the event. People were everywhere and many jostled in for a better look. Needless to say I was no where close to seeing them.

2010.01.18 – Ngong Ping + Big Buddha

胡諾言 and 胡定欣

Today, my parents were going to China to visit a factory. I didn’t see the point in going as that included a 6 hour round trip ride coupe up in a car. No thanks. I’ll just go around on my own. And so I did. First thing on my agenda was the Big Buddha. I was going there by cable car. Reached there without incident until suddenly while I was lining up for the cable car, there were throngs of screams from the girls up front. I was thinking crap, did someone get flattened by the cable car or something? Well surprise surprise it was less dramatic than that but only fractionally. Right in front ducking into the cable car was Bosco!!! 黃宗澤!!! OMG!!! I couldn’t stop smiling for the life of me.

BOSCO!!!

The few Caucasians in line in front of me were full of bemused faces. I was so elated as I knew there was no way they would be going away so fast, as there was a camera crew with the TVB logo following them in the next cable car. Call me superstitious but I believe that the year of the Ox’s bad luck has finally started to fade!! Reached there and I nearly walked right past them as they were congregated on the photo booth. It wasn’t until some teenage girls started screaming did I notice what I just missed. I whipped out my camera and away I went. There were other actors and actresses as well. 胡諾言 and 胡定欣 and 胡枫.

Excited was an understatement.

Holidays: Indonesian Food

Food food food. It was all this trip was about. All in all, the total amount of weight gained in the space of a week, 4kgs. It was crazy, considering it was only  spaced out over the 7 of us. Thankfully for me, the food in Indonesia rarely agree with me due to its spicy nature, which discounts me immediately from the weight gain category. Haha… Very happy to keep it that way too.

However tropical fruits are always my downfall. Sweet fruits too. They contain as much sugar as a can of coke some of them. And I mostly love the sweetest of the bunch. Durian, Mangoes, Duku, Nangka, etc. They are by nature so sweet they leave behind a sweet sensation in your mouths even until after you rinse it out.

Many vendors in Indonesia actually sell their food from small road side stores. Covered only by a canvas from a sponsor like Coca-cola. These are the places to get the best food in town. Not in big high class restaurants, but only in these dilapidated looking stalls would you find the hidden treasures of Cirebon. Many people fear the filth and the unhygienic way in which the food is prepared, but trust me even in the most high class restaurants there is bound to be dirt. Nothing is perfect. I say bring on the filth and let my stomach enjoy it’s last vestiges of good food before they are eradicated by authorities.

Have a look below. Pictures of most of the foods we devoured on this short 1 week trip.

Mee Baso

Vendor selling tahu goreng

Duku

Prices for Martabak

Martabak in the making

Pricing of Mie

Super Tape Asli Bandung

Vendor selling papaya

Kodok goreng mentega

Gorengan

Kuih-kuih

Es puter durian

Durian

Es-esan

Ayam goreng

Kue Bolu

Lunch at Puncak

Mangoes

Holidays 2009: Indonesian way of life

My uncle had a favorite phrase when he met people who were really even tempered in Indonesia, “Tanyakan kalo Orang Solo.” It translates to “Ask the guy if he is from Solo”. People from Solo are reputed to have really good temper. By observing people’s way of life, I noticed that people are generally very happy and contented with their lives. It depends on how you look at it. Some people call that stupidity, and some call it ‘THE’ way of life.

Happy kids riding the beca...

Many places I turned and looked I found people laughing and smiling. Joking and having fun. That is the way of life. Many of us content ourselves with chasing after dreams and monetary items. Trying to fill the empty void that has appeared by abandoning friends and family with stuff that we believed would solve all the problems. Does it really?

In this land where the average number of people per capita is only second to India, life is tough. The divide between the rich and the poor is growing daily, and no amount of politics or government strategy seem to be rectifying the problem. This problem has been prevalent for hundreds of years, and it is not easily solved by making a policy in a day.

High fenced in retaining walls

Invisible fencing borders this house from a busy mainroad

However, when the rich build high and spiked retaining walls around their houses, the poor live a fairly free life with unfenced houses. I wonder what the rich gain from such a life? Of constantly being in fear of their possessions falling victim to those greedy thieves of our century. While the poor couldn’t care less, leaving their doors open throughout the day without a second look or thought.

Carefree and unbound. That is life!!!

Holidays: Christmas Pasar

2009.12.25 – Christmas Day Pasar Pagi Encounter

Assortment of spices

Went to the pasar pagi (morning market) with my grandmother and cousin. And of course I brought my camera along. The sights and sounds were nothing that I expected. The photos turned out to be fabulous. I always imagined the pasar in Cirebon to be a dilapidated mess with mud pools and crazy sellers. It was far from what I expected, although a couple of times I heard someone saying ‘Orang Jepang’, which means Japanese person. Haha…. I ignored them. If they knew I was not a tourist I wonder how they would react.

Nasi kuning lady

We walked through some stalls selling assortment of spices, live ‘kodok’ (toads), durian, fruits, kuih-muih (indonesian cakes), etc. There was so much to take in. I wonder why my grandmother refused to let me follow her to the market before. It wasn’t as bad as she made it up to be. Everyone there was super friendly. I even asked them whether I can take a photo and most of them smilingly obliged.

Although these people are poor, they have a great outlook on life. They enjoy their everyday only worrying about the present. Instead of planning meticulously for the future and forgetting to live in the present. Many of us fall into this trap, and forget to smile. These people, although they earn a meager living, they constantly chastise each other, poke fun and end up laughing so hard they can barely stand. It is interesting to watch.

We also came across this lady selling ‘Nasi Kuning’ or more fondly known as Yellow Rice. The rice is literally yellow in color and ate with sambal (ground chillies) and fried egg. The picture I took of her was beautiful. The colors of the rice coupled with the background and her shirt really made the picture stand out. I like taking pictures of people at work. It shows the most natural expression. The beauty in naturalism.

Smiling vendor

I came across this other lady. I was taking some photos of this guy selling the durian fruit, and her friends asked me to take a photo of her. I willingly obliged. There was nothing to it. She was really shy at first, and refused saying the photo will make her skin look dark. I took a photo. Her friends started saying, well of course the photo will be dark you are dark skinned. I showed it to her and she wasn’t satisfied, so I cunningly adjusted the exposure and took another photo, it didn’t make her look like snow white but that comforted her a little. It was funny how small little things like these manage to make my day.

Ikan Asin

We then went to the dry section of the market, where they sold dry goods. There were so many ‘ikan asin’ on display or a.k.a. salty fish. The fish is marinated in barrels of salt then left out in the open to dry. They taste really good with steamed rice, however the sight of these lifeless fish form made me want to gag. Not because of the smell, not because of the looks, but because of the hundreds of ‘lalat’ (flies) resting on them. OMG, I nearly freaked!!! Seriously. and I wondered where my stomach discomfort came from.

There were men selling trumpets too. Everyone was in the mood for celebration as it was close to New Years. It is a tradition here in Indonesia that on New Year’s Eve when the clock strikes into the New Year that everyone makes as much noise as they can muster. Hence the trumpets. But when I say trumpets I don’t mean actual brass ones. These are made out of cardboard and can only make as much noise as to make you feel irritated. But magnify it by the amount of people participating in these celebrations, you have CHAOS!!!

Durian fruit

Money put with food

Guy sleeping in the beca

Trumpets

Holidays: Christmas Eve Afterthought

As an overview this trip was as any other. The only difference is we have all matured. 4 months ago I set out to document my trip, it was only due to the lack of internet connectivity that blogging has become a little sparse in the last few days of 2009.

24.12.2009 – Christmas Eve

LCCT Departure Hall

Traveled by Air Asia to Jakarta from Kuala Lumpur at 5am in the morning. Was quite taken aback by the amount of people congregated at LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal) at such an hour. The opening of Air Asia has enabled many middle class families to travel across Asia. I think this is a very very good initiative to broaden the minds of all Malaysians. At the same time allowing them to witness for themselves the enormity of the world we live in. Their “Everyone can Travel” campaign has really hit the home run.

Old Style Carrousel

Finally arrived at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Harta International airport. This airport has managed to maintain itself for 20 over years without shedding it’s skin. The only difference evident from the photos taken 20 years ago and the ones I took was the apparent commercialization of most of the shops and not to mention the quality of the photo taken. By this point I was sleep deprived and annoyed. We found a bench and I flopped onto it without caring about etiquette. After 10 minutes or so, I felt something crawl onto my arm. And lo and behold, it was a freaking cockroach. I jumped up and as soon as all of us left the bench, they swarmed onto it and took over. There were at least 6 cockroaches alone living in that rubbish infested bench. It was disgusting.

Broken window from my train seat

Finally after an agonizing delay my cousin finally appeared at the gates and we rushed to the train station. Thankfully traffic was not as bad as anticipated and we cruised into the station with a few minutes to spare. From my seat the glass window was broken. My grandmother reckons it was residual from the 1998 riots throughout the cities. The seat was not anymore comfortable than that of the Air Asia flight I just took, and the train ride lasts 3 hours. I tried to photograph the country side as we passed by, but the stained glass was making it difficult.

Indonesian country side

It was amazing as we passed paddy field after paddy field. Some even ranging as far as the eye can see. Even with the over flowing amount of crops, the Indonesian rice growers are still unable to sustain the needs of the local population. After an agonizing 3 hours copped in that tiny uncomfortable seat, we finally arrived at Cirebon, my mother’s hometown. A place where all you have to do is sit around and everything is within your grasp. In short an awesome holiday beckons.

Avatar 3D: The Movie

Avatar the Movie

I tell you, whoever who hasn’t watched it, you have to!!! There is no doubt about it. Avatar 3D is one of the best 3D shows yet. The plot wasn’t anything to fuss over about. It reminds me greatly of the Pocahontas story. Not very new exactly but still effective nonetheless.

The setting was very beautiful. The colors of the forest at night, the CGI effects and the 3D motions were jaw-droppingly stunning. The way the forest lights up with humanoid contact was fascinating. Also the way the blue humanoid figures interact with their surroundings. The way James Cameron portrays that all living things have emotions and interconnect with each other is beautiful.

By the difficulty in obtaining tickets one can tell that it has definitely been worth all the money spent. Overall I give it a 4.5 out of 5.

Holidays: Indonesia 2009

Indonesia hasn’t changed. Or rather Cirebon hasn’t changed. Cirebon is the city I am in. It’s a 3 hour train ride away from Jakarta and a 3 hour car ride from Bandung. It is a small quiet city which doesn’t have much to offer except in the food department and cheap labor. I don’t mean to be undermining, but it truly is a luxury. Only if you are the one dishing out the orders though. If you are on the receiving end then it might not be as fun.

But all in all it is a really fun. All we do everyday is wake up, tennis, eat, pangsai, eat, pangsai, swim, eat, mahjong, then sleep. That’s our routine. It does sound quite boring but a lot of food is ingested. You won’t believe the amount of food that we take in everyday. Actually not so much on my part. More on everyone else’s part because of the cabe (chilies). It is insane the amount of chilies that they eat everyday.

They ate the following but not restricted to the following.. Lontong, tempe, ayam goreng, sambal terasi, sambal goreng, rujak buah, rujak sayur, gado gado, beef steak ikan, kangkung goreng, martabak, mee kochlok, mee tek-tek, bubur ayam, mangga gedong, magga harum manis, duku, kerupuk sambal, and much much more.

Everytime we finish eating we feel so bloated but then we would still ask to buy more food as we have cravings. It’s so hard to resist. Especially with being here for only a few days. It’s like resisting a very nice wine. Impossible… So we continue eating and eating and eating… I’m sure eating will be the death of us I swear…

- Written 28th December 2009 6.08 p.m.-