SalocinTEN: Speeding legally? http://i.imgur.com/NslKJ.jpg #fb

SalocinTEN: Hmm, Looks like I didn't win the blogging contest, so I guess time to change the virtual place system? Not. It's really fine now thanks. #fb

In between work and on the train, I try to squeeze in time to do some reading and the book I’m currently on right now is this one by Jentezen Franklin entitled, “Believe That You Can”. It’s a very inspiring and eye-opening book about dreams – having one, striving for it no matter what the circumstances may be, and using the achievement of a dream to make the difference in other people’s lives too. And this week, I have learnt one valuable lesson – there is 1 thing that can make one person succeed where another fails. One thing that can take you from mediocrity to excellence. One thing that can infuse your life with power and purpose. One thing that sets “great” leaders apart from “average” leaders. It’s passion. I reckon that in whatever we strive to do or achieve, if the passion is lost, the drive and the enthusiasm goes down with it too, so let’s try to make a conscious effort to fuel the fire for a burning passion and not give up no matter what the circumstances may be. *smile* Remember, never settle for 2nd best but instead strive for excellence. All the time. *smile* Have a great week guys and thank you for keeping me in your prayers. Mwah!!!

SalocinTEN: I uploaded a YouTube video -- Qik - Mobile video by Salocin Dot ten http://youtu.be/IImMg_RH89s?a

SalocinTEN: Live Netcast via Window Vision Channels One or Two now! #qik

SalocinTEN: Hello from the Twestival KL! Mark your calendar, Twestival returns on March 25 benefiting @concern! http://bit.ly/9D63uy (via @twestivalkl)

SalocinTEN: Hi 2010, teleporting would be a nice invention now. kthnksbye. (via @katyperry) | I agree wholely. #fb

Oh Yew Cheong, 1928 — 2010

Do not stand at my grave and weep;
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.

- Mary Elizabeth Frye -

This past weekend I was back in Penang for my great-uncle’s funeral. As the older brother of my grandfather, widowed and childless, his world revolved around his four siblings, their children and grandchildren, and his wife’s family. And even though I had been hauled against my will to Penang on a weekday so that I would arrive in time for the wake, I later found, for the first time in my life, that I was glad to have been there for it.

Death is a very strange thing. People  spend the wake and funeral talking about the deceased’s life, dredging up any detail of their lives that they can remember, no matter how insignificant they may have seemed, inadvertently revealing secrets that had been kept for years, and sharing as much as they can to keep the person’s memory alive. And amidst mourning the loss of someone they had known and loved and celebrating the life they had led, the question eventually creeps out: How well did we really know this person?

I knew him as my grandfather’s older brother, who had lost his wife at a young age and never remarried. I knew that he treated my mother and the other children of his siblings like his own, and that my brother and I were the closest he had to having grandchildren. I knew that he walked from his house to the town every morning to buy breakfast for his ailing brother-in-law, whom he lived with, and their maid.

But I never knew him. I never knew that he had adopted a daughter, who now lives in the U.K. with her husband. I never knew that the room in his brother-in-law’s house that he lived in that been the center of  his world, with all his worldly possessions, including a very old photo of his wife, in it. I never knew that he had been an accountant, and that he read J.D. Salinger and Lord Tennyson. I never knew that he kept a door in his closet locked at all times, and I never knew that nobody, not even his own family, knew why or where he kept the key. All I knew was that he was a good man, who, even in his last days, made sure that his two younger sisters — the last of his siblings — and brother-in-law were all cared for.

So as I watched and listened in those last hours before he was laid to rest, I saw the pain this loss brought to my great-aunts and my mother, and I wondered if they were mourning not only his passing, but also his life, for all the things that they had known and not known about him. I wondered, but I doubt I’ll ever know.

Be in peace.

Filed under: Family

SalocinTEN: Philippine ads do have a bit of Bollywood in it too. They mix Pinoy, Tagalog and American English in. #fb

SalocinTEN: @icednyior #Oscars live in the cinema???Geez! I am too! What am I doing here in the office. LOL! #fb

SalocinTEN: Haha! Philippine TV ads are just so funny. Like a cross between Malaysia, US, & Latin America. #fb

SalocinTEN: For sure Avatar will win best visual effects. Man. #oscars is so full of cliche this time. #fb

SalocinTEN: @iscifitv Mmm thanks. Okay. I think I shall catch the encore #oscars for the rest. :P Happy Women's Week, lovely girls. #fb

SalocinTEN: Wait a minute. Another best screenplay? Oh adapted screenplay. Winner is... "Precious". never heard never seen. :( #fb

SalocinTEN: I notice American TV ads are mostly non annoying and actually soothing to hear. Probably it is just #oscars ads. #fb

SalocinTEN: Star Trek won best make up. #fb (I wrote this a minute before he announced the award! What a prediction.) #oscars

SalocinTEN: Darn. Ben Stiller in an Avatar costume to present Best Makeup. Ugh. #fb

SalocinTEN: Never heard of the doco. Now best live action short is... "The new tenants". Huh? #fb #oscars

SalocinTEN: French film? what was that? #oscars #fb Best documentary nominations reading..

SalocinTEN: Alright I admit I have not watched inglorious besterds at all. #fb