Mental Arithmetic - ALOHA

I sent my elder daughter, 5 years old to aloha classes since April ’07, once a week and 1 ½ hours per session, with the intention of not hoping for a Mathematician but for her to enjoy numbers and to learn some basic calculation, after 5 months in the course, she’s now able to do addition and subtractions up to 2 digit (99) with her 10 fingers and little abacus.

The mom, dad and grandmother also benefited from the session as we all learnt together, don’t know 10 fingers can add up or subtracted to any numbers less than 100. We are taught to count until 10 only back in our days, anything more than that will require our toes but that’s limited till 20 only…. ha ha…

She just took her test yesterday, the class was structured in a way that allow the child to progress on his own speed and the teacher proclaimed little Michelle is now ready for her first assessment. Not sure how she fare but no matter what I’m proud of her, I don’t remember what I can do when I was five! She will continue as long as she desired and stop at any time. Now I need to help her to switch the mode between aloha method and the conventional 10 fingers method……. It may be confusing to some children and certainly confusing to me!!

For more information you may log in to http://www.alohama.com

High Cholesterol!!!

Have you been diagnosed with high cholesterol? If you have, then welcome to the club, if not congratulations but watch out, you may become a member later. Ever since I had my first blood test screen (more than 9 years ago), I was diagnosed with high cholesterol and today (my last screen was in early August, this year) still am! Sign…… My highest was 6.13 mmol/l and lowest 4.7mmol/l, latest was 5.3 (before fasting). Hai…….

So this posting is an awareness session, according to the American Heart Association, your total blood cholesterol level will fall into one of these cholesterol levels:

Desirable total blood cholesterol level less than 200 mg/dL (5.13 mmol/l). About 50% of all adults fall into this cholesterol level. Borderline high risk total blood cholesterol level 200-239 mg/dL (5.13-6.13 mmol/l). About 33% of adults fall into this cholesterol level. High risk total blood cholesterol level 240 mg/dL (6.14 mmol/l) and over. You have twice the risk of coronary heart disease. About 17% of adults are in this cholesterol level.


LDL cholesterol levels - the bad cholesterol
Based on the American Heart Association, your LDL cholesterol level will fall into one of these levels:

LDL cholesterol level less than 129 mg/dL ( 3.31 mmol/l) is good. Below 100 mg/dL (2.56 mmol/l) is considered even better. LDL cholesterol level 130 to 159 mg/dL (3.33 to 4.08 mmol/l) is Borderline. LDL cholesterol level 160 to 189 mg/dL (4.10 to 4.85 mmol/l) is High. Higher LDL cholesterol level reading is described as Very High.

HDL cholesterol level - the good cholesterol level
A HDL cholesterol level of 39 mg/dL (1.00 mmol/l) is low and places you at risk of coronary heart disease. You should aim to increase your HDL cholesterol level to 40 mg/dL (1.03 mmol/l) or higher
The cholesterol ratio
The ratio of your total blood cholesterol level to your HDL cholesterol level.
The goal is to keep the ratio below 5:1; the optimum or best ratio is 3.5:1. In other words, the higher your HDL cholesterol level the better.
Some say cholesterol level is caused by two main factors, heredity (genetically) and lifestyle. As for me I believe its heredity (yet to check with my parents!) and diet plays a major part also. Below are some tips on the natural means to lower cholesterol level:

a) Exercise, 3 times a week, each session 30 minutes
b) Balance diet, below are food that can lower the level:
Herbs & spices – Cinnamon, garlic, onion, shallots, ginger, green tea
Vitamin – C & E (100mg/day)
Vegetables – celery, carrots, broccoli, cabbage
Meat – deep sea fish such as tuna, mackerel, salmon
Grains – wholemeal, soybeans, oat

Avoid the following food (saturated fats found in animal & plant)
a) Dairy products (butter, cream, cheese, coconut milk)
b) Fatty meats (ribs, beef, bacon, process meats)
c) Fast food (burgers, fries, deep fried food)

Live a healthier lifestyle and wish me all the best, I am hoping for a healthier cholesterol level for my next screen………

References: http://www.cholesterolcholesterol.com

Local Fresh Graduates

A quick check on the ministry of higher education website shows that there is a total of 20 local universities in Malaysia, back in my time there were only a handful namely UM, UKM, USM, UPM, UTM. With the increase enrolment of students to these universities, annually we are producing on an average about 79000 of graduates (statistics from 2001 – 2006) and recorded a hike of 48% from 2001 (55,000 graduates) to 2006 (81,000).

Being worked in the private sector for the past 11 years, I have the opportunities to interview numerous fresh graduates, offered them jobs, plan for their career, see them come and go. Sad to say the quality of our graduates is disappointing. See the figures you know, 15 years ago we have to really do good to secure a place in the local university due to the quota, now with 20 local universities, you think about the standard..., mind you Malaysians are not getting smarter to enter universities, the requirements has been laxed to allow more to enter universities. Children and parents are getting smarter nowadays but why our graduates are not? So it all boils down to our education system whether it’s at primary, secondary and tertiary level, whether in our national schools, Chinese schools, or Tamil schools, we are not supplying wholesome individuals and we are lots who aimed for “A”s but not hunger for knowledge.

We have so many straight “A”s students who continue to excel in universities but of little quality. So what is a quality graduate? Being in the quality line for more than 10 years, quality is defined as attributes of a product (can be tangible or intangible) that is able to fulfill its intended purpose, so what does a quality graduate means? An individual with certain attributes to function in an organization.

From my observation, I could generalized that our fresh graduates nowadays lack of pro-activeness, durability, creativity and soft skills especially in effective communication and interpersonal skills. I used to share with my juniors that nowadays information is at their finger tips, just click; challenge the system, do not just accept as it is and work on their communication skills as it is the most important tool to be able to work effectively and efficiently. If you highlight any area of improvement or things that they have overlook, they showed you their discontentment face!! Sign….For those who heeded the advice, they thrived and excelled, for those who are still in the nutshell, they are still struggling.

So what’s wrong? I believe our graduates are intelligent but they lack the other side, the ability to think and improvise, the ability to express themselves because they are trained to accept (No question asked), the ability to apply what they have learned and most of the time the ability to apply common sense!

Of course, I do admit there are some outstanding individuals there. The education ministry better do something, else…. I dare not imagine…

Friendship

Once I was chatting with one of my church friend who has migrated to Canada over the skype, she expressed that as we grew older, friends are lesser. Her definition of friend means someone whom you can really share to and genuinely care for you, someone whom you can trust and turn to in good and bad times.

This is especially true if you are married with kids where your life basically encircled around your spouse and demanding kids. I used to feel so guilty whenever I leave home to do something on my own, the thought of not being “a good mother” echoed in my mind. Nowadays we just don’t want to bother and to be bothered by others, everyone just busy with their own life and friends whom you used to be close to, were now slowly disappearing from your mind, just like the old saying ‘Out of sight, out of mind”, some of them might already migrated to different parts of the world or living in different corners of the country.

Going back to do my masters open up a new door for me to get to know new friends and along the way I manage to find a truly genuine friend. Her name is dear Dorene, she’s a bubbly and fun young lady to be with, just like the character of “Doreen” in the Nemo movie… he he. Nine years my junior, not sure why we clicked but I was attracted to her sweet smile and openness, we shared good times together like feeding the mosquitoes together when rushing for our assignments; serious counseling sessions when she needed a motherly advice; leisure time together where we catch a movie, eat a nice meal at a quiet restaurant, went shopping together and crazy time over the phone where we will laugh our hearts out. Both of us were so real to each other, we do not care what position we were holding, our material wealth, our appearance, just wanna be friends…. and here I want to say “Dorene, I’m thankful for you”.

So when was the last time you really had a true friend? When was the last time you were touched by somebody else kindness and the last time you touched others? Something for us to ponder….

Great Shots

DQ/RvC4gPjj2MI/AAAAAAAAAB8/Uk4KTZPMCHY/s1600-h/DSCN2962.JPG">
My princesses, posing a naughty look


An ant in action, taken by my dear friend, Dorene in USM


A rose bloom, taken by my hubby when we visited the Rose Valley in Cameron Highlands



Nature in action, taken by my friend, the new enthusias photograher, Pooi

Childhood friends

I’m sure all of us have childhood friends that we grew up with. I have mine too and we used to call ourselves the 5-star simply there were five of us (Wai, Yuen, Pooi, Chee, Peng). I being the eldest (born in the month of January) was declared the “big sister” of the group. We known each other since primary school days but were especially close from secondary three to five. We did crazy things together like having our fun time when they stayed over, chatted for hours over the phone on BGR (boy-girl-relationship) related matters, hanging out at “kopi tiam” and going for short trips.

To date (18 years later), some of us still keep in touch with each other but for some we kind of lost contact. All married with kids, two of us migrated, one to the States (Peng) and the other, Singapore (Pooi). The other two (Yuen and Chee) are in Kuala Lumpur now and me (Wai) in Penang. Last August, Yuen called after many many years and we chatted for a while exchanging news of each other, just like good old days, no formality just good old friends’ chat, we parted the conversation expressing our intention of organizing a reunion, but till now nothing has happened. I guess we have to wait till 2009 for our 20th anniversary (we were from class ’89)!!

I’m hoping to reunite with them again, laying aside our job titles, our material wealth, our kids’ capability, our spouses’ profile, simply forgetting our social status but just to spend genuine and crazy care free time together, being the eldest I believe I need to do something….. will keep you all posted on the outcome……

I was digging into my old photos and found one taken 18 years ago in Pooi’s house, you must be wandering why there’s six of us, well we have another friend in the photo (Ann Nee), she’s quite close with us but only half as crazy as us, so not qualified into the group yet…. he he… Guess who is who…..

Influential women in my life

I would like to share with you two influential women in my life; the first one is my dear mummy and the second, my mother in-law.

My mom, a gutsy and loving person whose unconditional love and values nurtured me for the past thirty over years and continue to do so up till today. With no formal education except for a few years of night classes was an efficient tailor by profession, a marvelous cook, a gentle provider, a resourceful woman and a life-mentor. My sis and brother would definitely agree with me. A conservative woman in many things but also an open minded woman in many ways especially in choosing our life partner and career. In her seventies now, still a marvelous cook and our idol in the family, when we (me, my sis and brother with our families) go back home for vacation, we will all climb up mom’s king size bed, catch up with good old times and latest happenings in each of our life, often laughing our heart out, in the course of doing so we made our dad, spouses and kids real jealous. Words cannot express how thankful we are to have her and no words could ever describe how special she is to each of us. We love you mom and we wish you best of health, you are one special woman in our life and forever will be.

Well, I’ve certainly heard of not so positive remarks/stories about mother and daughter in-law relationships but I’m thankful for mine and could not imagine life without her unconditional love and support for the family. With no formal education, she spent most of her time working hard as a construction worker (no joke) and a rubber taper. I consider her the most flexible woman of her time, staying with us ever since I delivered my first child; she is our domestic engineer, public relation officer, nutritionist and one who pampered the whole family. Due to her easy going character, her pool of friends is large and from all walks of life. I love you mama even though I know your granddaughters sometimes drive you up to your nerves, yet you are still so patient with them. I really appreciate that and when I graduated from my Masters, she made good publicity and was so proud that the whole block of condo knew about it (kind of embarrassing for me, but I understand, in the small village where she originated there are not many daughter in-law graduates!).

So salute to these two influential women in my life….