Anna Abisheganaden pictures - 2006 and 2007

Dining at one of her favourite restaurants, Imperial Treasures at Takashima, 

with Andrew (left) and Noel (right)

At Hannah's (centre) place, 2007.

                                       Going for her favourite Peking Duck. Andrew beside her.

Mum's Travels with me. 1973 - 2009 ; Anna Abisheganaden

                                                      In Penang Northam Suites, 2004

At the entrance of Northam Suites

My Mum was not an avid traveller, during her working days, she would be content to be in Singapore while my father, Geoffrey, would make trips to Europe, particularly London which he regarded as his 'second home'. That was in the 70s and 80s. I had a chance to go to one such trip with my father in 1974, when I will still 11 years old. That was when the plane ticket cost still put me under the 'child' category.

I still have vivd memories and pictures of that trip some 36 years ago, having gone abroad to Europe for the first time of my life. Anyway that is another story for another blog.

In the 1970s, with the Singapore Swimming Club, my Mum would bring my brother John and me to swim in regional meets called the Sanya Samaki Cup pitting our swimming club against the likes of Penang Swimming Club, Royal Bangkok Swimming Club, Singapore Island Country Club, Indonesia's Swimming Club, and the Manila Royal Polo Club. Those were heady days of fun and revelry, and I shall post some pictures of those days when I was a swimmer and swim team captain too. We went to many regional meets, to Haadyai, Bangkok and Chiangmai (bus) in 1973 and 1977, to Penang in 1975, to Manila in 1976 and also in our home city Singapore in 1977. She would chaperone us both plus other boys and girls, oh we had alot of fun and camaderie both competing and then enjoying everyone's company preparing for the last night's presentation of of club's tokens and send off dinner.

In the 80s and 90s, we stopped traveling together, as I was busy doing the National Service and then studying at the NUS and then NTI for the Bachelor of Engineering degree. I did make 3 major travels abroad during the heady 80s each for a month long. The first being a USA 30 day backpack trip in 1984, the next being another 30 days trip all over Australia in 1985 and finally a 36 day trip to Europe in 1987, all sponsored by my wonderful parents. Thank you very much, Mum and Dad !!   

After May and I got married in 1993, we were busy settling down with the young ones, Noel and Andrew, and my parents were still busy with their church and work activities. So my wife and I took our family to many places in Australia,Malaysia and Indonesia (Bintan mainly) over the 90s and early 2000+ years.

In 2000 to 2003, we went on several nearby trips with both my parents to Sentosa, and Bintan (twice I recall), to the Bintan Lagoon Resort and to the Club Med trips which I cherish and they really enjoyed the free flow of food, drink and activities. My son Andrew, was precocious 5 in 2002 and he was getting free crackers and junk food from all the holidaymakers in the ferry to Bintan, although my wife had firm instructions NOT to bring any junk food along !

I decided that since my business travels were short trips, I invited my mother along those trips and she agreed, altough she was concerned with my Dad's health, we had good domestic help. So we went to the following places in the early to mid 2000s, just my Mum and me.

In 2004 and 2005, she accompanied me to Penang, and Bangkok, both places she thoroughly enjoyed the eating and shopping. She made it a point to buy things back for her friends and for my Dad, such was her selflessness. In 2007, 2008 she accompanied me to Kuala Lumpur and Malacca, again she was a very independent minded person, going about doing her sightseeing and shopping without bothering me at all, we would meet up in the evening for dinner, and we had a memorable beef noodle dinner at Jalan Wong Ah Fook in KL in 2007. 

Ah, those days with my Mum. I know she is in a better place with my Dad and at peace. May God bless you richly Mum ! 

More pictures of the good times past - Mum and Dad's Birthday Dinner Nov. 2009

At Li Bai Restaurant November 2009

From Left : John,Hannah,Anna, Mark and Andrew

Anna and her first grandchild, Noel

Happy Times indeed !  Good food, loving family and new toys ! 

From Left :Hannah, Anna, Noel and Andrew

                                        Beside the Christmas decorations : Anna, Geoffrey, May and Joanna.

Goodbye my beloved mother Anna Abisheganaden 1930 - 2011

  

                                 Christmas Eve Friday 24th 2010

My mother Anna Abisheganaden, went home to the Lord Jesus yesterday 8th January 2011. She passed away very peacefully yesterday afternoon at 1. 50 pm or so around lunch time.

She lived a full life and is survived by her 2 sons, myself and John, 2 daughters in law, May and Rebekah, 3 grandchildren, Noel Hao Ren, Andrew Hao Jie and Hannah En Hui Abisheganaden and 2 'godsons' Ramani Munyandi and David Mitchell 

She also left behind her able and competent  caregiver, Jonelyn or Joanna for short.
  
 I am indeed very saddened and shocked at her passing, and as this picture shows our get.together during Christmas Eve 24th and the party she organised on Christmas day 25th she was all smiles and happy to meet all her siblings and close friends.

She will be missed by me, my brother, and our wives and children and all the lives she touched.

I love you Mum with all my heart. I will remember you and keep all the times good and not so good we shared  together for as long as I live.  You are the greatest person I have had the privilege to know. 

"We reap where they have laboured, we reap what they have sown"    

  St Andrew's School Hymn.

             Christmas Day Lunch 2010 

2011 - Resolutions

         Many people who set resolutions or goals each coming year do so in an attempt to better oneself. I have been doing so since 2002 when I took up running seriously and it has enriched my life in many ways.
         By setting goals, I am forcing myself to make sacrifices to improve on certain aspects of my life, but the trick in setting goals is this ; set them too high or too vague and you will break it or not achieve it very quickly and come down to earth. Setting it too low, and you will feel that you have not really achieved anything. So the main essence of setting resolutions are :


1. Set real, achievable goals within this year 2011. 


2. Break them down into personal, family, business and financial


3. DO NOT set vague goals such as "I want to lose weight" this year. Set measurable goals 
    such as "I want to lose 3,4 or 5 kg" this year and with that goal in mind, then break it down 
   further into current weight, monthly reduction (say 1/2 kg), quarterly reduction (1 kg) and 
   yearly  reduction (4 kg).


   Coupled with the goal of, say, losing 4 kg in 1 year, you should then make real plans to lose 
   that 4 kg. For me, it would be a combination and reinforcement every meal to eat 1/2 a 
   bowl or rice when previously it was 1 bowl.


   Then, I would start a walk/run program for 4 to 5 times a week each alternate day, no 
   excuses. Starting with1/2 hour walk, each day to slowly making it to 1/2 hour run and   
   increasing the run time and distance time slowly bit by bit. 


   Do a run log and write how your run went. What was the weather like and were you  
   struggling or pleased with the run after you finished it ? Find a partner to motivate you and 
   you have no excuses not to wake up early to go for that run. 


4. Set up these  realistic goals and review them every week, fortnight and month and so on.


5. Give yourself a small reward once you hit the small goals. Go and have a pizza once you 
    have lost say 2 kg. Stay off alcohol and binge parties. They do you no good. !! 


6. Surround yourself with people who will motivate you or like minded people. If you want to 
    quit smoking, do not hang out so much with your smoker friends and try to go to the gym or 
    sports center and make new friends there.


7. Convince yourself by finding role models who have successfully achieved the goal of 
    losing 5kg or quit smoking and ask them for reassurance or moral support.


8. Can you 'backslide', well that depends on the circumstance, for sure, it is never easy to quit   
    smoking and then BANG, once Chinese New Year or a stressful period comes, you hit the   
    packs again.


9. Find another activity to do - instead of snacking, or smoking go and read a book or go for a 
    run -  this replaces your focus point with another activity ; convince yourself that the new 
    activity is much better and REINFORCE that belief.


     Since I lost weight by running, I have looked better, am more healthy, suffer less gastric problems and made many more new friends through running groups, marathons and also like minded colleagues. So, I can say that my resolution to start running and lose 5 kg around 10 years ago has reaped benefits. 

     Go for it friends.  Have  a Great 2011 !! 

Why I support a no-hope team like Wolves ?

This is the $ 64 million question I think I need to answer. My formative teenage years were in the 1970s and the top entertainment during those times was the colour TV (introduced during the 1974 World Cup Final between Germany and Holland). Oh how, it changed people's lives forever. We could actually see in S.E.Asia what was going on 'live' as it happened halfway around the world. There was no Internet, no Facebook,Twitter, no PCs (first introduced in the early 80s), no mobile phones, no IPhones etc. It was really like living in the Stone Age !

Every week, Singapore would get the English Premier league shown on Channel 5 maybe delayed telecast (2 - 3 weeks later) IN COLOUR. And the games then were played in a very passionate and rough and tumble manner, and of course being part of the Commonwealth, English football took a firm hold in the hearts and minds of many ordinary Singaporeans and Malaysians. The games were less skillful than those today and we had no Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga etc. to watch.

So, in those days, one of the more unique sounding teams was Wolverhampton Wanderers, or Wolves for short and I kind of fancied myself like their chief striker John Richards, who played once or twice for the English national team. I had no idea where they were or if they were even champions. But I faithfully bought the SHOOT ! magazine every week after school (it was available at the neighbourhood shop for about S$ 1 a copy, a princely sum then) and followed their fortunes. I was kind of naive, not wanting to follow a big name team like Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United etc. but the uniqueness of supporting an obscure Midlands team had its appeal. So I stuck with them, even though their glory days of winning the league twice in the 1950s to early 60s were long gone, even before I was born.

Since I followed them (say around 1976), they have only won the League Cup ONCE in 1980. That's IT. Andy Gray headed in a solitary goal against Nottingham Forest and it was 1-0. That's the ONLY major silverware they have won in the last 30 years. Very Pathetic YES. They have been relegated several times since the 1980s and their last stay in the lower regions has been almost 15 years. I forgot them altogether, although I visited the stadium Molineux in 1987 (23 years ago) with some University friends. So I am not a true blue die hard supporter. I am just a FAIR WEATHERED SUPPORTER.

Call me a romantic, but the PLUS POINT of supporting a no-hope team is that :

Whenever they win a game against any other Premier league team, its like WINNING THE CUP FINAL .No one expects them to win anything, let alone stay in the top flight of the Premier League, so their being in the top 20 for  2 years (2008 till now) is already a cause for celebration.

They invest a miniscule amount of money on players, have no brand name stars, and have been using their stadium for 30 years with little upgrade. Money is tight. I have been to the town of Wolverhampton and it is woefully sad and run down many factories have closed shop decades ago (it is an industrial town) and the onlyrevenue is from their university and polytechnics which offer decent degrees and diplomas in Engineering.

So when they win a match I celebrate like they have WON THE CUP FINAL  !

Compare that to someone who supports Arsenal, Liverpool,Man U or Chelsea,their supporters expect them to WIN A TROPHY EACH YEAR. When the do, its EXPECTED. When they don't its a massive DISAPPOINTMENT. So the supporters are JADED, winning is like so boring. So when a team like Liverpool loses a match to Wolves, its a MAJOR DISASTER.  So their emotions are OK we won (this week), BOO we lost to XXX.

Life must be quite torturous for those fans, the expectations are always rising each season.

My approach with Wolves is this ; They lost last week (OK) ; This week they won (YEAH, OLE,OLE, OLE !!! )

 So I am a FOREVER OPTIMIST.

 So on 30th Dec 2010,  Liverpool  0    Wolves 1.

 Its TIME TO PARTY !  OLE ! OLE ! OLE !

What goes through the mind of a Skier

                                                                      

                                                      Chilling in Chun Cheon Korea

  I have been to ski resorts a total of 3 times todate and I have been skiing for the last 5 years on and off, and I can  say that it is one of the most satisfying sports I have tried. It is also a very terrifying sport, especially when you are on the chairlift or ski-lift on the way up to the top of the hill or mountain as the only way down the hill or mountain is through your skis and one mistaken slip, overly fast downhill or uncontrollable speed can land one crashing and landing awkwardly can cause injuries amounting to broken limbs,or even loss of life. Take a look at the great Michael Schumacher who had a terrible accident on the slopes and he never recovered to this day. 

 Having said that, it is as safe as driving, if one takes lessons from qualified ski instructors and undergo fitness training before attempting the slopes.  My son Andrew fractured his wrist when another snowboarder knocked into him and I myself tore some ligaments when I fell awkwardly, in all places, at the ski training centre in Singapore. So it is best to come to the slopes trained and well prepared.

 What goes on in the minds of a skier. I am going to say these  :

a) a prayer to God to help me ski down that damn mother of all mountains and not break a leg or worse. I wear a ski helmet for all my ski trips. 

b) a self assured mantra (repetitive chanting) that I can conquer the steepest slope because I can swerve and stop and control my speed and its not so difficult after all. Looking at all those young kids who ski with no fear in their eyes and going at 60 km/h downhill makes my attempt feel quite pedestrian.

Its true that the older you are, the greater the fear of failure, danger and death. Its called 'KIASU' and 'KIASI' in Singapore.

c) Focus on what is ahead, side and behind. Have a complete 110 % awareness through sight, sound, and feel. I sense with my eyes what is ahead, what is coming from my sides left and right, the swooshing sound of the skis nearby, the smoothness, roughness of the snow beneath me and  the gradient of the slope. Its a huge overload of sensory inputs on sight, sound, touch and bearing (slope gradient). 

Finally the big confidence booster is to tell myself "YOU CAN DO IT !" 

When I am skiing down, I am terrified as well as exhilarated at the same time. The double rush is quite unbelievable. 

I should try sky diving next time, and see whether the adrenalin and endorphin (body's natural feel good chemicals released during high activity sport) high is the same.

Carpe Diem.