Travel

WHEN BROTHERS OF DIFFERENT PARENTS MEET

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

Where have all those young years gone? What happened? All of a sudden, reality hits, we are still very much the same as when we were in school, well at least since our memories serve us well.

A few weeks ago, there was mention in our La Salle@75 WhatsApp (that’s a Social Media communication app on devices like smartphones, electronic pads and computers…for those who aren’t sure) about us, guys, getting together for a physical meet up. It has been many years since we last had one.

Mak Weng Kit straight away replied, “I’m in”. I, too; was game and thought it was a capital idea. As the saying goes, “Time waits for no man”, weeks went by when the suggestion was made.

I decided to buzz Weng Kit for us to meet first, to start the ball rolling with the hope that this will begin a more than once meeting on a regular basis. Then, others can join us in our future meetings.

It was good to know that Weng Kit kept busy by being “Grandpa” to his five grandchildren, two of whom live abroad. He told me that he could only meet after 1.00pm because he had to pick his granddaughter up from school. He made a suggestion that we meet in the coming week at Starling (another place where all the “stars” meet? [in reference to my other articles written about Star Bhavan]) Mall in Damansara Utama, Petaling Jaya; or any place I suggested. He would be there.

I counter- suggested Happy Mansion, Section 17, also in Petaling Jaya; as there usually is ample parking space there. Date: The coming Monday. Meet time: 2.00pm. Weng Kit agreed. It was set. The meeting of the year. I was thrilled that it was an “all systems go” for our meet. The following explains why…

Come Monday, I was out on my walk, probably faster than I usually do, in the build up to 2.00pm. Another reason for my faster walk-than-usual was probably because I was held up by my morning replies to my emails and social media. There seemed to be more than the usual numbers, and people seemed to be responding faster to my responses of their original messages to me. I crossed the allocated time I set for this daily morning exercise.

I completed my walk in the nick of time. Had a shower, got ready and spruced up a bit more than usual. Texted / messaged / Whatsapped Weng Kit at the time I was leaving my house and told him I would be at our meeting place, Good Blue Men before 2.00pm.

Traffic was good from Subang Jaya all the way to the venue. I arrived a few minutes before 2.00pm. Weng Kit, arrived just after me, before 2.00pm, too. Punctuality.😁😉

We were both really happy to meet, face-to-face, after many years. The last time we met was our La Salle 1975 batch gathering in 2014. Since then, it has only been through social media.

Weng Kit is a happily retired from business, businessman. The head of a growing “Mak Weng Kit” clan (his son, the third of three children; is getting married at the end of this year), Weng Kit and his wife devote their time to their children and grandchildren. Weng Kit is also an avid golfer, marathon runner and adventurous road bike cyclist going on long cycle trips.

However, his keep-fit activities have temporarily come to a stop because he recently had a knee-cap replacement. Which means, taking things real easy. However, Weng Kit is still looking really good.

Weng Kit has been keeping abreast about Laura, Jeannie and family through all the articles I have been posting on leatherpotato.com . The latest being Laura’s marriage. And of course, the publishing of SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT.

We talked very fondly about the past, the time when most of our La Salle friends were in our (Atkinson) No. 21, Jalan Ladang house (which was a few hundred meters away from school). From early morning to late night, every day. The guys used to stay over, too. My sister, Jennifer, had her friends from Convent School stay over, too. 21, Jalan Ladang was a pretty big house. It had a very large compound, all round, with a badminton court, too. Our usual day activities were badminton, football, hockey, table-tennis, and darts. We had many dance parties there, too because of its big courtyard just out of the living room. That house sure had many, many, many great memories.

We talked about all our cherished friends and teachers, many are no, longer with us…Hock Chai, Andrew Rozario, Kien Tat…. our teachers like Mr. Ho Chai Fong, Mr. Julian Xavier and the Lopez brothers (Mr. Joseph and recently, Mr. Anthony), among others.

We talked about those who were our temporary teachers like Dr. Khoo Phaik Choo, who was a temporary teacher when she was 20 years old, and we boys, 13. Over the years, she has become a renowned Paediatrician in Malaysia. Another temp teacher was a person by the name of Kenny. He was a fun teacher, always cracking jokes and communicated well with the boys, maybe because he was not that much older than us.

Yes, we, the boys from the 1975 batch have been blessed with an amazing spectrum of dedicated teachers. A couple more of such teachers today are Mr. Michael Xavier; and Mrs. Sivakumar. Mr. Xavier, who is in our Whatsapp group, never fails to wish us with his “Good morning guys and take care message, each morning. Mrs. Sivakumar, whenever we reach out to her, will respond to us. She never looks a day older than when she taught us in class back in 1972. She was our History teacher in Form Two.

Soon, far too quickly; it was time for us to go back to our family lives. But not without Weng Kit having gotten his very own personalized copy of SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT. He paid far more than the price of the book, which I thanked him for and said that it will be passed on to a needy cause. Weng Kit has always been a generous person.

We took this picture👆, too. Definitely one for the album.

I think what Weng Kit and I felt which we did not talk about, did not see the need to, or there were no words at that time to describe it; was the aura of re-uniting in person. That is friendship taken to a different level.

We will work towards making meetings like this on a more regular basis. We don’t need a major reason to do so. However, Weng Kit reminded me that this is our 50th anniversary year of the 1975 La Salle Klang alumni. I told him that I am in with him, to organize a re-union of sorts for the boys of that year, and the teachers, too. That will be interesting.

CLASSMATE GETS HIS SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT BOOK

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

The marvel of modern technology – we are not connected, yet we are. Let me explain.

Don’t leave home without it. No, not American Express; your smartphone.

Today, most of us use smartphones . According to Priori Data, there are 4.88 billion smartphone users (1). I repeat, smartphone users… not mobile phone users. 4.88billion is over 1/2 the world population of 8 billion.

These bits and pieces of technology has made us reliant…ok ok… that’s putting it mildly… has made us over-reliant on this technology. Nowadays, meeting face-to-face is becoming times of scarcity.

While we are connected with almost everybody on earth, the distance cannot be further from the truth when we talk about physical connection.

All said and done, the smartphone is definitely a must have. Almost every facet of your life has to function through your smartphone. To delve what it can and cannot do (got meh? [2]) will require another essay, chapters, books to be written.

It is because of this technological marvel – the smartphone, and the multiple social media applications that run on these devices that my classmate Mohan Singh, and I; and our other classmates and schoolmates, have re-connected with one and other, and have remained connected after all these years. Many of our classmates reside in other parts of the world – and we are connected.

Mohan, with his personalised copy of SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT.

Mohan and our La Salle@75 Whatsapp (one of the most popular, if not the most popular social media “connection” applications [apps for short] in Malaysia) group, have been keeping abreast with my posts on leatherpotato.com. At this juncture, I like to note that an evergreen teacher of ours, Mr. Michael Xavier; is in our La Salle@75 Whatsapp group. He is an active participant, with his usual “Good morning, take care guys” daily greetings. We are blessed to have him with us in the group.

One day, about a year ago; Mohan calls (Whatsapp phone, what else? 😁) me and said, “Let’s meet for breakfast”. At breakfast, he said that I should publish the book that I talked about writing… that I had my manuscript which I just needed to put together.

From there, I connected with one of his friends…and the rest as they say is….elementary. 😁

We met at Star Bhavan for breakfast today. Mohan acquired his copy of the just published SPARKS OF JOY – SEIZE THE MOMENT.

Star Bhavan was more than its usual hive of activity. There was a group of elderly ladies who sauntered in for breakfast and a spritely chat after what looked like an exercise outing for them. They talked quite loud, excitedly. We young ones, that is Mohan and I; had a bit of a time trying to concentrate on our own conversation.

In our discussion, Mohan shared ideas on further promoting the book. We also talked about my next book. Hint: It has something to with a bicycle. 😉😊

NOTES:
1. As of 2024, there are approximately 4.88 billion smartphone users worldwide, accounting for about 60.42% of the global population. The number of smartphones in use globally is around 7.21 billion. China leads global smartphone ownership with 974.6 million users.1 Jan 2025 https://prioridata.com/data/smartphone-stats/
2. Local Chinese way of expressing disbelief.

PERFECT: CHAPATI AND NESCAFE ICE KAW

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

A day of driving, miles and miles; 2 hours 57 minutes on the road travelling.

Was I travelling outstation, in between towns, from one state to another (inter-state by another description)? You can say a little bit of all of the above.

My daughter, Laura sent me a message that she needed a ride back to her house after work. I immediately agreed. Her office is somewhere North East (depending on where you are at) of Kuala Lumpur at Damansara Heights.

I did the usual (most of the time. How many of you would tell some one who is waiting for you that you are just around the corner, when actually you have not started your journey? ) and left the house 5 minutes to the hour of 5.

Indian delight – curry puff and paruppu (dhal / lentil) vadai.

It had begun to rain heavily. I was hoping that it would stop quickly as I did not want the car to get wet in the heavy rain. I just sent the car for a good wash and vacuum this morning. After about half an hour, the heavy downpour did not look like it was going to let up anytime soon, so I made my way to Laura’s office.

The trip to Damansara was smooth despite the heavy rain. As I got into the PJ (Petaling Jaya) section of the Federal Highway, the rain had stopped. I got to Laura’s office a few minutes before she was supposed to finish work. She sent a message (or the local term is, “She Whatsapp-ed me”) to say that her boss had called her in for a last minute meeting. Being the great dad I am (pat on my back😇), I said, “No worries. Take your time”. Waiting for her gave me some time to work on an article, no, not this one; on another one. I am working on several articles at the same time. I saw a movie (I forget the name now) once of an artist who worked on several canvass pieces of art at the same time. She worked on whichever picture gel-led (pronounced as “jelled”) with his mood / feelings / thoughts at that time of his work. Likewise, I am doing the same.

My writings / drafts of unfurnished work are all on my ideaSketchpad💡. Some work have been on the backburner for months. Inspiration has not got me to complete them yet.

Laura was done with her meeting within half hour and we headed back to Subang Jaya. As we got into PJ; we hit the traffic jams. We used Waze to get us the shortest route. All of PJ was hit with massive traffic jams, full force. Waze led us through a route that we had never or probably used once or twice before. We were moving – slowly.

We got back to Subang Jaya within an hour which probably saved us half an hour to three-quarter of an hour compared if we took our usual route (which is using the Federal Highway) back. This new route helped us avoid the Federal Highway altogether. We went through SS3, Kelana Jaya, behind Paradigm Mall, pass the Glomac building, onto Jalan Lapangan Terbang Lama (I think), then onto the flyover that went straight into Subang Jaya, pass Subang Jaya Medical Centre, towards the roundabout near Sri KL school. (Those living in and around Subang Jaya will know this route, or at least, most of it.)

After dropping Laura off at her house, I decided to go to where all the stars meet for a comfortable and nice meal – Star Bhavan. Laura could not join me as she had other plans.

Star Bhavan is a restaurant that caters for a meal whether you are alone, or with someone or with a group of people.

Some of the variety of snacks offered by Star Bhavan. They have a large variety of Indian sweets (snacks and cakes) – not many places offers many different sweets and cakes.

I ordered my usual (most of the time) – chapati (such an easy word, yet the spelling can be a bit confusing. Localised [nowadays], it is spelt as “capati”, without the “h”) and Nescafe Ice Kaw. Ever since I started seriously working on reducing weight, I eat chapati most of the time. No diets. I have never been on a diet, at least consciously.

I go for my daily 10 kilometer (km) to 11km brisk walk, everyday; and on most days, I don’t eat lunch. I also minimise my sugar intake as much as I can.

Some of the large variety of sweets and cakes for those with a sweet tooth and more. I love many of them including the Ghee Mysore Pak and the yellow ghee balls (2nd from left, bottom row).

It makes common sense: burn / work off more calories than what you take in to lose weight. No rocket science needed to come up with a “I’m on a diet, too”. So far, my weight has come down by 9kg and fluctuates between the 67kg – 69 kg band. It has been hovering around this range for the last one and a half months. I am still working at it. My target ideal weight is 63kg.

One for the camera.

Back to my chapati and Nescafe Ice “story”.  I often have this meal combination when I am here. It seems light but it’s just nice for me.  Once in a while, I will add on an additional potato or a spicy fried chicken, chicken varuval or a spicy potato dish. Today, is one of those once-in-a-while days.

Dinner for one.

My meal was quick to arrive. There were three small side dishes that came with it – a “set” in the chapati tray. The “set tray” has 4 compartments, if I may call them that – one large and three small. The large one is for the main serving, in this case, it was the chapati. The three compartments were filled with what I call three different curry gravies. No, not right.

The white condiment was coconut chutney. The greenish condiment was some sort of potato dish, maybe it is a green curry. The other was a natural curry. 😀

This is an unusual potato dish with beans. Very spicy. Very tasty.

I decided to “live it up” – I ordered an additional potato dish. This looked like a dry curry dish, promising to take “spicy” to the next level. It was quite unusual. It had big beans (the baked beans type) in it.

Potent stuff. At least to those who are only used to eating 1 or 2 chilis in their food.

Green “curry” dish?

The delicious, spicy, yet not too spicy coconut chutney – sort of a sambal dish.

Capati (pronounced “char-par-tee” [as it sounds])

What can I say about this meal? It wasn’t fanciful nor was the dish patterned with sauces used to design or decorate. It sure was delicious, all the way, right to the last tiny flaked piece of chapati and dried potato curry with beans and coconut chutney. The only thing fanciful about this meal was the price, I guess. It was more than reasonable, I sure was satisfied. It was a good meal. And the Nescafe Ais Kaw – was just right. It complimented my dinner very well. I will be back for more meals in the future.

Spicy potato and large beans dish. Really delicious – one of Star Bhavan’s best, by far.

Bean vadai. Excellent for breakfast, tea or snacking during any time of the day.

I picked up some bean vadai and currypuffs to go, for my next morning’s breakfast.

BARE FEET 10 KILOMETER WALK

/ Alan Atkinson / 1 Comment

Not really a good idea. I should have thought of that before I started it this morning.

Early Saturday evening (known as mid-afternoon or late afternoon by some)… We’ve settled in at the hotel. Rested for a while from the drive. My wife, Jeannie; was eager to feel the sands that made up the beach. Looked white (an illusion), initially, it was more a tanned white.

With a little (not much needed 😉) persuasion, I agreed to accompany her on this sandy expedition. Laura, our daughter, said she was good where she was and didn’t want to trade the comfort of her bed and air-conditioning to walk in the sands, more often than on the sand, (Much persuasion. When you get on the bed, you don’t want to get out of it because the weather is hot outside. Have a Spanish or Mexican siesta, perhaps?).

We took a short ride in the lift, down 5 levels. When the lift doors opened, an immediate response that you wouldn’t be faulted for expressing would have been, “this is a secret cave. Maybe it would lead to the Batmobile”.

No such thing. It was the hotel’s basement which they called the “games room”. It had a variety of indoor games and activities that would keep you occupied if you did not want to go to the beach.

Now, you would wonder why people would come and stay by the beach and not want to go to the beach, not wanting to feel the sands and the biting, salty sea waters? I wonder. Not forgetting, have the sun’s rays lash out at you from 93 million miles away. Maybe, just being there, knowing that the scenic view is close at hand was enough. And getting the whiff of the ocean, too; it’s undeniable, the salt that is.

We made our way to the beach which was about a 100 meter walk. The beach was crowded. There was still enough space for more people to get some fun out of it.

Jeannie got into the water after a short walk in the direction away from the hotel. That part of the beach wasn’t too crowded. She was in her element, enjoying the water. I opted to walk on the beach.

I walked at the edges of the waves as they came up the beach. I was ankle-deep in water, whenever the waves breached the unmarked fringes and came past me.

The beach was clean and pleasant to be on. Everyone was happy. Jetskis, and a variety of boat rides were available for those who wanted to “go out to sea”.

I thought I’d do my 10km walk on the beach. I found that sinking in the soft sand was OK, I guess. The “sinking in the sand effect” was slowing down my pace, slightly. This was the dry part of the beach.

After walking a couple of kilometres or so, rain clouds soon formed above us and before we knew it, heavy rain came down on us.

We spent the rest of the evening back at our hotel room. It was one of those rare occasions where we just chill-ed / relaxed, without having to do much. That is the word, “Do”. Sometimes, we just have to do something to be doing something, instead of not doing anything but being the present, which can be considered as doing something.

Breakfast at the hotel was early at around 8.18am. Buffet style, the spread (choice) of food was both local and western. The breakfast hall which had a seating capacity of over 100 people, was crowded with people. We managed to get a table with quite a bit of space around us. I like elbow room. My elbows tend to go up, outwards, when I cut through my food.

The food was good. Jeannie and Laura went for a mix of local and western. Laura had her Nasi Lemak (a must have wherever she goes), and a bit of a western style meal, leaning more to an American breakfast. Jeannie had a little bit of everything, which was quite a lot in the end. I went for some scrambled eggs, a couple of sausages, local fruit, fruit juice and black coffee. The three of us enjoyed our meal.

The Batik Influencer was eager to head down to the beach and into the Straits of Malacca (the sea, which is world renowned and one of the busiest shipping lanes, Straits of Malacca). So, she and I made olur way down to the beach while Laura headed back to the room to chill.

Jeannie wasted no time getting in the water. I started my 15,000 step walk, which would make up just over 11 kilometers.

to be continued…Pt 2

Did I say relax? Therapeutic.

This is how it’s done…without the surfboard.

Footprints in the sand – mine; all 11 kilometers of it. You can tell by the size 8, 9 or 10 (depending which country shoe size measurement).

PEOPLE

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

Is it the weekend already? You’re supposed to answer the obvious. Unless your weekend starts on a Sunday or Tuesday.

I’m on my one of my 10km walks. The sky is billowing with black clouds, looking like it is about to burst at its seams. A strong drizzle is already coming down and I, cowering under an opened umbrella; must complete my 10km distance. A couple of people pass by. “Raining” one said. while pointing to the sky. Again, it is the obvious. I smiled and replied, “Yes, it is”.

On another of my walks, a neighbour sees me walk by at a fairly brisk pace? “Jogging, ahh?” That got me thinking about the word, “jogging”. Off the bat, I consider jogging as a run, mostly slow run. Small steps, moving 3km/h to 5km/h faster than a general brisk walker like me. Not too fast, but faster than the casual walk. It turns out that Wikipedia agrees with me. 😀(1)

So, the neighbour is quite correct when she asked if I was jogging, because I was not running. However, I was walking faster than my usual pace (which is in itself, quite fast, above the average).

There are multiple other incidents similar those mentioned above. Many are strangers to me. The message. People are kind. People are friendly. People want to make conversation, even though just for a few minutes.

Just a few days ago, as my wife, Jeannie and I were leaving Sunway Pyramid after some light shopping (I did not find the the item I was looking for). Our car was parked on CP3 (Level 3). So, we walked up to the pay machine as we usually did, keyed in our vehicle number, flashed the credit card to clear the transaction, but it failed. After a couple of attempts to make payment, I saw a small sigh above the machine stating that it now only accepts debit cards. We were going to walk one level down to pay with our credit card, when a young couple asked us to key in our vehicle registration number into the payment machine again. When we did, the lady used her debit card to pay. The payment cleared. I tried to pay them back but they did not want to accept it, saying that it was a small amount.

Is this kindness, or caring, or any one of the good words or statements you can think of? I would say a little bit of each. People just do what comes naturally to them, without a second thought.

I am grateful for people. I find them fascinating, don’t you agree? The more I think of it…the more I ask questions…and get answers…, they lead to more questions. Am I becoming philosophical (I can hardly get the spelling right)?💭🤔

Musings

People: Top picture, Left to Right: my late Uncle David Nellaiah, Dad (Eustace Anthony Atkinson) and my late Uncle Joseph Gomes.
Picture taken probably in the 1970s.
Bottom picture, Left to Right: My cousin, Christopher Nellaiah, my late brother, Nigel Edward Atkinson and my cousin Dato Ronald Gomes.
Picture taken around 2020.
The bottom picture are of the sons of the gentlemen in the picture above. Both pictures are of men with amazing people’s skills, friendliness and kindness.

NOTES:
1. Jogging is a form of trotting or running at a slow or leisurely pace. The main intention is to increase physical fitness with less stress on the body than from faster running but more than walking, or to maintain a steady speed for longer periods of time. Performed over long distances, it is a form of aerobic endurance training. Wikipedia

50,000 HITS

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

50,000 HITS!

From over 100 countries. Thank you to each and everyone of you for your support through all the various forms of social media and communication. I enjoyed meeting multiple readers / subscribers / followers in person whenever the opportunity was made available.

As one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers, Michael Schumacher once said, “Records are meant to be broken”. I am looking forward to the next 50,000.

I am grateful.

ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller

IT CAME, IT WENT

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

Aren’t we all in a hurry? Everything seems to be in a rush or rushing to catch the tail end of something. Tail end of a moment? Now, that will be a feat to watch. A moment is what I believe to be wa-a-a-y faster than a second. So, can you imaging trying to catch it’s tail end? I think a dog, running in circles, trying to catch its tail is more likely to succeed though the odds are stacked against that from happening. Compared to us trying to catch the tail end of a moment.

We were waiting in anticipation for the weekend to come, because it was the “Merdeka” weekend. Malaysia’s 67th Independence anniversary. Though some purists will tell you that it was to be Peninsula Malaysia’s (Malaya in 1957) Independence. Sarawak and Sabah got theirs a few years later, what is now known as “Malaysia Day”.

Also, it was the first time that we, the Batik Influencer, Jeannie; and I, would be manning a booth at Amcorp Shopping Mall’s Flea Market starting on a Friday and ending on Sunday.

Friday came. We were at our designated booth on the 1st Floor by 11.00am, set up and displayed the things that we hope would have found new owners by this weekend. At first, we only expected the people traffic flow to be from the office crowd since Friday was a working day. The crowd was good, with a good mix of those still working and those who were not.

The first two of JEANNIE’S OWN Batik Cape Creations were quickly snapped up by these two ladies.

There was a D.J. / M.C. this weekend. He was good. We weren’t at our booth for too long before the M.C. (let’s call him that for the rest of the article) made his way to out booth and interviewed the Batik Influencer. He promoted her batik capes (Jeannie’s Batik Capes under the lable of JEANNIE’S OWN) over the air. I met him, but we did not recognise each other).

The M.C., Denis; getting to know about the Batik Influencer’s Batik Cape Creations under the JEANNIE’S OWN label.

A while later, I saw my cousin, Darren Atkinson, walk by. When he heard the M.C.s voice over the speakers, he said that was Denis Lim. I said it couldn’t be because we met each other earlier. However, I did not recognise him, and vice versa. No names were exchanged at that point of time.

Darren went looking for the M.C..

Friday was soon over, and Jeannie and I headed for home by about 5.00pm. We wanted to avoid the office crawl (literally). It is the usual time when you can see snails move faster than us. Looks like I’ve been influenced by “Turbo”.

The Batik Influencer demonstrating the multiple ways of using the JEANNIE’S OWN Batik Cape Creations.

One of the first people to visit us on Saturday morning was the M.C., Denis. Now, I knew who he was and vice versa; after Darren. We were all connected through the youth of Assumption Church, Petaling Jaya. (1) We reminisced of the great times we had when we were the youth (we still are…depending on how one looks at it😉😂) of the 1970s and 1980s.

My cousin, Chris; stopped by, too. We had a good chat since our last coffee meet up a few weeks ago.

We had many people come see us during the three days we were at our booth. There was never a time the Mall was quiet. The M.C. did a fantastic job, keeping the crowds entertained and updating them on where there could find great bargains for the bargain hunters. He also advertised the products of all the booths had to offer.

Emir visited us, and so did his sister. They picked up a few things of ours for their use. My Fujimi brand e34 BMW 535 SOHC unbuilt model kit which I bought in 1989 and kept all this while, has now found a new owner, who apparently does not intend to build it, but to keep it like how I kept it. He has a real “Mazda red” (colour) e34, double vanos model, as his daily use. He loves it.

More of my Hotwheels collection have found new owners, leaving me with barely 10% of my original collection left. They all must have new owners.

The Batik Influencer met with more fashion industry people and talked away about batik and how it is a growing powerhouse in the international arena. I met many more people who have become followers of http://www.leatherpotato.com. They have wished me well on the upcoming book and have indicated an interest in getting a copy each when it reaches the book stores in Q1, 2025. For, you, readers; a multiple number have indicated that you want a copy, it is coming real soon. It was supposed to be out for the Christmas holidays. However, due to a slight delay, it will be out in Q1, 2025 (not too long from now). I am excited to see its fruition.

We headed home by about 5.30pm. But first, we stopped by at Kwai Sun for dinner…

NOTES:
1. Petaling Jaya is a city in the state of Selangor, Malaysia.

WIDE SPACES AND COFFEE

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

Early morning drive. Done the “sending to work” duties. Damansara Heights (1)… Heading back to Subang Jaya (2)…

The weather would have two groups of people, one for it; the other against. The group that would be against today’s weather…gloomy…the light grey / white-coloured clouds looked like they were on steroids, big and puffy…looked like it was going to rain…no sun…what a way to start the morning. Now, they don’t have a reason to use / wear their new over-the-top, shades (sunglasses), which they themselves thought they looked good in.

The group that would be in favour of today’s light grey / white-colored clouds would have been happy…a change from the over-bright, hot, humid weather…the sun’s morning bright rays are almost usually as hot as that of midday. Now, with the thick cloud over-cast, the sun’s over-bright rays are blocked. Woohoo! People can spend more time outdoors without having to slap and rub sunblock all over their bodies (though there will still be that tiny percentage of people who would still apply the sunblock for the “just-in-case-if the sun shows up”), exercise, gardening…enjoying the light morning breeze.

As for me, I didn’t think too much of it, except for this article, of course.

While I was on the Federal Highway (2), I got a call from my cousin, Chris, to join him for breakfast. I was able to answer the call, handsfree; as my phone automatically links to the car’s stereo system’s speakers via bluetooth. “Coffee Space” was his choice. The time was 8.45am, The cafe was already opened.

Even though the jam on the highway was causing traffic to move at a slightly faster than “crawl” pace, I got to the cafe by 9.15am. This was not my first visit to this cafe.

The first thing, which I think is one of its greatest strengths is that it is very bright and airy. I get the impression that it was modeled after one of those old colonial bungalows. Built during the days of the British rule in then old Malaya; many of them are still around all over (now) Malaysia.

When you walk in past it’s wide glass door, you will see a long purplish-greyish-coloured cushion benched sofa on the left, with small, round tables placed along it. The same type of round tables are placed all over the rest of the room / hall, spaced out so you don’t have the feeling of being cramped too close to each other. This is important to me, especially when I cut my food with a knife. I tend to have my elbows spread out instead of close to my body, when cutting through food. Do you have the same way of cutting your food?

Of the course the other reason for having tables further apart from each other, is privacy – when I am with people or when I am doing work.

However (this is a big “however”), I do not make a fuss about it. I just think that space between tables is an additional perk if and when available.

Big potted plants or mini trees, adds to the decor. They were placed all round the room, not too many of them which would have over-done the decor. Just nice, to add to the “dining by the porch” feel.

Chris ordered his favourite – Big Breakfast and an americano. He arrived at Coffee Space ahead of me, ordered his breakfast and finished it just as I came in.

I ordered a beef spaghetti and an americano. When my order arrived, I thought it was a bit much for breakfast. Good thing I don’t eat lunch on most days; this was going to be one of them.

The wide glass door, the row of wide windows above the door providing additional light and the high ceilings, gives this a touch of the old type colonial bungalows.
High ceiling fans for that “colonial-era feel”.
The long purplish – greyish cushioned bench. Comfortable.
My breakfast.

Coffee Space is more a restaurant than a café, at least that’s what I think. They have a good selection of breakfast and other choices of mainly western offerings on their menu.

Beef spaghetti. It looks good. Bet it tastes as good as it looks. It does, and did. Tasted even better.

The beef spaghetti was good. The presentation made the meal all the more appetizing. I enjoyed it. I did not feel uncomfortably full. It was just nice.

My americano – black, no sugar.

Chris and I spent some quality family time. The Olympics or the results coming out from it, did not dominate our conversation time. We somehow, seem to have lots of topics to catch up on. One is the new Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 Ultra. Fascinating watch. Discussion about it on another day.

Notice the cameraman? His cup of coffee is on the left.

Before we knew it, it was near mid-day. I had a whole lot of writing, picking up from where I left off on some of the articles. I have some articles that I would like to write on which is very niche. There are some that I would like to actually (there I go with that word) put pen to paper. We’ll see. For now, I have more than I can handle. Exciting!

NOTES:
1. Bukit Damansara in Bahasa Malaysia or Damansara Heights in English, is one of the most affluent business and residential addresses in Malaysia. It is located in the capital, Kuala Lumpur.
2. The Federal Highway links Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia on one end, to Port Klang (one of Malaysia’s premier ports) in the state of Selangor, which is about 50 kilometers (30 miles) away, on the other end.

YOUR DANCE

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

ARE YOU ON THE DANCE FLOOR, DANCING, WORKING ON YOUR MOVES AND STEPS?
OPPORTUNITY DANCES WITH THOSE ALREADY ON THE DANCE FLOOR. SEIZE THE MOMENT.

BE WHO YOU ARE AND SAY WHAT YOU FEEL
BECAUSE THOSE WHO MATTER DON’T MIND.

PROVE YOURSELF TO YOURSELF.

DON’T FORGET TO ENJOY THE MUSIC.

~ ALAN IAN ATKINSON
Writer, Author, Storyteller

THROWBACK – U.S.A. DECEMBER 2022

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

This unfinished draft, popped up on my ideaSketchpad or sort of popped up; an essay that I worked on in December 2022 / January 2023. Now, to add the finishing touches.

Nov 30, 2022, Dubai, U.A.E.

This was on our (Jeannie , my wife, the Batik Influencer) and my trip to the U.S. to visit our No.1 daughter, Laura; for the first time since August 2019. We were there to also attend her graduation from university.

We were met at the O’Hare International airport in Chicago, by Laura’s university swim coach, Dr. Duesterhaus; who drove all the way from Decatur (about 3 hours south-west of Chicago) to pick us up and take us to Decatur. American hospitality – unmatched.

Our meet up with Laura when we got to Decatur was immensely wonderful. Four years, well; almost four years of Whatsapp video calls, Whatsapp messages, emails – and now, in person. What joy!

8.00pm, December 1, 2022, U.S. time. Reunited after 30hours of travel. The scientist from the movie “Back To The Future” looks like me here, except his hair is white.

The picture above was the first family together reunion shot as we got into the house. We didn’t want to take any pictures outside because we could not wait to get in the house. It was freezing cold. Decatur winter. Thank goodness it was just a breeze and not the infamous winds blowing that night. It would have made it all the more uncomfortable to get from the car to the house.

Y-ee-e-s-ss-sss?

Picture on the left ↢ of me in the bedroom, already at work, putting an article together, while at the same time, trying to catch up on reading.

There is nothing like reading physical books, being able to flip pages, and hear them flipping at the same time. get the smell of the ink on paper (the smell may no longer be there. You can imagine the smell of ink as the letters, words, sentences and paragraphs, newly set ((printed)) on paper dries up).

Reading from a screen is alright for a few minutes, I guess; before a notification, message or advertisement pops up to distract you. It is the only 1 (one) time you’ve got; and everyone, company or distractor is trying to get a piece of the action – your time. Here’s the thing: you don’t have multiple lifetimes, whether running concurrently or one after another. You’ve got one shot at making the only life you have – spectacular; which means using it the way that it is going to inspire you, and others, too.

Don’t forget to grab my book when it hits the shelves in the near future.😁

Windowed view of the outside world

The picture on the right ↣ of the “Windowed View Of The Outside World” gave me a glimpse of a real live view or what I otherwise saw on tv of an American neighbourhood. Winter, trees without leaves, snowfall flickers on and off, lightly. Houses were basically square or rectangular, mostly 2- or 3-storey, many with a mix of brick, stone, concrete and wood.

This view was my view for a month, as I sat at the table each time, with the window not going anywhere, right in front of me. I am a dreamer. I love to stare outside and let “my mind is my playground” wonder. Think of it: There are no two 1 seconds, or two 1 minutes, or two 1 hours the same. Every moment that has passed is already a different phase. If there is a camera fast enough to capture the transition from one moment to another, you will notice the difference.

It is here at this table, that I wrote a couple (or more) of articles on how robots, like a trojan horse, is taking over the world. I also wrote about how we are easily giving up our rights to decide things for ourselves without putting much thought into it – all in the name of making lives easier for us. Food for thought articles. And more. I found it fun writing those essays.

A must have for this writer – coffee in many forms. In this case “Kopiko”.
The real thing.

Getting some work done at the Coffee shop. I think this was the River Coffee Cafe.

Laura introduced us to the local cafe, the River Coffee Cafe in Decatur town. It was a cool place to hang out, chill or get some work done. The atmosphere was right, great place to have coffee, some light bites and for us, to do some light work.

In this whole time we were in Decatur, I missed my good friend that I met in my last trip to Decatur, Dick Black. He had just moved to South Carolina a few days earlier. We are still very much in contact through social media.

Spending time with Laura when we were there – there was magic in every moment. I think we cannot or should not spend time trying to think up of what to do or plan what we should do with big chunks of time like weeks, months and years only. Let’s start with the little fellas like moments, seconds and minutes in the present.

U.S.A. – Would I? Definitely!