MJ vs Elvis

On Saturday Iyan asked me to get him Michael Jackson's DVD because he had missed the concert which was aired on television. He especially requested the one with Smooth Criminal. Why? He wanted to learn to moonwalk. So, on Sunday I was practically hopping from one shopping centre to the other looking for his DVD and at each stop, the reply was a disappointing, 'Sold Out'. I have to wait for the new ones to arrive somewhere next week.

Iyan asked me a question just now. 'Taiyee, who is better? Michael Jackson or Elvis Presley?' I couldn't give him an answer. I just told him that they sing different types of songs and both are very good. Iyan said, 'I think Elvis is better.' LOL! He also said that he wants to visit Neverland!

Michael is indeed an icon and a legend. Within days of his passing, all his albums and DVDs were sold out. How often do we see this scenario? I am glad I have his albums, even though not many. I am not an avid fan of his but I just love his songs and music. I wonder if there will be any other singer who could replace him?

As for Elvis, I don't know much about him. Could the atmosphere at the time of his death be the same as the one now? All I know is I also like many of Elvis' songs and I have a collection of them. Not bad eh?

jennyiyan's recollections...

King of Pop

This afternoon at work, I received a phone call from my seven-year-old nephew, Iyan. He said, 'Taiyee you must throw away your King of Pop t-shirt.' 'Why?' I asked. 'Because he is dead.' He said he heard it on the radio.

I heard the news this morning when a few colleagues of mine mentioned of his demise. I did not and could not believe it initially. Then this feeling of utter sadness crept all over me when I realised that I could not pretend that it did not happen anymore.

Whenever I saw clips of his videos on tv, I had to hold back the tears that were threatening to flow. The King of Pop is dead. It's a reality.

Indeed, he is an icon. When I look back, the entertainment world has not only lost a sensational singer but an icon who cannot be replaced. Practically everyone in this world knows who Michael Jackson is. His fast moves and dances on stage and his signature moonwalking and crotch-grabbing moves will definitely live in everyone's heart.

His first few songs that I heard as a young girl were songs like Beat It, Thriller and Billie Jean. Later on, I learnt more about him and knew about the Jackson Five and his other songs which he recorded when he was younger. My all-time favourite is Ben. I fell in love with the song the moment I heard it.

He might be gone but I believe his name and songs will live for generations to come. Hence, it is very apt that the title King of Pop be given to him. He is even called a legend by many and as proof, most of the radio stations are paying tribute to him by playing his songs throughout the weekend.

I will not throw away my King of Pop t-shirt as requested by Iyan. I will not even wear it anymore but will keep it to remind me of the existence of such a great singer. RIP Michael Jackson.

jennyiyan's recollections...

A Tribute To A Wonderful Dad

Tomorrow is Father's Day. I'm sure most of us would have already thought of how to celebrate this day with our fathers. Some might even have celebrated it today because there is a possiblity that tomorrow evening all the restaurants would be packed. Most people would be having dinner as a family to celebrate this day.

As for me, I will not be celebrating it because my dad passed away four years ago after he succumbed to an illness. However, there are many memories that my siblings and I had with him.

First and foremost, I would like to thank my dad for his farsightedness. Why do I say so? Well, he saw English as a very important language to master and he wanted all his children to be able to converse in the language well. Hence, he made sure that we took the subject seriously.

Besides that, he together with my mum had influenced my siblings and I in such a way that we have all grown up to be independent and successful adults. He played a great part in moulding us into what we are today.

What I am doing today is also partly his influence. I remember receiving a letter informing me that I was offered a place at a certain college. I had made up my mind not to go initially. When dad got to know about it, he was very unhappy. He told me that it was not easy securing that place. Many people would have killed for it.

With the economical situation in our country today, I am truly glad for his advice. If it wasn't for his farsightedness, I would be worrying about being retrenched today. Now I do not have to worry each night when I go to bed that I would not have an office to go to when I wake up the next morning.

My dad was a disciplinarian and he made sure that we followed every rule he had set for us, like taking our studies seriously and for us girls, no dating or going out when our exams were near.

He was also a man of few words. I wouldn't deny that we were a little fearful of him when we were young as he would never think twice in rebuking or punishing us if we did wrong. However, we respected him for what he did because he believed in not sparing the rod and spoiling us.

As a father, he made sure that we were never in want. He worked very hard to provide for us and whatever we needed, he would go all out to get it for us.

On the other hand, he was not someone who was all work. He would take the whole family away for holidays and I am proud of the fact that I have learnt a lot of things and gained a lot of knowledge from all these trips.

On days when he was busy and could not be away from work for a long period of time, he would take us to the nearest beach during the weekend just so we could spend time together as a family. I truly value his effort in trying to keep the family together and as a result, we, his children grew up in a very loving and close knit family.

These are just a few of the instances that I am sharing here. There is so much more to talk about him and I know I won't be able to finish it in one sitting. So, I'll just leave the rest to some other time.

Finally, I take this opportunity to wish all fathers out there A Very Happy Father's Day.

jennyiyan's recollections...

A Tale from Wonder Land 2

It looks like everything in Wonder School is settled, according to reliable sources. The saga has ended. How is it settled? Well, apparently Number 1 (N1) has been transferred to another school and the principal (P) from the school that she's going to would be coming to Wonder School as principal. Actually P was formerly a senior assistant at Wonder School and was the Board of Directors' (BOD's) choice to replace N1. Fortunately their request was deemed appropriate and finally approved by the authorities.

When Small Fry (SF) and gang heard rumours that P would be coming back to the school, they scrambled to get in touch with her and tell her about everything that was happening in Wonder School. Sigh. Obviously they have not learnt their lesson. Why can't they just let matters be and work together as one for the betterment of the students and school? We wonder what would happen to Wonder School. Will peace and harmony ever be restored?

No matter what, let's just hope that P will use her intelligence and discretion when dealing with things and not easily be swayed by what they have been telling her. Most importantly, she would be fair in dealing with matters pertaining to the students' and teachers' welfare. Only then will there be peace and harmony in Wonder School.

jennyiyan's recollections...

That's life 3 ...

Yesterday at work, a colleague of mine told me that another colleague (A) was on medical leave for one day. Without thinking, I asked, 'Only one day?' 'Yeah, he said one day only.' I couldn't believe my ears. Did I hear right? Then I thought, people may change.

This morning at work, the same colleague told me that A was on medical leave for another day. Yay! I wasn't wrong. Old habits die hard. Another colleague who sits next to me said, 'We know him too well.' I couldn't agree more.

This type of people will find all ways to be absent from work and these are also the people who would get away with things with their smooth talks. They will shirk their responsiblities and others would have to help complete their unfinished work.

Then there is another type who will out of the blue tell you that they are not feeling well and want to go to the clinic or hospital during office hours and would disappear for the whole day. At times I wonder why action is never taken on this type of people. It's unfair when the rest of us have to cover for them.

Of course there are many others who are worse than what I've mentioned and I guess we can't really get rid of all of them. Come to think of it, I think the world that we live in wouldn't be as colourful as it is now without them, right? They do spice up our lives and at least give us something to gossip about. ;P

jennyiyan's recollections...

English and the SPM 2

I'm sure we all remember the issue which was brought up by our DPM a few days ago regarding English being made a must pass paper for the SPM. From the feedback, many quarters are against making the subject compulsory. I'm positive most of them are parents who feel that it is not a necessity. I wonder if they know what their children would be losing out and have they asked their children's opinion about it in the first place?

It might not be important for them but what about their children's future? Will they be able to compete with others at the international level? From what I see English will still be the international language for many years to come unless of course, everyone starts speaking Mandarin or any other language overnight and English is deemed not important anymore.

Furthermore, books and all other printed materials for colleges and higher learning institutions in Malaysia are printed in English, especially the imported ones. So, if children do not start taking English seriously from young, they will be having a hard time in future when they further their studies at higher learning institutions. The only way to help them will be by making English a must pass subject. It will be difficult initially, but if they realize the importance of the subject, I am sure they will put in the extra effort to learn and master the language.

The same thing happened with the learning of Maths and Science in English. After the initial glitches, we see the results. The first batch of students have done relatively well in these two subjects. They preferred to answer their exam questions in English even though the Bahasa Malaysia version was given. This shows something, doesn't it? Here, we have our previous PM to thank for his insight and farsightedness.

However, if there is going to be a change in the teaching of English in this country, then a lot of research and planning have to be done first. It will take time. It's all right as long as we see positive results for our children's future. We want our future leaders to be at par, if not better than other leaders internationally.

Learning grammar is important. We need to know how the language works, so we need to start from the basics. The same goes when learning Bahasa Malaysia or any other language. We need to learn the grammar part of it too. Once we get the hang of it, everything falls into place. We just need to have the right attitude and approach. So, no matter what others might say, I personally feel that we should take English seriously and that it should be made compulsory in the SPM to entitle one to a certificate.

jennyiyan's recollections...

English and the SPM

Should English be made a compulsory paper to pass in the SPM? For me it's definitely a Yes! Yes! and a Yes!! I first saw it posted on Twitter just now and then I read about it on the NST online. Our DPM, who is also the Education Minister is asking the public to give their views on this matter and he said that he was surprised that it is not compulsory to gain a pass in the subject to be given the certificate. I feel that it is time the government and education ministry look seriously into this matter. I'm sure they would have come to the realisation that many of our students in schools and graduates from the higher learning institutions cannot really converse well in the language. At the same time, there are some parties who are trying to ask the government to abolish the teaching of Maths and Science in English (PPSMI) and to revert to the old system. Excuse me, are they in their right mind? Can't they see the disaster that would happen if they abolished the present system? As it is, the students are not doing very well in English and by abolishing it ... I dare not imagine. With PPSMI, we see that our children are at least putting an effort into learning the language because they know that if they do not learn it, they will be at the losing end. How are they going to compete with others at the international level? There are times when I went to the shopping mall and I needed information on certain products and had to ask for assistance from the promoters, more often than not I would end up being disappointed because these people would fail to give me the information that I needed. So, should we abolish PPSMI? Should English be made a compulsory subject in the SPM? I still stand firm by my opinion.

jennyiyan's recollections...

Best Aunty Award

It's the school holidays again and I get to spend a lot of time with Iyan and Ilynne, especially Iyan. Though it's the holidays, he has to attend a holiday programme for writing and today is the last day. He happily announced to me, 'Finally, my holidays begin'. Now he is so into football and for a seven going on eight-year old, he knows a lot about the game. You can mention a name, and he'll tell you which team the player is from. I'm amazed at his knowledge. In fact, I've learnt a lot about football from him. His favourite team is Chelsea and his favourite player is Frank Lampard. Besides this, his command of Bahasa Malaysia, which he had zero knowledge until he went to school last year is also improving. It's funny listening to him speak the language. He would say, 'Popo, ada orang di outside .' Yesterday, he told me, 'Taiyee, you are the best aunty in the whole wide world.' Imagine my pride at that moment. If only there was an award for that category, I think I would have beaten all the other contestants flat. That made my day

jennyiyan's recollections...

A Tale from Wonder Land

What you are going to read is a sad tale from the land I call the land of wonders, Wonder Land. Most of the 'wonders' that I am going to mention happened in a school, which I will call Wonder School. Before the present principal took over, Wonder School was a very peaceful place where the teachers and students work and learn together and had a wonderful time. But all these disappeared when the new principal (Number 1/N1) took over late last year. She actually started off very well. She introduced new ideas for the betterment of the school. At the same time, however, she did something not so good regarding the purchase of certain things (a very sensitive topic indeed). Tsk, tsk, tsk naughty her. Since she was still new she had to get approval from the senior assisstant (Number 2/N2). So, N2 being an honest person naturally did not want to release payment because things were not done according to procedure. N2 was unhappy with the way N1 did things, and all these eventually came to the knowledge of the Board of Directors (BOD) and PTA. N1, under the advice and guidance from her twin (small fry - SF) - a viscious teacher of Wonder School - started a 'war' with N2. So begins the saga...

The BOD and PTA are all on the side that is doing the correct thing, N2 because they are the ones who will be coming out with whatever monetary aid for the school. Naturally, they went and appealed to the people who are of higher authority (HA) at the state level but HA who are supposed to be neutral chose to side N1 knowing very well that what she did was wrong. Why? To save their reputation (face) and all because of their arrogance. They refused to admit that they had actually promoted the wrong person to be principal. So, BOD and PTA had to fight their case at the national level with the people from the ministry. All the evidence of wrongdoing by N1 were submitted to them. While they were waiting for word from the people there, things were happening at Wonder School.

SF wanted an amount of money (RM) to finance her Dance Club as they had made some new dance clothes for the members. Where to get the RM? Since the PTA AGM was coming up, N1 and SF came up with a plan, that was, to get some innocent people to sit on the board so that they could manipulate them. They even threatened some new teachers (verbally-face to face or through the telephone and even tried calling them till the middle of the night) and asked them to vote for their candidates. Otherwise ... Well, when it is not something that is good, God sees. Immediately, the BOD and PTA came up with a strategy to counter N1 and SF's plan. N1 said that there shouldn't be any politicking involved but she was the one who started it all. Of course, all the teachers are adults and can think for themselves. So you can guess the outcome of the AGM.

Their next plan was to get the RM through the teacher's day concert. Once again God intervenes. Some of the students refused to pay for the concert and some parents telephoned N1 for explanation. Their fingers started pointing in the wrong direction. They blamed N2 and some other teachers for instigating the students. Therefore, to punish everyone concerned N1 cancelled the teacher's day celebration for the school. Needless to say, the students were devastated and tried to appeal. Alas!

A meeting was set up and all parties concerned were to meet at the ministry to trash things out and to find a solution to all these mess. While awaiting the outcome, HA got N2 transferred out followed by two other teachers. Rumours were that a few more would follow suit and eventually the whole staff would be gone and be replaced by new ones. Well, who can take things lying down.

Things have happened and some parties have gone to the press and even the TV station. The last I heard was the fight was not over yet for all parties. As I see it, the victims from this outcome would be the innocent students and teachers as when two giants fight...

All these would not have happened if N1 had admitted to her mistake. Also if she had not listened to SF, things would have been different. As I see it, SF and her greed is the cause of N1's downfall. If only they were not so selfish, if only they had put the needs of the students of the whole school ahead of everything, if only...

jennyiyan's recollections...

Something to ponder

This morning I listened to two testimonies from two men who were drug addicts once, they had been in jail and drug rehabilitation centres before. They have been clean for more than twenty years now. One have gone on and started a centre not only helping drug but also computer addicts to those with HIV. The other is a successful businessman. They have shown that it is not the end of the road after the downfall. As I listened to them, I couldn't help thinking of those who are still addicts. Don't they want to be free from this addiction? And to think that it is so easy to catch hold of drugs today, I fear for my nephews and nieces. They are still young and what if they do not try to resist such temptation, what would happen to them? Drugs are so easily available nowadays and last month there was an e-mail being circulated which stated that one of the latest type of drugs come in the form of sweets whereby it can easily be bought anywhere. Their target is school children. They will first offer the sweets for free to the children and children, especially girls love sweets and I can see where this is heading. I truly, truly fear for these children. We wonder what the authorities are doing in allowing such things to happen. Some say that they are busy doing what they are not supposed to do while some others say that they are busy concocting ideas on how to topple the people who have been elected by the people to represent them in the country. They seem to have got their priority all mixed up. Well what more can I say.

jennyiyan's recollections...