A flood in which should not have happened

Just four days into the New Year my family and I was greeted by an undesirable incident. An extremely heavy downpour on Tuesday evening saw water in the drains just outside our house rose and inundated the house compound and right into the living area; despite the living area flooring being nine inches higher than the car porch. The flood water also went into one of our cars but thankfully it did not managed to enter its engine.

The housing area we have been staying for almost thirty years is very prone to flash floods as the geographical landscape denoted it to be a low lying area. This reality saw us resigned to the fact we have to put up with flash floods occuring very frequently throughout the year, i.e. at least three times in a year.

The inconvenience and anxiety I felt in facing the latest flash flood proved the relevant parties looking after the cleanliness of our housing area has severely lagged, especially where the common drains and main culverts are concerned. I have not seen anyone from the town council or workers from the cleaning contractor appointed by the town council come regularly to clean up the clogged drains and main culverts for a very long time.

Not really worth the couple of hundred ringgit we have to pay annually for maintenance services of the housing garden to the town council. However, I am thankful there was no major damage inflicted by the flash flood this time around, but we may not be as lucky the next time when another flash flood happens. Thus, I hope the relevant parties involved, in this case the town council and its cleaning contractor are more mindful to ensure the maintenance services of our housing garden are regularly monitored and up to scratch.

Water, water... everywhere!!!

     
Another half inch rise in flood waters could have entered my car

Flood water began to enter the living area

Malaysian sports.... there's still hope yet

The recent Malaysia's triumph in the 2010 ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup in a two-leg match with Indonesia has brought a ray of hope to Malaysian sports, especially football. The Malaysian football team has been a subject of much discussion and criticism for not performing up to expectation, especially for the last two decades or so. Not to mention, the performance of our football team has been abysmally poor that even many mediocre football teams from other countries have a field day winning many matches and tournaments against the Malaysian team.

Having said this, Malaysia could actually be one of the countries in the world to be able to become a sports powerhouse. We actually have most resources in the right places and a large pool of promising talent. The only flaw to this effort of producing world class athletes is the attitude of the athletes themselves. Malaysian athletes tend to hang up their sports equipment whenever they ran into serious problems, from my observation. However, there some exceptions to this, for example, Datuk Nicol Ann David and Datuk Lee Chong Wei.

Not to say the other national athletes are not able to reach their fullest potential as a world-class athlete, they are able to do so with the opportunity and excellent resources available within their reach, however, our athletes should improve their attitude towards their trainng and pursuit to be a world-class athlete. These athletes could take a leaf out of the book of our country's own success stories in the international sporting scene.

Being a Malaysian also means I'll always be supporting Malaysian athletes competing in the international sporting scene, even though I may criticise them severely for poor performance and lack of the right attitude while in competition. These athletes should improve their attitude when they are in competition as sports is a big business; incentives aside, they should also must remember to strive for the glory of the country as well.

Gone were the days where we can take pride of Malaysia being the powerhouse of sports like badminton, hockey and football. However, all is not lost as currently the country still has athletes who are carving names for themselves and Malaysia in their respective sports in the international sporting scene. These athletes should be an example for budding and promising athletes to follow suit.  

New Year 2011... new beginning...

It is the time of the year again where we have wrapped an "old' year and beginning a new one. I am not the kind of person who makes New Year resolutions as things that had happened to me thus far have either never happened or not happened according to plans. Thus, I'm just letting whatever will be, will be, but I DO have some big plans for this coming year, and I just hoped they will come into fruition as the year progresses.

I am not saying what these plans are yet but all who have been following my blog faithfully will get a gist of what I have installed for this year. What I have planned, in time they will reveal that I will be giving acknowledgement and credit to all my family and friends for tirelessly rooting for me in what I am doing, most importantly they have NEVER given hope on me; just as I thought all hope was lost.

And to these family and friends I salute all of you with plenty hugs and kisses for just being there for me, and I know all of you will still be there for me, during the good times as well as the not-so-good ones too. May this New Year 2011 bring you much joy and blessings in the things you plan to do. Happy New Year!