Memory Lane...

I got to catch up with Simon and Irniza yesterday. He flew in Thursday night, transiting in KL to meet us before flying off to Penang for some collaboration work with some Penang Institute, was it Health something - haha I wasn't paying attention... He had chosen to stay near Brickfields, so that we could take the public transport, but Niza chose to drive anyway - to his horror huhu... For the record, both of us had him as our co-supervisor (in my case he turned as the main one, when my main supervisor retires from La Trobe) but he had always been there for us, and we are really grateful for all that he's done for us.

Every other year, he will dropped by Malaysia and we shall have a short meet up in some coffee shops, either in KL or in Penang (he's crazy about Penang). And he will be nagging about publishing and publication ventures. So basically, yesterday was mostly about life in general and again publications. He seemed well now. The last few months of last year including earlier in the year he's had several bouts of illness, including being totally depressed with the state of affairs of his uni. La Trobe is no longer the way it used to be when we were there. So we talked about La Trobe, going down memory lanes of and about some of our past ventures there.

He has now totally given up on La Trobe and is going on a couple more periods of long leave before he eventually retires. He's planning on that soon, since the Australian Government is currently contemplating on taxing their superannuation fund (the KWSP/EPF equivalent). I think he can't wait to go on a freelance services and take more trips post retirement. I know he's been withholding those plans for a while now, because he's thinking about all his students. Now, he no longer take in anymore PhD students. He has one or two of them still pending and by the next 2 years, he will really severe all official academic ties with La Trobe. We had a good catch up, and it was great to see that he's in good spirit again. 

The usual jajan - jellies for kiddos and mak kiddos

We bid him farewell, and I thought of strolling down the memory lane further by checking out on my Alma Mater, MGS (1). Since I last visited the school in 2010 (I was there post an interview with one of my PhD respondents), it seems that most of the school's grounds have now been taken over by the Methodist College. It used to be that my schoolmates were mostly from Bangsar & areas surrounding Brickfields. From standard 2, there would only be mostly 6 Malays in my class, 30 over Chinese & a couple of Indians. However, due to the massive development around the area and Bangsar's own development in terms of other school, enrollment at the school had dwindled. I doubt they could even reach 20 students per class nowadays. 

The 'Antique' Clock Tower

The top level, near the palm tree was my last classroom at this school, Darjah 6 Biru ;-)

All surround by either skyscrapers or public rails...

This tree has been here since forever....

Anyway, I wonder what would be the end for all the schools on the same stretch of the street. All the developments in Brickfields have somewhat changed how I used to remember it. Kinda sad, actually. But at least I could see that the nearby Malaysian Association for the Blind & YMCA is doing well & thriving. I have fond and wonderful memories here. This place and its teachers set the foundation for who I am today. I wish the next time I dropped by, it will still be here, continuing doing what they do best - providing sound education :-) 

That brings me to the fact that I too need to catch up on provisions of sound education. Life has been hectic, but I think I just need to do some readjustments and realignment of priorities. Speaking of priorities - Mama completed all the Cancer Institute's treatment - radiotherapy, chemotherapy and brachytherapy. There's a slight glitch with her blood level earlier this week which dragged the treatment further by a few days, but Alhamdulillah it's all completed. So now we wait for the next MRI scan and see the outcome. In Sya Allah, all being well, post Aidilfitri we'll ask her to be referred to the Traditional Chinese Medicine Unit at the Institute for continual alternative treatment.  

And finally, here I throw in a pic of my bambam girl... It has been tiring juggling responsibilities, but  at the end of every day, I just throw in the towel, shut everything down, head home and catch up with her. She made returning home everyday, after dealing with all the lazy bumms out there, so much worth it :-D

She has now shown interest in all her brothers' blocks and could follow simple instructions.
This cutie pie is being adored dearly by his brothers and sis, of course :-)