HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013!

whne one's happy, every day is a new year day.

in memory of my best friend eddie chiong, 16 nov 1959 to 04 jun 2012.

 

eddie's final resting place after the tablet was sealed

 

 

 

 

                                          
                                          before the sealing

the long wasting waiting time,,,,

this is really funny! went to the polyclinic to get my medications and underwent blood routine test. it was very time wasting to go polyclinic. there were so many waiting time periods. lst u get a queue # from dispenser. then wait for # to be called to register ur name. next u go to a room for the blood pressure and weight taking. u gotta take another Q # and wait. after that's done, u proceed to the lab for the blood test. again, wait for # to be called. after test done, wait again for result. finally, with the result obtain, proceed to the area outside the numbered consultation. yes, and wait again. my number was called at last. entered the consultation room. instead of the dr who used to attend to me in the past, they allocated a missy nurse. usually with the dr, it took less than 5 minutes. now with a missy, it took more than 20 mins. gosh! it was quite intimidating. she recorded every words u whined to her. after she had asked enough, she asked me to wait, went to the adjoining room where my regular dr was to ask him to issue the medicine prescription. with that, i exited the room, went to the pharmacy section, deposited the prescription....AND WAIT again. my name was called this time to collect the medicine. u were to suppose to wait for the final time to make payment. luckily, i could skip that as automated payment machines were installed there where i made payment through NETS. a receipt was printed out. here's the very puzzling part about the consultation fee. Full Amount: $35.05 Payable Amount: $10.20 (which means subsidized rate) here's the question: 1. why so bloody expensive if were to pay "full amount"? my GP usually charged everything - consultation & medication - usually about $25 only. 2. Subsidized rate $10.20 is consultation by a MEDICAL DOCTOR. if attended by a SRN missy, shouldn't it be cheaper according? and hell!! the whole process from registration to drugs dispensal to payment took more 2.5hrs. most of time was wasted for waiting :(

many are shocked to learn about eddie's pass on :(

Hi Everyone,


I don't know if all of you have already received this sad news from Bob or not? It is regarding Eddie's passing away about 17 days ago.


Hope all of you will try to go inside the www.tanglintecht4a75.com - the website created by the late Eddie Chiong and continue to use this site for all our contact since he has bothered to create it for all of us to use. Perhaps, you all can send your condolences to his family through this site as I hope his wife, Polly will have assess to it or otherwise, give her a call as this is the saddest event that she has to go through. Let us all pray for Eddie that he will have a peaceful path and hope that his next life is even better than the one.


Regards,


Judy

On Wed, Jun 20, 2012 at 12:13 AM, Bob Sim wrote:
dear swit chan,

i just got this tragic news that eddie had passed away. it's almost 15 days ago :( his wake was over and he was cremated. i doubt any of us know about this sad loss :((

regards,

bob sim

PS. i ve posted this sad news in www.tanglintecht4a75.com - the website created by the late eddie chiong.

RE: EDDIE CHIONG HAD PASSED AWAY ON 4 JUNE, 2012‏





From: Judy Tham [mailto:judytham.sc@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, 21 June, 2012 20:11
To: archippus.yang@gmail.com; chowkm@singnet.com.sg; yeogillian@gmail.com; joycetan78@hotmail.com; michelle@ykkap.com.sg; sutjahjo@ngaserin.com; tansp339@singnet.com.sg; bobsimkh@hotmail.com; pctayster@gmail.com; yapmyee@yahoo.com.sg; styong@singnet.com.sg
Subject: Fwd: EDDIE CHIONG HAD PASSED AWAY ON 4 JUNE, 2012

RE: EDDIE CHIONG HAD PASSED AWAY ON 4 JUNE, 2012‏


From: Sutjahjo Ngaserin (sutjahjo@singnet.com.sg)
Sent: 21 June 2012 12: 42PM
To: 'Judy Tham' (judytham.sc@gmail.com); archippus.yang@gmail.com; chowkm@singnet.com.sg; yeogillian@gmail.com; joycetan78@hotmail.com; michelle@ykkap.com.sg; sutjahjo@ngaserin.com; tansp339@singnet.com.sg; bobsimkh@hotmail.com; pctayster@gmail.com; yapmyee@yahoo.com.sg; styong@singnet.com.sg


I am really shocked by this sad news.


Hi Bob,


Can you get in contact with the rest, you can contact Mee Yee as she is our "secretary".

Archippus Yang

Begin forwarded message:


From: Archippus
Date: 21 June, 2012 2:14:11 AM GMT+08:00
To: "sutjahjo@ngaserin.com" , Wong Mee Yee
Cc: Fiona Yeo
Subject: Fwd: eddie chiong passed away on 4 june 2012 :(


Hi Mee Yee, Soh Yian and Jaw,


I just received this unexpected news from Kheng Hwee.


I still remember that we had a good get together dinner not so long ago at my house. Eddie was enthusiastic about the website and we agree to follow up. We will have to do it another time....in his email password to Fiona...he wrote: God is great!


Archippus Yang

Begin forwarded message:


From: Archippus Yang
Date: 21 June, 2012 1:48:31 AM GMT+08:00
To: Bob Sim
Subject: Re: eddie chiong passed away on 4 june 2012 :(


Bob,


I am shocked to learn about Eddie, just when we are beginning to connect.


Shall you arrange for a gathering to visit his wife and pay our respect.


I am leaving for a mission trip to China this morning. Returning next monday night. Let me know if there is anything I can do.


Thanks.


Chai Phuan




On 20 Jun, 2012, at 10:00 PM, Bob Sim wrote:


dear friends,

sorry to break this tragic news to you. i just got the msg on 19 june to learn that eddie chiong had passed away. it was 15 days after his death that his wife sms my young sis who relayed the news to me :(

it's really sad and sadder that we weren't informed about his sudden demise from heart attack so that we could give him a final sendoff :((

pls help to relay the news to others. txs.

regards,

bob

my best friend had passed away suddenly

our old classmates in tanglin techical school 1975


the last class gathering with the presence of eddie chiong on 12-02-12

eddie chiong shall always remain as my best friend forever. unfortunately, he passed away suddenly on 1 june 2012 due to a sudden heart attack. mum was saying that she just met him just a couple weeks ago at sis' shop and he was looking so well. suddenly, he was gone :(

during secondary school days, we were in the same class at TANGLIN TECHNICAL SCHOOL. i considered him my best friend from there on. we shared some uncanny pyschic connection. it was weird. we needed to look at each other and we just knew what was in the other mind. usually it would be some noti shared pyschic image and we would burst out laughing in unison.

after secondary school, we went into polytechnic but in different classes. we still kept in contact. later he joined RSAF or the air force for his NS. our meet ups got lesser.

there in the airforce, he met POLLY GOH whome he married privately. not many of the old classmates knew about his secret marriage to polly. he didn't throw any lavish wedding dinner nor even a simple one with close friends. but he did tell me about it and introduced polly to me.

after airforce, he set up his computer firm in funan centre and called it EDPOL. ED being the prefix EDdie and POL being POLly from his wife. it looked like he loved polly very much. then things gradually began to change. it could the tiredness of living with the same person together for so long that each took each for granted. basic self-respect could have been lost along the way and petty resentments continued to accumulate. such was the mundane behaviour of human :(

my youngest sis who was fresh from school then worked for him as a "pow ka liao" assistant. my sis might be puny but she got a shrewdness for running a business. eddie appreciated her assistance and treated her very well. hmmm, i think she was very lucky to be pampered by eddie who was a generous boss with a big heart.

then my other sis helped him to do sales on a part-time basis. finally my another sis who's a year younger than me also began working for him fulltime after my father lost his business premises which was ungraciously conned by the church who was a mean and dishonest landlord for more than 30 yrs. it was hard to imagine a church could behave like that:((

even my niece CHARLENE joined EDPOL working part-time in sales. she was devastated to learn about sudden departure of eddie. she is now in taiwan working for a international film company. she wrote in my FACEBOOK after seeing eddie's pics that "i made her very sad...." my dear charlene, ur ah ku is even sadder to have lost a life-long best friend.

his business wasn't very good. that was when i came into the picture again. initially i was helping to help delivering his pc sets and SITOCA tables to his customers by providing transport with my SUZUKI mini pickup. his brother-in-law chee seng would go together with me to fix up the pc n computer table. he paid me quite reasonable at $25 per pc set and $15 per table delivered.

Later business wasn't really as good as it used to be. oh well, might as well, i began to teach him to do share trading and try to make some "easÿ fast" money. eddie chiong being a very resourceful person learned very fast. interent at that time wasn't really so hot yet. it was a dial-up connection. the share market was quoted but in a LIVE PRICES format yet.

we pinpointed one special counter CREATIVE which was also listed in NASDAQ as CREAF. it was this counter that brought in the fortune for eddie chiong who was a bold investor or speculator. he borrowed from a couple of banks just to trade in one counter CREAF.

he made his millions. everyone around him benefited especially in food. he brought us to buffet; to very expensive meals. one most memorable was regular dining in RAMA THAI which was famous for whole sharkfin and braised abalone in claypot.

eddie and i would patronise the restaurant at tg pagar. it was our very first time devouring a whole big sharkfin with a fat whole abalone! my god! it cost each about $200 ++ for a claypot of double combination. it was our first time using fork n knife to eat a whole big yummy abalone on top of a bigger piece of sharkfin cooked in a rich very shiok broth served with towgay.

then he made even more "easy" money from other CLOB counters. off we went for more sharkfin/abalone claypot, buffets and all sort of expensive dinings. there was once for a certain CLOB counter he made a cool 5-figures by contra trade and he treated everyone in his company to RAMA THAI. everyone got their sharkfin/abalone claypot individually. the bill was astronomical with the service charges coming to about a cool few hundreds. who care! was his attitude. he got the easy dole to pay for all.

that was how generous eddie chiong was. it wasn't just the food, there were other indulgences like expensive karaokes which were very frequent a few times a week. then there were the movies which he would pay the tickets for everyone.

those was the happiest time. it didn't last. soon there were the horrendous CLOB SAGA and many share investors - we included - were badly hit. it went on for so many years. our bloody gov was helpless and gave many false hope. in the end, everyone who traded in CLOB SHARES was badly CLOBbered.

i lost almost all my savings :'( eddie chiong was worst. he borrowed from the bank. he over indulged in too many expensive investment like buying a mercz, buying a warehouse and implanting a 5-figure real hair strands into his light-bulb head. incidentally, when everything went downhill, his implanted hair shedded too and he was back to his light-bulb scalp.

when he was rich, he used to teased me "see, now i got more money than you...." well, i had to retort wickedly back: "chey! at least i still have more hairs than u! " and we would both burst out laughing in good joker faith.

very soon, his attitude changed for the worst. he seemed to be angry with everyone and everything. me included. most of his friends deserted him. though i was concerned with him, i too kept my distance lest i got the very sarcastic and unkind remarks from him.

he was still engrossed in his share speculation. i regretted. i wasn't sure whether i had helped him or it could be the ruin in waiting :( when he was making million$, we were like discussing and planning for new businesses. i did remind him to pull out of shares and concentrate on his business since now he had all the money he needed.

it was really too tempting to stop. making money seemed terribly easy that time....and so the wheel of fortune turned against us. it was then all downhill.

finally he lost his shop, his warehouse, his mercz, his van....and finally even his implanted hairs. worst of all, he lost most of his friends who he was quite arrogant with them and offended many.

i understood eddie. i m still his best friend. i feel his torment and his anger. i was saddened when my sister told me that a shop which he was subletting refused to rent him cos he couldn't pay the rent.

i dunno....poor as i might be now, i decided to give him $300. it was a $250 lottery which i striked. in order to "cheapen" myself to compel him to accept money, i conjured up a lame story. the one which he paid me $300 to buy back the pc he sold me which was quite faulty. i told i spoiled the pc and was feeling bad that he gave me the money. so i "refunded" him the money and plead with him to accept. i hugged him and patted on his back and told him....I M ALWAYS YOUR FRIEND NO MATTER WHAT.

he accepted the money. in a way, i resolved whatever anger or misunderstand or resentment. it was a very pleasant feeling and i didn't mind being humbled. to be frank, there wasn't such negative feeling in me. it was just happiness i could offer to my pal.

during our last meeting, i sms-ed eddie. to everyone's surprises, eddie appeared! sadly, that was going to be our last fellowship with eddie on 12-02-2012. even the date appeared quite unique.

on 4 June 2012, eddie chiong suddenly had a heart attack and died. what pissing me now is : why didn't his wife POLLY inform me or my sis? i got news of his demise on 19 JUNE. it was when my sis sms-ed him to ask him to come help her pc. late evening, then polly responded and broke the news about eddie's death. why is it like that??
we didn't given the chance to have a final sendoff for dear eddie. that made me very angry and sadder :'(

now polly told my sis that she is looking for an altar in crematorium to permanently put eddie's ash to final resting and she would inform us. it's 1 week already....and there isn't any news yet. :(

i just couldn't understand this. really! eddie had told me before his death that he was already separated from polly and in about 3 yrs time, they would be officially divorced. they were childless which would make the divorce less messy.

why then did polly not informing us? hatred blinded for revenge or getting even with eddie? i never shall know cos my sisters were reminding me NOT TO ASK and let it be.

so to eddie chiong my dear dear best friend, i hope u rest in peace and if ever there were to be a nextlife, i shall be your BEST FRIEND FOREVER! i shall miss u dearly my dear eddie chiong.

all my ah kim wants is to be with ah ku...

my cancer striken ah kim

many years back, my ah ku who was what i used to address since young and who was my mum's elder brother passed away from stomach cancer. his surviving wife who i call ah kim is now also down with the same cancer :(

ah kim stays just opposite block to me. living with her now is my cousin ah siong who is the youngest among his siblings and an indo maid.

my cousin ah siong is a remarkable person. he gives up his well paying job as an engineer to be a driver with a mega-church where another cousin is working there as a fulltime pastor.

of course, siong is baptised christian and most of his siblings and their children are also baptised christians.

sadly, ah kim who's now about 87 yo is down with stomach cancer. everyone is worried for her. she is on regular medication and chemo. my elder cousin, the only girl among all her boys siblings brings ah kim for regular TCM session.

chemo is a terrible process where anti-cancerous drug is injected into the body and kills many cell be it cancerous or normal body beneficial cells. hence, such treatment tends to weaken the body drastically.

ah choon's concern for her mum is understandable. the TCM sessions aren't cheap. it costs alot - a couple of hundreds per consultation. the chinese herbs are suppose to enhance the chemo treatment and at the same time strengthen the body to be able to handle from distress.

ah siong wants ah kim to accept Christ. that's good. but that's also bad :(

last week i was with his elder brother peter who's also christian and so is his whole family. he's from methodist church and it was he who brought me to conduct gardening in his church.

we chatted about his dead father. i learnt from him that while ah ku was in coma, some of his church members went to the hopsital to pray for him. to their astonishment, they witnessed ah ku feebly raised his both his hands as though in a gesture of "accepting Christ".

cousin peter said as long as the person within his heart who has accepted Christ shall eternally be with Him. however, ah ku finally passed on. a funeral wake was held but it was a buddhist rite.....

fast forward to the present....

now ah kim is also buying time. members from ah siong's church alo come to pray for her. each time they pray, ah kim would get emotional and cry. this drama is rather very sensitive. it could be misunderstaken by ah siong who's thinking that she might be moved to tears.

actually ah kim would exclaim , "mai ko kong la...mai ko kong la!" in hokkien which means "say no more...say no more!"

it's very sad that ah kim who is unwell should be put in such distress. do the praying christians really understand what's going in her mind?

well, maybe i do. i had explained to cousin peter. he seemed amazed as my thoughtfulness. he even wanted me to explain to his mum, my ah kim. i told him it would be best he do it himself as this could get very emotional and tedious.

i told peter that perhaps ah kim wasn't aware that ah ku could ve accepted Christ and who could be probbly in heaven now. ah kim has been since young a buddhist or taoist...anything but christian. we are traditionally chinese and we have our own tradition "chinese" religions which are either taoism or buddhism.

the fact that ah ku's funeral wake was a buddhist one affirmed that ah ku died a "buddhist" even though peter and his church members witnessed ah ku's hands rising to "accept Christ" phenomenon. that they saw but not ah kim and peter had never related the incident to his mum.

what i feel is my ah kim loves my ah ku very much and very deeply. she knows she approaching the end of time and she would definitely wish to be with husband after her passing. in life, they love; in death, they are eternally bonded together.

the unxplained fear now in ah kim is she knows what ah siong wants to do, i.e, to get her baptised as christian so that the whole family could be as one in Christ. what cousin siong isn't mindful or aware about is the inner feeling of his mother that she wants to be with her husband after she dies in spirit. so if ah ku was a buddhist and she being baptised into christian, they would be forever separated.

it could be just a myth. but hey! nobody knows cos no one has died, comes back and revealed the "real thing" of after-death.

maybe it would help to convince ah kim about what peter witnessed about his comatose father...about his "acceptance of christ". maybe that would alleviate her innermost fear and anxiety and probably she would be more accepting to oblige.

in my honest and sincere respect, i feel that my cousins shouldn't be exploiting to convert her mum at this last precious moments of her life. they should in fact bestow her with COURAGE to face death. whatever that happens beyond is still a mystery. each religions has their own unique explanation but none can really confirm the afterlife thingy. whether u go heaven, go hell, get reincarnated or just dissipated into thin air.....no one reallys know.

so before getting into the next plane or realm, it would be better we treasure the present. if the people is at the brink of his life, he should be as far as possible be bestow with the COURAGE to face the unknown in the next phase.

in my humble buddhist knowledge:

emptiness is form; form is emptiness.....

we think about so many things, i.e, create so many forms from emptiness that in the end, it's all returned into emptiness.....

sadhu...sadhu...

if we need to go, we go. no attachment. no fear. relax, be at peace...just go with tranquility.

CLASS OF T 4A (1975)

TANGLIN TECHNICAL SCHOOL, T4A, 1975


wow! it's unbelievable! seems like yesterday we were still a bunch of fresh teenagers studying hard for the GCE 'Ó' level exam. almost 37 yrs have flown by and now most of us were in our 50s.

we wouldn't have met again if not for the yearly visit by an emigrated girl classmate, Judy. many years ago, she went to work in oz, met a cute angmo driving instructor, married him and bore him a cuter son, Michael who was now a teenager like what we used to be preparing for GCE.

the cycle of life repeats....

so judy was back again. this should be the 3rd or 5th meet up we had so far. it was customary we held our meeting at HAN'S located at bt merah. it was perfect cos it wasn't crowded most of the time. in fact, every time we met there, it seemed that we were the only crowd there. (got a strange feeling that bt merah HAN'S may close soon. bo sen li.)

we chatted about the good o'days and tried as much as our deteriorating memories could even recall our "original" names. Judy wasn't called judy last time. she was known as her chinese name tham swit chan.

the faces still remained familiar though and some - ahem, like yours truly - still looked about the same. the hairs were still intact except for extra load of fats. some looked haggard and whitening hair or receding hairline or worst, both.

there were quite a few of us who remained singles. ya, ya...we should now be the lauhanku or the laukuaybu or nicely put it, upgraded status of uncles and aunties. :p

we chatted. we laughed. we updated ourselves our current situation. some were good, some were blessed. some were truly happy, some just put up a show and some seemed quietly distressed. :(

well, that's life....

one bright spark among us who was IT savvy decided to create a website just for our class and called it http://www.tanglintecht4a75.com. it was already started and actively on now a day after the meeting. fast worker, isn't he!

one thing for sure, many of my classmates were badly hit by the current bad economy. ex-high flyers were now resigned lowly paid employees doing things that would never have anticipated when he was high-flying. worst of all, he still got a family to support - tertiary going kids and etc...

then there were the fallen go-getters who once were proud businessmen whose deals gone bad and fallen from grace. it was a painful setback. but like i mentioned they were courageous and resilient. much humbler by their ordeals, perhaps they had become more humane and mindful.

as for me, well, i remain the happy-go-lucky blurcock. the important in life is not to own more and crave for more. the best thing to want is actually NOTHING. if u want nothing, then there would be lesser load to bear u down, stress u out and worry the hell out of u non-stop.

a friend actually asked me what birthday present that i want. yep, my next birthday is around the corner. without hesitation, i told him i want nothing...and thank you.

according to my just as joker sifu, quote: birthday means you are one year closer to the coffin. there's nothing much to be happy about. - unquote.

hmm.....so it's unhappy birthday and not happy birthday?

whatever it is, just live for the day, be happy, crave for nothing, ask for nothing and most things should just be fine....and happy.

sadhu..sadhu... :)