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I attended this event on Sunday. I always have lunch with my mother on Sunday and since this year they were starting a bit later, I couldn’t stay for the whole event. Left after the National Anthem and the saying of the pledge.
Met many friends and I like their events. Simple and informal.
Last Saturday I was invited to this dinner at St Regis by Jimmie Tay.
This foundation raises money for the Methodist schools to provide various forms of help for the 10 schools.
The food was just so-so but I was glad to have met up with many people at dinner. The entertainment was good but I always feel that providing entertainment at dinner is not necessary. It actually detracts from conversation at and across tables. I, for one, didn’t walk around the hall because I didn’t want to be seen not paying attention to the entertainment.
I arranged a birthday lunch for Kaling yesterday. At Milos in MBC.
Initially it was to be three of us, including Min. He couldn’t make it and so Kaling brought along his partner and his 2 lovely children.
I knew his father before I knew him. And I knew Virginia long before I knew him. I knew him because of Razer. Such a small world how everything is connected.
Lunch was lovely and we had a wonderful time. Am so happy to celebrate his birthday and get to know his children. Both are well educated and more importantly well behaved. Good for him!!! Happy birthday and many more good years my friend!!
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I was given a copy of this book by SMS Murali on Wednesday. It was so very kind of him to remember me and present this to me. I am grateful.
I have put out a short post of my views of this book.
Interesting subject matter, huge potential but superficial treatment and bland presentation. Unfortunate.
I had dinner with CW Tan on Wednesday night. This was planned sometime ago.
But about 3 weeks back, Centurion emailed me about the retirement dinner for Owi.
I was an independent director of Centurion since 2007 till my retirement in 2024.Gn Hiang Meng and I were the first independent directors. Owi came 2 years later.
We had some wonderful times as directors in Centurion. I saw the company grow from a disc pressing company called SM Summit to what it is today.
I wouldn’t have wanted to miss this so I rushed down immediately after my dinner to catch the last 15 minutes of the retirement celebration.
I was on the way to Dempsey to meet CW Tan for dinner. Whilst on the way there, CW messaged to say he would be late, which was annoying because I was going to be there by 615.
Lo and behold, as I was parking my car, Murali drove by. He was coming from MFA after a book launch and he had gotten a book for me. He planned to have a simple dinner at Dempsey before attending a constituency event and pass me the book some time in the future.
So he passed me the book and we chatted for about half an hour whilst he has his dinner. What a small world.
I was very fortunate to be able to have dinner last night with the US Ambassador Dr Anjani Sinha. The venue was Tiffin Room at Raffles Hotel.
The venue was not my choice and he picked it. I am not crazy about North Indian food. But he said he can’t take Chinese food and so he sticks to Indian food. He also likes a glass of scotch with his food.
The dinner was arranged by a good friend for me to meet him. We got on well and we talked for about 2 hours. I learnt a lot from him. He was candid and open. I guess because he’s not a career diplomat, he could afford to be more open.
He was very friendly and kind to all the staff at the restaurant and the bell hops at the hotel. A nice change!
I can’t talk about anything we spoke about. Except to say that I will now need to do the follow up.
He gave me his number and we have tentatively agreed to meet in another 2 weeks time.
Attended the launch of Age Q by Lucence yesterday afternoon. The event was at NUS Enterprise building.
This product is the culmination of a 10 year longitudinal study by NUS, AStar and Lucence on healthy aging. The product measures the biological age of an individual, as opposed to the chronological age. This then allows the individual to make lifestyle choices such as eating well, resting more or exercising to lead not just a longer life but a healthier one.
I am an investor in this company and am glad to see them doing well. They have great products. I think their cancer tests are top class. They just need to find a way to let the public know about them and use them.
I last attended this event in 2016. Then it was at the floating platform. Getting there and out was a nightmare and it was so hot just sitting out in the open waiting for the parade to start. I told myself I wouldn’t want to do this again.
This time it was at the National Stadium and the CDC had called me and asked if I wanted to attend and took the trouble to send me the tickets. So I felt I should go. I went with U Zyn.
I felt getting there and back was easier. I was at the venue within 20 minutes. Clearing security was a breeze. And as for the stadium itself, it was cooler and shaded.
People mostly wore red and white, as I had done, and seemed to enjoy themselves waiting for the event to start.
But I felt the overall standard of the show was below par. The stadium is just not conducive for this. No fly by, no military columns and no view of the fireworks. And I just felt that every single one of the items had no impact and no single theme. Even the inspection of the guard of honour was sub standard. The drone show was ordinary. People were just sitting and watching the big screens as it was impossible to see the performers actually doing their thing. A mass event or performance like what they do for the opening of the Olympics might have fared better but that was not to be.
I could see that towards the end, people were looking bored and losing interest. I do hope they change the venue for future parades. Everyone needs to have a central focus and they all need to be able to see the stage. And a parade must have a fly past and military columns to stir interest.
I walked out at 8pm before the parade ended to go outside and watch the fireworks. I didn’t think I was missing anything anyway. The fireworks was for me the only highlight of yesterday’s event.
I had dinner with a German couple who are staying at Four Seasons in KL on Monday. I got to know them when I met them in the lounge some time back and they hosted dinner foe me the last time and so it was my turn now.
I picked Le Mirch, a very decent North Indian restaurant in Ave K. I have been here before and so I suggested this.
They now have made Malaysia their home and they are very happy with their decision. But they are negative about the prospects for Germany and Europe. For him the key problem is migration. I agree with him but I think it goes beyond migration. There is complacency, stagnant and laziness at every level in Europe and they have completely lost their competitiveness. Stopping migration may not solve the problem. They are an ageing continent and they need to bring in young people and fresh talent. The question is from where they should identify such people. They also need to rebuild their infrastructure and their industries and cut down on social security and start getting their people to work harder. The problem is no politician wants to say this to their people.
daily musings 