Spread the words 1982ers

[TingOng]

Hello people, I met up with Tai Soo, Ing Jong, Yong Chong and Chew Liang when I was back in Sitiawan last week. I believed Tai Soo is organising our re-union for next year and he is requesting all of you to spread the words. He intend to organise the re-union in the third quarter of next year. He envisage problem contacting our Malay friends and also the Pangkorites.

[JC]

Just a suggestion.
Recruit all the 82ers in this forum and your problem of contacting each other will dissappear... :)

[Oddfather]

Hello people, I met up with Tai Soo, Ing Jong, Yong Chong and Chew Liang when I was back in Sitiawan last week. I believed Tai Soo is organising our re-union for next year and he is requesting all of you to spread the words. He intend to organise the re-union in the third quarter of next year. He envisage problem contacting our Malay friends and also the Pangkorites.
Wah......isn't he starting too early?? 81ers are having ours this year.

[Odysseus]

Planning ma....... plus kiasu-ness and want to be recognized as the 'Best Gathering ever' award ma....

[Oddfather]

Planning ma....... plus kiasu-ness and want to be recognized as the 'Best Gathering ever' award ma....
The "record" is held by 80ers with 25 tables in 2005.

[TingOng]

Exactly, he wish to break the record

[h2o]

The "record" is held by 80ers with 25 tables in 2005.
walao eh

[ungsutiong]

It's always good to have gathering among old friends. What other better ways to talk of good old days with ol' friends. We have covered half of our career life-span. The other half will lead us to retirement. Some privileged few are already goyang kaki at home. In another 10 or 15 years down the road, some of my friends envisaged that they might end up in ol' folks home. It's hard to imagine them in those homes but that was their contingency plan.

[Odysseus]

It's always good to have gathering among old friends. What other better ways to talk of good old days with ol' friends. We have covered half of our career life-span. The other half will lead us to retirement. Some privileged few are already goyang kaki at home. In another 10 or 15 years down the road, some of my friends envisaged that they might end up in ol' folks home. It's hard to imagine them in those homes but that was their contingency plan.
Sounds like opening statements in those MLM or mutual fund recruitment drive talk la..... :p

[Oddfather]

Sounds like opening statements in those MLM or mutual fund recruitment drive talk la..... :p
Speaking from experience, izit??

[TingOng]

It's always good to catch up with friends whom you haven't seen for years or perhaps once a year. I try to contact friends whenever I am in the Far East but at times it's not feasible because of work commitment.

[NHLee]

Where got time? Once into career life, that's it. Thanks...at least we can still forumming..haha:D

[TingOng]

Once you join the rat race you are stuck mate. However, I do try to contact the boyz whenever I am back in Sitiawan or KL. If you manage to contact one of the boyz, the message will be filtered through the grapes wine mate.

[TingOng]

Boy oh boy, am I talking to meself these days. Time to wake people. How's everyone enjoying the world cup? Plenty of world widow about at the moment. Unfortunately I am stuck in Madrid for the duration, working long hours - 12 to 14, trying to generate some reports for one of our sub-contractor. I know a lot of people don´t believe that we in the West work long hours too. One of my sister´s friend came to visit us and was asking me whether we stop for tea-break and my answer was what tea-break. Hey Leslie, what´s happening to the case in Sipadan? is the Malaysian government gonna lock the contractor up and throw away the key for destroying one of the best dive site in the world?

[Odysseus]

Boy oh boy, am I talking to meself these days. Time to wake people. How's everyone enjoying the world cup? Plenty of world widow about at the moment. Unfortunately I am stuck in Madrid for the duration, working long hours - 12 to 14, trying to generate some reports for one of our sub-contractor. I know a lot of people don´t believe that we in the West work long hours too. One of my sister´s friend came to visit us and was asking me whether we stop for tea-break and my answer was what tea-break. Hey Leslie, what´s happening to the case in Sipadan? is the Malaysian government gonna lock the contractor up and throw away the key for destroying one of the best dive site in the world?
This case is quiet for the moment. I do hope the contractor and the main contractor will spend their time in jail for life.

[TingOng]

Hiya

What annoyed me is the attitude of the contractor. There are numerous questions that need to be addressed i.e. what was the barge doing there since the island have been evaculated?, why was the barge carrying concrete materials? are there any hidden agenda? It will take years for the coral to recover, one of my diving friend send some pictures to me and basically, the whole area was wiped clean. All you could see is a white flat plain. Barracuda point and drop off point are my next favourite dive site in Sipadan. It shows how careless and callous how we human beings treat the gift of mother nature.

[Odysseus]

Hiya

What annoyed me is the attitude of the contractor. There are numerous questions that need to be addressed i.e. what was the barge doing there since the island have been evaculated?, why was the barge carrying concrete materials? are there any hidden agenda? It will take years for the coral to recover, one of my diving friend send some pictures to me and basically, the whole area was wiped clean. All you could see is a white flat plain. Barracuda point and drop off point are my next favourite dive site in Sipadan. It shows how careless and callous how we human beings treat the gift of mother nature.
Can you post the pictures here?

[TingOng]

Unfortunately I have deleted the photos but will try to get them from my friends. Couple of my friends will be going to Kapalai in July and will carry out a site survey. Will keep you posted.

[ungsutiong]

Hi Ting Ong, how's the sentiment at Madrid after the World Cup game last nite?

[TingOng]

I had a chat with the lads this morning and tho they were gutted, they acknowledged that France was a better team during the game. They seem to ran out of ideas in the final 15 yards. I saw several long faces in the hotel bar after the game yesterday evening. Don´t always get a chance to socialising much because of language barrier. I speak a few words of Spanish to get by and vice versa for the majority of the locals here.

[ungsutiong]

I had a chat with the lads this morning and tho they were gutted, they acknowledged that France was a better team during the game. They seem to ran out of ideas in the final 15 yards. I saw several long faces in the hotel bar after the game yesterday evening. Don´t always get a chance to socialising much because of language barrier. I speak a few words of Spanish to get by and vice versa for the majority of the locals here.
When the Spanish guys come to Asia, they speak foreign language & try to look exotic.
When Malaysian guys go to Spain, they speak like a foreigner & try to look shy.

[TingOng]

Don't know about the shy bit pal. Nothing venture nothing gain is the policy. I did learn a few chat up lines while I was in Madrid.

[TingOng]

Anyone wish to receive a report concerning the damage to Barracuda point please let me know. I tried to upload the report plus photos but failed miserably. I will e-mail the report to you upon request.

[LiLiaN]

here's photo upload guide...


Photo

1. If you want to share any photo, you may not attach it directly from your pc to your post. Instead you need a host for them (e.g. photobucket, flickr).

2. Please follow this graphical tutorial guide (for photobucket) : Part 1 (http://www.acs-sitiawan.com/forum/showpost.php?p=205223&postcount=14) and Part 2 (http://www.acs-sitiawan.com/forum/showpost.php?p=205224&postcount=15)

3. In order to facilitate viewing by all members and minimise loading problem for anyone on dialup, please try to keep the size to maximum 600x450 pixels

4. You can use www.resize2mail.com (http://www.resize2mail.com/) to resize your images via the internet (and it's free service)

5. Otherwise, other programs like adobe photoshop works very well too; use "image" - "resize" - "image size" and then specify the size

6. Alternatively, within photobucket itself, there's an option to edit the image where you can resize the photo there directly

[TingOng]

Lilian, can you tell me how do I login to the photobucket please?

[LiLiaN]

you will need to sign up for a new account... :)
otherwise you can always email me the pics and i will host it for you....
send them to me AT ifantabulous DOT com...

[LiLiaN]

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j221/lilforum/snap.jpg

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j221/lilforum/snap1.jpg

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j221/lilforum/snap2.jpg

[TingOng]

Thank you very much for you assistance Lilian. Much appreciated. For any one who is not familiar with the diving world. Barracuda Point is one of the world premier dive site in the world located in Sipadan island.

Abstract from FiNSonline.com
An enormous steel barge carrying thousands of tonnes of coarse gravel, sand, steel tubes, iron mesh, prime movers, a large bulldozer and a gigantic crane — which had incredibly been allowed to anchor right in front of Sipadan's legendary dropoff before unloading its cargo on the supposedly protected island — was pushed against the reef by wind, ending up beached on the island like some monstrous whale. In the process of being beached, the barge scraped clean thousands of years of nature's delicate work between the old pier and Barracuda Point. The barge's flat steel hull wiped corals away like a giant knife slicing through butter, leaving in its wake hundreds of square metres of unnaturally flat limestone, and a veritable wall of coral and debris piled up against the beach.
The damage is incalculable — one of Sipadan's most precious and beloved spots, well-known the world over, is no more, transformed by a single inexplicable act of human carelessness into a grisly mass of broken and pulverised corals, shredded turtles and mounds of grey gravel suffocating what little is left of the legendary dropoff.

I can only hope nature will be able to mend this terrifying gash, but it will surely take decades or hundreds of years. In the meantime, an international beacon for conservation has been irretrievably and hideously wounded.
We all know that accidents at sea can and do happen. But I'd like — as a passionate diver, an environmentalist, a humble journalist, and last but not least as an undisputed lover of Malaysia's natural heritage — to have a few of my questions answered.
Why was that enormous, slow-moving, unmanageable barge allowed to anchor at Sipadan?
What was it doing there in the first place when divers aren't even allowed to wear gloves in order to avoid damaging fragile corals?
Why are enormous quantities of building materials are being unloaded on Sipadan even as I write these words? What is being built there?
And, if anything had to be built, why not use wood, as has always been the case until now? Do we really want tonnes of rotting, cracking concrete and rusting metal on Sipadan's supposedly pristine beaches?
Such large amounts of building material will surely necessitate the cutting down of many trees and the clearing of a large swath of the island forest. What is the point in kicking the dive resorts off the island and limiting the number of divers (while asking divers to pay a hefty daily fee to dive there) if such a grotesque accident is allowed to happen?
Where were the staff who were stationed on the island when this all happened?
The bottom line — why was this horrifying incident allowed to build up over the course of at least three days and finally happen?
These are the questions the hundreds of divers coming to visit their beloved Sipadan daily would like to have answered now — not to point fingers or to mend the irreparable damage, but to avoid the repetition of such absurd and easily avoidable disasters in the future.
But yet again, these are only words of frustration and pain — the simple fact, the only bare truth, is that those unique, world-famous, spectacularly beautiful coral gardens of Sipadan's dropoff are no more…lost forever.
And the startling image of dozens of huge, once-proud giant triggerfish, hovering lost and miserable in the blue after having lost their nests, looking to one other as if seeking comfort, will haunt my memories for a long, long time.