Zen Pencils In Malaysia

One of my favourite cartoonists, Gavin Aung Than of Zen Pencils' fame, visited Malaysia for the first time on Feb 11 and had two book signing and meet-the-fans sessions at Kinokuniya KLCC and Borders Bookstore, The Curve.

 

Zen Pencils has been featured in various publications and was named one of the best 100 websites of 2013 by PC Mag. Both his hardcopy comic books are on the New York Times bestseller list.

 

I love his imaginative and artistic interpretations of famous quotes and speeches, and I use his comics to inspire and encourage the youngsters I mentor. There's just something really sincere, engaging, uplifting and heartwarming about each comic strip. Reading each comic strip is like a spa for the soul.

 

You can imagine my excitement when I was informed that he would be in Malaysia for a book tour. I managed to take the afternoon off work to meet him and get my copy of his book signed. I arrived early and fidgeted for 40 minutes until he arrived.

So the man sweeps in and immediately applogises for being 15 minutes late because the book signing queue at KLCC was much longer than either bookstore had anticipated. What a nice guy. It's not your fault the traffic and fans were what they were, Gavin. It wasn't within your control.

 

He talked about how he got into cartooning and what the cartooning process is like, and took questions from fans. It was thrilling to be able to go inside his brilliant mind a little.

He was requested to sketch some of his comic strip characters for us. My request was for Boy Inventor and Gavin obliged. Boy Inventor appeared in only two comic strips but is well-loved and widely recognised.

 

The talk and sketching session was followed by a Meet The Fans and autograph session. There was a queue of approximately 60-80 fans at this session.

 

I was one of the first to arrive at the event but somehow ended up at the back of the autograph queue. Finally, it was my turn to meet him. I told him about how I use Zen Pencils to introduce famous personalities and inspiring quotes to the children I mentor. I use the free posters to encourage reluctant readers to read and find out more about everyone from Gandhi to Goodall. I let him know he is making a bigger difference than he realises. I think he really appreciated hearing that. Any artist would.

And then I took the opportunity to show him some of my cartoons. I brought Boll Weevil Knievel and Mousey Dong with me. 

 

Boll Weevil Knievel

Mousey Dong

I informed him that I had stopped cartooning for decades, but decided to resume it as a hobby after seeing his comic strip interpreting "Is That Not Worth Exploring" (by James Rhodes). I informed him that upon reading that particular comic strip, I realised that I didn't have to excel in cartooning or make a living out of it, I just had to continue doing it and making time for it if it brings me joy. 

And so I did, on the backs of notebooks and meeting books and office diaries. I sketched my silly cartoons for myself, not to impress others with, and sometimes I posted them on Facebook to get a laugh out of my friends. It was thanks to Zen Pencils that I decided to resume doing something I had loved so much.

He didn't seem tired of hearing that from fans at all. He seemed sincerely delighted and said he thinks my cartoons are funny, and Mousey Dong is "really good" and encouraged me to keep on cartooning.

So we posed with his book and poster, and he decided to take my cartoons out of their folder and pose with them. So awesome. What a great guy! And THAT is how you create lifelong fans!

 

"Thank you for your kind words and keep on cartooning".

Yes, I will, and thank you for being as wonderful in real life as we had imagined you to be, Gavin!

 

Monthly Bucket List: January 2015

Monthly Bucket List, January 2015: 

January has been such a whirlwind of activity that I haven't the time to record all of it yet -- weekly volunteering sessions with the SPCA and ReachOut Malaysia, Green Living activities, Volunteer Appreciation Day, Dr. Jane Goodall's visit to Malaysia, the MNS Waders Identification Course and a million other little things.

1. Make a new friend. 

During the Volunteer Appreciation Day in Janda Baik, I shared a room with a new Cave Group volunteer, Sok Yin, who I became friends with. 

Another MNS member, Wendy, is someone with whom I have mutual friends and whose comments I have read on social media, but I didn't get to know her better until our Waders Identification Course on 31 Jan - 1 February. 

Dr. Jane Goodall was in Malaysia to launch Roots & Shoots Malaysia. and I attended the dinner organised by the ICLIF Foundation at Lanai Kijang. I sat at a table of mostly strangers and made friends with Holly, whose table I sat at, and Jyunichi and TP, who are coordinating Roots & Shoots Malaysia, and I have remained in touch with them since the dinner. 

2. Help a stranger. 

This is a long story, but my Battletank, who has been serving me faithfully for over 8 years, has been facing so many problems that I cannot afford having her repaired monthly, and so had to sell her. I wanted to make sure she went to people who would love her and know how to keep her running and in good repair, and so I put up an advertisement online and screened the prospective buyers. I didn't know there were so many Daihatsu Feroza afficionados out there! 

Eventually, I sold my beloved Battletank to a mechanic, Azmi, who wants to keep her as his 'weekend car' and had the parts, resources and skills to look after her. He offered me twice what I asked for Battletank (there were around 50 offers to buy her and many buyers tried to outbid one another) and promised to send me pictures of her all fixed up. I was sad to let go of Battletank, she is more than a car to me. She had been a Volunteer Van, Animal Ambulance and at one point even a Mango Mobile. We had good times together and she had served me well and kept me safe. I had even camped out in her on many occasions. I thanked Battletank for the memories and promised her I would never forget her. 

With the unexpected extra money given to me by Azmi, I set some aside for the indigenous communities that would need to rebuild their lives after the recent floods. On the night I bade goodbye to Battletank, it rained terribly. I went out to the nearest drive-thru and purchased large coffees and apple pies. I gave out coffees and pies to the night watchmen at the local school, our neighbourhood security guards, the migrant workers who clean up the neighbourhood food court and the old man who is always kind to the food court cats. I was sad to say goodbye to my beloved old car, but it was also important to me that I share my blessings and bring a little comfort and happiness to others. 

January also saw us neutering and rescuing 2 other cats under Project Second Chance, Velvet and Harley. Velvet is a sweet and affectionate black cat living in Aravind's neighbourhood and we released her after spaying in the same area as there are no offers to adopt her yet. If you know of anyone looking for a lovely young black cat, please let us know! Velvet would make a great companion! 

Harley is a skinny orange kitten we picked up in Taman Megah outside the bakery when we went to buy a birthday cake for our friend Lin Idrus. He didn't have anyone else caring for him or feeding him regularly but he was incredibly trusting and affectionate. I took him home and cared for him, ridding him of fleas and worms and getting him vaccinated. He is still a little too young to be neutered, but I sought the SPCA's help in putting him up for adoption over the long weekend when I had to go away for the Waders Identification Course, and Harley was adopted by a kind lady along with another kitten. Another little life saved, thanks to kind people who believe in adoption and second chances! 

In January, I also resumed volunteering with The Revolving Library, as I found something that fit my schedule -- Monday night reading and literacy sessions at Beacon of Hope, a community-run tuition and learning centre for children from a lower-income area within a 15-minute drive from my office. Our reading sessions are scheduled once a month, but since it was no sacrifice for me to go more often, I have been volunteering on Monday nights, giving English lessons, providing homework help and doing one-on-one reading coaching sessions with some of the struggling readers. It hasn't been all that easy, and I do feel a degree of anxiety over how some of the children will cope with standardised testing, but giving my best as a volunteer always beats worrying and complaining over the state of public education any day, and so I will soldier on. 

3. Eat something/at someplace new to me. 

Rangamal's birthday falls on Christmas Day and it is always a challenge to try to fit in a birthday dinner date then, so we ended up having dinner together in the first week of January instead. She chose Pine3 New Age Vegetarian Restaurant, in a shopping mall called River City, which I have never previously been to (there are way too many shopping malls popping up each month). 

The food was delicious and I reviewed it for Kindmeal.my. 

I had dinner one evening at Hainan Kopitiam SS2 and reviewed it for Kindmeal as well, even if this particular experience was less than satisfactory. 

After I completed signing my Sale and Purchase Agreement for my new apartment, I celebrated alone by having a fancy durian dessert at U Desserts, SS2 PJ, which opens late. 

At the "An Evening With Jane Goodall" dinner hosted by the ICLIF Foundation at Lanai Kijang, I had really good vegan wraps and cake. Not that I could eat much due to excitement at meeting Dr. Jane again. 

On Jan 30, right before leaving for the Wader Identification Workshop, I redeemed another Kindmeal voucher for baked goods from Biogreen Valentime, an organic bakery and cafe located in The School, Jaya One. 

I did a review for Kindmeal, and would like to add that the baked goods that I purchased were really value-for-money because they had a generous amount of filling, unlike more store-bought buns which is all dough and very little filler. 

4. Go someplace I've never been. 

So in January, I went to at least 4 different places I have never previously been, namely: 

i. River City shopping mall for dinner with Rangamal and Aravind; 

ii. D'Ark Resort, Janda Baik, for the Malaysian Nature Society Volunteer Appreciation Day, 

iii. Lanai Kijang for the ICLIF Foundation dinner to hear Dr. Jane Goodall talk; 

iv. Birdwatching in Jeram and Sungai Janggut, Kuala Selangor, with the Malaysian Nature Society Bird Group during the Waders Identification Workshop. 

5. Learn something new. 

Despite the fact that I already have a Basic First Aid certificate, I learned many more helpful tips on packing a wilderness/outdoor First Aid kit from Dr. Suba, Pasu's daughter, at the Janda Baik Volunteer Appreciation Day. 

I have always loved birdwatching even if I am not remarkable at it. During the Wader Identification Course at Kuala Selangor from Jan 31 - Feb 1, I learned many useful tips on how to identify and differentiate birds. In the beginning, all the information seemed to be very overwhelming. I felt there was no way I could remember it all. On the final day, we had a quiz and my team and I managed to identify all the birds correctly using our field guides, and so it must have meant that some lessons did stick in my thick head. 

6. Declutter and cull 100 items. 

With Moving Out Day approaching, I've been decluttering and purging all the boxes and baskets in the storeroom to reduce the things I will be taking with me to the new apartment. In the final week of January, I cleaned out the display cabinets and porch storage area in our bachelor pad as well and removed a lot of things for repurposing, recycling or donation to others who can put it to better use. 

7. Give up something for a month. 

I've always tried to avoid accepting and using disposable tableware and packaging, and have, for years, been taking my handkerchief and cloth shopping bags with me whenever I go out. One thing I need to work on is stopping waiters from putting straws in my drink for me, so for all of January, I remembered to remind the waiters not to put straws in my drink (I normally have iced chinese tea or iced lime juice) to reduce plastic waste. Some of the waiters and service staff expressed the belief that it would be messy to drink a shake or juice without a straw, but you don't see people asking for straws to drink their beer or stout with just because of a little foam, do you? Perhaps next month, I can work on taking my own drinking water with me so I will not have to order a drink. 

For all of January and well into February, I have given up taking the lift at work in favour of taking the stairs. Our lives are already more sedentary than they need to be, and any opportunity for exercise is good. When I first started working here, I liked taking the glass elevator up to my room, but now the novelty has worn off, and it is better for my health and energy conservation to take the stairs instead. 

8. Letter to the Editor 

Much earlier in the month, I wrote a Letter to the Editor on stormwater management, and it was published in the Star om 14.1.2015. 

Meeting my hero, Dr. Jane Goodall

Few conservationists inspire as much admiration and respect as primatologist, humanitarian and activist Dr. Jane Goodall. 

I love Dr. Jane for her courage, strength, intelligence and incredible commitment to helping people, animals and the environment, and at the same time, for her gentleness, compassion, humility, sincerity and nobility of spirit. I've read all her books, watched her documentaries and inhaled all the news I could of her. 

Meeting her in person was almost an obsession with me. I wanted to thank her for changing my life with her writings and activism. I grew up in an environment that was generally discouraging of any sort of pro bono work and activism, but Dr. Jane's voice was always with me in spirit, instilling confidence in myself and my ability to do more for the cause of environmental protection and animal rights, teaching me that you can always reconcile gentleness and strength, and care of the environment with compassion for people. 

When I learned in March that Dr. Jane would be delivering a public lecture in Green School, Bali, I went almost frantic with excitement, trying to find out more and making plans to fly to Bali, Indonesia, just one week after my return from Turkiye. Poor communication of dates and the delayed disclosure of the agenda to members of the public meant that I only managed to purchase a flight ticket to Bali to arrive hours before Dr. Jane's public lecture, and would have to miss her Saturday workshop and the Sunday morning coffee session. 

I arrived at the airport to find that the Bali I knew and loved 6 years ago is now an island of traffic jams and rubbish-clogged drains. But there was no time to lose on sorrowful reminiscences, I had a public lecture to catch. The cabbie had no idea where Green School is (though he didn't hesitate about asking for the fare and agreeing to drive me to the school) and we spent an agonising hour getting lost and asking locals for directions. (Good thing I speak Bahasa Indonesia!) I arrived at Green School looking like I had crawled through a haystack, and hoped there would be a place for me to freshen up. 

The entrance to Green School was this gorgeous bamboo bridge over a pristine river. Thankfully, I was allowed into the school without any difficulty as my name was already on the guest list. 

 The river that nourishes the school and its neighbouring villages. 

 One of the event posters within the premises of Green School announcing Dr. Jane's visit and public lecture. 

Green School is reported to be the most eco-friendly school in the world, and I certainly approve of the organic vegetable patch, tended by the students themselves. 

The Heart of School lets in natural light and allows fresh air to circulate. What a wonderful environment to work and study in! 

Compost bins in the school cafeteria for banana leaves (i.e. to wrap food in) and for food scraps. 

A wonderful and inviting natural playground for the schoolchildren. 

Lecture participants settling down in the big bamboo tent to wait for Dr. Jane Goodall's arrival. 

Dr. Jane spoke passionately about our reasons for hope, reasons to keep trying and the indomitable human spirit. 

The book signing session, during which Dr. Jane very patiently listened to all of us gush about her and signed our books despite the fact that she must have had a long day. My friend Wai Pak requested Dr. Jane to sign his copies of "Seeds of Hope" and "Reason for Hope", and invited Dr. Jane to come to Malaysia and visit the Borneo Sun Bear Conservation Centre. I really hope she takes him up on this offer, we would make her visit most memorable indeed!

Dr. Jane Goodall is my hero, and this is the happiest day of my life. I told her so. I asked her if she could kindly autograph my copies of "In The Shadow of Man" and "Harvest for Hope", and informed her that "Harvest" is my favourite book ever, and that even as a vegetarian-going-on-vegan, I will keep on "pulling threads" (it's a metaphor in the book, you pull threads out of the factory farming system to try to improve conditions for animals, one thread at a time). I told her I will keep trying to expand my compassion footprint (a term Prof Marc Bekoff coined) and that I will keep using my abilities for the greater good. 

Wai Pak and me -- All geeked out over our signed copies of the books! 

Stalking Dr. Jane even after getting our books signed. 

My signed copies of "Harvest of Hope" and "In The Shadow of Man" are worth more than their weight in gold, silver and lapis lazuli to me. 

To learn more about Green School Bali, visit their website here and official Facebook page here.

To learn more about Dr. Jane Goodall, visit her website here and official Facebook page here. 

To learn more about the Jane Goodall Institute, visit their website here and official Facebook page here. 

To learn more about Roots and Shoots, visit their website here and official Facebook page here.

Love Is The Answer

“Light of the world, shine on me
Love is the answer”
~ England Dan and John Ford Coley, “Love Is The Answer”

In my youth, I have always been a rare one for participating in competitions. As I approached my 30s, I ceased submitting entries for slogan-writing and other such contests for a very sensible reason – I didn’t know what to do with the prizes anymore. Almost all the prizes offered consist of merchandise I have not much use for, vacations that I never have the time to take, and tickets to events on weekends that are already packed with volunteer commitments. Looking for last-minute takers for the prizes became more than a minor annoyance and after several vouchers and hotel stays expired unnoticed and unmourned, I decided to take a break from taking part in contests.

My last two weekends, however, were unusual in that they were not packed with some frenetic activity with an immutable date and deadline. The parental home had been cleaned so vigorously that it could pass any white-glove test, the SPCA shelter had been scrubbed and disinfected and the neediest dogs have been bathed and tickwashed, my own Rowdies have been bathed and dewormed, our rescued dog Bravo has found a loving home with Anthony and family (thank you, dear Tony!), my work is ahead of schedule and all the necessary documents and correspondence I needed to produce for various organisations have been drafted.

And so when I saw a newspaper slogan-writing contest giving away tickets to John Ford Coley’s concert at the Genting Arena of Stars, I jumped at the opportunity to see one of my favourite singers in the flesh. The tickets I won were originally intended for my buddy Nicole and me, but due to some pressing family commitments, Nicole had to regretfully decline. With a heavy heart, I invited other friends to be my partner and guest. There was no shortage of England Dan & John Ford Coley fans and I finally settled for my friend and fellow volunteer Shyam. I have not been to Genting Highlands, Pahang , since 1991 and was really quite grateful when Shyam offered to drive. To save on costs, we decided to pack a picnic and camping gear and camp out in the car. Shyam packed spicy noodles and a guava, while I brought papaya, mandarin oranges, soda, sweets and munchies. And though I missed Nicole all weekend, Shyam provided good company and the weekend turned out to be a memorable one.



We parked at the open air car park in front of the unmistakable First World Hotel, which looks as though it had engaged Jackson Pollock as a colour and design consultant.


This is the lobby of the First World Hotel, with decorative lighting made of reused PET bottles. Too bad they didn't put in as much effort into reducing energy use.



A video I took on my Blackberry of John Ford Coley performing “Soldier In The Rain”. He also performed other ED & JFC staples such as “I’d Really Love To See You Tonight” and “Sad To Belong”, as well as non-ED & JFC numbers such as Bread’s “If”, Dan Hill’s “Sometimes When We Touch”, and Phil Medley and Bert Berns’ “Twist and Shout”.

The audience was a largely middle-aged crowd but none were as loud and appreciative as Shyam and me.



Shyam and I posing in front of the stage after the concert, with the kind permission of the staff of Resorts World Genting.



Mr. Coley signing autographs for his fans. The queue snaked all the way up the stairs. They had run out of CDs by the time I got there.



I was too macho to bring a jacket and was shivering with cold when I saw this palace-like facade to one of the commercial establishments. We ended up drinking hot coffee and watching the Man Utd vs. Man City match at a canteen for cabbies and bus drivers.







Shyam riding the Rio Float with me at the First World Hotel indoor theme park after the concert because I wanted to take some aerial-view photos.



An aerial view of part of the indoor theme park, which is still very much in the Chinese New Year mood.



I’ve always loved Ferris Wheels. They are sturdy, old-fashioned and predictable, just like me, and don’t spin off their axles and perform infarction-inducing corkscrews and 360-degree loops.



Pole-dancing, lion style! I thought this particular lion looks a bit Christmassy.



The black lions came forward to receive "lai see" from members of the audience.
Here, Lion! Good Lion! Here, take the cash!
I told Shyam that it is good luck if the lion accepts money from you and gives you a token of appreciation (usually just orange segments) in return, and that you're supposed to stroke the lion's mane and beard for luck.


The "Fu" fortune charms that Shyam and I received from the lions.


I wonder what fortunes and adventures await me in the Year of the Rabbit! Perhaps more concerts, thanks to the generosity of sponsors like Resorts World Genting, and perhaps fewer weekends spent oscillating from one hectic activity to another. And maybe, just maybe, I’d get to meet Mr. Coley again.