Saturday, March 29, 2008

Our memories will live

My first thought of him was "wow! does he have a good grip" -- turns out he was a climber. We first met in 2000, I was a student and he an IT engineer.

2 weeks later, Hanis invites me to join them for lunch. We jumped into his car as he was the designated driver for the day. He called me the "green girl" -- referring to the bright green baju kurung I was wearing that day.

He treated me to my birthday at Chilli's Bangsar. I ordered some weird dish that came with rice. We had a great time making fun of it.

He introduced me to the world of climbing. When I was based in Menara Maxis, we used to go climbing on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We'll leave KLCC at 6pm and go talk about everything under the sun during our drive out of KLCC to Sg Besi to Kesas and Summit. We'll arrive at about 7:30pm and we'll climb until the place closes for the night.

He got married. I was one of the 200 guests invited. I was honored to have made the list.

Things changed after that. I climbed less and indulged more with my other activities. Nevertheless we do keep in touch as best as we could -- the occasional lunches in KLCC, phone calls, emails etc. I would call him up when I wanted to b!tch about my problems, my life etc.

He called 2 weeks ago and suggested we meet up again, as it has been a long time since we last met. Last week, we were lunching in Chilli's KLCC. It was as if time did not move. We spoke about everything -- his family, his work, my social life, my work, his holiday etc. He returned my "figure of 8" which he borrowed a couple of years ago (I even forgot it was with him).

Last night when I received the SMS, I was in disbelief. I will miss him.
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Dropped by his parents' home tonight.. the eulogy given by his friends and family jogged my memory some.

I remember his silly jokes (he was doing it even during lunch), how he would change the lyrics to songs (You're so vain to You're so gay). I remember his funny usage of Malay words (e.g my parents cannot tidur nyanyuk unless all their kids are home -- he meant nyenyak).

I remember lamenting to him that I'm not ready to get married because I haven't done everything I wanted to do yet. He responded with when he got married to Kar Lai, he had done 75% of the things, and he knows he can do the 25% with her. I made a mental note that is something I should remember when it is my time to get married.

I remember his advise, that if you're going to move to another company, always ask for more as you are worth it!

I forgot he was a tae-kwan-do black belt holder. I forgot his love for drawings and animations. I forgot that his motto was "the best is yet to be" and he would sign that off with a fuzzy.

I forgot that once we (Liong, Andrew, Felicia and myself) drove all the way to Seremban to eat the cendol that I claimed was sedap.. only to reach there and find that it had moved to a location that I didn't know.. hahaha. we ended up eating in a food court instead.

I'm sure there are more things that I remember and I have forgotten. When the time is right for me to remember, there will be a smile on my face knowing that he will always be in my mind and heart.

21 comments:

  1. Ohhh!! Very sorry to hear that. . . . .

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  2. My condolence to his family and friends...

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  3. Condolences raz, i am very sorry to hear of such sad news.

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  4. so sorry to hear this..my condolences to the family

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  5. thank you all for your condolences.. this just goes to show that friendship crosses boundries, when you grief - it's not limited to family only.. but also to friends.

    I must say that his sudden passing did affect me, but it did remind me that life is short and you have to make the most of it. I'm sure Liong did.

    I have no regrets in terms of time spent etc. We did the best we can under the circumstances and in our own way, we did say our goodbyes (although unknowingly).

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  6. so sad to hear that Raz. My deepest condolonces goes out to you and family.

    There is a saying "Live everyday like it's your last day" I guess what it meant is to treasure every moment with your love ones and friends...making every seconds count.

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  7. OMG! I remember Liong. He used to climb with Supermei! He gave me a pep talk that helped me redpoint a route I had been projecting in Nyamuk...

    I can't believe he's passed away! What happened?

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  8. I might have posted this before but this is my fave kahlil gibran piece

    http://www.katsandogz.com/ondeath.html

    He sounded like a top dude.

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  9. I thought I'd make this information available later when I get the true picture of what happened.. but in a gist, Liong succumbed to a viral infection while holidaying in Pangkor.

    The day after he arrived, they took him to the clinic (not sure which clinic, resort clinic or real clinic) and he was given medication. Unfortunately he was not responding to it and his organs began to fail. He was also bleeding internally. He took his last breath sometime between 9pm to 11pm on Thursday night. I think everything happened pretty fast.

    Whether he contracted the virus while in Pangkor or he had it all along with him during the journey remains unknown.

    A post-mortem was done but apparently it takes sometime for the results to be out.

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  10. Thanks Jam.

    Yes he is a top dude. He was one of those people who would tell you the truth for what it is.. I remember being "kena" from him when I shared with him some of my experiences.. hahaha.. of course I would've preferred him to side me.. but he never took sides. He pointed out things as things are and as he sees it, and it's up to me to realise.

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  11. May his soul rest in peace. May God give strength to all who are mourning his demise to go on living without him but only his memories.

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  12. Thanks for sharing. It is shocking to hear, especially since he's still so young and he and his wife have not been married long. Certainly makes you realise how short life is...

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  13. " Leaves behind a wife & son ( 2 years old)"............

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  14. Back in the day when both of us were working in KLCC... Occasionally about 5PM on a Friday... We would engage on a quick sip of beer at Chinoz before getting back to work...

    It wasn’t the rock climbing or the race running times that I to know him as a person... But it was over these occasional encounters :)


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  15. You joined him in races too?

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  16. I jalan jalan makan angin je.. all my freinds ran and left me behind..nasib baik finished :)

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