Hello, this is Kenneth Thexeira here. Today, on the 23rd of June 2006, my maternal grandfather, Harry Chew, affectionately refered to as Ah Kong by his grandchildren, passed away at approximately 9.10-9.30pm, at the age of 73. He was about to turn 74 on the 5th of July. Ah Kong left behind his wife, my maternal grandmother whom we the grandchildren address as Mama. He also left behind four children, my Mom, Barbara, my Aunts, Ivy and Veronica, and my Uncle, Eric as well as 11 grandchildren, myself, Peter, Elizabeth, Timothy, Vanessa, Daniel, Ernest, Eunice, Sarah, Natasha and Nicholas (in order of our age).

He passed away after coming full-circle with his life, in my opinion, as he was visited by Tim, who just returned from Hong Kong, and was the last of his grandchildren to do so. He was also able to listen to his best friend, Mr Gerhard Myers,who hails from Germany, over the phone, and most important of all, he was baptised a Catholic.

Now, what I want to do here today is recollect and type a little retrospective of my relationship with Ah Kong. This is not a biography and not really an obituary as well, but more of a summary of Ah Kong from my perspective.

Ah Kong always had a happy albeit somewhat stubborn nature, a trait that i seem to have as well. He liked things his way, which was evident during my family's trips to the swimming pool years back, where Ah Kong, a qualified swimming instructor, would always attempt to teach us various techniques of swimming. I remember myself always trying to evade such lessons, but would eventually succumb to his demands. This however, turned to be benefificial to me in the future, especially during water-based activities, such as kayaking where the knowledge of swimming was integral to one's survival.

I also heard many recounts of how Ah Kong found such joy in just watching me smile as an infant. I may not remember a thing, but somehow, I can somewhat feel it now. Being his first grandson, I was the recipient of much care, concern and love from Ah Kong.

Another characteristic of Ah Kong was his love to tell funny, sometimes crude, jokes, as well as perform many a slapstic deed to entertain his grandchildren. He used to play with his dentures to make grotesque faces on purpose, as well as spray his cologne at us in mock tyranny. He also liked funny toys which he used to play pranks with, and collected stuff such as fake insects, fake dog shit and so on, just to entertain us all. Most recently, in the ICU, he even joked with us about the food of the hospital food court.

I am going to miss Ah Kong for a lot of reasons, but the thing I'll miss the most is watching monthly WWE wrestling specials with him, something I have been doing regularly for the past 7 years. I feel that professional wrestling played a huge part in solidifying my relationship with Ah Kong, as he was a man who enjoyed watching wrestling as much as I did. The last match we watched together was Rey Mysterio's successful World Heavyweight Championship defence against John 'Bradshaw' Layfield at WWE Judgement Day 2006. I dearly wish up until now to have been able to view ECW One Night Stand 2006 with him, as i bought the VCD earlier today, prior to his passing. Yes, I cherished every moment spent watching wrestling with him, as we witnessed together many significant happenings in the WWE over the past few years, such as the return of one of Ah Kong's favourites, Hulk Hogan, John Cena's rise to the top, Triple H solidifying his status as main event material, the brutality of Edge and Mick Foley's classic match at WrestleMania, Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels repeatedly stealing the shows they performed at, and the list goes on and on. I regret not introducing stuff such as TNA Wrestling, the defunct WCW, Japanese puroresu and the newly relaunched ECW to him, as it would have been alternatives he would definitely enjoy.

Finally I would like to end of with a message to Ah Kong himself:

Ah Kong, I know you are somewhere better off now, away from all your suffering you have endured. Now I know how much I love you, and how much I am going to miss you. You did a splendid, smashing job as a grandparent, husband, father, as well as a friend, due to your fun-loving nature. You are someone who will remain in my heart for all of time, and you always will be cherished by all of us. I am so glad that you have turned to Jesus in your final hours, which has really softened the blow of your passing. I'm sure that heaven is a blast and I can almost imagine you telling us how satisfied you are with heaven, much like the many times you have done so before whenever you were pleased with something or after you returned from an enjoyable holiday. I hope you rest in peace, and I'll see you again someday, Ah Kong. We will watch wrestling together again, but this time, we will be joined personally by the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. I love you Ah Kong and I already miss you now.

p.s: I would like to thank all of you who have so graciously supported my family and I during this tough ordeal of ours. Thank you for your prayers and well wishes. Praise be the Lord Jesus Christ. God Bless all of you.

Today, I will not blog as THEX or the THEXMAN. For those of you know know me well, I usually blog in kayfabe (character), however, today, I blog as who I really am, Kenneth Thexeira, and I am pouring out my heartfelt emotions.

My entry today is regarding the emotional roller coaster my family and I endured earlier this afternoon. Yes, it is about the plight of my maternal grandfather, Harry Chew, affectionately refered to as Ah Kong by his grandchildren.

Now, Ah Kong was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit on Saturday night, due to severe breathing problems. I regret to state that at the point of me receiving the news from my mom, i was slightly nonchalant initially, due to Ah Kong's abilty to pull through all of his previous ICU admissions over the past few years. I visited him on Sunday, and although he was not in a good physical condition, it never really crossed my mind that something drastic may happen this time.

Well, things were about to change. I was preparing to nap at around noon today, when suddenly Aunty Ivy rang looking for Mom, who was out for lunch at that time. Aunty Ivy was not her usual self as she was sobbing over the phone. At that moment, I felt my heart sink, in fear of what may have or was going to happen. Awhile later, my Mom returned and hastily got me to change and rush downstairs. Along the way to NUH, I kept silent in the cab; my mind blank too, as my Mom explained that Ah Kong was in a worsened state. We had a rendezvous with Dad at the lobby of the hospital and we quickly proceeded to the ICU ward.

I entered the ward and faced my dear grandfather, who was in a critically weakened state. We tried to communicate with Ah Kong, and although we were sadly unable to make out most of his words due to his difficulty to speak in this state, I heard three words from him that resounded in my mind over and over. Kenny, Study Hard. At that moment I felt I couldn't live with myself, as of late, I had been doing the opposite. However, as I nodded in approval, I silently vowed to adhere to his wish for me, no matter what happened.

Ah Kong requested for the rest of his grandchildren, my dear cousins to be with him too. They arrived shortly after. What happened next was that one by one, my cousins, sister as well as my Aunts and Uncles upon visiting his ward, broke down into tears of sorrow. I couln't control myself too, as i began sobbing in the corner of the room. Later we were requested to proceed to the waiting area.

I was fortunate however, to have been able to return to the ward to pray alongside Aunty Ivy and Uncle Anthony. I prayed for a solution to halt this anguish. Amazingly, as i finished my tenth Hail Mary of the one decade that I decided to pray, Aunt Ivy grasped Ah Kong's hand and asked if he would like a priest to come and bless him. Surprisingly, Ah Kong agreed. This came as a surprise because he was not a Catholic, never went to church save for weddings of family members and never once intended to accept the Catholic faith. Sensing something positive, Aunt Ivy went for an even bolder question: "Dad....Dad, do you want to be a Catholic? Do you want the priest to baptise you?"

Ah Kong did not hesitate, and nodded in approval on the spot. At once, joy filled my heart as I concluded my silent Rosary decade with upmost conviction: 'Glory be to The Father, and to The Son, and to The Holy Spirit, as it was in the begining, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, AMEN.'

We called Fr Brian up, and less than an hour later, he arrived at the hospital, already decked out in his priest cassock and stole. By that time, Ah Kong was shifted to a normal ward so that we could also witness the baptism as a family.

As Ah Kong was being baptised, I broke down again, this time out of the pure joy that my stubborn-by-nature grandad had decided to give his life to the Lord Jesus Christ, and 'officially' become a brother in Christ to me. What touched me the most was the sight of Ah Kong attempting to make the Sign of the Cross, even though he was plagued with agonizing pain. This was the very first time he made the Sign of the Cross, and the mere sight of him doing so sent overwhelming waves of emotion throughout my very being.

What astounded us all was that after the baptism was complete, Ah Kong suddenly began to appear a whole lot better. This definitely assuaged our anxiety to a large extent. The family stayed around the ward area for about an hour or so, before we departed following a final prayer which Ah Kong participated silently in as well.

Well that was what basically happened today. Phew, it was indeed an emotionally draining day for all of us.

I would also like to thank the following for their support and concern : All my friends who have been praying for my grandad, namely Nigel, Hilda, Peter, Daryl, Andre, Leonard and Marcus. Thank you all, I really appreciate it. The Couples For Christ group that my parents are in, thanks a lot too. Much thanks also goes to Fr Brian, who took time off his schedule to baptise my dear Ah Kong in the name of our Lord and Saviour.

My family is hoping for the best as my grandad's birthday is around the corner, and he is also greatly anticipating a visit from his close friend from Germany. Meanwhile, it would be really great if you people continue praying for my Ah Kong.

Today, i found my faith being edified once again by this spectacular miracle performed by the Lord. Praise be the Lord Jesus Christ. God Bless all of you.

( THEXMAN entries should resume in the next blog post )

hmmm well this is probably my 1st real posting. it's about my tanjung balai mission trip. heh. well i've already been to balai last year n this was my 2nd time, and i had a blast there all over again. phew.

tnjg balai is a small island in Indonesia abt 2 hrs away from Singapore if one is to get there via ferry. real smashing place i have to say. as usual the majority of the guys had to build roads n carry heavy stuff, heh. tough job, but fun though. the real impactful stuff however, occured whenever we visted the communities and their schools. the mere sincerity of the balai locals WILL easily melt the hearts of anyone. it was moving to know that they were contented with the little they possessed, man. i mean it shames the best of us, considering how fortunate we all are. tanjung balai also provided much breathtaking scenery, very brokeback mountain-esque. heh, the SCENERY, not the cowboys, keep in mind.

man, i also have to say the food there is sedap! haha. delicious stuff, always complimented with a refreshing cup of coconut water, which i have to add,is simply the BEST!! seriously smashing stuff, pleasing to the THEXMAN's tastebuds man.

balai's unique modes of transport also greatly appealed to me, dude. open air wooden buses, which i almost always had the privelage of sitting in its front seats, never failed to exhilarate me. woHooo!! okaay!! sitting in front had about the same level of enjoyment as riding motorcycles there last year, man.this, coupled with my nice, pleasant albeit tiring hikes to the lake and beyond, made for great stuff man. i also managed to please the comic-fan/movie buff inside of me by solely visiting the lake and standing at the cliff area looking morose. heh, cyclops from X-Men3. sheesh, i was lucky no Phoenix appeared to bring about my demise. haha, man, man, MAN!

anyway fun bits aside, i have to conclude that tanjung balai's underlying reason for possessing such a smashing factor is the uncanny ability of the locals to rouse and invoke emotionally-charged sentiments within our hearts. with all due respect, no other camp or such comes close to beating the balai experience. if u were one of my fellow mission trip-ers (heh), I am sure u can vouch for that, man.

splendid place, SMASHING experience, the Tanjung Balai Mission Trip 2006.

ps- 2005's trip was just as smashing too, man. and i'll quickly add that the bathing system there's really unique. showering n flushing is done with the help of a small pail to scoop water out of a little tub of well-water. yea, old school, HOOOO!!

ta ta, bye for now.

hello. so i guess i jumped on the bandwagon a little late, but here's my blog anyways. so i guess it's a monumental day. HOOOO!! haha yea i know some of u ppl noe wat i mean..

anyway i hope u ppl would continue checking out this blog of mine in the near future. soon i'll be posting stuff abt my tanjung balai missinon trip, my o-level adventure, professional wrestling, the world cup and so on...do return. ta ta, bye for now.