Thursday, November 8, 2007

He Played The Game.

FREDO GAYONDATO - In Memoriam.
19th October 1950 - 8th November 2006.

1 year has passed since Fredo left us but memories of him still lingers. He is still missed and spoken so fondly of at The National Press Club of Malaysia at Jalan Tangsi, Kuala Lumpur. Not many has the gift like Fredo. To many who knew him, he was Laughter their Best Medicine. He could change the entire mood in a room or in a bar with his mere presence. Though he could not stand-up and be a 'philosopher' like his younger brother, but he could sit down and entertain anywhere, anytime. A musician, singer, artist, comedian, sportsman, cook, gambler, and most of all, a friend.

This is my take on the life of my brother Fredo. He lived life the way he wanted to live, full of life, full of joy, full of passion. He may not be very successful but he was not unsuccessful either. It there was one way to describe how he lived, I would say that he lived it to the fullest. Just like the poker player he was, he played his hand and bought every card. And if you know the game of poker, playing every hand means taking a risk which could be in your favour or not...you could win or lose.
In the game of Life, Fredo played his hand and whether he won or not did not matter. What mattered was he played the game - the game of life. The very famous Robert Kiosaki once said, 'If you write the book of life, make sure there is a chapter of you winnings or your losses. But make sure you didn't write that YOU DIDN'T PLAY THE GAME'.

Life is about living and making decisions. If we are afraid to make decisions for fear of failure, we will always live in our comfort zone and will always have in back of our minds...'What if I had made this or that decision and taken the risk...what if?'

10 comments:

Shanghai Fish said...

Yes Tony,
He was all that you say and is always spoken like he is very much alive and in our midst !
I should know, cos I will always be his stand-in in all the poker games...see he will come later and as the gang was one-short, I will volunteer to sit in TILL he comes....which by then I will be a lot poorer from when I sat-in !
A great friend and brother he is to all and I always raise a glass to him.....Cheers Fredo,my friend, wherever you are !

Anonymous said...

tony, ure a great philospher la...u caneven read my mind for what i want to say about my dear friend Fredo is already done by you...so for me like the malay sayaing 'tak lagi modal'...in 'short' u said it all i wanted to say about bro Fredo....cheers Fredo......miss your singing!

J.T. said...

Hi Tony

It sure has been a while since I have dropped by here. How are you keeping?

A lovely tribute to Fredo you have here. It is a pity I never met him. From your description about your dear brother, I would have liked him in the first instance.

Life is indeed about living and making decisions... And making a decision and sticking to it is important. Sometimes it may work out and sometimes it won't but at least one can say, "I've been there and done that".

JBingkasan said...

Tony,

I, too, adopt to all what you had said of Fredo. I had known no other than him of a true friend that can be when one is in trouble. Whenever I am down in KL, he is the first friend I would look for beside you at the NPC. In Kuching and Kota Kinabalu, I felt I was a poor host to him.

Ye, I missed him.

zorro said...

He still walks in our midst and still resides in our hearts.

Anonymous said...

Dear Tony,
Like Bingkasan says, he is a good friend to one and all.
I had known him for many years right from the NPC "revamp" of 1992 till the end of my tenure in 2000.
We will miss him but like Bernard Khoo says, he still resides in our hearts.

I'm sure Fredo's spreading cheer whereever he is now for He is a jolly good fellow. And that's all we say.

Cheers
KHLim

Rockybru said...

We started off as colleagues at Business Times and soon became friends. He may have thought he taught me how to throw the darts but he thought me more, a lot more. Somewhere along the way he became a brother. Today, whenever I take out my darts to beat my other brothers, my mind goes to him. And whenever your mind goes to Fredo, you'll come back with a little smile at least.

the Razzler said...

Dear Tony ..

He's a special friend indeed!!

My brief stint with NST was one of the most memorable part of my life.

Life was always interesting with Sifus like John Kam & Fredo around .. there's no shortage of jokes and words of wisdom.

How's Ivan & Leena now?! :) :)

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

tony,

miss him dearly.
he was a wonderful person.
a brother.

Mat Salo said...

Didn't know the late Fredo was your brother. A pity I never had the priviledge ...A lovely tribute, Sir --I'm sure he'll be sadly missed.