Count our blessings.

Yesterday, a friend told me to go and get a longan plant from her house. So, I took my son along to have the fairly big plant removed from its huge pot so that it would be light enough for her husband to take it to my house in the evening.

As the time draws near to transport the plant to my house, it rained and a telephone call informed me it would be brought in the morning at half past seven. That would mean no hill-trekking for me at that time. By the time the plant would be planted, it would be too late to go. So I had to miss that.

Well, we cannot have everything, can we? Whatever needs to be done has to be carried out. Furthermore, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise for I had strained myself a little the last few days, exerting a little too much to improve my strength and flexibility more. The Achilles tendon was somewhat sore. But then, like a stubborn old coot, I had ignored it and perhaps would have continued to aggravate the situation had not the opportunity come for me to rest it for a day. For good health, sufficient rest is just as important.

Sometimes we are our own enemies by ignoring our body's call to slow down or take a rest. Our ego can egg us on even when we ought not to. In the process, we hurt ourselves. So, usually I take it as God's work. In His own mysterious ways, He knows what ought to be done. Thus, interruptions and unforeseen circumstances in our lives become much-needed changes to our routine.

Thus, instead of having one blessing, being presented a beautiful ready to fruit plant; I had two, the second blessing being the chance to rest my Achilles tendon and reduce the pain.

So, most things is life has a positive side to it. Look out for the positive and it will appear.

How good is our self control?

A few days ago there was this news report in Malaysia concerning a rich director of a City Council owning a low cost apartment. And low cost apartments are subsidised apartments built to help the poor families who have a total income of less than RM2,500.00. Looks like she is not the only one as there are, according to her, other directors and assistant directors who own such low cost apartments.

According to the report, these rich, not eligible, low cost apartment owners pay installments of RM300 plus for the apartments which they rent out to the poor for about RM500. If that is not blood-sucking, then what is?

When asked why she bought what she was not eligible for, she said that many high-income people, directors and assistant directors, are also in possession of such low cost apartments. I have heard of 'Might making it right' but here there is this 'Numbers make it right.' So, as thieves increase in number, more will find it easier in their conscience to become thieves. Similarly, when more and more politicians get away with corruption, people will tend to become corrupted. Well, I must admit that there is some truth in the saying. Thus, if we live among thieves, we may even eventually take pride in being a competent thief.

Then again, there was this excuse that there was a policy allowing her and other staff of the City Council to own the low cost apartments. And the policy has yet to be seen. Even if there was such a policy, who had authorised it? Was that not an abuse of power, an act of corruption?

And it was not because there were no poor Malaysians who refused the low cost apartments. In fact, squatters and the poor had applied for them as they were eligible, been interviewed but were not given the low cost units. So, if there was a policy to approve and let rich people get the low cost units which were built to help the poor own homes, that policy took away opportunities for the poor to own homes and, since rental of such units exceed the installments for the units, enrich the rich.

And to make such rich people eligible for the less than RM2,500 income condition for application of such apartments, they said they have only less than RM2,500 after paying for their properties, their maids, their children's schooling and other expenses. Poor them! Imagine having less than RM2,500 after all those deductions. How can we expect them to survive on such meagre savings? Of course, they need other sources of income and milking the poor is just one of the available sources.

The surprising fact is that our Anti-Corruption body does not seem to act fast although it is obvious that something is very wrong. Nobody has been summoned for questioning. So, can we blame the citizens for feeling that the anti-corruption only acts when told to do so. And let us not hear that they are not aware when everyone in Malaysia is talking about it.

How often does a gambling path lead to happiness?

If you do it, there is hope. Easy money is what people always hope for when they gamble. You have heard of people striking it rich with some kind of gamble and it does happen to one in a billion people. (In an earlier post, I had written about a man from Kodiang, Kedah who struck it rich in a draw and lost everything in less than a year.) Of course, everyone hopes he/she would be the lucky one to win. Not just win but change forever and get to move into the path of wealth.

One of my relatives is very fond of betting on certain numbers being drawn to win. She has won small amounts once in a long while. I believe she has lost more than what she had won. Once when she cried out in disappointment at not having got the winning numbers, I told her that if she were to keep all the money she had placed on those bets in a box, she could take that accumulated sum out after a year and it would be similar to having some prize money once a year. Unfortunately, of course, there was no thrill, no flow of adrenaline which betting and the expectation of a win could give.

Fortunately, when bets are small, the lost would be minimal and so could not only cause no harm but provide some excitement. However, there are gamblers who play big stakes with money they could not afford to lose. Of course, most of them do lose and they have to turn to money-lenders to hide the cost of their gambling habit from other members of their family or to enable them to survive.

Some of the gamblers are women and gambling women are the worst as in their weakness, unlike the men, they have something they can sell for money. Yes, there have been women who gave sex in exchange for cancellation of debts when the sum owed exceeded a certain amount. They resort to such ways to sustain their gambling habit.
One thing leads to another and soon either they suffer from some kind of unspeakable disease or their self esteem deteriorates together with their reputation and respect.
That does mean the gambling men escape from problems. When money is owed, lenders will use all means to get what is owed. Those gambling men and their family members could be threatened with harm until such money is recovered. The gamblers might flee the scene leaving other family members to endure the wrath of the money lenders. Imagine the amount of problems that gambling could bring.

Surely, we realise the risks of lost is greater than gain in any gambling. If the ordinary men can win at gambling who would spend a fortune building casinos for them to withdraw money from?

“I work better at night.” There’s no right or wrong to it.

“Okay, Beaty, you take the morning class while I take the evening class. We can leave the afternoon class to John.” Jenny looked around for approval from her friends.

At his point, Beaty could not help but protest, ”Wait a minute! How about having a night class? I can teach such a class.”

“Why do we want a night class for? We cannot do away with the morning class as it is a well know fact that people learn best at that time. You will be able to teach better with a fresh mind after a good night’s rest,” Jenny calmly told Beaty.

‘That’s where you’re wrong, my dear friend. You see, I work better at night. That’s the time when I’m wide awake, alert and full of energy.” Beaty informed.

John knew it was a good time for him to avoid having a afternoon class by cutting in with “It’s alright if Beaty prefers a night class as I can fill the morning slot. Let’s not have any afternoon class as that is the hottest time of the day and I would most probably have some problem keeping awake then.”

“Alright then but let’s not do away with the afternoon class as I think that is best time of the day to work and put aside the evening for some kind of recreation such as a game of badminton or a hike up a hill,” Jenny told her friends.

Each of the above people are happy and agreeable with each other’s differences as those differences make things easy for them.

Well, the above were three good friends with the same ambition of setting up their own tuition centre. Yet, when it comes to the best time of the day to be active at particular activities, they are so different. But then not all differences are so clear-cut. And not all difference are so acceptable.

You see, all individuals are unique. Although all of us have the same human characteristics and physical features, all of us are in our own way different. Every one of us thinks, acts and performs with at least a minimum difference. The difference may lie in the degree of dissimilarity.

Even when great minds think alike, what and how each great mind thinks differ in such small measures that the less discerning individual cannot notice. Thus, when these great minds understand that the human body needs a lot of water each day to function well, one could be thinking only of pure water while another could be considering any kind of fluid as sufficiently adequate. Others may think of fruit juices or other beverages. When it comes to reasons for their choice of liquids, each has his/her own good reasons.

The one who declare only pure water is to be taken might point out truly pure water is essential to the health of the body. This person might profess that even filtered water would not do as it could still contain minute impurities which might possibly be toxic to the body. It could also be pointed out that fruit juices might contain too much sugar causing the organs such as the kidney and the liver to overwork. Of course, beverages contain too much sugar.

The one with the fruit juice in mind was thinking of killing two or more birds with one stone. Fruit juices contain natural liquid filled with many desirable nutrients for the body.

Those who have beverages as the way to hydrate the body would say their would be the most enjoyable and certainly best way to not forget that the body needs sufficient fluid. After all, according to them, we do need calories and sugar is one of the sources, forgetting that researchers are accusing refined sugar as a cause of cancer. Besides that, they also forget that some beverages contain caffeine which is harmful to the body when taken in huge doses.

So there are differences even in similarities. At a certain point there could be agreement but as the topic gets deeper, differences appear. This differences come about partly due to the various sources of knowledge and the individual experiences each had.

That is why we so often have agreements as well as differences of opinions.

Train teachers who are chosen from the best possible.

For a nation to progress in every sphere, its teachers must be the best. If a leader of a nation were to think that you do not need to be really good at something to teach it, then the citizens are heading for some disappointment when the desired results are not achieved within a specified time.

We ought to remember that unless a person is excellent in a subject and knows it thoroughly, the person cannot be a truly good teacher. That is why we usually choose a world-class player to coach his/her game. That is also why we put people who were good at sports to teach physical education. It is also the reason for choosing an excellent mathematics student to be trained in the methods of teaching mathematics.

Yes, even an excellent mathematics student has to be trained in effective teaching methods to become a good capable teacher. In fact, an excellent mathematics student may not become an excellent teacher unless he/she has the interest, the right aptitude and undergoes a proper training. Similarly, a world class footballer may not be able to be an excellent coach unless he/she has the interest, the aptitude and the training to be a coach.

Of course, anyone who is good at something and interested in imparting his/her knowledge and skill can eventually be excellent as a teacher or coach; but without training, that could take a longer time through learning from experiences of failures and successes. Training is the providing of invaluable proven effective methods through the experiences of many other teachers.

Sometimes, leaders of a nation, to solve the problems of unemployment or some other problems in their country and sometimes for their own selfish ends, take in people who have neither aptitude nor the interest to be trained as teachers, doing great injustice to the future generation of their nation. How can they ever believe that people who have neither aptitude or interest in teaching would ever put in their utmost to conscientiously develop the minds and bodies of the young to their highest potential?

Parents are the first teachers of their children and do naturally have an interest in their children’s development. And in their natural love for their children arises the desire to do their best for them. Unfortunately, some may not be good enough at the skill of imparting knowledge effectively. This is where a government should think of giving methodology to parents though the various media. Talks, articles and shows on parenting would certainly help to create a more knowledgeable society. This would go a long way in improving the minds and progress of every citizen, thus improving the human capital of a nation.

Beware of con men.

I received this email from a friend. As it is of interest to people in Malaysia, I am putting this here as to forewarn is to forearm. As for others outside Malaysia, this is knowledge which shows crooks are certainly not stupid and they are getting smarter and better at their 'job' by the second. If it can happen here in Malaysia, it can happen anywhere else. So, take care.
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(This happened in April, 2010.)
This just happened a few minutes ago. Somebody by the name of Inspector Chew King Hwa from Bukit Aman called my husband's hand phone and was looking for me. He said that I was implicated in some money laundering cases (I really wished that I had those money). He gave a contact number which was 03-2262 6222.

when I checked online, it is true that the number belongs to Bukit Aman HQ. So I called using my office phone to the number and I was told by the operator at the Bukit Aman Headquarters that there is a syndicate with inside people from Celcom and Telekom who are running these scams. They offer to settle your case outside and ask for money to bank into certain accounts. The operator said everyday the Bukit Aman HQ receives 40-50 calls from the public, from people like me asking for verification. Bukit Aman said they will change their phone number soon because of this scam. (So, the number given may be the different next time. Caution and confirmation with the proper authorities or using a fixed line phone is necessary to ascertain the true identity of the caller.)

The clever thing about this group is that, when they call you on your hand phone, the number shown would be 03-2262 6222. I guess if you call this number from a hand phone, or directly pressing on the number received on your hand phone without re-keying in the numbers again through the keypad, you will reach the syndicate as they must have manipulated either the caller identity and created a fake line with the insiders' assistance from Celcom, Maxis or Digi. But if you call the same number using a fixed line (Telekom) as I did, then only will you be able to reach the real Bukit Aman Headquarters.

So it looks like the con men are also getting smarter. But you can straightaway tell from the way the caller speaks, that he is not very educated and hence not likely to be of the caliber of an officer.

Hope you will tell your family and friends.

A tribute to the teachers.

I received the email below from a teacher. As a retired teacher myself, I know that there are places where teachers are not well respected. Of course, there are instances where teachers themselves are to blame for some of them, like some in the other professions, treat their work as just another means to a pay-check. But then, there are good, if not excellent, teachers who are truly dedicated to their profession. Such teachers throughout the world ought to read what one lady has to say about a teacher's job and what she thinks of those who have no respect for the jobs done by others. I totally agree with her and therefore, I would like to thank the writer of this article. Unfortunately, I do not know who he/she is and therefore am unable to request for permission to have it put here.
(The words in brackets are mine.)
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Article is sent from a friend, share it with all teachers here....

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man, a CEO (proud of being a professional), decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, ‘What’s a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?' (I decided to be a teacher even when I was in primary school simply because a few of my teacher were great in inspiring me to do something meaningful in life and teaching is one of those things.) He reminded the other dinner guests what they say about teachers:'Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach.' (That is obviously from someone who do not understand for I am one of those who can use as well teach English very well.) To stress his point he said to another guest; 'You're a teacher, Mary. Be honest. What do you make?' Mary, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, 'You want to know what I make? (She paused for a second, and then began...)

'Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. I make a C+ feel like the Medal of Honor. I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents can't make them sit for 5 without an I Pod, Game Cube or movie rental. You want to know what I make?' (She paused again and looked at each and every person at the table.)
''I make kids wonder. I make them question. I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions. I teach them to write and then I make them write. Keyboarding isn't everything. I make them read, read, read. I make them show all their work in maths. They use their God given brain, not the man-made calculator. I make my students from other countries learn everything they need to know in English while preserving their unique cultural identity. I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe. I make my students stand, to say the Pledge of Allegiance to the National Flag, and sing the National Anthem, because we live in this great country. Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts they were given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life.'

Mary paused one last time and then continued, then, when people try to judge me by what I make, with me knowing money isn't everything, I can hold my head up high and pay no attention because they are ignorant..... You want to know what I make. I MAKE A DIFFERENCE. What do you make Mr. CEO?' His jaw dropped, he went silent.

THIS IS WORTH SENDING TO EVERY TEACHER YOU KNOW. and all your personal teachers like mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grandparents, your spiritual teachers, (everybody, for everyone of us who do take time to teach a child is a teachers. Just as I have said before, every parent is a teacher to his/her child.)

In his father’s footsteps.

On Tuesday, Star online had this story of a young boy who started gambling on foreign football bets over the internet at the age of sixteen. By the time he reached eighteen, he had lost money that ninety-five percent of the people in the world would not have been able to earn in one life-time, about eight million ringgit (about USD 2.3million)

It was only when he had lost a total sum of eight million ringgit that his father stopped him from further gambling by removing him from his college and placing him right under his nose in his office.

According to a politician, it was the fault of gambling agents who targeted the children of rich families. Of course, as long as there are gamblers, there will be gambling agents. Gambling agents find work only because people wish to gamble. It is easy to blame these gambling agents when things go wrong. To ensure that our children do not go wrong we ought to deal with people and matters within our control. Gambling agents are not within our control. Another point is that when the fault does not lie with the accused, in this case the gambling agents, the problem can never to solved or prevented no matter what is done to or with the gambling agents. In this case, the child grew up imitating a gambling father. The fault lies with the parent. Parents who have faults which they cannot overcome should hide such faults from their children so that the children cannot imitate them. There is also the possibility that the child could have got to know his gambling agent through his father.

A political party organized an ‘Anti-gambling at Internet Cafes’ campaign while the police urged the public to provide information on gambling dens which existed in internet cafes. Their intention is good and certainly everyone would agree that internet cafes should not allow gambling in their premises. However, even more important would be the need to educate parents on the evils of gambling, especially when all parents are role models for their children. By their gambling, parents encourage their children to follow suit and so they cannot blame their children for doing so. In their innocent little minds, what is perfectly alright for their parents must be alright for them too. So, they naturally imitate the gambling habit from their parents.

Parents with very young children must try to correct their faults and improve themselves for the sake of their children. And it is not only in habits that children imitate; children imitate everything from movement to behaviour and attitudes. Of course, it is difficult to change what has been with us for a long time but we need to try for the love of our precious children.

Imitation is a way of learning.

A grandpa and I were playing with the two dogs up the hill, giving them a rub as well as a massage here and there. The dogs enjoyed the attention and the soothing effect of the rub on their muscles. They wagged their tails and showed their pleasure by licking my hands.

"Dogs are such loving creatures. They would run towards you if they recognise you as a friend. Treat them well and they are sure to give their love in return. They are such loving animals." The other observers and I had to agee to what was said for there was truth in what had been uttered.

"Children are similar to dogs in that if you treat them well and teach them correctly, they respond lovingly." And with that that grandpa went into his visits to his grandchildren.

There was this daughter's family where the adults would shout harshly at the children and sometimes vulgar words were even heard. Children learn through imitation and soon the children were using those vulgar words in their quarrels and talk. So, when this grandpa visits them once in a long while, he would hear such words commonly used in the children's expression. He was determined to teach them that those kind of words ought not to be used. Being the kindly grandpa who brings presents for the grandchildren each time he visits, he was lovingly close with the grandchildren, So, each time he hears those words, he would draw them close and quietly tell them that grandpa's family and grandchildren should not use such words as they are learned people who understands the proper use of words. Of course, this had to go on for some time before there was some noticeable change.

He continued to tell of his method of teaching his grandchildren through telling them of their mistakes nicely and not through shouting, use of vulgar words or physical punishment.

And his method must be certainly right as each time he visits, which is not often, the grandchildren like to be close and would move to sit next to him.

And I wholeheartedly agreed with his method for children learn through imitation. Give them a bad example and they become that bad example. Give them a saint and you have a saint. Talk to them nicely and they will talk to you in the same manner. So if there are children who do not pay us any attention, it could be because we ourselves do no give them enough attention in the first place.

So, parents who see faults in their children ought to look for the same faults in themselves. The 'mirror' have shown you the truth. Never mind, it just means there is still room for improvement. Just do something about it. There is still much learning in store for us.

A dangerous computer virus: Hoax or truth?

A few minutes ago I read the email message given below. As I can never be sure as to the truth of this matter and seeing that it requires urgent notification to everyone, I am posting it onto my blog so that all of you can be forewarned about this virus. To my thinking, if it is just a hoax, there's no harm in knowing about it. So read on and for those better informed ones, please let us know whether it is the truth or merely a hoax.
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In the coming days, DO NOT open any message with an attachment called: Black in the White House, regardless of who sent it to you. It is a virus that opens an Olympics torch that burns the whole hard disk C of your computer. This virus comes from a known person who you have in your list.

Directions: You should send this message to all of your contacts. It is better to receive this e-mail 25 times than to receive the virus and open it. If you receive a message called Black in the White House even if sent by a friend, do not open, and shut down your machine immediately.

It is the worst virus announced by CNN. This new virus has been discovered recently it has been classified by Microsoft as the virus most destructive ever.
This virus was discovered yesterday afternoon by McAfee. There is no repair yet for this kind of virus. This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the hard disk, where vital information function is stored.

When life becomes too easy, problems may arise.

There was this couple who has put in a lot of work to ensure the family grows successfully not just physically, spiritually, and emotionally but also financially. Both the husband and the wife worked for others to get a good enough income for the family’s needs. Then as they improved financially, there was enough money to think of having their own factory to produce a product the husband was good at.

With the factory’s gradual development, life became so much easier that there was no longer any need for the wife to work. So, she concentrated her energy on the home and children. Soon, the financial situation was so good that they even got a maid to help do the house-hold chores. As the years went by, the grown-up children went for further studies which left mum with so much time on her hands that she took up her old interest of putting together jig-saw puzzles. Her interest grew and she spent quite a lot of pleasurable time on it.

During the earlier years when life was a lot of work and not much time for hobbies or leisure, both were too tired to think of life outside their office hours. Years passed without any of them having the time to wonder what the other had been doing or had not done.

However, when there was more leisure time, and the wife spent more time on her puzzles, the husband had the time to feel that the wife was ignoring or neglecting his presence. However, the wife did not realise that the husband felt that way as a year or two before, when the husband had to be at his factory more often, she was already busily enjoying her puzzles without any husband around to need her attention.

As a result of too much time to spend together, the one with less activities to occupy himself/herself with felt lonely and neglected. Such are human feelings and emotions. It could have lead to marital problems, had not both those people in this story been close enough or educated enough to communicate their problems to each other. Fortunate for them, they managed to understand how the problem had arisen due to too easy a life with too much time to spare and insufficient activities to use up such excess time.

Well, not every couple is as fortunate as this one. There have been men who would have gone off in a huff to find undesirable activities afield. A third party may emerge to complicate the matter further and matters can become too serious to ever be resolved.

Even the middle class can have such problems as life becomes easier and there is extra time for new activities which may not be healthy for the body or the marriage.

Therefore, when circumstances change, be it life getter easier or tougher, all parties concerned must beware of undesirable changes and attempt to assist each other overcome the problem. Changes are constantly taking place but when changes occur slowly and gradually, such changes can be adapted to more easily by both partners in a marriage. Whatever it is marriage is like a tree that requires tender loving care at all times. When there is such tender loving care, you would notice the needs of each other more and move to fulfill that need.

Right teaching to self-esteem and confidence.

Many parents send their children to tuition centers to ensure they are not left behind by their peers. Sending the children for tuition is apparently the logical move to ensure the children are not left behind by their peers. However, is it the best way to achieve that goal?

When children are provided with all the facts and figures or explanations concerning the materials they have to cover academically, what are most of the tuition teachers really doing? They are actually spoon-feeding the children with facts and ways to achieve better grades.

With the facts that they memorise, they are even able to get excellent examination results. Yet, many of those same students with such good academic results are not able to write sufficiently well to apply for jobs at the end of their academic studies.

This is written as a result of meeting a parent whose two children did get into the Asian Scholarship Programme to study in Singapore where the standard of English is much higher. The parent told me that her child was once so proud of his results. Then, when her child had to go to Singapore where he was not given any tuition, he lost his confidence and self-esteem. She told me that the child was so used to tuition that he was lost without such an aid. He had to struggle to regain that confidence. Looks like a child can become lost without the tuition he has depended upon for getting good results.

However, I am not saying that it is totally bad to give tuition to children. After all, if the students are weak in their studies, they obviously need help and tuition could be the help necessary. However, what I wish to point out is that children should not depend too much on tuition. They must be given more opportunities to think and search for answers in their studies. They must learn how to look for answers.

I have known of tuition teachers who help students to complete their homework. They are some who impress parents by giving work that is too difficult for the children, forcing them to turn to parents or adults to supply the answers. The question is "Would such methods help the children to improve?". I am told by many Chinese students that many students were taught to memorise well in order to get excellent grades. Of course, such students can become really good at memorisation but is that the best method in acquiring knowledge?

Unless the child is a genius, it is only alright to memorise a limited number of things in the primary or secondary school. Certainly, it would be more difficult to memorise the kilograms of knowledge in upper secondary and university level. That perhaps is the reason very few of those who use the memorisation technique cannot reach the upper levels of education.

However, we do not need to memorise that much material in the actual world as knowledge is available on the net or in books in libraries. Ability to search for it and understand it well is even more important.

Denggi: How much do we really know?

My youngest son was down with fever just a week after he returned from Sarawak. Thinking it was a simple fever created by the activity of white blood corpuscles overcoming bacteria or some foreign body in the body, we did not do anything but waited for it to subside. However, it did not and instead rose higher. The next thing we resorted to was panadol. Two tablets, four tablets and then six tablets did not bring the desired improvement. So, the clinic was the next stop.

A gun-like instrument, which was a thermometer, was pointed at the forehead of my son as we were at the door. Positively high was the fever and so a mask was given as they were on the look-out for H1N1. Wearing the mask, he went in and after a blood test, he was suspected to have denggi with the platlet count a little bit low. Asked to return the next day, he was again given a blood test with the platlet level going down. For confirmation of denggi he was asked to report to the emergency section of the Sungai Petani Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital where they made a second blood test and warded him as he had denggi petechia hemorrhage which looks very much like rashes. In fact, the non-medical people would usually say those are rashes. However, rashes is something else as it is actually an allegic reaction.

As word spread that my son had denggi, friends from all over came with various ways to tackle denggi. From my elder son's experience, it is important to drink a lot of fluid. This time, friends told me to give the patient a lot of watermelon juice to drink. Well, it could be another way of administering lot of water in a tasty way. Then again, it could be there is something in watermelon which helps to solve the decreasing platlet' problem. Well, no matter how it could solve the problem, who said medicine has to be difficult to take? Then there was this expensive therapy with two or three frogs' meat low-heated with about four or five of the short variety of bitter-gourd. Unfortunately, frog meat is not easily available. One restaurant owner had a few frozen frogs which he would only sell as a dish in a meal taken at his restaurant. Then, there was the papaya leaf boiled in a little water which everyone found difficult to drink despite adding some honey to it at serving time. I finally had to be the one to drink all of it. However, one most acceptable suggestion was coconut water, a favourite drink of mine. The friend even took the trouble to pluck some from her tree and brought them to my house. Thank God for such a wonderful friend. She is indeed god-sent.

Well, looks like there are many types of food which can help alleviate the sickness. And the beautiful part about taking on any of the suggested therapies is that we still can continue taking whatever medicine the hospital is giving the patient. Of course, we could also discuss with our doctors to see whether there could be anything in the suggested food which could counteract against the medicines given.

When it comes to denggi, a patient ought to be hospitalised so that medical staff can monitor the platlet count and ensure sufficient fluid is available to the body by dripping normal saline into the body. And should the platlet count drop too low, then blood infusion is necessary to maintain the platlet level, failing which the patient is in danger. That is the reason a denggi patient must be hospitalised.

The signal that the patient is recovering is when the platlet count improves. Once that is achieved, the patient is on the road to recovery.

Thus, it is through my son's experiences that I learned about denggi and the various ways to help the patient on the road to recovery. Through this, it is so obvious that there is still so much to learn; we are never too good to become better and life has still so much to live.

Curiosity leads to knowledge.

"Don't touch that!'
"No! Come back here! Don't take the gate remote controller!"
Don't! Don't! and Don't! How is the child supposed to know things? Of course, he wants to touch things, hold them in his hands and use them just as the adult do. He is obviously curious about the feel of things and their usage, even perhaps how such things operate. And if he does want to know how such things operate, you are really lucky for you have a child who is more curious than others, who wants to know more than others, ending up being cleverer than others. Isn't that what we want our children to be?

Yet, how many parents kill that curiosity in a child so often just because they are afraid the children may break something or cause the adults some kind of inconvenience. Yes, "Break that and I'll give you a good spanking." is so often the words that warn the child, using fear to curb his curiosity. "You know I'll have to clean up the mess you leave behind." And that was the way some house-proud parents keep their house spit and span with not a pencil or crayon mark on the wall. All that pride for the price of their child's lack of experience and knowledge. Is it worth it?

"Never mind, my children will have the chance for experience and knowledge at the kindergarten or tuition center where teachers can teach them." Oh, yes, they can but where is the spontaneity of such creativity. What's that? Spontaneity? What's so important about that?

Great works and inspiration bringing wonderful knowledge are the result of a spontaneous flow of ideas and thoughts. That's when the flow is good and natural and expression, be it physical, mental or emotional, comes spurting out without necessity to exhaust oneself. When ideas comes spontaneously, we should immediately work on it and the least we should do is to write it down or have a rough sketch in order to capture it and prevent it from being lost. So often have I lost ideas and expressions just because work or duty prevents me from working on something that emerges spontaneously. At such times, I tried to get back to the ideas that came but they were lost or not as vivid as I would have liked them to be.

Nature has put into our children the urge to know. So, curiosity leads the child to explore and learn all about the things in his/her environment. The curious child learns fastest because he must satisfy this urge to discover and learn in the process. Therefore, every parent should encourage the curiosity in the child except when danger awaits as in a hot iron or an explosive fire-cracker.

When a danger is encounter, so as not to lessen or dampen a child's curiosity, it should be explained to the child why he was not allowed to touch the hot iron. Perhaps show the child what can happen to anything that touches the hot iron. This can convince the child that things which are hot ought not to be touched. Show the child how the iron when hot could be used to iron clothes. Then, let him know that the iron when taken off the electricity supply can become cold. that is the time when the child could be allowed to feel it, touch it and even handle it. In this manner, a parent can teach the purpose of an iron, when it is dangerously hot and so must be handles with care even when it is cold for it is really heavy.

The day a human loses interest in things around him/her, the person will not follow the developments of this world. He/She will know less and less. Without curiosity, a person loses interest and might as well be dead.

How is it we find certain people so very easy to communicate with?

“How is it we find certain people so very easy to communicate with?” That was the question this lady friend voiced after we had talked with each other all the way up and down the hill. It took me back to the numerous encounters with people I find it so easy to be with, to share thoughts and ideas as well as to discuss practically anything under the sun although we have just met.

This lady is a very spiritual person and she believed that those people we have a sense of kinship with are those we have not only met in a past life but also somebody we had been close with.

When she talked about past lives I could relate my belief and knowledge with the experiences and feelings she had.

You see, I strongly believe in reincarnation. Even in my teens I had searched for information on the subject. There was this book which told of a young girl in India who described a house in a certain place so well. She informed the people that she lived there before she died. When she was taken there, she could recognise the house but was surprised at the colour of its walls. She could tell of her family members staying there but upon enquiry found that the house was no longer her family's but was occupied by another family. She described places inside the house. They found the inside just as she had described.

Then there was this uncle who gave up his life-style and marriage to walk the path of healing. I admired the tremendous sacrifice he made in order that others be healed. According to him, the spirit of the elephant diety, Ganesan, descended into him and astounded the area around Butterworth with miraculous healing about forty years ago. In Chinese newspapers at that time people read of his healing power and meditation in a glass-case which according to him, he failed miserably due to his talkative nature. However, through his Tai Pee Sun Temple in Tanjung Bungah, he did a lot of good healing the sick. He was the one who told me of that mission in his life which was to assist Ganesan to help the sick. He related how he was Ganesan’s keeper in an earlier life and Ganesan got him to be his medium to help me ascent to a higher level. He told me about reincarnation.

Of course, I expect some people not to believe in Ganesan and his godly power to heal. There was one Christian who told me nobody but God has the power to heal. Of course, what he had in mind was the Christian God. Unlike me, he does not believe that God may appear in any form to help his creations. I strongly hold onto the saying: 'God works in mysterious ways.', sometimes too mysterious for us humans to understand. As such, it is inevitable that he thought anything that is not the Christian God, yet have the power to heal must be the Satan. Other religions' followers could be thinking along similar lines. I do not wish to quarrel with anyone over this as I also believe that differing views arising from differing experiences and knowledge is possible. (Read about it in an old posting in this blog.) However, if Satan were to heal the sick and bring good to mankind, then certainly God would gladly accept him and appreciate his godly ways, for He is God.

Okay, I have strayed afield. Let me go back to past lives and communication. There are also people who can take you into past lives to help solve certain problems of difficult relationships especially those with parents. Such problems could be solved through understanding, understanding gained from a peep into the past and realization how the strained relationship came about as a result of some circumstances in a past life. With understanding, relationships can be improved.
In past lives, those who were close to us such as marriage partners and close friends can meet again in future lives and the emotional closeness in still there and so they find it easier to click and get to know each other and become close friends. Obviously, such people will find it easier to communicate.

However, that does not mean that new friends who have just met during this present life time cannot be close. If the wave-length are the same, the thinking and belief are similar, of course, they are more able to connect with each other. And their friendship may last forever from one life time to another.

Well, I expect some people not to put any weight on what I have written but then, let us have an open mind and search for the truth. Knowledge can only go to those whose mind is not already closed to new knowledge. For those who believe they know everything already and therefore close the door to everything else, they should not be surprised that they can never see or learn anything more.

Plastic and breast cancer.

Below is an email I received from a friend. I frankly do not know who the actual author is. Thus, i am unable to write for permission. Anyway, if the writer is sincere in passing on the information, that is exactly what I am doing through my blog.

Looks like the information is important to our health. So please read and tell everyone about it.
*********************************

No matter how many times you get this
e-mail,
please send it on!!!!
Bottled water in your car is very dangerous!


On the Ellen show, Sheryl Crow said that this is what caused her breast cancer.
It has been identified as the most common cause of the high levels of dioxin in breast cancer tissue.


Sheryl Crow's oncologist told her: women should not drink bottled water that has been left in a car.
The heat reacts with the chemicals in the plastic of the bottle which releases dioxin into the water. Dioxin is a toxin increasingly found in breast cancer tissue. So please be careful and do not drink bottled water that has been left in a car.

Pass this on to all the women in your life. This information is the kind we need to know that just might save us! Use a stainless steel canteen or a glass bottle instead of plastic!



LET EVERYONE WHO HAS A WIFE / SISTER/GIRLFRIEND / DAUGHTER KNOW PLEASE!
This information is also being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center .

No plastic containers in microwave. No water bottles in freezer. No plastic wrap in microwave.

A dioxin chemical causes cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don't freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic. Recently, Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital, was on a TV program to explain this health hazard.

He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers.This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat and plastic releases dioxin into the body.

Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So, such things as TV dinners, instant soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else.

Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper. It's just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc.

He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.

Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead.

This is an article that should be sent to anyone important in your life!

Appreciate the obstacles in our path.

About three weeks ago, up at the hill, some friends told me of an obstacle in the path of everyone. When I reached the spot where a huge fallen tree trunk blocked the route, I put one foot over it, sat momentarily on top before sliding down onto the other side.

As I reached the other side, a thought came to mind. Would it not be nice to leap over the tree trunk? Well, it was more than two years ago since the last time I vaulted over an obstacle more than four feet high. Nobody was around. It was as good a time as any to find out. If I could not make it, only Mother Nature was around to witness my embarrassment. So I clambered back over the trunk and moved a little distance away from it. I took a slow cautious run, put my hands onto the trunk, jumped with my two legs raised and side vaulted over the trunk. Wow! I did it. Well, why not turn it into an exercise. So I did. I vaulted the tree trunk ten times, each time clearing the obstacle with even greater confidence. It was not merely the confidence that brought me joy. It was the discovery at each successive vault that the body gets lighter with each jump. At the age of sixty-three years, that was a wonderful feeling, something no amount of money can buy.

I neither know nor understand how it came about. What I realised, only after the continuous vaulting, that I was so much lighter and springier in my steps. Well, it was such a long time ago that I felt this light. How it came about is beyond me. Besides that, I exercised my left arm, putting more weight on it as I side-vaulted to the right. In the process I had lifted my legs a little higher and that, if done every day should strengthen my abdominal muscles. So, it can be said that that obstacle presented by a big tree trunk benefitted me in more than one way.
Of course, I looked forward to more vaults over that wondrous trunk in the following days. Who knows what other benefits it could bring to my body and spirit?

And it was thinking of that tree trunk and the goodness it has bestowed me that I thought of the numerous obstacles that crop up from time to time in our lives. As I went through those that I could remember, I know they have helped improve me as I went along in life. First was the sickly child I was due to the sicknesses that seem to target my body at that young age. At Primary school level, I had some kind of arthritis which at one point caused me to be paralysed in the legs. (I have written about it in an earlier posting.) When I was ten years old sickness left me more dead than alive. According to my mother it was a miracle I survived the sickness. And due to my weakness and sicknesses such as those, I became interested in health, strength, nutrition and various aspects of sickness prevention. Thus, my healthy life is so good today because of those sicknesses that weakened me and in so doing awakened in me the awareness of the importance of good health.

However, it could have gone the other way too. It could have brought on more weaknesses from me. Yes, it could have resulted in me being a pampered child. You see, as a sick child I found the comforting concern from so many people. There were those who brought food and drinks. They would bring some kind of health beverage, made that in a cup and attended to me tenderly by spooning the drink into my mouth. So much attention was given me then. And for the first time, there was a teacher, my class-teacher came to visit me, gave me his attention and told me how much the other children missed me. He told me how much they wanted me to get well soon so that they could all see me. All that attention did get to me. For once in my life, I felt wanted and loved. Then, when I returned to school when my health improved, all those classmates came to welcome me back to school. I can still remember vividly the teacher’s smile at the sight of me. I basked in the attention everyone, especially the teacher, gave me. All my needs were always quickly attended to by the teacher. I began to feel like a special kid in class. It was ‘Ask and it shall be given.’
Fortunately, I somehow realised I was taking advantage of the situation. I do not fully remember how but I knew that I ought not to have people treat me like a weakling. With that realization I thought of how I could be stronger. Perhaps it was strong characters in films such as Hercules or Tarzan, but I certainly prefer to be like them than some kind of pampered weakling. I was lucky there for had I languished for too long in the concern of others for me I could not have learned the lessons my sickness taught me.

Then there was the financial position of my family as I grew up. We were certainly far from being well-to-do and there were many things out of my reach at certain times in my life. That taught me the importance of money management, part of which I learned from those great teachers, Napoleon Hill, Norman Vincent Peale and Dale Carnegie. I learned the importance of money, the necessity to save and the need to manage money well.

The above obstacles in my life have put me in good stead for the rest of my life. Therefore, it is no surprise that I am grateful for the lessons they brought.
With the lessons learnt, I had done my very best to ensure my children are in the best possible health and understand financial management . Of course, nothing is fool-proof but parents ought to understand that it is better to have the children prepared and understand the consequences of their actions rather than fumble in confusion should they encounter situations that may bring poor health or financial distress. There are many ways to teach them and like I have always said, the world is always available as our audio-visual aids with true stories to show and teach children about such obstacles so as to awaken their senses. Such true life happenings are invaluable to everyone.

Thus, obstacles are important lessons in life. Being conscious of that fact can help us avail ourselves of their invaluable lessons and prevent us falling into such pot-holes.

Always be aware of their tricks..

Every kind of trick can and will be used again and again to enjoy what is yours, be that your body, your property and your money. This has been happening since time began and you exist.

Cheats are around any part of the globe and as long as there are humans who could be persuaded or tricked into departing with something valuable, those cheats will inevitably thrive.

A few days ago, I received an email about happenings created by robbers in Johore. Perhaps, you could read the email below:

Subject: If you get RM10.00 in your car door handle.

Dear all,
Do pass this on to your list of people especially women who drive.

If you get RM10.00 in your car door handle, use tissue paper or cloth to
remove it without opening it and if possible bag it. Drive away immediately.

Don't check the ten ringgit note until you are in the company of your friends or
relatives. The note could either contain powdered drugs to knock you out or make you wonder if some guilty motorist is compensating you for a knock or scratch on your car. While you are still wondering, the robber(s) will attack you as you check the car. This has happened in Johor.

The ploy is to distract their victims as the robbers approach these people. However, the advice needs to be improved. If you were a woman, park the car in a safe place, a place where they are always people around, certainly not in some dark and lonely spot. Unless circumstances deem it unavoidable, to park in a dark and lonely spot cannot be considered wise, be it a man or a woman driver.

As for finding a ten ringgit note at the handle of the car-door, do not even think of examining it or putting it into a bag. Come on, which person would leave a ten ringgit note for knocking into your car if you are not around. So, the right thing to do is not to be greedy but just throw it away and enter your car quickly, locking the door immediately before driving off. Forget the ten ringgit. And never loiter around in the dark and lonely spot, even if it is to examine your car regardless of whether you suspect a dent to your car or not. Even if there is a dent, what can you do about it? The safest thing to do is get in fast into the security of your car, lock yourself in and drive away.

The way to be safe is through awareness. Be aware that cheaters and tricksters succeed only because people are careless, are distracted or are greedy. So, if we are not greedy but careful with whatever is in our possession we cannot be easily distracted enough to lose any valuable as no trick will be effective then.

Is that living?

There are lots of people who think they deserve a well-earned total rest as they approach sixty years of age. It is true that they have done a lot of work in their careers. They have possibly earned a lot of money. They had faced a lot of problems and overcome them. They have done their very best to raise their families, and with success too. The children are grown and are on their own. There is sufficient money to survive on for the rest of their days. So, they really deserve to take things easy and rest for the rest of their lives. But how do we do that? That is the most important question we have to face. To answer that we have to ask ourselves what is living?

What are our lives for, if not for living? “Ah, but how would you define living? Well, I enjoy watching television. That’s life, man! To sit lazily on my couch to watch what that television can deliver each day is a luxury I can now effort,” someone might promptly respond.

Well, if that someone would like to think that way, who am I to say that that is not right? For him that’s life. After all, it’s happiness that matters most. Furthermore, it is that person’s life to do as he pleases. However, watching television day in, day out until the eyes get tired cannot be very happy in the long run, can it? Will all the programmes be interesting? By the way, did I tell you I have seen people doze while the television watches them? And those people doze not out of sleepiness but boredom. Would that be the life we want?

To make life interesting, enjoyable to live with, we have to find meaning in life. Do you find pleasure in the things you do in your retirement? Do you go to bed looking forward to the next day? If it is a resounding ‘Yes’, then you must be doing great. If that is so, then you must be awake the next day, ready to continue with the fun you are having in life.

By the way, this is my idea of retirement from my work, to enjoy the things I have always wanted to do, to rest when I wish to and to do things not for money but for my own satisfaction. For example, I have always loved to write and this blog is just the perfect vehicle to achieve my dream, to write and share my thoughts as well as to find inspiration as I go along. Do you know that when I was in school, one teacher made the ‘mistake’ of encouraging this guy to write any number of compositions to be passed up for him to read and correct. I wrote a composition each day until after a month he told me he could not cope and told me to slow down. I understood and so relented.

Well, of course, life is not exactly what I expect to have as there are still the obligations that I have to attend to. There are hobbies which I have started earlier, friends, my children, and my work and interest as a masseur. I still have no time for batik painting and cooking, for example. I hope to do some back-packing too but then, I only have twenty-four hours.

To be the player, not the song; to be the actor and not the audience; to take an active part in as much of what we enjoy as is possible, that ought to be the way most of the time. There are the times we do need to sit and listen, watch and appreciate, to be the motivation, to encourage and to inspire. In such a manner, we balance our lives with the different meaningful roles we can play, and in so doing learn and experience more and newer things.

Having the luxury of all the time available to go into all these wondrous spheres of life is the greatest gift of retirement, but what is a gift but merely a useless object or idea if it is not put into meaningful use in our lives. So, live the gift for there is a limit to its presence. We know not when we will have to forfeit it and depart from this earth but let us not think of that, let us not waste time over it but enjoy the gift of time to the full. Then, we can truly say that we have live our life well and delve as deep as is possible into our own potential; that which was given to us at birth.

Politicians and their communal thinking.

Malaysia is supposed to be moving towards developed nation status but from the looks of it, it is only slogan writing that had improved.

We hear of a proposed gathering by the Trengganu government which belongs to the same political party as the federal government which has been trying to get the support of all the citizens with its 1Malaysia. Apparently 1Malaysia is good for the country as for once the citizens are not going to be divided along racial lines in the all its policies, giving aid to those truly in need of them regardless of their racial background which ought to be the case if all Malaysians are to be united as one people. In this there ought to be no opposition from any right-thinking person as governmental aid should certainly go to deserving citizens.

To understand the matter clearly, perhaps I need to go backwards to the earlier policies where race is the factor for governmental aids. When race is the factor for aids, there are those who are even Malay millionaires who get discounts for houses with the amount discounted put in as added costs to houses bought by citizens of other races. The rich Malay need no such aids and therefore can be considered undeserving. So, there can be said to be unfair to certain groups of Malaysians.

So, we have this state government coming from the same party as the federal government which is organising a gathering of only one race with the purpose of uniting that one race only and indirectly bringing up a racial tragedy as a kind of celebration of sorts, a tragedy which had been quite often used as a threat to the other races by the present government at one time or another. Is this another threat to the other races, a threat that that racial tragedy could be repeated should the 1Malaysia gives rightfully equal treatment to all its citizens?

Since that Trengganu government has not been reprimanded by the same federal governing party, does it mean that it is alright to have two opposing poicies; one to fish for votes from the certain races and the another to continue with the division of the races and rule style that they have been practising till this 1Malaysia policy was proposed.

Looks like the politicians are anxious to continue with their powers by using all sorts of tactics to gather support. As i can see, the ordinary folks of all races are united as a people, friendly with each other, working together and in fact are in agreement that all citizens ought to be treated equal.

And when the gathering was condemned by a majority of Malaysians, there was this politician who tried to hide the actual intention of the gathering saying that there is nothing wrong in a particular race gathering, which is true if the gathering is merely to talk on a subject particular to that race but it has the May 13 tragedy, a national tragedy involving every race, as its theme. This man was so racial in his comments that he even had the temerity to tell the Malaysians Chinese who are citizens of the country to leave their own country. He ignores the constitutional rights of these citizens.

Another thing that politicians claim is that Malaya belongs to the Malays alone simply because it was once known as Tanah Melayu. People who say such things do not understand or know history. It is a fact that the original people of Malaya were the Orang Asli. The Orang Asli are neither the Malays nor the Chinese or the Indians. So this land was not originally 'Tanah Melayu' ('Malay Land') for the original people could never have called it that. The earliest migrants to this land could have named it 'Tanah Melayu'. Of course, the later migrants excepted the name given to the land as they did not foresee any problems. Whatever it is, it has to be admitted that, except for the 'Orang Asli' every other citizen must have originated from a migrant. This is an undeniable fact and politicians should not use it to stir up racial problems.

The thing is, why most politicians being educated and possessing of knowledge sufficient to understand the country' needs and development should resort to racial division to garner power when more developed countries than ours have shown that power is possible to those who really can get the country to develop and progress satisfactorily. When can our politicians be politically matured sufficiently to put their efforts into truly developing the nation for its citizens? Perhaps the fault lies in the voters, for when voters can be swayed by racial and religious issues, we will always have politicians posturing themselves as champions of a particular race. Forever, we can only get community leaders and not national leaders who can thinks of the welfare of all communities in a country.

With so many community leaders who cannot progress to national level leadership, how can our country ever achieve developed nation status? What development can there be when these community leaders think only of their own community. It will be some kind of lop-sided development.

It is a dilemma to find ourselves moving backwards economically as other one-time so called less developed and more troubled countries such a Indonesia, Singapore, China, Thailand and the Philippines progress. That despite the fact that our country has so natural resources. This could be due to the fact that we do not think as a nation but as fragmented communities.

"You are too old to run."

"You're too old to run."
Those were the words I heard from the neighbours when I was about forty years of age and jogging through the residential area towards the rubber estates and back, giving me five or six kilometers of exercise each day. If I had listened to them I would not be as healthy as I am today. Thank God, I made use of the brain he gave me and the knowledge I had acquired on the human body, organs, muscles, tendons, tissues and joints, to decide to continue running.

What would become of me, had I listened to those neighbours and stopped running. Well, the tendons and muscles of my legs would have shortened through a shorter stride, unless I switched to some other exercises such as yoga where stretching the muscles and tendons happen each time yoga poses and movements are performed.

So, fortunately for me, from the knowledge I had accumulated through all those years, I understand very well that joints remain healthy only if they are moved so that the synovial fluid in the discs are replenished and thus keep the discs strong and pliable, thus ensuring that joints are able to perform their tasks. I know that muscles will waste away to become smaller and weaker, gradually replaced with fat if there is no exercise. These muscles and tendons will shorten with inactivity resulting in shorter strides as we are no longer capable of stretching them to satisfactory lengths. And having seen some fifty-year-old who shuffle along in very short strides, I knew we need not have to walk like them if we exercise and stretch our muscles and tendons consistently each and every day.

So, I told those people who discourage me from running that I would stop running when I am forced to, when I am no longer able to run. Until then, I had better make full use of the wonderful limbs God had given me. I love to run. I just hope to be able to run until my very last day on earth.

I believe nobody can ever be too old to run if he/she were to exercise sufficiently to keep his body strong and healthy unless the person had been crippled due to some unforeseen circumstances. Thus, whether we would still be running or not depends upon us. God gave us a brain to make us the master of our bodies. How we develop it, strengthen it, care for it to maintain it at its optimum capability depends upon our parents and us. How much we can enjoy or get out of the potential given us depends largely on us, our body and its health. Neglect it and it will neglect you in your old age. That is the price all of us will have to pay for not appreciating sufficiently the only body God has given us.

Experiences with low blood pressure.

Most of us have heard about high blood pressure but few may have come across low blood pressure. The accounts I have heard about this type of blood pressure are interesting.

There was this man who would take naps in the afternoon. There were times when he found difficulty waking up from the naps. About one and a half hours after he had fallen asleep he became aware that it was time to get up again but it was not possible. The following is an account of what happened to a man with low blood pressure.

"I was aware of having sufficient rest. I wanted to be awake but that was not possible. It was as though my soul has left this body and it has not returned. I was alive yet unable to move. Fortunately, a neighbour's lawn-mower rumbled with power as it went over the grass as this ruckus got my soul to rush back so that I could awaken from my nap."

That man talked about the soul leaving the body as he napped. That was not his only impression. There was also a lady who told me the same thing. She told me about a method of cleansing her body through the anus. According to her, it was a good method as it helped prevent constant occurrence of cold and weakness but there was a side effect. It makes makes her blood pressure go down and that is when she would have naps when she found difficulty awaking. According to her, it was as though her soul had left her body and her body could not awaken without the soul's presence. To have the soul return to her body, there had to be some kind of disturbance nearby such as the loud barking of her dog.

During our discussion of her predicament, I had suggested that she was one of those women who really needed a husband, someone nearby to help her at such times. After a;;, it is not every time that her dog would bark at the right moment. She told me that was not a good solution as having a husband would bring along problems that could be worst. (I shall tell you the types of problems she visualised in another posting.) Well, if that is the case for her, she could turn to an alarm clock adjusted to startle her soul to rush back to the body in panic of losing it perhaps at a certain time. At that, she smilingly agreed that could be an acceptable solution.

I am still interested in the soul. I believe it exists but there is so little knowledge on it.

Beware! Someone is watching.

Yes, beware! Nowadays, there are many people out there ready to pounce on unwary folks to get easy money. There are so many ways those people could get hold of easy money. Those people would use almost anything to secure whatever they want.

We have read of men paying huge sums of money to find wives in foreign lands. Wanting to have a wife is a very natural instinct but why someone so far away that we have no knowledge of? How can there be love without knowing a person? Sorry, perhaps that is not for me to ask but then, I cannot help but hope those people would be more careful. Perhaps someone out there could write to tell me there can be love without first getting to know the person.

We have also received so many congratulations for winning so many types of draws or lotteries that it sounds as if it is so easy to become a millionaire nowadays. Fortunately for me, I am too stupid to understand how I could claim all that money without getting myself into trouble.

A guy working at a pet-shop in Sungai Petani, Kedah, Malaysia, had a customer who came in to get a packet of dog food and found his car, a BMW, driven away by two men as he was walking out of the shop. The customer rushed through the door but there was nothing he could do then except to make a police report on the matter. Upon being questioned how it was so easy for his car to be stolen, he explained that he left the engine on as the weather was so hot. Of course, with the engine on, the door was not locked and it took less than a minute for the thieves to accomplish their task.

According to the customer, he had five thousand ringgit in the car; money which he had just withdrawn from the bank. We can only come to the conclusion that those thieves were operating from the bank, perhaps loitering around, acting like another bank customer, watching for people who withdraw large sums of cash. They must have seen that man withdraw the money, followed him and waited for the opportunity to deprive the man of his money. The weather and the man's carelessness helped the thieves succeed in their mission.

When it comes to huge sums of money or expensive items, we have to be careful. Such thieves are around us, everywhere and like vultures, they can be ready to strike at any moment. The man in this true story was lucky to have lost just an expensive car and money. Some people have paid for their carelessness with their lives. Even worst, there are those who lost their health or mobility due to such opportunists preying on innocent, unwary folks. So, beware for some vultures out there are eyeing their preys.

All in the name of love.

On the evening of the 3rd of May,2010, I telephoned my elder son and was told that he was at a police-station to make a police report on an assault on a friend who was with him at the time of the attack. He said he was some distance away when the incident took place. According to my son, it all started because of a girl. That was the bad news.

The good news was that my son was alright. No harm had come to him. Thank God for that. To top it all, was I delighted to hear that he has passed his final veterinarian examination. I thanked God for that too. But, this son of mine do deserve to pass as he was not only diligent; he was really interested in the subject. If you have read my previous postings, you would have read how he was interested in animals and fish since the age of nine. Since then we have had fish and animals in the compound of our house. Today, we still have birds, discus fish, guppies, flower-horn, platty, chillen, corydoras, plecos, fresh-water crayfish, half-beaks, red Cherry Shrimps, Golden shrimps and green shrimps, pig-nosed turtles and star tortoises.

It has been five years of hard work with working holidays through which he worked at various places to gain experience. He was in a pig farm in Kedah, another farm in mainland Penang, Langkawi Underwater World, Indonesia and an animal hospital in Bangkok to gain as much experience as possible. And he was so happy to forfeit his own holidays to work at all those places. Even now, just after his examination results, he was wondering where he could work and gain further knowledge and experience. Not only that, he has already ordered some rare shrimps and would be bringing home exotic fish to study and breed.

He requested for space for additional aquariums. Fortunately, we have a big compound in our corner house, something I insisted on looking for when I bought the house for I realised that a small house will be sufficient but a big outdoor area for fun and joy is essential. Yes, I bought it with myself, my wife and my children in mind. You see, I am one of those who could never get used to being cooped up in a place enclosed by four walls. That is one reason I could not resist the call to wander up the hills, into forests and the winding rivers and the fabulous waterfalls.

When we have the things we love in and around us, the world is a paradise; a joy to be in and life is nothing but happiness. With love for a subject, no matter how tough are the five years of study, it passes quickly and steadily. Work becomes a joy even during holidays and holidays bring fulfillment as it gives opportunities to experience more of what is loved.

Of course, as seen from the beating someone had as a result of love gone wrong, there is possibly some sadness and pain. However, if there is love, love will find the way to the heart and there is no need for a struggle to attain it.

On Friday, the 7th of May, I traveled with my two sons to meet a young guy who, despite being very young at twenty-three years of age, knew so much about aquarium fish, shrimps and crayfish, the breeding of some rare ones and the sourcing of such delightful beauties.

Meeting him at Penanti, Penang, he took us to his house where one portion of the compound of his house was built four big cement tanks and a number of aquariums for guppies of the less common types, most of them albinos.

Then he took us into his bedroom where his shrimps were kept in three long aquariums occupying one whole stretch of a wall. There was a book shelf filled with books on fish. It was an air-conditioned room, the sir-conditioning necessary for keeping the shrimps in a temperature cold enough for them to survive and breed. Imagine the measures enthusiasts would take to ensure success in their breeding programme.
The back portion of the house contained some aquariums with certain rare fish species. This young man has certainly spent a lot of time with his fish.

It is not just time but also money that has gone into his interests. According to him, he had ordered rare fish from importers and sometimes all would die within two weeks. One a friend managed to get a pair of beautiful fish to lose them just after getting some ten fries from the pair. And from the ten, only one is a male. Fortunately, the male was of a good attractive colours. Of course, he is looking after them carefully so as to have sufficient numbers to breed them successfully.
He has put in a lot of work but then it is never tiring as it is a work of love. In fact, his dreams are very much alive and he is planning to start a shop and concentrate more on rare, small, exotic fish.

He is so enthusiastic about his hobby that time passed so quickly as he told us after his many breeding attempts, his successes and failures. Well, when something interests us, time is not a factor. The interchange of knowledge and understanding is of utmost importance.

Sex and the children.

Yesterday, From the Staronline news I read about three primary school pupils caught by a lady teacher in the act of imitating sexual acts. It was after school hours and the doors of their classroom was closed. However, the teacher noticed that the ceiling fan was on. The pupils fled as the teacher entered the classroom to investigate. A report was made and a girl was sent by her parents for medical check-up to discover that there were old tears in her vagina.

From what has been reported, we can come to the conclusion that the girl involved had been active sexually, either with partners or in masturbation.

Are we to blame the young pupils for their obviously dangerous acts. Such act could lead to early pregnancy and other unfortunate or undesirable consequences which can affect the life and future of the girl concerned. When it comes to the boys, such act could affect their minds, their way of thinking towards women, sex and marriage. Are these children totally to be blamed for such an occurrence?

First, we know that children are curious and would imitate any action they see. As someone said, seventy percent of learning comes from what is observed, twenty percent from listening. So, children see, children want to try it out. What if adults are careless and allow children to see the sex act and hear the sounds of pleasure. The children would certainly want to 'experiment' by imitating the adults, regardless of where such adults are seen, be it the bedroom or the screen. In doing so, in their innocence, they will discover the pleasure of sex. Once it has been committed, they would want more. Can we blame them?

The truth of the matter is that we are all creatures of God, born like any of them, naked and at a certain age, the instinct for propagation comes alive naturally. The only difference humans and other creatures of God is a mind superior to other creatures. We have been given a mind that can think of improvement and ensuring that the human race will develop a system in which every aspect of life is taken care of. Thus, we develop a family system in which people have sex with responsibility, the responsibility of caring for the weak and dependent young whom they have brought into this world with their loving and sex until these youths can achieve their own independence. Humans develop laws to ensure the family system in our society grows progressively better. However, some humans may lose sight and appreciation for such a system, neglecting to instill in their children the need for discipline, respect and right attitudes towards the family and society, resulting in waywardness, disrespect and wrong thinking.

When the behaviour of children are at fault, it is most probably the adults who are to be blamed. Some adults somewhere have led them towards the wrong path. Children are bound to try out things in their curiosity and, more often than not, they get some thrill out of it; a thrill which would have them want to do whatever they have done again, be those things legal, illegal, right or wrong. It is for the adults to be ever vigilant, ready to pull them back from the edge of the cliff onto steady ground, to point out the dangers that a fall from that cliff could bring. In their youth and innocence, they might not see the line between right and wrong distinctly without the guidance of adults.

If more and more of the above case appear, it is time the parents and the children concerned be given a helping hands with counseling before it gets out of control and numbs the consciousness of people towards the effectiveness of our family system. The mind can change and the change can lead to moral decadence. Sometimes, humans are too slow to act and nip the problem in the bud.

When man uses trees not planted from seeds,.....

Immediately after the storm, with the last tiny drops of rain petering out in a few minutes, the rain-water flowing slowly into the drains, I went to look at the damage nature has wrought and the amount of work that has to be involved to put things right.

As I surveyed the damage wrought by the strong wind during the storm I noticed something peculiar as I looked at all those uprooted trees. All those big trees which were uprooted by the wind and rain had no main root. The exposed roots beneath the trunks were merely about three or four feet covered with soil. This implies that those trees were planted either from cuttings or grafted. That could be the only reason those trees did not have main roots. (Even if there were main roots for those huge trees that fell, although I doubt if there were any, the main roots must be too thin to anchor the trees strongly to the ground.) Without main roots to anchor themselves, it is no wonder those huge trees could be uprooted.

So, trees planted from seeds with their main roots strongly embedded deep in the ground could withstand the forces unleashed by nature from time to time. And that is proved and confirmed to be true when I went up the hill in the morning to see some trees with broken, even twisted, trunks and branches but with the roots intact although the assault on them by the storm was not less strong up there.

Actually, I do not need to go up the hill to know that seeded trees withstood the might of the previous day’s gale better than ‘man-made trees’. I refer to those trees as man-made because nature meant big trees to have main roots to not only be stable and strong but also reach far down for the necessary water during times of drought and perhaps certain nutrients found there. (The soil is fast being drained, deprived or emptied of natural nutrients from decaying organic matter as a result of humans removing trees and natural space to make way for so called progress.) Here, in my own compound, are trees planted from seeds. There are an Alfonso mango tree with the seeds originating from the middle of a plantation in India and a star-fruit tree from the seed of an earlier plant. They stood strong against the power of the other day’s blast.

Thus, the next time we wish to plant a fruit tree which can grow tall and is situated very near to the house, a seeded plant would be better as it would be stronger and more stable with no chances of it being uprooted. Of course, with a seeded tree, we can never be sure of the taste unless it is obtained from the middle of an orchard where all the trees bear similarly good taste. Furthermore it takes longer to bear fruit.

Of course, we could still ensure safety by trimming the bud-grafted tree so as to ensure it would never grow too tall or big to cause our property or us any harm. That is the preventive measure we have to take for grafted trees, failing which another storm may appear to have the owner of such grafted trees pay a price for his unpreparedness.

A few days after the storm, I saw trees being removed or cut. Grafted trees that had grown too tall were quickly trimmed or removed. Humans react only when lessons are well taught. Nature has taught us many lessons but humans are slow at learning especially when the effects of nature's lessons are not felt. They do not react unless they feel the heat.

Talking about the heat, Northern Malaysia is experiencing one of the hottest spell it has ever had for some time. Humans complain but there are still those who continue clearing forests and burning unnecessarily. Sometimes, it takes extreme circumstances to awaken the need to save Mother Earth. Mild lessons are sometimes not heeded or learned. Perhaps, they live too much in the present moment and forget that there is a future for the human race.

To remove and replace thoughts in our minds.

There are times in our lives when sorrow comes in, hoping to stay. It could be the death of a dear one, the loss of a beloved in a relationship or the inability to get close to somebody. Whatever it is, when it happens, there is bound to be sadness and possibly pain in the inner core of the heart.

It is good to experience such feelings for it indicates that we are just as human as any other. That we have such feelings is proof that we are capable of love, the most powerful and the most important emotion in our lives. Our lives are richer because of it. However, if the emotions stay too long, it may hurt us sufficiently to interfere with the right thoughts and working of our mind. Its negative effect may incapacitate us and our mind. We may lose all sense of balance in our lives.
Our mind would not be thinking of the future. It would not be thinking of progress. The situation has block further incoming thoughts on other matters. We only see a face and remember fondly the features associated with it. We see the beauty of the person. We recollect sweet memories of days gone by. We wish and pray for the impossible even as we realise it would all be in vain. However, such is the nature of all good humans that we will have to go through this phase. It just has to be thus.

The important point is how we can get out of this phase and move on with our lives. There just is no way we can empty those thoughts of the past. To remove what is past, we have to fill the mind with something new and consciously keep on filling the mind with fresh ideas and possibilities until the mind is tired and goes into sleep. To assist such rest, we could be involved in physical activities so that eventually we are physically and mentally tired, tired enough to fall asleep and forget the past.

Of course, it is easier said than done. Time is the assisting factor in gradually fading the past and moving in to new areas of interest or reaching into rejuvenating old interests. Even for someone who has no interest in any subject or matter, that person only need to go out and join the living again by mixing with people in clubs, associations or any group in any activity where the person can participate. When one is involved in an activity and is exchanging thoughts and ideas with others, the thoughts of the moment excludes all else, especially those which we wish to put away.
By involving oneself whole-heartedly in living life, concentrating on work, friends, people in and around the environment and being compassionate by assisting those who need help; even doing volunteer work in old folks’ homes or orphanages; we put our passion into life and living. We reach out to people and new horizons, enriched by the happiness and gratefulness of people whose hearts we touched. This, in turn, brings joy and a new meaning to life.

Nevertheless, life is for living and in the process we are certain to encounter once again the pain and sorrow of loss. However, having experience it once and survived the ordeal, we are more ready to accept it as part of life and, no matter how much more terrible the loss may be, we understand that life must go on and we ought to live life as much to the full as we possibly can, for that is life.

The lessons from the storm.

A hero comes along to make sure the things in his house do not get any wetter than they already are. This brave man rises to the ocassion and was up the roof in a jiffy to repair as well as replace blown away tiles. However, being such a hero is not to be encouraged. Leave such tasks to the experts.

And here's a big awning of approximately 3.5 X 6 meters blown by the strong wind taking it from the front porch over the roof to the back of the house four doors away and placing it in the middle of the back lane.

Look at the roots beneath this huge tree. No main root is seen.

Fallen plants

and branches.

A fallen tree across a road.
***************************

Immediately after the storm, with the last tiny drops of rain flowing slowly into the drains, I went to look at the damage nature has wrought and the amount of work that has to be involved to put things right.

I noticed something peculiar when I looked at all those uprooted trees. All those big trees which were uprooted by the wind and rain had no main root. The exposed roots were merely about three or four feet in the soil. This implies that those trees were planted either from cuttings or grafted. That could be the only reason those trees do not have main roots. (Even if there are main roots for those huge trees that fell, the main roots must be too thin to anchor the trees strongly to the ground.) Without main roots to anchor themselves, it is no wonder those huge tree could be uprooted.

So, trees planted from seeds with their main roots strongly embedded deep in the ground could withstand the forces unleashed by nature from time to time. And that is proved and confirmed to be true when I went up the hill in the morning to see some trees with broken trunks and branches but with the roots intact although the assault on them by the storm was not less strong up there.

Actually, I do not need to go up the hill to know that seeded trees withstood the might of the previous day’s gale better than ‘man-made trees’. I refer to those trees as man-made because nature meant big trees to have main roots to not only be stable and strong but also reach far down for the necessary water during times of drought and perhaps certain nutrients found there. (The soil is fast being drained, deprived or emptied of natural nutrients from decaying organic matter as a result of removing trees and natural space to make way for so called progress.) Here, in my own compound, are trees planted from seeds. There are an Alfonso mango tree with the seeds originating from a plantation in India and a star-fruit tree. They stood strong against the power of the previous day’s blast.

Thus, the next time we wish to plant a fruit tree which can grow tall very near to the house, a seeded plant would be better as it would be stronger and more stable with no chances of it being uprooted. Of course, with a seeded tree, we can never be sure of the taste unless it is obtained from the middle of an orchard where all the trees bear similarly good taste.

Of course, we could still ensure safety by trimming the bud-grafted tree so as to ensure it would never grow too tall or big to cause our property or us any harm.

How good can a machine be?

The last ten days or more saw me frustrated as I was unable to enter my sites. I was unable to post a first person account of the terrible destructive storm which took place on Monday, 26 April, afternoon. I even had a number of photographs on the damage caused but I could not enter the internet to post them.

Then, there was the waiting for someone to come to make repairs. As the only resident in my home, I was not around when the technician came the first time. According to the technician, the wires outside the house were functioning properly and the problem could be at the telecommunication office, implying that since it was an engaged tone I was getting, it could be that I had not been paying my bills. That was adding salt to injury as I had always paid my bills on time. Later, I went to the telecom office to find that they could not solve the problem there as my account was alright and I was told to wait for the technician to appear again. Then, on Saturday, someone from the telecommunication phoned to ask me to detach the line from the phone and have that line going direct to my modem. That did not work. The next day, a Sunday, I was outstation when a technician phoned to say that my line was fine, upon which I told him I still could not enter the internet. He told me a technician would come. A technician did come but just to inform me that my line was dead and as such nothing could be done. Next day, somebody else would come to repair the line. I waited a day and no one turned up. By noon the next day, I took another trip to the telecommunication office to find out when my modem was to be repaired. I was told to wait. Wait! Wait! And Wait! Just a line and a modem and it had taken more than one week without any idea when it could be repaired. That is what we get when a big company subcontract services to small companies.

As a result of having to wait for this and that, I lost contact with my emails. Thus, nothing can be done until the waiting games ends and I have access to the internet again. At the time of writing this and the previous posting I use Celcom Broadband which has salved my frustration. Thank God we are getting other alternatives for our internet interests. Thanks to Celcom Broadband, much that I had put on hold is moving again. I no longer have to wonder when the people from TMNet would turn up to solve my internet woes. Looks like they may never turn up as i have heard nothing from them for the last two days despite an unresolved problem. Well, a computer can only be as efficient if everything linked to it goes well and that depends a lot on humans and their weaknesses.

Man makes machines, improving them each day, week, month or year. How good or fast the improvement to these machine are depends upon humans. If there is urgency due to competition from certain quarters, humans work harder to stay ahead of the competition. So industry is the primary factor which determines the speed of such improvements and this industry is stimulated by the need to ensure sales.
When machines reach the hands of consumers, how well it works depends upon the operational knowledge of the people involved. If the buyer of a computer does not understand how the computer works, he may not even know how to start one. Then he must know how to enter various programs to perform certain tasks. And should he have a digital camera, he may not know how to import photographs into his computer library. Then there is the internet where almost any knowledge is available to those who know how to use the search engines. Today, one can even do business on the internet if one knows how to use the web. However, a computer is as good or efficient as the knowledge and capability of the user.

So a machine can only be as strong as its weakest link and in this case the weakest link might be humans, be they the manufacturer, the user, the service provider or the technician. Perhaps it is a part made by humans, such as a defective modem. For things to run smoothly in our lives, only humans can ensure them. Well, when it comes to efficiency it starts and ends with humans.

Clearly, we are responsible for everything in our lives. We may be frustrated with the machines but we cannot blame them. If there be blame, then it must be ours. The fault lies within us. That is why knowledge and effort are so important to us, to our future and to the progress of our future generations.