I know you are not far

Today I visited my 97 year old Father after a lapse of 3 weeks. I know if Mother is still with us I would visit the house more often. I visited my Mother but when I was at the house, I missed my Mother. I used to get irritated when she grumbled at me and queried me on every detail. I wish she is still here to irritate me.

I wake up everyday
and I wonder where you are,
I cannot see you
but I know you are not far

Good food from good friends

Just when I was at a loss what to cook for dinner yesterday, my friend Miss Fu came to give me this plate of lovely roast chicken. Wow, it was really good! This morning she came with some lovely homemade scones and we had breakfast together in my house.

I am a lucky woman, always at the receiving end of such goodies. What will I do without friends like these? Maybe lose some weight?

:-) ke...ke...ke...

A great Mother, a good young man

I would like to share with you the real life story of a young man I had the privilage of meeting yesterday. He is 28, a qualifed Civil Engineer. He has younger a sister, a newly qualified Accountant, just started working 1 month ago, another sister, an undergraduate in biology and a younger brother still in college, studying engineering.

All of them stay with their Mother in a small single storey house in Klang. All their studies have been supported by the the government's PTPTN loan scheme.

At the young age of 28 he is now the main breadwinner of the family. He shoulders all the family's expenses, including food, utility bills and monthly mortgage payment for the house they stay in. He also supports his 2 youngest siblings' expenses.

After their father died when he was only 10 years old, his Mother brought them up singlehandedly. For many years She used to earn money by cleaning houses and washing clothes for several households in the mornings and selling fruits with a bicycle in the afternoons and the nights. She had to stop 3 years ago when she met with a traffic accident while on her bicycle selling fruits. "Fortunately at that time I just graduated, started work and could take over the family's expenses", he said.

A great Mother who has nurtured a good young man! May God continue to protect them and bless them.

Doesn't mean I want him back!

:-) ke...ke...ke...

A lady calls the police to report her husband is missing. The police arrive and ask for a description. She tells them he's 6 foot 2 inches tall, blonde wavy hair and has a smile that makes everybody love him.

The police then go to the next door neighbor to verify this report and the lady next door tells the police, "You can't believe her. He's 5 foot 4 inches tall, has no hair and he wears a perpetual frown on his face."

The neighbor then goes and asks the lady why she gave the police such a false report. She replies, "Just because I reported him missing, doesn't mean I wanted him back!"

Source: http://www.101funjokes.com/men_jokes.htm

To one thing constant never!

Met an old friend by chance in Nikko Hotel today. "Tell you a secret", she said, "I just got divorced". "What? At this age?", I asked. She retorted, "Is there a right age for divorce?"

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,

Men were deceivers ever,

One foot in sea and one on shore,

To one thing constant never.

-William Shakespeare

Domestic Child Labour in Africa

You will cry with me if you read this...

When my master brought me from the village, he said that I will show that I deserved to go to school by proving my hard work at home. I was bent on going to school so I put my heart into everything I was commanded to do. I Swept, cleaned, washed, mopped, ironed, and fetched water from a public tap, two streets away, to fill the drums and basins in our house.

In-between these chores I had to go out and hawk sachets water in traffic and in the streets of the ghetto. I slept last and woke up first. I didn’t eat with my master, his wife and his children at table, I ate a small portion of food on the floor at the back yard, after they had all eaten. Sometimes I could not work because I was always hungry, but I had to work otherwise knocks and the Koboko cane will descend on me.’ An 8 year old Togolese househelp narrated.

‘After 3 years, my master registered me in a community school down the street. It was more like a place where street children passed time, the teachers hardly came to class. My chores and task were still a problem but I managed to deliver, so as to avoid any problem with my master or his wife. I liked school, I wanted to learn but I hardy had time to review my school work or do assignments and when I did poorly, my master or his wife would beat me like a thief. Sometimes I thought of running away, but to where? I wanted to go back to my mother, but how do I tell my uncle that, when the last time I asked about my mother, I was given the beating of my life, called an ingrate and denied food for two days. I wasn’t doing well at school, I wasn’t happy at home, I missed my mother, but I couldn’t do anything about it. All my mother knew was that her son was in the city and was in school, and will be a big shot.’

Read the complete article: http://en.afrik.com/article14712.html

Crimes by the Elderly rising!

In August, a 79-year-old Japanese woman went on a slashing spree in Tokyo's bustling district of Shibuya, wounding two female passers-by before being arrested by police.

The attacker reportedly said she was homeless, had no money and thought if she committed a crime, the police would care for her.

Read the whole article: http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=180405

Why married women heavier?

:-) ke...ke...ke...

Question: Why are married women heavier than single women?

Anaswer: Single women come home, see what's in the fridge and go to bed. Married women come home, see what's in bed and go to the fridge.

Source: http://www.101funjokes.com/women_jokes.htm

A woman's prayer!

:-) ke...ke...ke...

I pray for:

Wisdom, to understand a man.

Love, to forgive him;

Patience, for his moods.

Because if I pray for Strength I'll just beat him to death.

Source: http://www.101funjokes.com/women_jokes.htm

Professional Test!

This is a good one! Try to answer! :-) ke...ke...ke...

The following short quiz consists of 4 questions and tells whether you are qualified to be a "professional". Scroll down for the answers after you have thought about it.

The questions are not that difficult.

1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?

The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe and close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.

2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator ?

Wrong Answer: Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant and close the refrigerator.
Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your actions.

3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference, all the animals attend except one. Which animal does not attend?

Correct Answer: The Elephant. The Elephant is in the refrigerator.
This tests your memory.

OK, even if you did not answer the first three questions, correctly you still have one more chance to show your abilities.

4. There is a river you must cross. But it is inhabited by crocodiles. How do you manage it?

Correct Answer: You swim across. All the crocodiles are attending the animal meeting. This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes.

According to Andersen Consulting Worldwide, around 90% of the professionals tested got all questions wrong. But many preschoolers got several correct answers. Anderson Consulting says this conclusively disproves the theory that most professionals havethe brains of a four year old.

Source: http://www.101funjokes.com/clean_joke.htm

Praise God for our health

Had lunch today in PJ with a friend who underwent colon cancer treatment about a year ago. He is okay now. He told me he had gained back most of the weight he lost last year and doing a lot of exercise.

Also received news today that my sis-in-law in Melbourne underwent an operation for breast cancer yesterday. My brother wrote that she is in high spirits and will be discharged soon.

Look to your health; and if you have it, praise God, and value it next to a good conscience; for health is the second blessing that we mortals are capable of; a blessing that money cannot buy. Author: Izaak Walton

The baby gives the orders

Recently, I emailed my young friend Janice in London and enquired about her baby. This is what she wrote:

i'm good here n so is my baby. He is 1 year old now. can't walk but can talk a few words. tell u a story about him... a few days ago he saw a person ..... he waved n said "bye" (i suddenly realized he can say bye), then the person waved back to him n said "bye". After that my baby said "go go go". (ha ha... he shocked him n he really quickly went away) . And his mom felt so embarrassed!!

I found this little snippet really cute and amusing!

God loves us more than we knew

Met an old friend for breakfast today. We became friends 35 years ago in 1973 on my second posting upon my first promotion and she as a fresh recruit at her first job after graduating from University Malaya. Very fast, we forged a close friendship which lasted until today, although we worked together only for 2 years, after which we went on separate postings in the service.

Reminiscing on our past and the trials and challenges we went through in our life, she said to me "Do you remember...when you came to see me sometime in the past, with tears in your eyes...I did not know how to console you...but I did tell you God knows best? See, you are okay now". I told her "Yes...I have been okay for a long time now. Actually God loves me more than I knew". I was smiling, but still had tears in my eyes, and so had she.

ORDER OF THINGS

There is a rightful order found

Beyond the things that seem to be,

Something beneath the surface seen

Hidden behind prevalent schemes.

I know this fact through feelings felt

in such relief that come to mind,

When in life I do my bit

And leave results to Spirit's will.

There is a rightful order found

In which Spirit our lives arrange,

Giving us what we rightly earn

With precision in circumstance,

Designed to rhyme and meet somehow

In a rightful order, time, and place.

From the Book - Poems of Life

We have come round a big circle !

:-) ke...ke...ke... Source: http://www.hahahumor.com/funny-cartoons/funny-cartoons-3_3.htm

Happy at work!

This is FUNNY!

How to look Happy at work :-) ke...ke...ke...

Taken from: http://mr-desi.com/index.php/visual-jokes/how-to-look-happy-at-work.html


Take 2 paperclips and rubber bands. Fig 1

Assemble them as shown on the picture. Fig. 2

Apply as shown in fig 3.

Happy wedding anniversary, happy birthday and selamat hari raya!

Pic on the left: Mei's daughter (in green) and niece

Pic on the right: Mei's brother in law Bing who was a well known personality in the broadcasting

industry in the 70s and 80s. Last year he helped me in officiating my son's wedding. His wife is behind him.

My friend Mei and her husband had a triple celebration in their house today. It was Mei's husband's birthday, their wedding anniversary and celebration to mark the end of Ramadhan. The food was good so was the company.

Eid ul-Fitr

Yesterday was Eid ul-Fitr or Id-Ul-Fitr (Arabic: عيد الفطر ‘Īdu l-Fiṭr), often abbreviated to Eid, a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting.

Following our family tradition, yesterday members of the family invited their friends to the house for some refreshments. It was a busy day for me. Second son and daughter in law (in matching shocking pink outfits, pic on extreme left) were the first to arrive.

Older people will increasingly play a critical role

Do you know?

Today, 1 October, is International Day of Older Persons

Do you know?

The world is getting older. in the next 50 years, the number of older persons will nearly quadruple, growing from about 600 million to almost 2 billion people. Today, one in every ten is 60 years and older. By 2050, one out of every five will be an older person, and by 2150, one third of the people in the world are expected to be 60years of age or older.

Extracted from http://www.un.org/events/olderpersons/

Do you know?

Older people will increasingly play a critical role - through volunteer work, transmitting experience and knowledge, helping their families with caring responsibilities and increasing their participation in the paid labour force.

Already now, older persons make major contributions to society. For instance, throughout Africa –and elsewhere - millions of adult AIDS patients are cared for at home by their parents. On their death, orphaned children left behind (currently, 14 million under the age of 15 in African countries alone) are mainly looked after by their grandparents.

It is not only in developing countries that older persons' role in development is critical. In Spain for example, caring for dependent and sick individuals (of all ages) is mostly done by older people (particularly older women); the average number of minutes per day spent in providing such care increases exponentially with the carers' age: 201 minutes if the carer is in the age group 65-74 and 318 minutes if aged 75-84 - compared to only 50 minutes if the carer is in the age group 30-49 (Durán H, Fundación BBVA, 2002).

Such contributions to development can only be ensured if older persons enjoy adequate levels of health, for which appropriate policies need to be in place.

Extracted from http://www.who.int/ageing/events/idop_rationale/en/index.html