Malacca, rich in history, culture and heritage

I have not set foot in Malacca for several years and it did not disappoint. Malacca, one of the two UNESCO World Heritage Cities in Malaysia (the other is Georgetown, Penang) is rich in history, culture, heritage, with famous historical sites, some dating back to the 1500s. Maybe should come back to visit a bit longer.

Walk the march with courage

Today is your day to paint life in bold colors, set today's rhythm with your heart-drum, walk today's march with courage, create today as your celebration of life.- Jonathan Lockwood Huie


Our new addition to the family, my nephew Freddy's daughter, born 29 December 2010 at about 8pm.

The Retirement Docs' Quiz

I took the Retirement Docs' Quiz and scored 167. This puts me in the top 40%, indicating that I am on my way to a successful retirement but need some fine-tuning in specific traits.

If you are retired or near retirement age...why not take the Quiz to find out which areas you may still need to improve? It takes only about 5 minutes.

Her scalp was torn from her head and her toenail was pulled off!

In New Zealand, a 30-year-old West Auckland woman is alleged to have inflicted a range of horrific abuse and torture on her terrified daughter - causing injuries so bad that those now involved with the case, including experienced child abuse investigators, say they have been deeply affected.

The injuries range from her scalp being torn away from her head while she was dragged by her hair along the floor, to vicious beatings with various weapons, and having her toenail pulled off and salt and boiling water poured on to the bleeding wound.

The girl's parents have both been charged over her injuries which allegedly occurred over a two-year period. The Father also faces charges of using a broomstick and a vacuum pipe to assault her during eight days in November. The Mother faces 32 charges including injuring with intent, assault with various weapons, wilful neglect by failing to seek medical help, withholding food, and causing grievous bodily harm.

The case has shocked and horrified members of the public. After featuring in the story in the Weekend Herald, the paper received more than 50 emails from concerned readers, many of whom wanted to know what they could do to help the little girl who is now being looked after by caregivers. Her siblings are also in safe care.

Please read: Child Abuse Case: What the Mother told officials

"Children are our most precious national assets. It is up to every one of us to make sure that they are given priority and their safety and protection is top of the nation’s agenda" - UNICEF NZ Executive Director, Dennis McKinlay

12 year old abused girl in a vegetative state since 6 years ago died

A 12-year-old California girl who was beaten into a vegetative state by her stepmother 6 years ago has died. The stepmother, who is serving time for child abuse, could now face homicide charges, according to a published report.

Truly Lo, of Natomas, a neighborhood in northwestern Sacramento, was just 6 years old in 2004 when her stepmother beat and strangled her. The abuse was so severe that Truly sustained brain damage and fell into a coma. Evidence showed Truly had been slapped, spanked, beaten with a hanger and strangled for four to six minutes on May 11, 2004.

Doctors estimated Truly would only live for a day or two. Despite the dire diagnosis, Truly's Father refused to remove his daughter from life support. Truly remained in a vegetative state for six years and never regained consciousness.

Last Tuesday, Truly's oxygen levels dropped and she died at a children's care facility.

Reference: http://www.aolnews.com/2010/12/27/stepmom-may-face-homicide-charges-as-girl-dies-after-6-year-coma/

I learnt some shocking facts from http://www.childhelpusa.org/ about child abuse in the USA:

A report of child abuse is made every ten seconds.
Almost five children die everyday as a result of child abuse and more than three out of four are under the age of 4

A busy cultural calender

I think multiracial Malaysia may have one of the busiest cultural calendar of events in the world. Just a few days ago on 22 December the Malaysian Chinese community celebrated the Winter Solstice Festival. Isn't it strange to celebrate a winter festival in an equatorial climate? Although the ancestors of the Malaysian Chinese community had migrated from China to Malaysia 4, 3 or at the least 2 generations ago, the Winter Solstice festival continued to be observed in all earnestness. A must-have on the menu is glutinous rice balls stuffed with brown sugar and boiled in sweet ginger soup.

Glutinous rice balls for the Winter Solstice festival

Today is Christmas, a public holiday in Malaysia. Although the Malaysian population is majority Islam (about 60%), the Christmas atmosphere is alive everywhere. Malaysia is so culturally diverse, with many different ethnic groups, and religions. Every festival seems to be celebrated in a big way - whether it be Christmas, Hari Raya (Eid al-Fitr), Deepavali, Thaipusam, Chinese New Year, Wesak Day, Gawai Dayak, Tadau Kaamatan (Harvest Festivals),Mooncake Festival, ETC.

Christmas Eve in a popular eatery /shopping complex in my neighbourhood in Petaling_Jaya

Christmas Day lunch with relatives and friends in a Hotel in Subang_Jaya

We are already there!

Source: unknown

Joining in the fun!

I actually gate-crashed a lion dance party at the opening of a restaurant in the vacinity of my housing area. Very loud...very noisy...very interesting.... First time I witnessed one of these at close range, and treated to cakes and coffee too!

Lion dance performances are actually not uncommon in Malaysia, normally seen during the Chinese New Year, grand openings of chinese businesses, or at special functions among the Chinese community in the country. I believe it is usually performed as a ceremony to scare away evil spirits and to bring good luck and fortune.

Leisure time

Chilling out with friends on a leisurely day.

I need so much time for doing nothing that I have no time for work.

Huigh Pierre Reverdy (French Poet and moralist who first reflected Cubist and then Surrealist influence. 1889-1960)

Their lost childhood

Picture credit: http://www.bigpicture.in/

Picture credit: http://www.lightstalkers.org/

Picture credit: http://www.guardian.co.uk/

In the normal lives of families with steady and adequate incomes, parents go to work every day and children are left to play with friends and go to school. However, such is not the case for the 218 million child labourers the world over who daily find themselves working long hours under harsh, dangerous and exploitative conditions.

• Globally, 218 million children are child labourers
• 126 million of these children are engaged in hazardous work
• 73 million working children are less than 10 years old
• Every year, 22,000 children die in work-related accidents
• The largest number of working children-122 million-are in the Asia-Pacific region

-quoted from http://www.freethechildren.com/

6 year old adopted boy with bruises and welts over his body

In Denver, Colorado, a 6 year old boy, whom a couple adopted in 2006 suffered a bruised brain and had bruises and abrasions all over his body, weighing only 30 pounds when he was taken to the hospital. Doctors had diagnosed the boy as suffering bleeding in the skull and that he was at a "substantial risk of death."

Read more: Parents of brusied, underweight 6-year-old to face abuse trial

Some facts about child abuse:

• In 2005, 12.1 of every 1,000 American children, almost 900,000 in all, suffered abuse by adults, with parents of victims accounting for almost 80% of abusers.
  
• Every day, about four children die in the U.S. because of abuse or neglect, most of them babies or toddlers.
  
• For every incident of child abuse or neglect that gets reported, it’s estimated that two others go unreported.

Source: http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-child-abuse

Another innocent child lost in horrific child abuse case

A judge sentenced 24-year-old Tylar Hokanson after a jury found him guilty on two murder charges.

Prosecutors say Hokanson shook his stepson at least 15 times at a rural Northfield home in June 2009, causing internal bleeding. Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom says 17-month-old Nicholas Miller was being squeezed so hard, a bone broke in his back.

Authorities say the boy's condition worsened over four days, with no one taking him to the hospital or seeking help for his injuries.

Source: http://kstp.com/news/stories/s1855068.shtml

Innocence

oh the face of innocence
fades with life’s realization
wish we could give credence
for it to be more than just imagination…

Credit to http://authspot.com/poetry/the-face-of-innocence/

Enjoying the peace of silence

Today my Father's caregiver asked for a day off. So I spent the day with him. My Father is nearly a hundred years old. He is healthy, can move around freely, albeit a bit slow and eats heartily if he likes the food served. His only weakness is his hearing impairment.

Many of us might think that being silent is a negative quality and thus the saying "the silence is deafening". But watching him, I think he is comfortable with himself. Although he was silent throughout the day, he was active...he read the newspapers, English and Chinese newspapers from page to page, he meddled with his writing table, taking out everything and putting the contents back again, he made some entries into a diary for a while, he watched television (the TV was silent), he had lunch and tea and gave sighs of satisfaction when he finished. Today in particular, he made no attempt at all to communicate with me. It looks like he is enjoying his silence. So I chose to remain quiet as well and did not try to pick a conversation with him and break his peaceful silence.

My Father now and before

Occupational hazard!

I have been working from home for more than 9 years now. I have a serious occupational hazard- not being able to limit my distractions! It doesn't help at all that there are a million things that can be so distracting at home. Everything from facebook to emails, to HongKong Cantonese dramas, to Taiwan Hokien shows, to HBO, to phone calls, to visits from friendly neighbours, to taking out the rubbish, etc...etc...all so easily tempt me away from my concentration. Writing sometimes can be boring particulary when information is insufficient. So it is a lot easier to read a few emails or to switch on the dramas or to take a snack (more like taking many snacks!) on the excuse of "clearing my head".

Most often instead of getting the head cleared, the mind gets totally derailed. And...when the dateline draws nearer, it is usually back to the bad habit of pressing the panic button and burning the midnight oil! It is the same everytime. I have not improved a bit! Anybody can tell me how to?

The adorable dolphin

I just could not resist keeping this picture of the baby dolphine in my blog. So adorable! Apparently she is only 10 days old.

Source: Rescued-baby-dolphin

I am 35 today!

I am 35 today! Well...actually...the truth is... I happen to be one of those women who had stayed 35 for a long...long time! ):

My daughter gave me a very useful present (in the picture). Much as I would have preferred a designer handbag or a new golf set, I take comfort that my years of toiling and house cleaning had not gone unnoticed by her.

“The years between fifty and seventy are the hardest. You are always being asked to do things, and yet you are not decrepit enough to turn them down.”
- T. S. Eliot

Woman, stop complaining!

Today at the car park of a hypermarket near my house a blind couple almost took a tumble. I asked where they wish to go. I sent them to the escalator as they requested. Before they went up to the escalator they told me they will be okay.

In the short drive home to my house, I told myself "Woman, stop complaining, there are countless others who do not have what you have". We always complain about what we don’t have. But, do we really truly appreciate what we have?

I have all my faculties, good food, good children, relatives and friends, a roof over my head, a car to take me wherever I want, in good health...etc...etc...countless other blessings...

My lunch today- tuna sandwich with my favourite local fruit, the duku langsat

My dinner today-soba in soup with brocolli and pumpkin.

Liza Leong, my dear friend of 48 years (we were classmates from 1962-64), now based in Sydney, back in Kuala Lumpur for a short visit. We met up yesterday with several other ex-classmates in the Midvalley Megamall for a meal and for some catching up.

My alone times

When the children were younger, I had never quite had time alone. Now as they grow up, get married, go to work, I am getting my fair share of the alone time. Now, I kind of like my alone times.

How did I get to like being alone? I suppose it was just an evolution of being forced to get used to it and to learn to like it. I still remember not too long ago I never felt easy about having to spend the night alone in the house. Now that I am no longer afraid of it, I realized that it feels very empowering. And, my alone times allow me to have control over what I am doing and not having to adapt to other family members.

"Being alone isn't so bad as long as you like your own company."
Byron Pulsifer

Burning the midnight oil!

When I took on this assignment after retirement, it suits me fine because the contract allows me to work from home,only going to the office once a week. The only problem is, occassionally, I am given last minute assignments. Like today, I was asked to write on quite a heavy topic that requires a fair bit of research and to give a briefing to a group on the topic within 3 days. So for the next 2 days and a half it looks like I have to burn the midnight oil.

He who labors diligently need never despair, for all things are accomplished by diligence and labor.
- Menander

(Image from cartoonstock.com)

Against all odds

Had dinner and breakfast on the TV couch, glued to CNN. Against all odds, 33 miners were saved after spending 2 months trapped half a mile undergound. What a feat for the rescuers and what a relief for the victims and their families!

So great has been the endurance of these men and so incredible the achievement!

Trapped Chilean miners hours before rescue

Picture of rescue capsule from FOX news

Like millions all over the world I had been anxiously following the news updates for the preparations being made to rescue the Chilean miners, trapped since August 5, about half a mile underground, near the city of Copiapo in Chile. They were detected alive on 22 August. That was when rescue operations frantically started.

After digging a 680-yard (622-meter) tunnel, and drilling through to the miners on Oct. 9, rescue teams are conducting test runs and evaluating the stability of the capsule that will carry the miners to freedom. Each miner is to be slowly brought to the surface individually in the capsule through the narrow, rescue shaft that was completed on October 9. The custom-built rescue capsule was designed through a joint collaboration by NASA engineers and the Chilean navy.

The rescue operation is expected to start at 8 pm (GMT)Tuesday.

I hope all 33 of them will be brought up safely. I think no one can even imagine what ordeal these men had been going through.

Virus attack woes

Last week my computer quitted on me. Some horrible viruses attacked and I had to send it to the professonals to do a rescue job!

Being without the machine was quite bad for me. I had an assignment to do for my client. I had a deadline. I tried to write but a lot of my info and data were in the computer. So what to do? I almost panicked. Fortunately I had saved some of the info in my thumb drive. To fill up the gaps I had to make phone calls and for the first time in many years, visit the local library! Well, after some effort I managed to deliver my assignment on target. Fortunately too for me the assignment wasn't very complicated.

I guess what this whole week without a computer has taught me is that I need to ensure I have systems in place to back up all my data all the time.

This reminded of the time when I started my professional life many years back. Of course back then there were no computers. We wrote volumes of reports by hand or dictated to stenographers who were proficient in shorthand. The stenographers then transcribed the notes using the typewriter. The work actually got typed and re-typed again and again until there were no mistakes. The stenographers used to grumble among themselves when we changed what we originally dictated. With computer technology of course many processes are so much more simplified. But then again haven't we become too dependent on technology?