Attitude - This is a good one

Quoted from a forwarded email ...

The 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with her hair fashionably coifed and makeup perfectly applied, even though she is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today.

Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary.

After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room,including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window. "I love it," she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.

"Mrs. Jones, you haven't seen the room ..... just wait."

"That doesn't have anything to do with it," she replied.

"Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't dep end on how the
furniture is arranged... it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it ... "It's a decision I make
every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have
with the parts of my body that no longer work,or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do.

Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away .... just for this time in my life.

Old age is like a bank account ... you withdraw from what you've put in ....... So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories

Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still depositing.

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.

FAMILY

Are you aware that if we died tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days. But the family we left behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.

And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than into our own family, an unwise investment indeed, don't you think?

So what is behind the story? Do you know what the word FAMILY means?

FAMILY = (F)ATHER (A)ND (M)OTHER (I) (L)OVE (Y)OU

MSN Search Rules!

I have been a die-hard Google fan all this while since its inception in 1998. I use Google and only Google for all my web searches. But it seems that Google may be selective about what it includes in its database. A search on MSN for "chnrxn" turned out far more accurate results than Google. Cool! Never put all your eggs in one basket!

Minor Scare

My hard disk was acting up over the weekend. My PC would sometimes not boot, or it would hang occasionally. Then WinXP refuses to boot up properly.

Turned out to be a loose power connecter. I pushed it in, wiggled it a bit and things seemed to be okay. But first I had to boot into Win2K, my alternative OS and let it correct errors on my WinXP partition before I could get into WinXP again.

The Big Event

Getting a new apartment, worrying about renovation, buying new stuff for the house, dealing with contractors and designers, the works. Sidney is busy running around for all these things. We were at IKEA on Saturday morning to buy lights and bulbs. He bought a sheepskin rug, to the protests of everyone else except me (I always support you buddy!). My sister was kind enough to drop by and sign for the purchases to get a discount. "It pays to know people", so said his future mum-in-law. :-)

Tired but Happy

Never enjoyed myself so much on a weekend for a very long time. Even though I slept at 5am (I really was not watching the clock, and it just felt like only a minute has passed since I started at 1am) and woke up at 8am, the whole day was really fruitful. Saw Sid's new place in the afternoon at Seng Kang. The theme of the estate is very nice, but too bad it is not very populated yet. We deposited the purchases at Sherri's place (where I saw her cats) and then went to Pasir Ris for dinner. Thought of catching a sneak for T3, but we were too bushed and there were no sneaks for T3 at that time. So we all made our way back home. It was truly a memorable evening.

Woke up at 11am on Sunday feeling slightly hung over. The headache lasted the whole day. But I still went over to Sim Lim Square to check out the latest product offerings and prices. Was dozing off on the bus journey back home, woke up just in time to get off the bus, otherwise I would have ended up at Harbour Front (good I could have visited the NEL station there).

Positive Thinking Visited

The warning signs are all there. I really have to do some serious self-reflection. They say a leopard never changes its spots, but try I will, and succeed will I. I really need to be more positive about life. This previous statement is already a good start by not mentioning the negative.

Too much complaining and looking at things from a negative standpoint has already gotten me into trouble many times. It is really bad PR to be doing such things. I am lucky to have many concerned people who remind me that positivity wins at the end of the day. Thank you very much, you know who you are! Well, if you read my site that is ...

Will people start seeing and hearing a better me? I definitely wish it to be so. However I still need guidance from many people. Tough as it might seem, I really have to get it right!

I just came across this site about positive thinking

"Always look on the bright side of life ... " by Monty Python.

Special Day

Today has been a rather nice day for me. Had some interesting and funny conversations with friends and colleagues, and that is very nice. Today is also my father's lunar birthday, so we went to have dinner at ABC market hawker center along Jalan Bukit Merah. Simple pleasures can be so fun! This really lightens up an otherwise dull working life!

I have removed a portion from this entry, which basically is an unjustified complaint. I shall not find excuses for myself - I have already done someone a disservice - and I sincerely apologise.

The Unfilial Singaporean Daughter Revisited

I cannot get to sleep ... something is bothering me ...the feeling of scrunity and evaluation is strong ... something, someone I just cannot figure out. Sounds like a song? Nah ... no chance! Anyway, let's cut to the chase.

"With great power, comes great responsibility". These are the last words that Peter Parker heard from his beloved Uncle Ben before Uncle Ben was killed by a snatch thief whom Peter didn't bother to stop when he had the chance.

The same concept applies to freedom. Many of us yearn for freedom, but at the same time, we also have to enjoy our freedom responsibily. We are still responsible to our parents and people who care about us.

I believe in finding a balance. The girl in the article and people taking her father's side have their own valid views. The girl should not have just run away from home just like that. It is not fair to her parents. She is also allowing herself to be bought, but she chose to see it as an affirmation of the man's love for her. That's cheap, I could have bought her out if I had the money (yeah, if I had the money).

But on the other hand, she could have been given more freedom by her parents to choose the courses that she wanted to pursue. As long as she knows what she is getting into and is willing to bear the consequences, her parents should have let her be.

To love her is to set her free. Be not afraid that she get hurt, be afraid that she doesn't know how to recover. If she wants to blade, cycle, ride a bike, let her learn. Trust her to be responsible with her skills; for otherwise, how else is she going to look after her own children, if she never learns?

Root Searching

Read about my trip to Hong Kong and Guangdong during the summer of 1999. Now if I can only have more space to put my pictures ...