Sunday, February 25, 2007

Last day of the Dog's year

Finally had time to post something on the New Year celebration. We had our reunion dinner at Tai Thong restaurant, manage to get a room for 2 tables with karaoke facilities and had a waitress to ourselves. Food was just alright (but the bill was ehmm....darn expensive), and there was quite some lag time in between dishes. We were alright with the waiting as we had the karaoke system and some dancing around to keep almost all of us occupied.

The United family :) Mummy was holding the camera. She was in the other picture. Uploaded this picture as I thought I look better in this :p

We were screaming on top of our voices especially to a few hit songs. Among the few songs that attracted some unwanted attention from guests seated outside was Thanks Monica-Leslie Cheung, I will Survive, and God of Prosperity. We realised that we were extremely noisy, when those of us that left the room for the restrooms were given some weird stare from the people outside. Phew... knowing that, I held all my 'calls' and wait for the dinner to end before making my one and final exit from our room door, and yes, people were indeed staring. They should really sound-proofed the rooms.

Daddy, Mummy, Mei and myself. Love them lots.
For your information, this is the best smile my Daddy can give in a picture. Every year, Mummy had to almost beg him for pictures.

As usual, the 2 crazy sisters had conducted the 'party' well. My Mei is gifted with a good voice so she sang most of the songs, her elder sister i.e. myself entertained the crowd with the gift of the gap. There were so much laughter that we could hardly hear anyone talking. The rule is - If you want to be heard, don't talk, SCREAM or YELL

Most loved Daddy and Mummy.
My 'Tai Ku' and her childrens. Sis Ivy (First from left) had just arrived from Ireland the day before and we went to the airport to get this 'tai siu cheh'.

She has been eating non-stop from the hour she arrived. It only makes me wonder whether there are food over in Ireland. She must have starved helfself much over there.

4th Uncle busy serving everyone wine and brandy. It's his trick to hold the bottle so he's in control and others won't be able to make him drink. Anyway, we were playing so hard that everyone was semi-drunk at the end of the dinner.

Together in the picture were his wife and my two naughty cousin brothers.

Our 'Yu Sang' hmmm... nice


It was a 3+ hour dinner and we all left with full stomach heading towards my home for our 'game' session.

Couldn't post any of those pictures as every picture has some 'illegal activities' captured.

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Child Abuse

It's shocking to realize. This small, round-cheeked 14-year-old in the pale, pink sleeveless top (we will call her An, though her real name must be withheld to protect her privacy) could be a poster child for modern-day slavery.

Sold by her aunt and brutally raped by a sex predator, An’s experience parallels that of the approximately 2 million children in the world today enslaved in the global sex trade.

"I Thought He'd Kill Me!" Last year, An recalls, she was invited to visit her aunt's house a few miles from the home she shared with her grandparents in Phnom Penh. During the visit, An's aunt asked her to walk with her to see a friend. When they arrived at an abandoned house, "My auntie told me that it was her friend’s house," she says. Claiming she needed to go shopping, the older woman told her niece to wait."My auntie promised to return, but [hours] later a man with a long beard came rushing toward me. He was very big, and when he pushed me, I had no energy to defend myself." When the man began to rip her clothes, she said "I thought he'd kill me.

I wanted to call out … but could not shout."An was brutally raped three times that night. It was just the beginning of a horrific siege of abuse. "I was imprisoned in that house," she explains. "The man kept doing the same thing to me every night. During the daytime, my legs, arms, and mouth were tied.”How could a relative sell her own flesh and blood to a sex predator?

There are no easy answers. But we do know that poverty makes children more susceptible to exploitation. Cambodians are among the world's poorest people, around a third of the population live on less than a $1 a day, and the vast majority go without electricity or running water. In this deeply impoverished Southeast Asian nation, the asking price for a child's body is $50 to $800.
While most of the men who abuse children in the country are local Cambodians, foreigners from wealthy countries searching for sex with children fuel an increased demand for young victims. Traffickers and brothel owners quickly service the demand. So-called sex tourists come to Cambodia, where they know they'll find impoverished, hence vulnerable, children; low-cost prostitution, anonymity, and a likely escape from prosecution.The result of this toxic equation? An estimated one-third of prostitutes in Cambodia are children.

Like An, these youths typically have been abuducted, lured, or deceived into sexual slavery — many of them sold to brothels.

An's physical torment ended one humid, hot afternoon, two months after her ordeal had begun. Her rapist rushed breathlessly into the abandoned house where she had been imprisoned. "He untied my legs and arms and gave me $10 to leave. I jumped up and ran to find a taxi to take me home."After telling her story to her grandparents, her grandmother cried, An says, adding: "I thought I was no longer a good girl for having my virginity taken away from me."

Hearing of the small girl's tragic ordeal, one of An's neighbors suggested taking her to the Neavea Thmey Center. A sexual trauma recovery facility operated by World Vision, it is supported by donors who participate in our "Child in Crisis Partners" program.

Message: Count our blessings everyday is a must but at the same time, we should also do our bit to help those out there. For further information on how to, please visit http://www.worldvision.org/

Friday, February 23, 2007

Believe It Or Not!

  1. A cockroach will live nine days without its head, before it starves to death.
  2. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
  3. A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.
  4. A snail can sleep for three years.
  5. All Polar bears are left-handed.
  6. American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class.
  7. Americans on average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.
  8. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
  9. Babies are born without knee caps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.
  10. Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.
  11. Butterflies taste with their feet.
  12. Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, dogs only have about ten.
  13. Cat's urine glows under a black light.
  14. China has more English speakers than the United States.
  15. Donald Duck comics were banned in Finland because he doesn't wear pants.
  16. Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
  17. Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.
  18. Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie.
  19. February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
  20. Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.
  21. I am. is the shortest complete sentence in the English language
  22. If Barbie were life-size, her measurements would be 39-23-33. She would stand seven feet, two inches tall and have a neck twice the length of a normal human's neck.
  23. If the population of China walked past you in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.
  24. If you fart consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb.
  25. If you keep a goldfish in a dark room, it will eventually turn white.
  26. If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.
  27. In ancient Egypt, priests plucked EVERY hair from their bodies, including their eyebrows and eyelashes.
  28. In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
  29. It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
  30. Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
  31. Marilyn Monroe had six toes.
  32. Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.
  33. More people are killed by donkeys annually than are killed in plane crashes.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

The Valentine's Story

Saint Valentine is said to have lived in Rome during the third century. That was a long time ago. During this time Rome was ruled by an emperor named Claudius. Many people did not like the ruler.

Claudius was having trouble getting men to serve in his army. He felt many men would not volunteer to join because they did not want to leave their wives and families. He thought that if men were not married, they would join the army. So Claudius passed a new law which did not allow any more marriages. Most people thought this law was cruel. Valentine, who was a minister, did not support the new law.

Even after Emperor Claudius passed the law, he kept performing marriage ceremonies secretly. One night he was caught and thrown in jail and told he would be put to death.

Many young people came to visit Valentine. One was the daughter of the prison guard. On the day of his death Valentine wrote a note to the daughter signed "Love from your Valentine". This was on February 14, 269 A. D.

Most say this started the custom of exchanging love messages on Valentine's Day.


Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Shape of My Heart

Hmm, yeah, yeah Baby,
Please try to forgive me
Stay here, don't put out the glow
Hold me now, don't bother if every minute it makes me weaker
You can save me from the man that I've become
Lookin' back on the things I've done
I was tryin' to be someone
I played my part, kept you in the dark
Now let me show you the shape of my heart
Send in this beautiful loneliness that's tragical
So help me I can't win this war, oh no
Touch me now don't bother if every second it makes me weaker
You can save me from the man I've become
Lookin' back on the things I've done
I was tryin' to be someone
I played my part, kept you in the dark
Now let me show you the shape of my heart
I'm here with my confession
Got nothing to hide no more
I don't know where to start
But to show you the shape of my heart...
I'm lookin' back on the things
I've done I never wanna play the same old part
I'll keep you in the dark
Now let me show you the shape of my heart
Lookin' back on the things I've done
I was tryin' to be someone
I played my part, kept you in the dark
Now let me show you the shape of my heart
Lookin' back on the things I've done
I was tryin' to be someone
I played my part, kept you in the dark
Now let me show you the shape of my heart
Show you the shape of my heart...

Old Hindu legend...

There was once a time when all human beings were gods, but they so abused their divinity that Brahma, the chief god, decided to take it away from them and hide it where it could never be found.

Where to hide their divinity was the question. So Brahma called a council of the gods to help him decide. "Let's bury it deep in the earth," said the gods. But Brahma answered, "No, that will not do because humans will dig into the earth and find it." Then the gods said, "Let's sink it in the deepest ocean." But Brahma said, "No, not there, for they will learn to dive into the ocean and will find it." Then the gods said, "Let's take it to the top of the highest mountain and hide it there." But once again Brahma replied, "No, that will not do either, because they will eventually climb every mountain and once again take up their divinity." Then the gods gave up and said, "We do not know where to hide it, because it seems that there is no place on earth or in the sea that human beings will not eventually reach."

Brahma thought for a long time and then said, "Here is what we will do. We will hide their divinity deep in the center of their own being, for humans will never think to look for it there."
All the gods agreed that this was the perfect hiding place, and the deed was done.

Message: And since that time humans have been going up and down the earth, digging, diving, climbing, and exploring--searching for something already within themselves.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

American History

Here's a little part of US history which makes you sit up and go hmmmm....


Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

The names Lincoln and Kennedy each contain seven letters.

Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
Both wives lost children while living in the White House.

Both Presidents were shot on a Friday
Both Presidents were shot in the head.

Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy's secretary was named Lincoln.

Both were assassinated by Southerners
Both were succeeded by Southerners.
Both successors were named Johnson.

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.
Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.

Both assassins were known by their three names.
Both names are comprised of fifteen letters.

Lincoln was shot at the theater named "Kennedy".
Kennedy was shot in a car called "Lincoln".

Booth ran from the theater and was caught in a warehouse.
Oswald ran from a warehouse and was caught in a theater.

Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.
And here's the kicker....

A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe, Maryland.
A week before Kennedy was shot, he was in Marilyn Monroe.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

The Work of Julian Beever

Julian Beever has made pavement drawings for over ten years. He has worked in the U.K., Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Germany, the USA and Australia.
















































































































































Some people were even avoiding the drawings...

Pictures were taken from Julian Beever's site. Please refer to this webpage for more pictures

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

15 Things that takes years to learn

  1. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests you think she's pregnant unless you see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.
  2. The most powerful force in the universe is gossip.
  3. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we all believe we are excellent drivers.
  4. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age 11.
  5. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
  6. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.
  7. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings."
  8. The main accomplishment of almost all organized protests is to annoy people who are not in them.
  9. If there really is a God who created the entire universe with all of its glories, and He decides to deliver a message to humanity, He will NOT use, as His messenger, a person on cable TV with a bad hairstyle and too much make-up.
  10. You should not confuse your career with your life.
  11. A person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter is not a nice person.
  12. No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously.
  13. When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Usually, that individual is crazy.
  14. Your friends love you anyway.
  15. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.