Ringing in the Ears Years ago, a colleague told me that he had a persistent 'ringing sound' in his ears or head. That was new to me and that was the first time I ever heard of such things. Well, of course I have had experienced 'ringing in my ears' before, like when I received a slap from mom for saying something rude!However, for the past few years I began to have this 'ringing in the ear' and it is a sort of on and off thing, so I just let it be. Then yesterday, while doing some research on my computer, the ringing started again! I did a check on the web and this is what I found out.The technical or medical term for this is 'Tinnitus' and this is what Wiki said :-Tinnitus can be perceived in one or both ears or in the head. It is usually described as a ringing noise, but in some patients it takes the form of a high pitched whining, buzzing, hissing, humming, or whistling sound, or as ticking, clicking, roaring, "crickets" or "tree frogs" or "locusts", tunes, songs, or beeping. It has also been described as a "whooshing" sound, as of wind or waves. Tinnitus can be intermittent or it can be continuous. In the latter case, this "phantom" sound can create great distress in the sufferer. Tinnitus is not itself a disease but a symptom resulting from a range of underlying causes. Causes include ear infections, foreign objects or wax in the ear, nose allergies that prevent (or induce) fluid drain and cause wax build-up, and injury from loud noises. Tinnitus is also a side-effect of some oral medications, such as aspirin, and may also result from an abnormally low level of serotonin activity. It is also a classical side effect of Quinidine, a Class IA anti-arrhythmic. In many cases, however, no underlying physical cause can be identified.For more details check it out on Wiki. Well, I also found out that there is this product made in the US called 'Tinni- Fix' which sounded quite good! This is not a sponsored post or any promotion for this product but just providing some information, hoping that others can learn about 'ringing in the ears'! The New MERDEKA! August 26th 2008 is another Milestone in our Malaysian History. Anwar Ibrahim won the Permatang Pauh By-Election by a thumping majority of 15,671 votes! It is a strong signal from the people of Permatang Pauh to Barisan, shouting that they want change in the Malaysian Political Scene. To me this coming Merdeka Celebration is a refreshing one. I feel that Merdeka has a totally new meaning now as compared to the past celebrations except perhaps the first Merdeka Declaration and the immediate few celebrations that follows, but it was a long long time that I feel so Malaysian. For a long, long time the Merdeka Celebration was ‘dead’ in spirit I mean! There was no real joy, no real sense of belonging and worst, a sense of ‘rejection’ by my own Government who keep telling me that as a Chinese or Indian or Others we have little or no rights! With this back-drop how do you expect us ordinary citizens to love you with all our heart, all our strength, all our might? My Government treats me like a step son or if not a ‘bastard’! Lately I have been reading about certain BN MP’s saying that they regretted giving citizenships to the Chinese, Indians and Others because now we vote for the Opposition! They went further to imply that perhaps better to revoke their citizenships! Well let’s take a look at Permatang Pauh By-election results. If I am not mistaken the racial composition of Permatang Pauh is 69% Malays; 25% Chinese and 6% Indians and Others. Based on the eligible voters list, a total of 47,258 eligible voters and assuming all the Chinese and Indians and Others vote for PKR it gives a number of 14,511 votes. With PKR having 31,195 votes, less the Non-Malays votes of 14,511 we arrive at a figure of 32,727 votes coming from the Malays in Permatang Pauh! Amazing!! Hey! How about revoking the citizenships of these 32,727 Malays as well for they too vote for the Opposition! Or is it a case of Special Rights again? Only Malays have the right to vote for the Opposition? BN has deteriorated to the extent that we non-bumi citizens are threatened with loosing our basic human rights of voting! We cannot vote the opposition, we cannot question, we cannot ask why, blah, blah, blah and perhaps now you can understand why we all, Malay, Chinese, Indians and Others desire change more than money, food or life! Let’s vote for a Just, Fair and Law abiding Government! MERDEKA! MERDEKA! MERDEKA! Merdeka 51 Celebration This is what I call a Patriot's Tag from the sweet marzie! I guess all Malaysian Bloggers should unite and show our support for Malaysia! Started by Manggis and if you want a different colour hop over to choose either Sepia or the coloured version.*begin copy*Add your site(s) to the list if you're a proud Malaysian Blogger!Pass this tag to as many Malaysian Blogger as you know, or if you're interested but nobody tags you, just include yourself voluntarily. Show some patriotism!Once you've done posting this tag, leave a comment HERE! and you will be visited by a Malaysian local fruit, Mangosteen by the name of Mango! and added to the Master List.Update list regularly to ensure every Malaysian Blogger gets equal link benefit.I am a proud Malaysian blogger 1. mangosteenskin - Saya anak Malaysia! 2. Life is too short to be ordinary - Malaysia Tanahair Ku! 3. Sha's Love & Passion - Aku Anak Merdeka 4. A room of crazy scrapper - Merdeka!Merdeka! Merdeka? 5. Fliffy - Aku Patriotik, Sayang Malaysia ! 6. Rizal 7. haniz - Merdeka Forever! 8. Prozak Nation 9. CarolPinky - Proud Malaysian! 10. Mariuca - I heart Malaysia! 11. Emila’s Illustrated Blog - Saya Anak Malaysia juga 12. Simple Life - Sam - Saya Anak Malaysia 13. Shemah's My Sweet Escape - Live, Enjoy and Love.. MALAYSIA! 14. Mariuca's Perfume Gallery - Made in Malaysia! 15. Yani-Tennitodoku-Proud to be a Malaysian-MERDEKA! 16.Bluecrystaldude from My Little Black Pot - Saya Harap Malaysia Terus Maju! 17. Apples of the eyes 18. Snapshotcap - Freedom of choice is made for you my friend :) 19. Anaheus 20.Confessions Of A Breathing Tote Bag 21. A Great Pleasure - Malaysia is a food paradise ~ simply yummy~licious! 22. Mummy HnH - Harith and Hannah - MERDEKA 51st Celebration!!! 23. Shafie - I'm Here For U Malaysia 24. Listening, Learning, Living 25. you're next!For this special Merdek Meme I invite every Malaysian Blogger to take part! Return of the Genies The Genie King and Genie Princess return to shower the Magic Lamp of Luck to me! Wow! thanks fantastic Genies! I guess everyone needs some 'luck factor' in life. Although some don't believe in 'luck' but after watching the table-tennis matches in the recent Beijing Olympics, when the ping-pong ball hits the net, sometimes it dropped over and sometimes it bounced back; and during these heart-stopping moments everything hinges on luck I guess!* Start Copy Here*1. Add your site(s) to the list once you have received the Magic Lamp of Luck. 2. Pass on the Magic Lamp of Luck to as many people as you like. After all, everyone needs some good luck! 3. Leave a comment HERE once you’ve passed on the Magic Lamp of Luck. Once the Genie King and Genie Princess have visited your site to make sure your links are complete and proper, you will then be added to the Master List. 4. To ensure everyone receives equal link benefit, please UPDATE your list regularly! 1-Mariuca 2-First Time Dad 3-Mariuca's Perfume Gallery 4-Emila's Illustrated Blog 5-The Other Side of Emila 6-My Sweet Escape 7-Bay Head Blog 8-Roxiticus Desperate Housewives 9-LadyJava's Lounge 10-Petty Ramblings of a Petty Queen 11-The Real Deal 12-Pinay Mommy Online 13-Perpustakaan 14-LadyJava Life's Pages 15-Make Money Online 16-Cat Tales 17-LadyJava's Food Paradise 18-Being Woman 19-Spicybug 20-Biz-N-Honey 21-Aeirin's Collections 22-Sasha Says 23-Project Heavy Traffic 24-Picture Clusters 25-My Wanderings 26-Maiylah's Snippets 27-Moments of Colours 28-Life Quest 29-BigMoneyList 30-The Best Parts 31-Morphed 32-Buhay Pinoy 33-Galatayo 34-Blogging Tips 35-Apples Of The Eyes 36-My Own Utopia 37-Sasha's Corner 38-Under One Roof 39-Say Cheese 40-A Great Pleasure 41-A Life in Bloom 42-Because Life is a Blessing 43-Digiscraptology 44-Xixi 45-Ode to Adrienne 46-CrankyDave 47-Simple Life 48-Dew Drops 49-The Journey 50-Mastering Your PC 51-Day Break 52-A Little Girl Talk 53-Mom Knows Everything 54-Day to Day 55-1 of a Kind Wis 56-It's a woman's world! 57-Breather 58-Photo Hook 59-Letterbox 60-Asian Mutt International 61-Dream Doe Philosophy 62-MommyAlehs Up-Close And Personal 63-Livin' the Life! 64-Restnrileks 65-English Corner 66-English Grammar 67-Bodybuilding & Fitness 68-Everything you need 69-One Stop Games 70-Blockbluster Movie Trailers 71-Bodybuilding & Human Growth Hormone 72-World of Tennis 73-Men's Health & Tips 74-Internet Marketing Strategy & Tips 75-Latest Technology 76-Tentang Binaraga 77-Berita Seputar Selebriti 78-Panduan Kesehatan 79-Insurance For You 80-Crissy's Zone 81-Crissy's Library 82-Crissy's Haven 83-sHeNzEe's wOrLd 84-Voice Of The Spirit 85-Best Cuisine Recipes 86-Stand My Ground 87-SeeNRead 88-This Is A Miracle 89-I AM KCAT 90-Traipsey Turvey 91-GBeX & DOm 92-Spun By A Seanachie 93-ISL Family 94-D' Cooking Mudra 95-'Story' the Great 96-UmmiRosma 97-Munirah Abd 98-Atie 99-Hit-or-Miss 100-Twisted Sister 101-Laketrees Artist 102-Blessed Sanctuary 103-Comedy Plus 104-Blogging By Sandee 105-Living Life to the Fullest 106-Speech-Less 107-Happy Life 108-My Discoveries 109-Strangely Out Of Place 110-Rooms of My Heart 111-The Paper Vision 112-Luxurious Retreats 113-Reef 114-Weekend Snapshot 115-Blessie's Finds 116-Confessions of An Army Wife 117-My Pooch Life 118-Five Martini Lunch 119-TIPS FROM THE TRAILER 120-PoeARTica 121-STAY AT HOME MOM 122-Rantings of a Woman 123-Sjtl's Weblog 124-Turn-u-Off 125-My World in My Own Word 126-Shawie 127-A New Saga 128-Janeth Vicy's Life Journey 129-Simple Reveries 130-Berry Blog 131-Touts4u 132-My So Called Life 133-La Vida es Hermosa 134-Speedcat Hollydale Page 135-mangosteenskin 136-Choc Mint Girl 137-Of Colors And Styles 138-Pinaymama's Diary 139-My Life's Rollercoaster Ride 140-My Life...My Journey! 141-Bonoriau 142-Jenny and Belle 143-Read My Mind 144-A Sweet Taste Of Life 145-Shopping Blog 146-Precious Moments 147-Feydakin 148-Hot Shit Form Here 149-A Mother's Simple Thoughts 150-Daily Ramblings Rendezvous 151-Miss Moneypenny's Comical Posts Undercover 152-My Precious Niche 153-Fun|Fierce|Fabulous 154-Colorful World of Shiela 155-Me,myself+2 156-Ozzy's Mom 157-Let's talk about MJ 158-Great people make us feel we can become great 159-A Family Man 160-Just the way it is... 161-In Depth 162-Attitude, the ULTIMATE POWER 163-Are You Grateful? 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231-Dancing in Midlife Tune 232-Meme Me 233-Tasty treats 234-Mummy Diaries 235-notyet100hub 236-Jujubs Creative Corner 237-Crafts and Cooking 238-As Long As I Can Dream 239-A Walk To Remember 240-Empty Streets 241-The time has come 242-Momhood Moments 243-Life is too short to be ordinary 244-Mistress of Spices 245-From the Kitchen 246-Bhawana 247-Easy Cooking 248-Vegetarian Medley 249-Homecooked 250- The Painted Veil 251-Natural Remedies at Home 252-Vaidehi 253-Send Chocolate 254-From Cribs to Car Keys 255-Essence of Andhra 256-Tongue Ticklers 257-Mints 258-Mumblings 259-Listening, Learning, Living 260-Life and Me 261-YOU Next!*End Copy Here*Now I shall pass this Good Luck Wishes to the following friends : Judy Chow; Zooropazoo; Lady Java and Pinay Jade! My Layered Cake Personality This is a cute Meme from J@nice and it sort of describe 6 Layers of You and I titled this after the famous Layered Cake from Sumatra or specifically Medan! I guess all of us have several layers in our personalities and it takes some time to discover what these are! Well folks, I make it easy for you and here are my Six Layers!:START:: RULES:1. Add your blog/s to the list. Feel free to add all your other blogs. It’s okey if you only post this questions in one blog as long as you answer them.2. Get back to Me {YEN} and I’ll add your blogs to the master’s list HERE! Note that you are not ALLOWED to change the link of the here.3. Copy from Start to End.4. Tag as many friends online you know. But you don’t need to be tag in order to join.Copy this Participants List: Me and Mine | Creative in Me | For the LOVE of Food | Little Peanut | Pea in a Pod | It’s Where the HEART Is | Around the World | SugarMagnolias | I Am Mommy | All About The Memories | Enchanted Play | Just My Scrap | Whats Up | Simply Me | Kitchen Deelite | A Mothers Horizon | In Depth | A Life in Bloom | Because Life is a Blessing | Digiscraptology | Joys iN life | Life is What we Make it | Photo Blog | Dancing in Midlife Tune | Mommy Talks | Aggie Shoots. Aggie Scraps | All Kinds of Me Stuff | The Salad Caper | Winding Creek Circle | InkBabyStudios | | All Things Me | Feels Like Home | Because Life Is Fun | Blessings and Beyond | Mommy Earns Money Online | Pinay Mommy Online| Clark & Butchay’s Blog | Butchay’s World | Simply Jen | Jenny Said So | My Online World | My Life in this Wonderful World | Biz-N-Honey | Aeirin’s Collections | My Precious Niche |Eds Mommy Life |Just Me.. Eds | My BIG Picture | Merger Guru | Quicker8 | Insights from the Grocery Cart | MindBubbles| LivingtheHealthyLife | VanityKit | Stripe&Yellow | SomethingPurple| Em’s Detour | Joys iN life | Life is What we Make it | Photo Blog | Dancing in Midlife Tune | Ozzy’s Mom | Me,Myself+2 | Kidd Designs | Fun.Fierce.Fabulous | Tints of My Heart | Morphed | when mom speaks | walk on red | kathycot | buhay misis | kathycot cooks | Posh Post Reviews | Flowersbythewayside |The Fab and The Furious | Blog In to Space | Dancing With Butterflies | Twisted Angel | Pieces of Me | Just Let Go | Blessed Chic | Hobbies and Such | My World in My Own Word | Colorful World of Shiela| The Shopaholic Nightingale | Day to Day Miracles | Can of Thoughts | Designs By Vhiel | Anything and Everything in Between | Vhiel’s Corner | Lovin’ Life | BigMoneyList | Crissy’s Library | Crissy’s Zone | Crissy’s Haven | Vis Vires | Amazingly Me | Jenn Was Here | Shutter Happenings | Le Kulitszie Familie | Embracing Myself | BLOGSILOG |Digiscrapz: Captured Memories |Cherry’s Comfort Zone |Thinking Out Loud |Buzzy Me |Wishing and Hoping |My Blog Portfolio |Get Paid to Blog! |PRC Board Exam Results | Teacher’s Corner | Pinay WAHM | Random Thoughts | Explore Manila | My Colorful World | Bermuda or L.A. | celebrating life | my life is peachy | belly, body and beyond |Woman Style | Scribbles of My Life | In This Game of Life | The Shopaholic in Me | The Callalily Space | Juliana’s Site | A Simple life | Mommy’s Little Corner | Life’s Sweets and Spices | Moms… Check Nyo | Simple Delights | Motherhood in a Nutshell | marshimallows | A Great Pleasure | Ramblings of The Phat | when mom speaks | walk on red | kathycot | buhay misis kathycot cooks | My Random Thoughts | My World | Mom Knows Everything | Tailgaternetwork | Zook Light | Melinda Zook | Me, Myself and I | Stranded Life | iHeartREVIEWS | Lady Banana | A Great Pleasure | Mariuca’s Perfume Gallery | BEING WOMAN | See N Read | The Real Deal, The Real Me | My Virtual Closet | My Views On My So Called Life | Her Name is NOY| No Place Like Home | Digital Life Scraps | Tickled Pink Digiscrap | Angelika | Angelika’s Other Blog | In The Life Of…Mne | Everything Has A Reason | In My Kitchen | Confessions Of A Breathing Tote Bag | My Basic Fashion Folder |restnrileks | STUDENTS BLOG | KWENTONG PINAS | KWENTO NI ENDAY | BlogHop | Otwarte | Wilstop | Let’s Travel Philippines | Caffeinated Muse | Faery Dancing | Confessions Of A Breathing Tote Bag | My Basic Fashion Folder | Diane | Anything Goes! | Shae- Shae Blog | It’s a woman’s world! | The Music of My Heart | A Handful of Surprises | My Paper Scraps | Digitally Diane | Somewhere Over the Rainbow | I am a Nikon Girl | Piece o’ Kaje | and so I am Women Xplore | My Sweet Bratinella | Our Journey to Life | My Planet Purple | Kaycee’s Bubble | Juls Random Thoughts | Icelog | This is a Miracle… | Women with Extraordinary | Women with Extraordinary Life | SuPerCaLifRaGiLisTiC ExpiALiDoCiOuS | Food for the Hungry Mind | Enterntain You | (Mis)Adventures of Rona | Rona’s Nook | The Noble and The Nonsense | Enterntain You | Fliffy | Listening, Learning, Living | YOUR BLOGSLAYER ONE:– Name: Bokjae– Birth date: November 12th– Birthplace: Malaysia– Current Location: Shah Alam– Eye Color:Brown– Hair Color: Grey– Righty or Lefty: RightyLAYER TWO:– Your heritage: Chinese– The shoes you wore today: Crocs– Your weakness: Sweet Natured Women– Your fears: My wife– Your perfect pizza: What's that?– Goal you’d like to achieve in life: At the moment, go holiday with Rock!LAYER THREE:– Your most overused phrase on AIM: Shoot!– Your first waking thoughts: Where is Rock?– Your best physical feature: None!– Your most missed memory: Baby Sitting Dawn.LAYER FOUR:– Pepsi or Coke: Neither– McDonald’s or Burger King: Neither– Single or group dates: Group– Adidas or Nike: Nike– Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: Lipton anytime!– Chocolate or vanilla: Both– Cappuccino or coffee: BothLAYER FIVE:– A famous person, dead or alive, would you interview: Anwar Ibrahim– Movie can you watch and say the lines along with the actors: Hi Ho Silver!– Name two of your passions in life : Reading & Music– Least favorite time of day: NoneLAYER SIX:– Use hairspray or gel: None– Your favorite meal: Steam Soon Hock– Color is the inside of your head when you close your eyes: Blue– Listen to classical music: Mostly– Ever said LOL in real life without thinking about it: No::END:: Meme Time Marzie and Jean both tagged me with the same meme so I think it is expedient to do both in one post! Firstly thank-you to you my buddies for every tag assurses me of your love and rememberance of unlce bokjae!This Meme on House Chores by marzie and jean really get me thinking hard! Basically, coming from a poor family background, doing house-hold chores was something mandatory. However there are still certain chores that I really hate! That's ironing clothes! I am fine with mopping and cleaning, cooking lousy dishes. Even today Rock is still complaining about my cooking. Why I hated ironing? I cannot really explain but I find doing it so very boring! Perhaps just standing in one position for an hour is no fun and I am that sort of person that needs lots of physical movements, I mean whole body movements rather than just moving my arms like ironing! something like swimming is best!DOMESTICATED DIVAS: Living the Healthy Life / Stripe&Yellow / Vanity Kit / Mind Bubbles / Something Purple / Em's Detour / Deviously Creative / Doll Me Up / Me,Myself+2 / Kidd Designs / FunFierceFabulous / Ozzy's Mom / Insights from the Grocery Cart / Living A' La Mode / God's Best Gift / MommyAllehs Up-Close And Personal / My Precious Niche / Just Me.. Eds / Eds Mommy Life / Aggie Shoots Aggie Scraps / All Kinds of Me Stuff / The Salad Caper / Winding Creek Circle / InkBabyStudios / Joys in Life / Me and Mine / Little Peanut / Creative in Me/ Pea in a Pod / Sugarmagnolias / Notable Bistro / Around the World / I am Mommy / All About The Memories / Enchanted Play / In Depth / A Housewife's Journal / Life Together Starts / As We Face Forever / My Happy Place /Iam Dzoi / Suburban Sass / To the Moon and Back / Raising Sandy / Walk on Red / All Things Me / Because Life Is Fun / Feels Like Home / Growing up with Bea / My life... my own piece of heaven / Around the World / Hobbies and Such / My life in this Wonderful World /My Online World / / My Virtual Closet / My Views On My So Called Life / The Real Deal The Real Me / Changing Lanes/ Pit Stop/ Around the World / The Fountain Of Happiness / The Joy Of Life Forever / Love Is / Phtographic Memories / My Colorful World / Strawberry Gurl / Quicker8 / Mommy's Little Corner / The Dawn That Shines / Journey to Prosperity / Homelife / Sheng's Simple Thoughts / Coriander Dreams / Gorgeous Traveller / A Traveller's Domain / Lemon Iced Tea / It's My Party / My Wonderful Life / Simple Life, Simply Me / Sassy Finds / All things Yummy / Shangrila Journey / My Charmed Life / Mommyhood and Me / Crissy's Zone / Crissy's Library / Vis Vires /Crissy's Haven / My Daily Thoughts / Abby's Way of Life / Princess Bela / Women Xplore / Our Journey to Life / My Planet Purple / And so I am / Arlene's Random Ramblings / Life's All About / Lourdes' Mia / Faery Dancing / Me, the islands and the world / Pinay heart wanderings and musings / Juls Random Thots / In The Spirit of Dance / Princess Vien / Quicker8 / Anything and Everything in Between / Designs By Vhiel / Vhiel's Corner / Can of Thoughts / A Mother's Stuff / housewifeatwork / Kuting’s Place / My Daily Thoughts / Pinay heart wanderings and musings / Watchamacallit! / Nellypie's Chatterbox/ Purpled Sky / Almanac Queen / Caramel Corn / Sunny Side Up Foodie / Mamakshop / Alamakoioi / JoZe's Crap / My Sweet Escape / Our Little Princess Gwen / Chen Xi and Mama's Blog / A Kiss Of An Angel / Modern Life Today / Anything Goes! / Her Name is N.O.Y. / Mariuca's Perfume Gallery/All About Kawaii / One Hundred and Eighty Degrees / Me, Myself and I / Mixed Cultures Mama's Blog / Apples of The Eyes/ Perfect Gift From Above / Her Name is N.O.Y. / / Irresistible Fascinations / The Treasure Chest / Complex Life / periphrastic-prolix / Chen Xi and Mama's Blog / A Muse Man / restnrileks / laketrees / Little Prince / Writing 50% in jest / Designated Hermitage / Mixed Cultures Mama’s Blog/ Cicak Berbunyi / Listening, Learning, Living / YOUR BLOG HERE~~~END COPY~~~ A great lesson from Trade Shows My first experience at a Trade Shows was an eye-opener. I was one of a six member team exhibiting the latest Stored-Program Controlled PABX developed by ROLM from Santa Clara, California, using the latest technology developed for the NASA Space Program which was being introduced into PABX application. You can say that it was quite a new concept for our local market then and there were quite a bit of hype and excitement about this PABX.My job was to handle the technical aspects on this PABX and the sales –person the marketing and sales. It was a stressful time for all of us. The sales-person at the Trade Show Booth did not look like the happy exhibitor at all. I guess he felt that trade shows are a waste of time! The other two ladies was busy setting up the various paraphernalia such as banner stands and another was fussing about the pipe and drape. Typical of ladies who are quite meticulous about matching colours and length of the table skirt.When a certain gentlemen turned up, he did not get the cheerful, helpful response from the sales person and he got really mad at us. When he said something to the sales-person I learned an invaluable lesson there and then. He said; Do you think we come here to waste our time? Do you think we are not serious customers who indeed want to buy? Do you think we have nothing better to do than to walk around giving you a difficult time, asking silly questions? If you are not getting any business from me, it’s your fault not mine!Wow! What a lesson and a wake-up call this was! Since then I learned my lesson and treat all trade shows as opportunities where we can sell to thousands of inquisitive, curious, potential customers. Actually when we looked around, most exhibitors seem to think that it’s a waste of time! I guess we must change our mental attitude at trade shows and see them as great business opportunities! What do you think? Pointers on finding a spouse. Firstly, I am no 'guru' in this area but I take seriously all my relationships with people. I do read a bit on the topic of Relationships such as between spouses, friends, others and also with our own children. The exponential increase in the rate of divorces all over the world is firstly alarming and secondly, rather frightening. I strongly believe that the whole social structure of the human race depends on the success of the basic institution of marriage and family. A breakdown at this level will eventually lead to a breadown in our societies.I came across Dov Heller, a licensed psychotherapist with a private practice in Los Angeles and the Director of the Relationship Institute. For more information about Dov Heller please read her Biography which is quite respectable.I read one of her many articles and I think is a very good guide to finding your spouse! I reproduced here so that others can get some great tips on the issue of finding and keeping your life partner! FINDING AND KEEPING A LIFE PARTNER by Dov Heller, M.A. When it comes to making the decision about choosing a life partner, no one wants to make a mistake. Yet, with a divorce rate of close to 50%, it appears that many are making serious mistakes in their approach to finding Mr./Miss. Right! If you ask most couples who are engaged why they're getting married, they'll say: 'We're in love'; I believe this is the ..1 mistake people make when they date. Choosing a life partner should never be based on love. Though this may sound 'not politically correct', there's a profound truth here. Love is not the basis for getting married. Rather, love is the result of a good marriage. When the other ingredients are right, then the love will come. Let me say it again: 'You can't build a lifetime relationship on love alone'; You need a lot more!!! Here are five questions you must ask yourself if you're serious about finding and keeping a life partner. QUESTION ..1: Do we share a common life purpose? Why is this so important? Let me put it this way: If you're married for 20 or 30 years, that's a long time to live with someone. What do you plan to do with each other all that time? Travel, eat and jog together? You need to share something deeper and more meaningful. You need a common life purpose. Two things can happen in a marriage:(1) You can grow together, or (2) you can grow apart. 50% of the people out there are growing apart. To make a marriage work, you need to know what you want out of life! Bottom line; marry someone who wants the same thing. QUESTION ..2: Do I feel safe expressing my feelings and thoughts with this person? This question goes to the core of the quality of your relationship. Feeling safe means you can communicate openly with this person. The basis of having good communication is trust i.e. trust that I won't get 'punished'; or hurt for expressing my honest thoughts and feelings. A colleague of mine defines an abusive person as someone with whom you feel afraid to express your thoughts and feelings. Be honest with yourself on this one. Make sure you feel emotionally safe with the person you plan to marry. QUESTION ..3: Is he/she a mensch? A mensch is someone who is a refined and sensitive person. How can you test? Here are some suggestions. Do they work on personal growth on a regular basis? Are they serious about improving themselves? A teacher of mine defines a good person as 'someone who is always striving to be good and do the right '.So ask about your significant other: What do they do with their time? Is this person materialistic? Usually a materialistic person is not someone whose top priority is character refinement. There are essentially two types of people in the world: (1) People who are dedicated to personal growth and (2) people who are dedicated to seeking comfort. Someone whose goal in life is to be comfortable will put personal comfort ahead of doing the right thing. You need to know that before walking down the aisle. QUESTION ..4: How does he/she treat other people? The one most important thing that makes any relationship work is the ability to give. By giving, we mean the ability to give another person pleasure. Ask: Is this someone who enjoys giving pleasure to others or are they wrapped up in themselves and self-absorbed? To measure this, think about the following: How do they treat people whom they do not have to be nice to, such as waiters, bus boys, taxi drivers, etc..How do they treat their parents and siblings? Do they have gratitude and appreciation? If they don't have gratitude for the people who have given them everything; can you do nearly as much for them? You can be sure that someone, who treats others poorly, will eventually treat you poorly as well. QUESTION ..5: Is there anything I'm hoping to change about this person after we're married? Too many people make the mistake of marrying someone with the intention of trying to 'improve'; them after they're married. As a colleague of mine puts it: 'You can probably expect someone to change after marriage for the worse'. If you cannot fully accept this person the way they are now, then you are not ready to marry them. In conclusion, dating doesn't have to be difficult and treacherous. The key is to try leading a little more with your head and less with your heart. It pays to be as objective as possible when you are dating; to be sure to ask questions that will help you get to the key issues. Falling in love is a great feeling, but when you wake up with a ring on your finger, you don't want to find yourself trouble because you didn't do your homework. Another perspective... There are some people in your life that need to be loved from a distance.. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you let go of or at least minimize your time with draining, negative, incompatible, not going anywhere relationships. Observe the relationships around you. Pay attention...Which ones lift and which ones lean? Which ones encourage and which ones discourage? Which ones are on a path of growth uphill and which ones are going downhill? When you leave certain people do you feel better or feel worse? Which ones don't appreciate you? Which ones make you feel good, praises you, boosts you with loving and caring words or annotations. The more you seek quality, respect, growth, peace of mind, love and truth around you...the easier it will become for you to decide who gets to sit in the front row and who should be moved to the balcony of your life. An African proverb states, 'Before you get married, keep both eyes open, and after you marry, close one eye'. Before you get involved and make a commitment to someone, don't let lust, desperation, immaturity, ignorance, pressure from others or a low self-esteem make you blind towarning signs. Keep your eyes open, and don't fool yourself that you can change someone or that what you see as faults aren't really that important. Do you bring out the best in each other? Do you compliment and compromise with each other, or do you compete, compare and control? What do you bring to the relationship? Do you bring past relationships, past hurt, past mistrust, past pain? You can't take someone to the altar to alter them. You can't make someone love you or make someone stay. If you develop self-esteem, spiritual discernment, and 'a life'; you won't find yourself making someone else responsible for your happiness or responsible for your pain. Seeking status, sex, and security are the wrong reasons to be in a relationship. WHAT KEEPS A RELATIONSHIP STRONG IS: 1. TRUST 2. COMMUNICATION 3. INTIMACY 4. A SENSE OF HUMOR 5. SHARING TASKS 6. DAILY EXCHANGES (meal, shared activity, hug, call, touch, notes, etc.) 7. SHARING COMMON GOALS AND INTERESTS 8. GIVING EACH OTHER SPACE TO GROW WITHOUT FEELING INSECURE 9.GIVING EACH OTHER A SENSE OF BELONGING AND ASSURANCES OF COMMITMENT 10. CONCERN AND CARE FOR YOUR LOVER IN YOUR OWN WAYS. If these qualities are missing, the relationship will erode as resentment withdrawal, abuse, neglect, and dishonesty; and pain will replace. Women's Heart Aches To me, words are ever so important in our lives. They are the means of communication among we humans. The written word is even more astonishing and let me share some light moments with you regarding Words in the English Language. We have all read about the Battle of the Sexes and many problems in a woman’s life involved the other half! Here are some examples of the common problems women have and noticed how much men are involved in them.1. MENtalillness or MENtal-breakdown.2. MENstrual Cramps.3. MENopause.4. GUYnecologists.The really serious problem here :-5. HISterectomy.In closing, have you ever noticed the following ?Woman has man in it.Mrs. has Mr in it.Female has male in it.She has he in it.Madam has adam in it.Perhaps now we can understand women's problems better! Enjoy! Guo Jingjing of China Among all the athletes at the Beijing Olympics, I find Guo Jingjing is such a beauty! She has a body that is the dream of many women and the looks to go with it. Even Rock thinks she is beautiful, We can see her natural beauty from the diving event where Guo Jingjing got her Gold Medal! She was without make-up at all.Here are some photos of Guo Jingjing and I am not surprised to find out that she do some modelling work too.Another beautiful woman from that part of the world is non-other than Mongolian Model Altantuya Shaaribu who was involved in a high-profile murder case in Malaysia. It was such a tragic end for a beautiful woman. Unique Day 20082008 I guess many would have noticed that today 20th August 2008 is rather unique if we view them as numbers "20082008". I guess this will happen again on 2oth September 2009! Is your day any different?As for us it is special! firstly its my brother's birthday and we are all having a party tonight! Secondly we will remember this day for our beloved sister-in-law Florence has a successful Eye Operation!We are so blessed to have her with us for 2 months. she arrived on the 15th July and planning to return to the US on the 15th September! While she's with us, I have a 2 month break from some marketing and cooking! Really thankful for little mercies from the Lord to send us Florence. I could enjoy the Beijing Olympics while she took over most of the marketing and cooking plus cleaning!Rock and FlorenceToday, this special 20082008 day, went past just like any normal day, since Florence will be recuperating at the home of Julie, another sister-in-law of mine. I have to do the marketing, cooking and cleaning for the next few days! Florence is so kind as not to burden me with an additional person to look after! Rock is busy cooking a storm in preparation of another sister of hers, Ruby, from Germany coming over for a family celebration and arriving next week!RubyJulie and Hubby Brain Vs Brawn Today the 36 year old swimming record of Mark Spitz of the US was equaled by another fellow American, Michael Phelps when Michael won the Men's 100 meters Butterfly event this morning, beating Serbian Milorad Cavic by 100th of a second! Michael finished at 10.58 secs. while Cavic 10.59 secs.It was such an exciting race but from this event I can see how Michael using his brain, won the race. Even as near as 3 meters from the finish, Cavic was ahead but during the final touch, Michael raised his hands above the water to make contact whereas Cacic hands were under water. Of course movements is faster in the air than in water and so Michael Phelps snatched victory with this simple act. Its a case of Brains over Brawn!I would love to see Michael Phelps get his 8th Gold Medal in his last Team Event. Others are hoping that he won't make it for they say he already won too many medals already. Well as for me I love to see records broken for such are the building blocks of Motivation! With these, the human race advances, always doing better and achieving higher goals! I will cheer for Michael Phelps for the sake of Progress! If he wins his 8th Gold Medal, it will break Mark Spitz's record of 36 years and I wonder how long it takes to break Phelps record! Photoshop Brushes Hi friends, haven't been active since Sunday and guess you know why! Yes! its the Olympics! enjoyed all the excitement and competitions going on, especially in the Swimming Events! Managed to have a bit of time and so would love to share some very useful Photoshop Tools (FREE) with you.I love Art and Artistic people! Emma Alvarez is a very creative and artistic person and these Free Photoshop Brushes are made by her and she is so generous to share them with us! I use Photoshop a bit but my knowledge of Photoshop is elementary. I do use some of the default brushes but Emma has designed some very beautiful 'Brushes" which in the hands of artistic people can do wonders! so if anyone of you are interested do visit Emma and download the Brushes! Just a word of caution, do read Emma's Instructions for the downloads and respect those conditions laid out, its only fair I think. Here are some samples of the Art that can be created with Emma's Brushes! Dawn's Butoh Review Sometime back I shared about our youngest daughter Dawn did a month long study of the Japanese Art Form 'Butoh' and she did her Solo Performance titled OLIN which is basically a Butoh Performance. Received this Review on her Solo Work and sure made us proud of a job well done. Here is a copy of the Review of Dawn's Solo Performance.Go Solo 2008Created and performed by the graduands of Toi Whakaari | NZ Drama SchoolDirected by Jade Eriksen, Annie Ruth and Sophie Robertsat Te Whaea - SEEyD Space, WellingtonFrom 21 Jul 2008 to 3 Aug 2008[1hr 20 minutes approx per group, no interval]Reviewed by Thomas LaHood, 28 Jul 2008 Group C begins with Dawn Cheong's OLIN, an impressively choreographed, Buto influenced visitation from an insectoid god. Cheong's emergence from the chrysalis is a powerful opener and her mesmerising movements are well supported by dramatic lighting states and elemental sound effects. For many of these young actors, this season is the first time they will present theatre that truly originates from them as an individual; for some it will also be the last. It is a tribute to the calibre of Toi Whakaari as an institution that in this season, as in last year's, we are able to see such diversity of thought and expression presented with such flair and confidence.For those who wants to know what is 'Butoh' you can watch a Youtube video of the origins of Butoh whose founder was Hijikata Tatsumi.http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=8o0S1OMVqOM Have you ever done this? It was one of my most embarrassing moments in my life. I was in a hurry to send someone off to the airport and we were running late, so in a hurry I slipped on a shoe and a slipper! I did not realise anything wrong until someone pointed it out to me and we all had a good laugh at my expense! This happened years ago at the Kuching Airport. It was good that my friend took a photo of this or else this fantastic moment is lost forever!Have you ever done something like this? Perhaps even more embarrassing! If so please share your most embarrassing moments with us and lets have a good laugh. I guess I will be taking time off blogging to watch the Beijing Olympics starting tomorrow! So going to miss you all and be back soon! Take care! English from UK I am sure many of you have had read about the "Chinglish" used by the Chinese or Singaporeans or even Malaysians! We did enjoyed a good laugh at the way we Asians use the English Language. Usually we find these from the various Signs used in public places or shops! These Signs written in that way projects Misleading Statements! Hey! even the Birtts do make a mess of their own language. Time for a good laugh again!In a restroom:TOILET OUT OF ORDER.PLEASE USE FLOOR BELOWIn a Laundromat:AUTOMATIC WASHING MACHINES:PLEASE REMOVE ALL YOUR CLOTHESWHEN THE LIGHT GOES OUTIn a London department store:BARGAIN BASEMENT UPSTAIRSIn an office:WOULD THE PERSON WHO TOOKTHE STEP LADDER YESTERDAYPLEASE BRING IT BACKOR FURTHER STEPS WILL BE TAKENIn another office:AFTER TEA BREAK,STAFF SHOULD EMPTY THE TEAPOTAND STAND UPSIDE DOWNON THE DRAINING BOARDOutside a secondhand shop:WE EXCHANGE ANYTHING -BICYCLES, WASHING MACHINES, ETC.WHY NOT BRING YOUR WIFE ALONGAND GET A WONDERFUL BARGAIN?Notice in health food shop window:CLOSED DUE TO ILLNESSSpotted in a safari park:ELEPHANTS PLEASE STAY IN YOUR CARSeen during a conference:FOR ANYONE WHO HAS CHILDRENAND DOESN'T KNOW IT,THERE IS A DAY CARE ON THE 1ST FLOORNotice in a farmer's field:THE FARMER ALLOWS WALKERSTO CROSS THE FIELD FOR FREE,BUT THE BULL CHARGES.Message on a leaflet:IF YOU CANNOT READ,THIS LEAFLET WILL TELL YOUHOW TO GET LESSONSOn a repair shop door:WE CAN REPAIR ANYTHING(PLEASE KNOCK HARD ON THE DOOR -THE BELL DOESN'T WORK) August Award I call this my August Award but actually this was granted to me by A Great Pleasure sometime in July! Thanks Jean for remembering me again and really appreciate your thoughtfullness. I guess the title of the Award explains it and it is appropriate for every blogger since we are in a community known as the Blogosphere!I am going to share this award with others listed below and although you may have received this Award, receiving it again only strengthens the community spirit among bloggers!Light House; A Total Blog; This is a Miracle; The Music Inside Me; Lifestyle & Travel; Kess; and The painted Veil! Extremeties Wordless Friday Know your Plastics When my mother took me for marketing when I was just a kid, I noticed the common usage of newspaper, brown paper wrappings for meat and vegetables, and they were tied with a long straw! Big leaves of some river plants were also used as wraps. Then around the 60’s Plastics entered our lives in Malaysia! We begin to see plastic bags, slippers, pails, containers, etc and hey! remember those Tupperware parties? Today, nearly every household item we see in our kitchen are made from Plastics! Take a look at the symbols below and do they look familiar? Yes, they are Markings at the bottom of our Plastic Drinking Bottles! Here is a list of these Markings from Number 1 to 7 and the type of Plastic to the applications they are meant for. I am sure many of you have heard of the danger of re-using plastic drinking bottles and if the Number is 5 and above it is safe! I found out that Plastic Bottles are just NOT SAFE to use from 1 to 7, and especially not for heating food or drinks in Microwave Ovens. It seems that a substance call Dioxin would be released into our food and Dioxins are cancer causing substances! Number 7 contains a very dangerous substance call Bisphenol A! Apart from Plastic Bottles, we have the same problem with Plastic Food Wraps which is especially bad if we microwave our food with these wraps on! Given below is a link to a video on the health hazards of using Plastic Drinking Bottles. http://video.wnbc.com/player/?id=238518 If you want more information, visit the sites below and get all the facts about the danger of these plastic bottles! Now we have the Green Movement to save our environment in connection with the usage of plastics and also we have the health hazards involved. A good lesson to learn. http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Microwave-Health-Problems.htm http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/waste/guide_ref/guide_plascod3.html http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl-microwave-dioxin.htm Master Bedroom The Master Bedroom is something of a master-piece of any new homes. Of late my nephew got married and we were impressed by the layout and design of his Master Bedroom. My nephew is a geek and works in an IT company and so is his new wife!They wanted an ultra-modern Master Bedroom equipped with Modern Furniture and their King-size bed is very unique something popularly known as 'platform beds'. The other pieces of furnishings such as bedside tables, dressing tables and wardrobes are all tailor made to match. Impressive is all that I can say. He even has a little work corner built inside the bedroom! The bedroom is big enough to have an ensuite wardrobe leading to the bathroom! Would you wear them? Take a look at the above shoes! those were the type of shoes that most men, including me wore! They were called Platform Shoes which was the style of the early 70's and are designed specially for men who want to be a little taller, like me at 5ft. 6ins. I needed another 3 ins. added to my height! what more during that time I was studying in the UK! Even the ladies stood taller than me! Arrgh! I would bear the aches and pain wearing them shoes for hours for the sake of 'image'? How foolish we can be when we were young!How about for the ladies? I guess High Heels never goes out of fashion be it an issue of height or elegance! For your sake, ladies I want to share some important information and what I have learned about High Heels and how damaging they are to your posture and feet health in the long run! I guess the following series of Photos are pretty self-explanatory!I guess the above is sufficient and ladies, don't say you are not fore-warned! I guess for the sake of beauty, you will continue to wear them High Heels! :) Natural Health Perhaps now you'll understand why some other fellow bloggers call this a 'Rojak Blog'! :) Maybe I start a Niche under the classification of 'Rojak' or in English 'Mixed Blog'! Haha! We use this space to share our life experiences and so can call it a Personal Blog or Rantings or Musings etc. So if you find all sorts of topics on our blog it should not surprise you, friends, for in life, we experience all sorts of things! Health concerns is just one of them and today I shall share something on this and is called Natural Health!What inspired this post comes from a comment from someone rather well known or should I say re-known in the world of natural health! Heard of Dr. Joseph Mercola? Yes the famous Dr. Mercola and his website is all about Natural Health or Alternative Medicine! He commented on my post Alternative Medicine For Cancer Treatment!Boy! was I surprised and honoured to have Dr. Mercola giving his comments here! I must mentioned a word of thanks to Nurture Your Life for the linking! I guess in the wake of so many failures coming from our modern medical treatment of cancer via chemotherapy and radiotherapy and the dismal results given, no wonder people are turning to other alternative treatments! I think we need more doctors like Joseph Mercola, Bob Koh etc to research more into alternative medicine to find the cure for some of our terminal diseases like Cancer, HIV etc. Kudos to these two men and keep up the good work! Know Your Fruits A few days ago I posted something on eating the 'Pangas' and the health hazards involved. Today received a rather enlightening email from a friend on Fruits! I am sure many of you folks do eat fruits and of course your source of supply is either from the Hyper-marts like Tesco or Giant etc or perhaps from the local fruit sellers that we find by the road side.As for me I never bother to check on the 'Stickers' on the fruits! Apparantly they tell a story and it is good to know what the numbers on these stickers mean. Take a look at the apple with a sticker on it. Noticed the numbers on the sticker? It reads '94017'.All that is important is the first digit and in this case is '9' and what it means :-9XXXX are fruits grown Organically or Organic Fruit Labels. These are safe to eat.4XXXX are called Conventional Fruits Label. Grown with conventional means of herbicides and insecticides sprayed on them.8XXXX are GMF Label i.e. Genetically Modified Fruits. Be careful of these!!!!The colours given to the first digit is my doing and not really shown that way on the sticker! Also not all numbers are 4 digits for some have 5 digits but its the first digit that we have to watch out for.I am not sure are there any other numbers used in the Labelling System but thats about all that I have learned. I did a searched on GMF and the article I read is full of warning about taking such fruits. Rather than reproducing the article, which is quite lengthy, you can read it HERE!Now, I am sure some of you might have asked 'what about those without stickers' God Knows what type they are then! Perhaps removed for a reason! LOL! Hope that this post is useful and helpful! Cheers! Numbers What comes to your mind when you read the word 'Numbers'! Firstly to me its one of the first 5 Books in the Old Testament, also in the Jewish Torah! Lately it is a Detective Series shown on Astro! Numbers has great significance in our world. Literally everything is classified by a series of numbers, from products to human beings ( IC No. or Passport No.). also this leads into a complex issue such as Mark of the beast as mentioned in the Bible! Well, thats not what I really want to share on.Well, to the Chinese, Numbers has great significance! Look at all the expensive cars locally, they all have 'nice numbers' to the Chinese I mean, for to the other races they don't mean a thing! I used to have a h/p No. which was the envy of my friends! It was "8881688"! This year the Olympics is going to be hosted in Beijing and opens on 8th August 2008 or "888"! Eight is a number which sounds like the word Prosperity in Chinese or Cantonese. It is rather unusual and I guess many Chinese think it is auspicious to have it on that day with the significance of "888"!Well on a personal scale we got a rather unique appointment date with the hospital too! Rock's routine check-up is going to be on 8th August 2008 at 8 am! so it is "8888"! Wow! Enough of that for now I want to give some numbers to a buddy East Coast Life who is in the running for the Most Entertaining Blog in Singapore! hey friends, do give her your vote will you? Beside being a buddy she really writes a very interesting as well as entertaining blog! I admire her courage and boldness to take on the Singapore Civil Services single-handed! A lot of fire in this lady! Ok click this Link if you want to give her your support! It is the last 10 days or so and you can cast your vote once a day! By the way you need to register to vote! Remember just your vote makes a difference! Look at our last Election Results! :)http://sgblogawards.omy.sg/vote/?blogCat=entertain&blogId=entertain04 Once Upon A Time in Foch Avenue Foch Avenue! I wonder what it is called today. It used to be our favourite meeting place! I remembered every Saturday after work (those were the days when we were working half-day on Saturdays) Rock used to meet me for lunch! Ah! those sweet, memorable and exciting dating days in the late 60's! Hey it was cheap then compared to today's standard! It costs us only RM $4.00 for two including drinks! I was a cheapie then because she earned more than me! My salary was RM $640.00 under the Suffian Scheme for Government employees!We used to have lunch at her favourite 'Mee Yoke' or 'Prawn Noodles' stall at this particular coffee shop 'Lai Foong'. Just a few weeks back, I took Jay there to show him where his mom and I used to meet for lunch! Well, the 'Mee Yoke' stall is no longer there but during that time it was the best in town! Heard from rock that the owner of that stall donated it to Genting Casino for keeps! Do you show your children the places where you dated? For me its a nostalgic journey back to when we were young and foolish!The name of the coffee shop or 'kopi tiam' commonly called locally, bears the same name, looks very much the same except the surrounding structures have changed quite a bit. There was a Goldsmith Shop, Nam Yick which belongs to my uncle just across the road but today it has moved elsewhere. I went there once a month to borrow money from my uncle to survive for 3 months just when I first started working and we don't get our salary until the 3 months probation is over and we received a whole lump sum! How in the world did the Government expect us to survive for 3 months without pay??? Talking about kind, sympathetic Government! Thank God for rich uncles!With that salary, I could afford to pay rental for a shared room with another friend, pay my car installments, give my parents RM $150 per month and the rest just squandered away dating girlfriends!!! Today, a person with an income of RM $3000.00 could hardly survive!!!! No wonder we call the period then "The Good Old Days". Our Philosophy of living was simple, study, work, get married, have children and then we do not know what else to do!!!! No ambition of climbing Mt. Everest! Aaah! once upon a time when I did not have a need for dentures and V......?! A Note of Thanks As I get older, my memory is getting worst. I guess this is quite normal for most people, although I have read somewhere that this is not necessary so. Some says try taking Gingko etc. One thing for certain is no one can fight ageing! Yes you may delay it a bit longer but it will come eventually.For the reason of being forgetful, there are a few Awards given to me by A Great Pleasure sometime back which I forgotten to display! Jean is such a lovely kind soul who never fail to remember me! Haha! Thanks Jean for the Awards and forgive me for being forgetful! I received similar Awards last year but its good to receive them again, after all who remembers what was given a year ago! It is also a gentle reminder how other fellow bloggers perceive you as! Its a nice warm feeling! Once again thank-you so much dear Jean! Eating Fresh Water Fish I am a fish person and I love all types of fishes, fresh water as well as sea and deep sea fishes. A fellow blogger Wan Noorizan hosts a health blog and she posted an article on eating fish as an important part of diet programs. River fish is not as clean as deep sea fishes simply because of the pollution going into our ponds and rivers! Many of these river fishes, pond fishes or fresh water fishes contain harmful chemicals in their flesh whereby we ourselves would be contaminated, poisoned by eating them.Years ago while we were still in Kuching, Sarawak we were told of this local guy who loves 'Raw Fish' so much so that he literally eat it daily! Years later, he discovered worm like creatures crawling underneath his skin! Apparantrly these worms got into his body system through raw fish! Scary! How would you like to see these worms crawling underneath your skin? Creepy!Have you heard of the Pangas? Well it is actually a type of Cat-fish from the Mekong Delta in Vietnam popularly known as Pangasius, Tra, Basa. I think in Malaysia we have them too but not sure whether they are of the same kind. The Pangas become very popular not only in Vietnam but also in France and even UK!However according to certain reports; the Pangas breed in ponds contain industrial effluents, arsenic, and toxic and hazardous by-products of the growing industrial sector, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), DDT and its metabolites (DDTs), metal contaminants, chlordane-related compounds (CHLs), hexachlorocyclohexane isomers (HCHs), and hexachlorobenzene (HCB).Here are some photos of the commercially packed Pangas sold in Germany.Here is the Link where you can read all the details why you should not take Pangas. Below are more photos of Pangas being sold or harvested and prepared for packaging for export.I guess you have to check these information out and decide for yourselves whether to eat or not to eat such Pangas. I am not sure our local breeds are as poisonous??? Man with A Vision Where do I start sharing about this brother-in-Christ as well as a good friend of mine. I know Kian to be a man with a Vision and that is to Glorify God in his life. Lately he started a blog about Art! He also runs a sort of Art Center or Art Exhibiton Hall. If it is just to exhibit Art then there is nothing much for me to shout about. However, Bless his kind heart, he has this burden for kids roaming our city Kuala Lumpur and for certain reasons are not attending school or feel loved.He is going to host a Christian Art Exhibition on 19th July, God's Creation & Worship. The proceeds from the sale of the Art pieces on display will be going into a 'Help KL Kids Fund.' So friends, if you are free on that day why not hop over and explore the many talents of some local regional artists hailing from Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia etc. For more information about Kian and his Art Exhibition visit his blog. Kian also has a website that focusing on Art Tourism! Quite a unique type of tours and drop by there to see what is it about. Thanks! Our Post of The Year This is one Award that is so meaningful, Perfect Blend of Friendship from my blog buddy Marzie. It means a lot to me simply because it describes our friendship so appropriately. Thank-you Marzie you are the Best!Once I overheard this at a birthday party where the birthday gal said to this guy who gave her a present; "I rather you give me nothing than to simply buy something expensive for me as a gift without your heart in it" I thought, Wow! This person values the friendship highly and she look at gifts that comes from the heart or at least with a thought behind it.To me this gift from Marzie is like that, something from her heart and thats why I value this so much! In the same sentiment we will share this with the following blog buddies, meaning every word of it from our hearts! Thank-you so much for being our friends and we cherish you all deeply! It does not matter you visit often or not; commented or not but each and every visit you made means you care about us! Reading your posts did leave something within our hearts that is lasting, that connects us and bless us! May God Bless all your hearts and continue to be a friend to the many lonely people in our world!Oh! we understand that some of you, do not display such things or do Memes, and its alright for its the thought that counts and just to say we appreciate your friendship!mariuca; kess; doris; emma; franco; trinity; sthoo; tricia; vivienne; kuanhoong; emila; jean; rainbow; michelle; judy chow; shinade; hfchang; vasge; miche; nafasg; speedy; j@nice; bobby; desiree; joy; keeyit; waterlearner; stephanie; bobo; jessytai; mydailyblog; wahseh; zooroopazoo; colleen; marcia; davidbong; lady java; pinay jade; kevin; eddiejohn; cben12; flsam; zubli; britanny; ecl; mychan; jenny how; irene law; bubba; light house; clonic; xilly; jdriot; whoisbaby; babyfiona; momibee; lilyruth; endo; eastmeetwest; cookingmomster; belajarseo; Alternative Medicine for Cancer Treatment For about a year now since I was invited to co-blog at Nurture Your Own, from a good friend Vivienne. One satisfaction I derive from co-blogging there is to hear from Vivienne about the number of visitors to some of my posts there on Stroke. It gives me a sense of being 'helpful' by providing some real life experience in caregiving and whatever I learnt about Stroke and Stroke Rehab.Lately I come to know another fellow co-blogger there who had a great testimony on how he recovered from his terminal cancer. He is Dr. Bob Koh and you can read his story 'Doctor Who Cheated Death!'. We need people like Bob who continues to use his knowledge through his own struggles overcoming Cancer to help others now. He travels around to Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia offering his services.I know many of you folks must have heard of Alternative Medicine in the treatment of Cancer and other diseases and illnesses. I guess there is no harm trying this treatment if conventional invasive treatment like Chemotherapy, Radio Therapy do not help. Bob shared quite a number of his successes in the past. As a non-medical person I know very little about such things let alone Alternative Medicine but I am impressed by Bob's results and nothing speaks more than results. Perhaps it gives someone a ray of hope!