Easy come, easy go

Was busy slogging for my exam one evening when I happened to glance outside at my garden... What's that I see on the leaf of my plant? Oh it's just a cute little worm... but wait!!! Why are all the leaves full of holes and where are all my flowers???!!!!

Chomp chomp chomp....

*Steps outside* and.... AAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!! Where did these monsters come from??? Why are they destroying my garden???

*Grabs a pair of chopsticks*
Take that! You savage beast! Yeeuurrrgghhh...!!! *green slime spurts everywhere*
That'll teach you to mess with my plants!

Catterpillars big and small


Little do they know their fate...

By the time I was done, I must have collected at least 30 of the slimy things in my FOS plastic bag together with some snails and milipedes of some sort. The love I have for my plants must be damned strong for the squeamishness only set in about 10 minutes after I knotted & dumped the bag into the bin. Had goosebumps for an hour afterwards and kept thinking that I would be woken up by nightmares of a giant catterpillar coming to avenge the murder of its relatives.

Most of the flowering plants were devoured to almost nothing by the catterpillars (they practically ate at lightning speed) but some have started flowering again, thank God. However, the blooms are nowhere as lush as before and there are few colours to be seen. And that's the story of the near death encounter of my instant garden.

Menstrual cups now in Malaysia!

To all my girlfriends, I urge you to check out Femchoices.

You can purchase the Mooncup at their online store. Am getting one myself and can't wait to use it!

Dei, a workweek starts on Tuesdays la...

This is a collection of leave letters and applications written by people in various places of India ...

1. Infosys, Bangalore: An employee applied for leave as follows:

"Since I have to go to my village to sell my land along with my wife, please sanction me one-week leave."

2. This is from Oracle Bangalore: >From an employee who was performing the "mundan" ceremony of his 10 year old son:

"as I want to shave my son's head, please leave me for two days.."

3. Another gem from CDAC. Leave-letter from an employee who was performing his daughter's wedding:

"as I am marrying my daughter, please grant a week's leave.."

4. From H.A.L. Administration dept:
"As my mother-in-law has expired and I am only one responsible for it, please grant me 10 days leave."

5. Another employee applied for half day leave as follows:
"Since I've to go to the cremation ground at 10 o'clock and I may not return, please grant me half day casual leave"

6. An incident of a leave letter

"I am suffering from fever, please declare one day holiday."

7. A leave letter to the headmaster:

"As I am studying in this school I am suffering from headache. I request you to leave me today"

8. Another leave letter written to the headmaster:

"As my headache is paining, please grant me leave for the day."

9. Covering note:

"I am enclosed herewith..."

10. Another one:

"Dear Sir: with reference to the above, please refer to my below..."

11. Actual letter written for application of leave:

"My wife is suffering from sickness and as I am her only husband at home I may be granted leave".

12. Letter writing: -

"I am in well here and hope you are also in the same well."

13. A candidate's job application:

"This has reference to your advertisement calling for a ' Typist and an Accountant - Male or Female'... As I am both(!! )for the past several years and I can handle both with good experience, I am applying for the post"

In life, 2 things are certain... death and taxes

"A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well."
Author unknown

My exams are finally over and I can now breathe easily again.... but of all that I read, the above quote was the most memorable (the rest has probably gone to cold storage in my memory bank, never to be withdrawn again). So much for supposedly being a financial planning expert by now...

I have my life back and hubby, on the other hand, has his wife back. The moment I got into the car (the sweetie took me to the exam hall both days and waited till I was done), he turned his back to me and said "Quick! Take off the straight jacket that I've been wearing for 2 weeks!". Well, I must admit, he's done a lot more than just cook dinner for me during that time.

I insisted on studying in the living room since our study room furniture has not arrived and so I banned him from watching telly or listening to anything remotely sing-able (lest I break into song and forgot what I was reading, not that I didn't have to re-read the same line 10 times before anything went into my thick skull). The poor dear has not had any decent form of entertainment for quite a while, except for Malaysia's Most Beautiful which we watched together last Thursday. What? Me miss that? And give up my chance of bitching for a full hour? No way!

Looks like the telly and cinema will have to wait till next year though 'coz we've got plenty of stuff lined up for this week till Dec 31st. That said, hope this won't be my last blog for the year.

Fantastic Translation

Image a little blur so I'll retype:-

Fuck the pot, bao zai, water to boil the type

Fuck a fish head

Pot zhai double dong belly

Fuck a spring chicken

Fuck a cuttlefish zhai

ba yu sour pickled cabbage fish

Fuck a bullfrog

Fuck a la meat tea tree the gu

The water boils ridge slice

The water boils the shan slice

Beef powder silk bao

Fragrant eggplant bao of fish

Plank li bao zhi chicken

The rabbit fucks the pot

Only in China....

Greetings from a Scrooge

Just spent RM33.70 mailing out my Christmas cards for this year.

On my way back from the post office, figured that with such cheap global calling rates these days, I could have probably called all the people I sent cards out to and wished them and probably still have change for an Indian vegetarian dinner at Saravana Bhavan. And to add salt to the wound, the recipients of my phone call would probably have remembered the nice gesture more than they will the mediocre greeting card that would grace their mantelpiece (or refrigerators or maybe not at all) for 2 weeks before ending up in the bin once 2006 rolls in.

Now for me to save this in memory and not go weak-kneed again next year when I see those youngsters selling X'mas cards for charity. There are, after all, more ways than one to give.

'Tis the season to be jolly......

Husband & wife takes - part 2

Selective hearing

There is always, always, always something to be thankful for

Thank You
By Oprah Winfrey

I live in the space of thankfulness - and I have been rewarded a million times over for it. I started out giving thanks for small things, and the more thankful I became, the more my bounty increased.

That's because what you focus on expands, and when you focus on the goodness in your life, you create more of it. Opportunities, relationships, even money flowed my way when I learned to be grateful no matter what happened in my life.

"Say thank you!"

Those words from my friend and mentor Maya Angelou turned my life around.

One day about ten years ago, I was sitting in my bathroom with the door closed and the toilet lid down, booing and a-hooing on the phone so uncontrollably that I was incoherent.

"Stop it! Stop it right now and say thank you!" Maya chided.

"But - you don't understand," I sobbed.

To this day, I can't remember what it was that had me so far gone, which only proves the point Maya was trying to make.

"I do understand," she told me. "I want to hear you say it now. Out loud. 'Thank you.'"

Tentatively, I repeated it: "Thank you - but what am I saying thank you for?"

"You're saying thank you," Maya said, "because your faith is so strong that you don't doubt that whatever the problem, you'll get through it.

You're saying thank you because you know that even in the eye of the storm, God has put a rainbow in the clouds. You're saying thank you because you know there's no problem created that can compare to the Creator of all things. Say thank you!"

So I did - and still do. Only now I do it every day. I kept a gratitude journal, as Sarah Ban Breathnach suggests in Simple Abundance, listing at least five things that I'm grateful for. My list includes small pleasures: the feel of Kentucky bluegrass under my feet (like damp silk); a walk in the woods with all nine of my dogs and my cocker spaniel Sophie trying to keep up; cooking fried green tomatoes with Stedman and eating them while they're hot; reading a good book and knowing another waits.

My thank-you list also includes things too important to take for granted: an "okay" mammogram, friends who love me, 15 years at the same job (and loving it more than the first day I started), a chance to share my vision for a better life, staying centered, having financial security.

I won't kid you, having money for all the things I want is a blessing. But as I look back over my journals, which I've kept since I was 15 years old, 99 percent of what brought me real joy had nothing to do with money. (It had a lot to do with food, however.)

It's not easy being grateful all the time. But it's when you feel least thankful that you are most in need of what gratitude can give you: PERSPECTIVE. Just knowing you have that daily list to complete allows you to look at your day differently, with an awareness of every sweet gesture and kind thought passed your way.

When you learn to say thank you, you see the world anew. And as Meister Eckhart so eloquently stated: "If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is 'Thank you God', that would suffice."

Have a very BLESSED day!

Towering wheels

A Volkswagen Polo is loaded in the car towers of the VW Autostadt in Wolfsburg, northern Germany on Wednesday. The Autostadt, situated next to VW's headquarters, is the company's theme park, and distribution centre where daily 5,500 visitors view Volkswagen brands like Bentley, Audi, Lamborghini.

I wanna go!!!

Man & wife takes - part 1

A couple drove down a country road for several miles, not saying a word. An earlier discussion had led to an argument and neither of them wanted to concede their position. As they passed a barnyard of mules, goats, and pigs, the husband asked sarcastically, "Relatives of yours?"
"Yep," the wife replied, "in-laws."

Hiatus

Solly. I not got time to blog. Have to study for exams. Exams coming in 2 weeks' time. I scared scared! I wish I didn't do this to myself. Wish me luck!

It's my birthday!

A letter from Jesus

As you well know, we are getting closer to my birthday. Every year there
is a celebration in my honor and I think that this year the celebration will
be repeated.

During this time there are many people shopping for gifts, there are many
radio announcements, TV commercials, and in every part of the world
everyone is talking that my birthday is getting closer and closer.

It is really very nice to know, that at least once a year, some people
think of me.

As you know, the celebration of my birthday began many years ago.

At first people seemed to understand and be thankful of all
that I did for them, but in these times, no one seems to know the reason
for the celebration.

Family and friends get together and have a lot of fun, but they don't
know the meaning of the celebration. I remember that last year there was
a great feast in my honor. The dinner table was full of delicious foods,
pastries, fruits, assorted nuts and chocolates. The decorations were
exquisite and there were many, many beautifully wrapped gifts.

But, do you want to know something? I wasn't invited.

I was the guest of honor and they didn't remember to send me an
invitation.

The party was for me, but when that great day came, I was left outside,
they closed the door in my face .. and I wanted to be with them and share
their table.

In truth, that didn't surprise me because in the last few years all closed
their doors to me. Since I wasn't invited, I decided to enter the party
without making any noise.

I went in and stood in a corner.

They were all drinking; there were some who were drunk and telling jokes
and laughing at everything. They were having a grand time.

To top it all, this big fat man all dressed in red wearing a long white
beard entered the room yelling Ho-Ho-Ho! He seemed drunk. He sat on the
sofa and all the children ran to him, saying: "Santa Claus, Santa Claus"
as if the party were in his honor!

At midnight all the people began to hug each other; I extended my arms
waiting for someone to hug me and do you know no-one hugged me.

Suddenly they all began to share gifts. They opened them one by one with
great expectation. When all had been opened, I looked to see if, maybe,
there was one for me. What would you feel if on your birthday everybody
shared gifts and you did not get one?

I then understood that I was unwanted at that party and quietly left.

Every year it gets worse. People only remember the gifts, the parties, to
eat and drink, and nobody remembers me.

I would like this Christmas that you allow me to enter into your life.

I would like that you recognize the fact that almost two thousand years
ago I came to this world to give my life for you, on the cross, to save you.

Today, I only want that you believe this with all your heart.

I want to share something with you. As many didn't invite me to their
party, I will have my own celebration, a grandiose party that no one has ever
imagined, a spectacular party. I'm still making the final arrangements..

Today I am sending out many invitations and there is an invitation for
you. I want to know if you wish to attend and I will make a reservation for
you and write your name with golden letters in my great guest book.

Only those on the guest list will be invited to the party. Those who don't
answer the invite, will be left outside.

Be prepared because when all is ready you will be part of my great party.

See you soon. I Love you!

Jesus