Too Busy & Too Lazy To Learn The Truth?

I'd been too busy as well as lazy in my postings here ... *tsk, tsk* Slack!

However we all should not be too busy or lazy to check out the truth and facts about Cancer. So I highly recommend that you watch these (6) videos with an open mind as your own life and the lives of your love ones are at stake.

How to cut boredom.

Hi all,

I was wt my fmly in Songkhla (Thailand) recently fr a much-deserved break frm the hustle n bustle of KL life. Beside the good n reasonably cheap seafoods, v managed some time to tour the museum fr a bit of intellectual exercise while the gourmet dishes slowly made d way into our digestive system.

Guess what I found. Here u c two shots showing a rather creative, exotic (or perhaps erotic) way of overcoming the mundane chore of scrapping coconuts!

The rest? U may let ur imagination run wild. Hehehe.

Best rgds,

Ricky

SELAMAT HARI RAYA 2007

Hi there!

After a whole mth of testing their faith n inner strength to comply wt the rules of Ramadhan by our Muslim frens, it's now a fitting time to take tis opportunity to wish them "SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI. MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN".
Enjoy the break n value the time spent wt ur families, n remember to drive safely.

Cheers,

Ricky Ng

Since, the post has been a little quiet, I thought I'll just share this pic.

That's Kuching!! I thought it looks quite nice from the plane & took a quick snap of it. Of course it is not professional but I like it anyway.

I always love the meandering river. Not sure whether the little mount is Santubong or Matang.

Have you seen the movie "Evan Almighty"? It's hilarious..and a good tonic for de-stressing! LOL

THE WOODPECKER MIGHT HAVE TO GO!

Everything I need to know about life, I learned from Noah's Ark... One: Don't miss the boat. Two: Remember that we are all in the same boat. Three: Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark. Four: Stay fit. When you're 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big. Five: Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done. Six: Build your future on high ground. Seven: For safety's sake, travel in pairs. Eight: Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs. Nine: When you're stressed, float a while. Ten: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals. Eleven: No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a rainbow waiting. NOW, wasn't that nice?

Sarawak Club

f2ho, why didn't you post photos of the new rebuilt Sarawak Club for the exiles?

Raymond Crowe - A Wonderful World

Remember back in the sweet old days when we were still little kids in Kuching - when we had little for entertainment (no Televsion then remember?) and we used to entertain ourselves with shadow plays using our torch light? No?

Anyway here's a shadow play that I came across which is simply amazing! Enjoy this my busy dear old friends ...

Hey there Delilah

You know those times when you have a tune/song that you can't get out of your head? Well one is currently doing that to me..

The children who survived the 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's and 1980!!

A friend forwarded this to me, so have a read fellow 'toughies'


First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese and things like tuna from a tin, etc., and didn't get tested for diabetes.

After that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in cots coloured lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the ‘risks’ we later took hitchhiking.

As infants &children, we rode in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.

Riding in car’s dickie seat on a warm day was always enjoyable.

We drank water from the garden hose, and not pre bottled.

We and our friends shared and drank from the same soft drinks bottle and nobody actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank drinks made with sugar but we weren't overweight because,

WE WERE ALWAYS OUT DOORS PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day as long as we were back home before dark.

No one was able to reach us all day and we were all right.

We would spend hours building our trolleys out of soap boxes and old perambulator wheels and then ride down hills, only to find out that we’d forgotten to fit it with brakes.

After running into thorn bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have play stations, Nintendo's , X-boxes or video games .

No 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computer! s, no Internet or chat rooms.......

WE HAD FRIENDS because we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given cap guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not poke out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

We organized football games and not everyone could be in the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! < BR>
These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all!

If YOU are one of them, congratulations!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as free spirits, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives ‘for our own good’.



While you are at it, forward it to your children so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.


Well !

Relax ,Take It Easy

This guy(Mika) seems so gay to me but he has such a nice catchy song with a fantastic music video to boot!

So Relax, take it easy on Merdeka Day and enjoy the video!

Anthony meets long lost friends

Anthony visited Singapore last week. He sent an email about his visit and we only got connected by mobile on Thursday. He had 2 more evenings in Spore & we quickly arranged a little get together on Friday. Anthony has a prior appointment for Saturday. Deb managed to get long lost friend Will, who is very busy with his new job & very luckily was back in Singapore that week. Edward & Rita could not join us that evening but Edward met Anthony & his family on Saturday.

Anthony escorted his wife & children to the Night Safari & left them there to venture on their own. He must meet up these 2 friends whom he has not seen for years - since leaving St Thomas in 1975, he claimed! He had to endured 2 hours of standing in the MRT before he met up with us. It's the peak hours of course so, MRT is pack!! But its a trip he will not miss.

Dr Philip Bong's Father 81st Birthday Dinner Celebration

Big birthday cake for the big birthday celebration!

Birthday boy, Mr Bong Kim Chong flanked by Adeline and Dr Philip Bong

Dr Philip Bong and siblings celebrated their father's 81st birthday on the 12th August 2007, Sunday night with a big dinner celebration with songs and dances.

A toast for life, health and longevity

I was kindly invited by Philip and was on the same table as a few of his doctor friends, Dorothy (wife of Bernard Loh Foh Min) and Lim Lian Kee, his wife and daughter.

All the "Bongs" on stage

Donations to various charities and organisations

It was a very nice dinner with lots of delicious chinese food and drinks. Birthday boy, Mr Bong Kim Chong with so many children - all 14 of them (!); lots of guests were invited and the only venue big enough to accommodate them all was a Church hall (Christian Ecumenical Worship Centre) ! I am lazy to write more as I am nursing a slight flu and cough and the weather of late in Kuching has been very very HOT - so here are the pictures! And here's wishing that all of us will celebrate our 81st birthday in the future! What an accomplishment! Be well.

Dr Philip Bong and lovely wife Adeline

Occupying the entire hall of the Christian Ecumenical Worship Centre

I Am Here!

Change is the only constant and moving with the flow of things, you can update yourself with the status of yours truly here where I had taken up this new challenge since mid March this year.

Although I would very much have preferred that they'd use this photo instead. Cheers!

18 August 2007
NOTE: I inserted the 'wrong' picture actually. I meant this one below!

Shit Happens (but life must go on)

Gleneagles Intan Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur

AL is my childhood friend and though he has worked in Kuching most of his life, I had worked in a number of countries which had kept us apart, but somehow we had always kept in touch with all the changes that has taken part in both our lives and sharing our aspirations, dreams and heartaches over the past 5 decades.

We are both quite different, personality wise and the years apart had accentuated our differences in religious persuasions, interests and other pursuits but despite this, our friendship had stood the test of time and we had remained good and sincere friends.

And so I was quite distressed to learn that he was recently involved in a horrific bus accident in Iran while on the way to the airport last month. He was part of a consortium doing some projects there. Emergency surgeries were preformed there to stabilize his condition before he was evacuated for further medical attention at Gleneagles Intan Medical Center in KL where he received further surgery to his left arm. To put it mildly he was pretty much smashed up with broken thigh bones, arms, jaw and about half of his teeth had also been knocked off. He was lucky to be alive.

I flew to KL to see him and to see how I can help. He was so glad to see me and I have to hold back my tears to see him like this. His wife has to fight back her tears too when she recapped her traumatic experience of the past over 2 weeks of learning about the accident, her flight there with their eldest son (who flew back from Perth) to bring AL back. She was grateful for the help of her church friends and that though AL had previously bought travel and medical insurances it was just recently that he had upgraded it to include travel to Iran. It was God's grace she said.

He has only just been able to take solid food in the past 2 days and receiving daily physiotherapy. Luckily the worst is now over and AL is in good spirits and firmly focused on his recovery which understandably considering the injuries, would take a while.

AL thought that the visitors must be pulling his legs when they told him that you get a wonderful view of KL skyline from the window - and so I took this photo to show him.

Yeah, shit happens; but life must go on. You all take care you hear.

The Petronas Twin Towers from the room where AL is warded.

NOTE: I do not want to identify AL at the request of his wife as AL being the youngest and favourite in the family does not want his ailing mother to know of his condition as her health is quite frail and she might not be able to handle the shock of learning this. AL will let her know when he has recovered enough to be able to let her know himself. I trust my friends who is able to identify AL from my post would do the decent thing and respect their wishes.

Baobab Tree

Saw a photo in the newspaper yesterday which prompted me to do a search on the Baobab tree, usually found in the African Savannah. Here's a photo of it, which I found on the web




It's also known as the upside down tree, the Tree of Life and the Monkey Bread Tree. This tree is leafless for 9 months of the year. Other than providing shelter, this is a tree where nothing is wasted. The bark is used to make baskets, mats, cloth and paper. The flowers last for only 24 hours, and when dropped provide food for animals. The fruits and leaves are also eaten, and the seeds can be made into a coffee like drink.

Apart from wikipedia, this site has a few interesting things about it.

This African legend is one of the few about the Baobab (extracted from The Times):
'When the baobab tree saw the palm tree, it wanted to be taller. When it saw the flame tree, it was envious for blossoms. When it saw the fig tree, it prayed for fruit. So the gods became angry, pulled it up by its roots, then replanted it upside down to keep it quiet.'

Now those of you who live in or near or are going to Penang, might be interested to know that there is or was a baobab tree which has/had been there for over a century at the Macalister Road - Residency Road roundabout. More information about this Penang oldie can be found here. Does anyone know whether this tree is still there?

Too Busy!

This is for those of you who are "too busy" .... *sigh*

Too busy to even share something with us - even once in a blue moon?
Evening skies 24 July 2007, Kuching

One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of the other
students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between
each name.

Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about
each of their classmates and write it down.

It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment,
and as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers.

That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a
separate sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about
that individual ...

On Monday she gave each student his or her list.

Before long, the entire class was smiling.. "Really?"
she heard whispered. "I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!"
and, "I didn't know others liked me so much," were most of the
comments ...

No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if
they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn't
matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were
happy with themselves and one another. That group of students moved
on.

Several years later, one of the students was killed in Viet Nam and
his teacher attended the funeral of that special student. She had
never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. He looked so
handsome, so mature.

The church was packed with his friends. One by one those who loved
him took a last walk by the coffin.
The teacher was the last one to bless the coffin.

As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came
up to her. "Were you Mark's math teacher?" he asked. She nodded:
"yes." Then he said:
"Mark talked about you a lot."

After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates went together to
a luncheon. Mark's mother and father were there, obviously waiting to
speak with his teacher.

"We want to show you something," his father said, taking a wallet out
of his pocket.. "They found this on Mark when he was killed. We
thought you might recognize it."

Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of
notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded
many times.. The teacher knew without looking that the papers were
the ones on which she had listed all the good things each of Mark's
classmates had said about him.

"Thank you so much for doing that," Mark's mother said. "As you can
see, Mark treasured it."

All of Mark's former classmates started to gather around. Charlie
smiled rather sheepishly and said, "I still have my list. It's in the
top drawer of my desk at home."

Chuck's wife said, "Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album."

"I have mine too," Marilyn said. "It's in my diary."

Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out
her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. "I
carry this with me at all times," Vicki said and without batting an
eyelash, she continued: "I think we all saved our lists."

That's when the teacher finally sat down and cried.
She cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him
again..

The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life
will end one day. And we don't know when that one day will be.

So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they are
special and important. Tell them, before it is too late. Start with
your family.

And One Way To Accomplish This Is: Forward this message on. If you do
not send it, you will have, once again passed up the wonderful
opportunity to do something nice and beautiful.

If you've received this, it is because someone cares for you and it
means there is probably at least someone for whom you care.

If you're "too busy" to take those few minutes right now to forward
this message on, would this be the VERY first time you didn't do that
little thing that would make a difference in your relationships?

The more people that you send this to, the better you'll be at
reaching out to those you care about.

May Your Day Be Blessed As Special As You Are.

Tequila and Salt

Since it is SO QUIET here, I think I'd better post something here - I got this in the email from Pang Kia Siew and sharing it with you folks here (the above photo is from me) ... Cheers!

Tequila and Salt

This should probably be taped
to your bathroom mirror
where one could read it every day.

You may not realize it,
but it's 100% true.

1. There are at least two people in this world
that you would die for.
2. At least 15 people in this world
love you in some way.
3. The only reason anyone would ever hate you
is because they want to
be just like you.
4. A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone,
even if they don't
like you.
5. Every night,
SOMEONE thinks about you
before they go to sleep.
6. You mean the world to someone.
7. You are special and unique.
8. Some one that you don't even know exists loves you.
9. When you make the biggest mistake ever,
something good comes from it.
10 When you think the world
has turned its back on you
take another look.

11 Always remember the compliments you received.
Forget about the rude remarks.

So.........
If you are a loving friend,
send this to everyone,
including the one that sent it to you.
If you get it back, then they really do love you.

And always remember....
when life hands you Lemons,
ask for Tequila and Salt and call me over!

Good friends are like stars........
You don't always see them,
But you know they are always there.

"Whenever God Closes One Door He Always Opens Another, Even Though Sometimes It's Hell in the Hallway"

I would rather have one rose and a kind word
from a friend while I'm here than a whole truck load when I'm gone.

Forward to all your friends.
and don't tell me you're too busy for this..
Don't you know the phrase
"stop and smell the flowers"?
See how many "bouquets" you end up with!

Happiness keeps You Sweet,
Trials keep You Strong,
Sorrows keep You Human,
Failures keeps You Humble,
Success keeps You Glowing,
But Only
God keeps You Going

Congratulations to Edmund & Caroline

Congratulations are in order to Edmund and Caroline who tied the knot today celebrated in a private and simple manner. As you all know Edmund and I go back a long way since primary school days in St Thomas's and when we both left for Sydney to do our matriculation and subsequently to the University of New South Wales where he did Surveying and me Architecture. We went separate ways after we graduated and we caught up again years later when I went to work in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam. A true friend and one of the most generous and caring person I have ever met; I couldn't be happier for Edmund as I know he deserves all the happiness and love in this world. Our very best wishes and blessings to Edmund and Caroline!

For Edmund!

What A Great shock SURPRISE!

Congratulations and Our Very Best Wishes and Wishing You Happiness Always and Endless Love!

Lateral Thinking

Just a quick one. Someone sent this to me and I thought you might all like to have a go...



Think like a wizard . .



man
1.. ------------
board






! Ans. = man overboard



Okay, let's see if you've got the hang of it.




stand
2. ------------
i



Ans. = I understand


OK. Got the drift ?

Let's try a few now and see how you fare ?




3. /r/e/a/d/i/n/g/








Ans. = reading between the lines



4. r
road
a
d








Ans. = cross road

Not having a good day now, are you ?


Redeem yourself.

5. cycle
cycle
cycle








Ans. = tricycle

Easy to figure out, ha!


0
6. ------------
M.D.
Ph.D.








Ans. = two degrees below zero



C'mon give it a little thought ! !


knee
7. ------------
light








Ans. = neon light

( knee - on - light )



I'm sure you'll have not problem getting this one.

ground
8. ---------------
feet feet feet feet feet feet








Ans. = six feet underground


Good One, try this!!


9. he's X himself








Ans. = he's by himself


! Here's an easy one!!


10. ecnalg








Ans. = backward glance


Not even close ?!!?


11. death ..... life








Ans. = life after death


Okay last chance ................

12. THINK








Ans. = think big ! !



And the last one is very fun- - -


13. ababaaabbbbaaaabbbbababaabbaaabbbb...








Ans. = long time no 'C'