Happy 47th Birthday Singapore

It is National Day again. Tomorrow (9.8.2012) we will see a 47 year-old Singapore.

In view of this, I want to say 'Thank You' for people who shaped Singapore, put us on the Map and such a tiny little island yet we stand tall. Thank you to all the old guards (most are no longer around) and LKY and the current cabinets too.

How will the younger generation be like? How are these people going to shape Singapore.? What are their values, their Pride and their Commitment? Noticeably, we saw people from other countries who are now citizens here, they are calling our Country their Home. We welcome them as we need the 'numbers' and the 'head counts'. Singapore is growing older and 'productions' are not working fast enough. Bring in the babies.

My wish for Singapore - May Singapore be blessed, People are Kind, Jobs are Coming, Races in Harmony, Friendship from our Neighbours, Food are Plentiful, Children are Filial and the Country is Safe.

On such a meaningful day, lets our LIONS Roar ! Do not forget the Blood, Sweat and Tears in making of a Nation.

MAJULAH SINGAPURA !!!

A Cyst

I had a growth on my back and it has been causing discomfort and pain for a few months now. Initially when the pain got unbearable, I went to my regular GP hoping that he will cut it out. However I was naive.

My GP was very up front and told me if I want to get it out I should go to the hospital. He was not prepared to do the excise because the growth was big and it was near the backbone. The cut will be long and deep and it needs to be scraped to get the hardened fats out. I was reluctant as I do not want any part of my body cut if I can avoid it. He gave me antibiotic and told me to wait for it to ripen. Again he mentioned that it may or may not ripen and I can still go through surgery.

The growth is actually a Sebaceous cyst. It is actually fatty glands that went abnormal and thus causing this swelling. He also mentioned that when it burst, it will be very smelly.

I carried this extra swelling with me for a few months and suddenly last Monday 30 Jul 2012, it burst without any warning. After I showered and got ready for work, I realized my back was wet. I than saw that my blouse was soiled with blood. My brother checked out and was shocked to see the unsightly oozing out black blood, white/yellowish cheesy looking flow which was smelly. My brother said "the volcano at your back erupted"...ha..a.a.a. so funny and I am in pain.

We went to my GP and he made me lied down. After making all the preparation, he started to squeezed the infected area. The pain was excruciating. I cannot control but screamed and yet embarrassed that I am not able to contain pain. I clenched my fist and my body tensed. My brother was with us the whole session and he told me so much flow and blood was squeezed out. The Doctor keep squeezing until the blood turned red.

There was a big hole and the Doctor inserted gauze into it and than dragging it out. He did it a few times. The pain was so bad that I have no words to describe it. I was amazed that Doctors are brave to see such and realized that they must have seen worst than this tiny wound.

"Lian, I had to insert gauze into the hole and you have to live with it as I need to clean the wound properly.  The wound underneath the hole is as big as a fishball. No bathing your back today. No pain killer but you have one day MC."

Goodness, no pain killer. I was exhausted with pain. I wonder how come I had this thing growing and not know until it became painful. I am also glad it burst. I just hope that it heals properly and I can have my beautiful smooth skin back.

So in life, we really don't know what we will grow next. Our body have a way to detox. Whatever it is, it will find a way to breakout from the body. It will give you pain. Whatever way of detoxing, the most worrying are those that are life threatening, isn't it?

I really hope that I do not grow any such things anymore. When the Doctor was squeezing, I prayed that I take all the pain of Beings who are going through pain and may they recover and be free of sufferings!

Seven Star Needles II - Purple Flower

In my earlier posting of the Seven Star Needles - Orange Flowers, I mentioned about the special Purple Flowers species. 

An Aunt gave me a cutting and she puts it in a bottle filled with water. She mentioned that I can only put it in soil when there are roots growing. She also mentioned that the purple species is not easy to grow. She do not gauranteed that my plant will survive.

My cutting survived. It did not grow into scrub but instead a few branches extended. The amazing thing is it blooms immediately. The flowers of the orange flower and purple flower bloomed differently. Orange flower blooms individually but the purple flowers blooms in a clusters.

This Purple Flower Pereskia Grandifolia is widely researched for its medicinal abilities. It was said that it is very effective for people seeking cure for cancer. I do not really know how true is this but it is definitely a medicinal plants at your backyard. Below is an extract from what I read.

"Both Pereskia bleo (orange flower) and Pereskia grandifolia (purple flower) have been used as natural remedies in cancer-related diseases, either eaten raw or taken as a concoction brewed from fresh plants. Both are believed to have anti-cancer, anti-tumor, anti-rheumatic, anti-ulcer, and anti-inflammatory properties. They are also used as remedies for the relief of headache, gastric pain, ulcers, hemorrhoids, atopic dermatitis, and for revitalizing the body.[3–5] In Panama, the locals use the whole plant of Pereskia bleo to treat gastrointestinal problems,[6] while in India, Pereskia grandifolia is used to reduce swelling.[7–8] "

For me, I fell in love with the vibrant purple clusters. It is a joy to see them buds and blooms and became a fruit. I do not really know how to use this plant but I saw many readers coming to my blog reading about this plant - The Seven Star Needles.

SAVING GAIA....

Saving Gaia....save our Earth. It is everyone's duty to do so. However small is Singapore, we are playing our part. The amount of harm we caused the Earth, we are killing it slowly. The above video is by courtesy of Singapore MediaCorp. I love the message, the song and the kid who sang the song. Kudos to all these kids...they are the "future"

We are pleading to you to give a little attention the our Earth. It is a place we all live on and our next generation and next generation and future generation will continue to live. Even if we are no longer around, we hope our decendants will live a happy and safe lives. It is still not too late. I am sharing this and hope whoever comes to my blog love this video too.

…spur of the moment

Many of us acted at the spur of a moment without thinking and the results can be quiet alarming. At a spur you flew up in anger and hit someone. At a spur you have hunches to buy a set of numbers that win you big prices….but to act in a spur could be irrational and may get one into trouble.

I read with mixed feeling of a teenage who burnt the National Flag. Is it just a flag? Did she see the meaning of this flag? All these years of education, what was taught to her? Is it the failure of the education system or failure of her upbringing? Did her parents know what she is up to?

At 10pm at night, why is a 13 year-old still hanging around a park? It is not weekend nor is it school holidays. Her friends said they did not know she did it…so why? Are there no more games or things for her to be interested in that she did what she did? She had friends with her and they did not stop her, or are they even aware of what their friend is doing?

A National Flag represents a Country. It is as important as the land you live on. It gives you identity and provided you a place called home. We say The Pledge in school everyday – We, the Citizen of Singapore, pledged ourselves as one united people…it holds the country together. It has the aspiration of the country and the people – ‘regardless of race, language ore religion’…. that we work towards religious harmony.

The daily saying of the Pledge obviously did not appeared important to this 13 year-old or many teenagers. So it is just mouthing and carries no meaning. There is no pondering to the meaning and associate it with the National Flag. What will our younger generations become?

Around us, there are people who care about the country. There are more out there who do not know the meaning of the National Flag and the Pledge to their homeland. There are people out there who are Stateless, they are not even qualified to have a National Flag. I hope it is teaching her the values of the Flag, her Home and Herself. She is a juvenile does not mean she can get off lightly. How does schools see this act? What actions will they take?

My Country, My Home is makeup of everything here that we call Singapore. It is not the Government, it is the People, our Values and what we see ourselves.

With National Day around the corner, it is time we fly the Singapore Flag and I will always fly one in my Blog because I am proud of who I am.

MOVING OFFICE...

Sitting around for one year and for me it is better off  working. The job I was looking for is actually backend admin work, 9 - 5 type of routine. Work that keeps me busy and yet fulfilled. Responsibility but manageable. I no longer longed for lime light, big post and high pay. Actually I am working only to maintain my car, give myself some coffee money, enough to donate and sleep with a peaceful mind.

However one can never hide ones ability and I landed a job I was happy like above BUT recently with the yearly reviewed (although I am only with them 6 months), I got my confirmation before due date, got my promotion and increment and even blessed with the maximum of bonus allowed. Alamak! No, don't misunderstand me, I am grateful that I am useful but I have to take on more.

I was entrusted with finding a new office within reachable location by MRT. Town/CBD areas are getting too expensive for us who needs at least 10,500sq ft.  Between us we found a location. I should be happy as it is 5 minutes drives from home and I save like crazy (i.e CBD and the exorbitant car park), Naturally I am also entrusted with renovation. The search for IDs was fun looking at designs. Pinning an ID down and working with them in details was both fun and tired. The selection of designs, the furniture, colors and all nitty gritties are part and parcels of the work.

When I realized that even if I have thoughts for the well beings of colleagues, taking into consideration as many aspects as I can...I forget that I am not the head of the company. My enthusiasm overrun me. In the first place I took the project with faith, now I wonder whether I can shoulder the blame if things don't go right.

Liaising with the Landlord is another pain. I actually don't blame them. It is a new building and many things need to be done. Due to our urgency as the lease of the old office is up soon and the delay from all the consultants are making me sit on needles. Yesterday I lost my temper !!! Such and idiot was I. But with 26 days more to go and renovation not even started yet...do you expect me to stay cool?

A girl friend once told me...'Lian, you are only a staff and that's much you can do. If the thing cannot happened on time, it is not your fault. Just communicate to the management and they have to think of a solution and lose sleep...not you'. How true, but can I? Anyway I have a good Boss, so he is the good cop and I am the bad one.

Doing this project is not sitting on roses, roses have thorns. I expect many criticism and blames. People grumble when there is a change, both internal and external when things are not to their convenient.

I hope people won't come and tell me....'you did not let me check the Feng Shui and thus .........

FEELING RECIPROCATE

Can one really reciprocate a feeling? Recently I have a friend who told me a story. She was hurt by a friend whom she loves, she said ‘Lian, I can even die for her’. I saw tears in her eyes and I know how hurt she was.

They use to meet every Friday, their families go outing together. My friend took in the children of her friends when she left for a long trip. She supported, not just emotionally but also monetary. She said she did not expect anything in return. I told her ‘you did ask for return because you expect her to do same for you as you have done for her or at least treat you as best friend and priority is for you’. The expectation is subtle, you think it is not there but actually it is there. We are all very human after all. When we treat someone nice, we expect someone to treat us nice and when that did not happened, it turned to sadness, bitterness and ended being very angry.

I have gone through all these. The expectation of friends is ‘FAKE’. People are ‘thick’ because they share common topics of discussion, interest, religion or there is something in them that ‘clicked’. It is affinity. It does not happen to everyone in the same group.

She moves away from the norm group because she does not want to be tagged. She wants to go around her routine quietly. She is religious and it taught her to be humble; it taught her to be compassionate; it taught her wisdom but the other friends did not see it. When the whole group runs after someone who claimed to be religious or know a lot about the religion and speak like one, she saw through him when he asked for expensive items which a religious person does not need. She warned her friends and they all said that she is disrespectful. How do you think one can teach the fools? Even her friend said she is ‘Lay cheh’ in Malay means ‘troublesome’.

All these are not new. I realized that when one pursue a religion. As one advances, one tends to move away from crowd. One tends to spend time with selected people and keep a low profile, going around doing things for one self and others quietly. Not asking for name, fame as well as monetary because enough is happiness. I saw through name and fame. When people use it as a facade, I bow away from it.

Therefore when recently I was hurt by what a friend said, I let it go. There are people who look at things from their own point of views and they believe it is for the benefits of everyone, I do not doubt it. It is a choice to be petty about it or choose to let it go and keep the ‘friendship’. There are people who are sensitive to others, I am not a very sensitive person but I care about people so I am sensitive about them.

When Buddha taught ‘NON ATTACHMENT’, it is a way to move away from being hurt. Anyway remember you cannot owned a person, or his/her mind or thoughts and not even physically. NO ONE belongs to anyone, not even husband and wife nor children. They are individuals with their own Karma.

I wish my friend well and that she finds Peace.