Meaningful quotes

Attended a religious class last weekend and the speaker share the below quotes (I did my own translation) which I find it is very meaningful and will like to share with all of you and at the same time remind myself:

1) To pick on somebody's faults just prove that you do not have sufficient 修为。

2) To be angry is punishing yourself for other's mistakes.

3) To love is not about what others do for you but how much you have done for others.

There was also a story that I like to share:

从前有个仙人，他在临走时叫来牛，马，猴，狗和人.他说他会给它们每个多二十年的寿命。牛，马，猴和狗都不要。人却说它们不要的话，全都给我吧。仙人答应了。

所以人在一岁至二十岁都在享福。人在二十岁至四十岁就在做牛做马。人在四十岁后就在做狗。因为孩子大了都常不在家只留父母在家看家想一只狗。人在六十岁就在做猴子。因为他们都得办猴子逗孙子。

Edited on 11 Dec: What a coincidence, my friend forwarded me this story as well which is a english translation.

On the first day, God created the dog and said: 'Sit all day by the door of
your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give
you a life span of twenty years.' The dog said: 'That's a long time to be
barking. How about only ten years and I'll give you back the other ten?' So God
agreed.

On the second day, God created the monkey and said: 'Entertain people, do
tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span.'
The monkey said: 'Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long time to
perform. How about I give you back ten like the Dog did?' And God agreed .

On the third day, God created the cow and said: 'You must go into the field
with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk
to support the farmer 's family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty
years.' The cow said: 'That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty
years. How about twenty and I'll give back the other forty?' And God agreed
again.

On the fourth day, God created humans and said: 'Eat, sleep, play, marry
and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you twenty years.' But the human said:
'Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave
back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes
eighty, okay?' 'Okay,' said God, 'You asked for it.'

So that is why for our first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy
ourselves. For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family.
For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And
for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone. Life has
now been explained to you.

Isn't this a simple reflection of the different phases of our lives?

Spreading the festive cheers

If you have known me long enough, you will know that my parents are not educated and blue collar workers. Hence, our family are not that well-to-do who can only afford the bare minimal. Things only improved after my sister and I start working and we start to contribute to the family. Sad to say, when I was younger, I will always think about why others can live in a bigger place but we can only live in rented flats? Why do they have so many toys while I don't? Why do other's parents drive and my parents don't? and the list goes on and on..... It could be due to such thinking that help mount me to a person I am now.

To be frank, I am ashamed of my thinking and immature actions when younger. Since watching the recently ended program - Live Transformers on Channel 8, it actually make me feel that though my family was not that well-off in the past, we were definitely better than those feature in the programme and we should be contented and bless with what we have.

Hence, in these bad times, I believer it is important for everyone of us who are more fortunate than others in many ways to do a little and spread our love to the less fortunate and help make their lives a better one in the coming years. Since I started work, I also started this practise of doing my bit for the less fortunate through donating to World Vision Charity. For this year, I am fortunate to still have a job so I decided to donate more.

So sincerely hope that those of you who are reading my blog to do a little bit for the less fortunate this X'mas in your own little way and help boast the festive mood during such bad times.

Clara @ 7months

My poor little princess is hospitalised for a week because she is infected with Kawasaki syndrome. The doctors can't start any treatment until all the symptons appear so this poor little girl has to be hospitalised for observations as well as on drip. Due to her illness, she is very cranky so I can only visit her now when she is back from the hospital.

Can see her bruises on her leg and ankle due to the drip and insertion of the medicine. Above that, her voice is still sore due to her constant crying in the hospital. The good thing is she has now recovered and become a brave little girl. Not to forget, mummy also say she has actually put more weight and has more appetite.

Learning to walk in her walker and her get well balloon.

See my brave little princess.

She is so happy when her daddy and mummy make funny faces and noise at her.

My happy little princess is back.

She is also now more "yang oh" after the hospitalisation.

She will now be a stronger and healthier princess after this episode.

Josh @ 10 months

I haven't meet up with Godma for a few weeks so she dropped by to play with me this Saturday. I am not very comfortable with her when she came so I cling on to Ah ma. But after she entertained me for a while, I decided to play with her and of cos show her my latest skill, i.e. spitting my saliva, which mummy say I only do that when I am happy.

Since I am still unable to breakthrough and start to crawl, Godma decided to let me skip and proceed to walking which I totally enjoy.

Godma caught me in this ugly pose of walking with big elephant step.

See...I am so happy with my walking exercise.

Me sitting steadily on my Yi Po's lap.

Please do not block my view, I am watching my favourite TV commercial.

See how engross I am when it comes to TV. I think this is from Papa's genes.

I also got my reading genes from mummy.

That's how I usually play when Ah ma is busy with the housework. Somehow, I just can't move forward and make the first attempt with crawling.

So happy...so many people came and play with me. heehee

Before godma proceed to visit her princess, mummy took a picture for us.

Till the next time, my godma update about me...Bye everyone!

PhotoFunia

Notice recently that everyone is having fun at photofunia. It is a pretty simple to use site where you can place your photos on different background.

So I decided to give it a try with till date best pictures of my little darlings.

My little princess as Billboard Poster girl.

Now it's the turn for my little prince.

MacDonald Date with Prince Josh

Was arranging a meet up with Mummy when she mentioned how Prince Josh is interested in MacDonald's pancake. Hence, we arrange for a meet-up this morning with the little prince for breakfast.

Happy to see how the little guy is interested in the pancakes as well as the birds flying around. So I guess Jurong Bird Park will be welcoming another new member to the place. When little prince is happy, we are able to get nice pictures of him. So here we go:

Hey, something just flash at me?

Heehee. Mummy is making a funny noise.

One more shot of me.

Final handsome shot of me. Look out for more updates of me at my godma blog. Bye everyone.

New Recipe: Fried White Radish Cake

Someone from my office left the company and got each of us a departing gift. She notice that I have a slight interest in dim sum cooking and my family is vegetarian so she got me a vegetarian dim sum cookbook as farewell gift.

So I make the first attempt yesterday and below is the picture of the outcome:

All mixed up pretty easily and ready for the steam.

Looking good after the steam.

The final product - Looking good but not as attractive as the book but I guess it is good enough for family. So I will be starting mass production soon. Only feedback is it is rather bland so I just need to add more salt to it.

Look out for more dim sum and kuehs. heehee.

Marina Barrage

Due to work, my last weekend was burn again. Since i have to be part of the Clean & Green Singapore and the opening of the Marina Barrage as my boss wanted to support the government bodies. So the cheapest way is to feature our only hybrid model there to create awareness as well as garner some sales which we didn't achieve at all since it is the wrong crowd.

So to kill time and avoid burned under the hot sun, I toured the Marina Barrage, which is a pretty nice place for picnic and a place to oversee the night view of the CBD area.

Below are pictures of the place:

Exterior shot.

Inside marina barrage where u can see our Civic Hybrid.

The reservoir. One side is the clear water and the other side is the sea water.

Play area for the kids as well as water sports.

View from the rooftop. Scenery of the Singapore Flyer and CBD.

Gallery 1: Something New? It showcase the environmental challenges of today. It has this huge "organic tree" that symbolises the uncertain state of our present environment.

A huge wall fixture using plastic bottles.

Gallery 2: A river runs through it. It recounts the clean-up of the Singapore and Kallang Rivers.

Gallery 3: Water, Water Everywhere. Features the Active, Beautiful, Clean waters programme launched by PUB in 2007. You can even create the ideal waterways around our homes.

Gallery 4: The Marina Barrage. It details the intricate construction and operations of the dam. You can watch what happens when rain falls and water builds up behind the barrage.

Also came across this water wall.

Gallery 5: Small Country, Big Efforts. It features Singapore's careful planning and management of its limited land area to maximise its potential. This little cubes represents the different locations of Singapore.

Gallery 6: I Do. It displays an unwavering commitment from our 3P (people, Private and Public) sectors to care for the environment and water. It also allow you to take a picture and place your commitment to the wall.

See how the place transform in the night. The night view is pretty amazing but somehow my camera can't do a good job and justice to the place.

So if you are interested, you can drop by Marina Barrage at 260 Marina Way. It is open from 9am - 6pm (weekdays) and 10am - 8pm (weekends) and close on every Tuesday.