Chicken a la Carte

This is a video forwarded by a friend...

For all to ponder... "While there are people wasting on their food, there are group of people suffering from hunger..."

Happy New Year 2009

Wishing everyone happy 2009 and hope that everyone will have a great year ahead.. :D

Hidden Charges

I was checking my Maybank account yesterday through Maybank2u and I found out that they are charging RM1 for my debit advice.

I have no idea since when they start to charge RM1 and the insurance company (which is related to Maybank Group) had not informed me that the bank will charge that RM1 for every debit advice!..Since I am paying the insurance every month, that means the bank will be charging RM12 every year!.....

Hmmm.....maybe I should just stopped the debit advice.......

Legend of Condor Heroes

Legend of Condor Heroes is a story written by one of the famous writer Jin Yong (金庸). It is one of the favourite story that I like to read. It is the first novel of Condor trilogy (the second one is The Return of Condor Heroes and the third is The Heavenly Sword and The Dragon Saber).

In fact, I like to read all those classic kung fu story especially those written by Jin Yong and Gu Long (古龍). I used to stay up for whole night just to finish the books.

Legend of Condor Heroes has been remake into drama for many times and I have almost watched all of those. However, I still prefer the one that's shown in the 1980s which is produced by Hong Kong Tv Station, TVB.

The one that is starred by Li Peng (李鵬） is also quite good. Recently there is a new one starred by Hu Ge（胡歌)....a 2008 version...and

I am downloading it from the internet...can't wait to watch.... *smile*

Anyone that want to know more about the story of Legend of Condor Heroes, you can go here.

養兒防老

最近在看一部大愛劇場流金歲月。劇裏的女主角，潘林珠師姐的親生母親，因接連生下三個女兒，而被丈夫的祖母埋怨，並且要孫子再娶多一位太太，以便能延續林家的香火。師姐的母親爲了成全祖母的願，而選擇了離開林家。她的離去，讓兩個年幼的女兒失去了母愛。事后祖母雖後悔她所做的決定，但一切也都不能挽回。

在一些傳統華人的思想裏，縂覺的兒子才是最好的。因爲女兒最終會嫁到別人家，而只有兒子才會留在自己的身邊。也許在以前的社會裏，思想比較單純，所以大多數的兒子都會選擇留在雙親的身邊照顧他們。但來到現代的社會，多少人會選擇留在年老的父母身邊照顧他們。

大多數的兒子成家后，都選擇搬出來外面住。甚至也有的連雙親也不顧，讓他們自生自滅。等他們歸天后，才燒了一大堆紙錢，紙屋等等給他們。但這些都有用嗎？孝順父母應該是乘他們還在世時，而不是等他們不再這世上了，才燒些也不知道有沒有用的東西給他們。

所以養兒真的可以防老嗎？

Peace Between Religion

In The Star today, there is a news on a family with different religion that live peacefully under one roof.

The news is about a mother who is Buddhist, live with her son who has converted to Muslim. During the fasting month, tough she does not fast together with the son, she still enjoying the time together with her son and his family during the break fasting (buka puasa).

You can read the complete news here

This shows that actually people with different religion actually can live peacefully together. Although different religion have different teaching, but I think all religions teach their followers to embrace peace and love.

Just like Tzu Chi , we have volunteers that come from different background, ethnic and religion and yet we have the same mission, that is to help those people who are in need.

That's my thought for today.. Peace!... *smile*...

Traffic jam everywhere

The traffic jam condition in Miri start to get worse when the fasting month start especially after 5pm during working day.

If you are driving from town to Pujut area, first you will get a little bit jam in front of the mosque (at the town area). Next, you will get stuck from the flyover to the roundabout near GK supermaket, and you will find the double-lane road below the flyover had became a single-lane road because all those people that went to visit the fasting month stalls at Saberkas had parked their cars along the roadside.

Worse still, when you almost reach your house, you cannot turn inside because there is long queue of cars in front of you that block your way... :(  and that's what happen to me yesterday.........

Ghost Month

This month is the seventh month in the lunar calendar, which is also known as The Ghost Month. 


According to Chinese tradition, the Ghost Month is which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out of the lower realm. There will be a lot activities such as preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper during the month.


However, from a Buddhist perspective, the seventh lunar month is month of joy. This is because the fifteenth day of the seventh month is often known as the Buddha's joyful day and the day of rejoice for monks.

The Buddhist origins of the festival can be traced back to a story that originally came from India, but later took on culturally Chinese overtones. In the Ullambana Sutra, there is a descriptive account of a Buddhist monk named Mahāmaudgalyāyana, originally a brahmin youth who later ordained, and later becoming one of the Buddha's chief disciples. Mahāmaudgalyāyana was also known for having clairvoyant powers, an uncommon trait amongst monks.

After he attained arhatship, he began to think deeply of his parents, and wondered what happened to them. He used his clairvoyance to see where they were reborn and found his father in the heavenly realms i.e the realm of the gods. However, his mother had been reborn in a lower realm, known as the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. His mother took on the form of a hungry ghost--- so called because it could not eat due to its highly thin & fragile throat in which no food could pass through, yet it was always hungry because it had a fat belly. His mother had been greedy with the money he left her. He had instructed her to kindly host any Buddhist monks that ever came her way, but instead she withheld her kindness and her money. It was for this reason she was reborn in the realm of hungry ghosts.

Mahāmaudgalyāyana eased his mother's suffering by receiving the instructions of feeding pretas from the Buddha. The Buddha instructed Mahāmaudgalyāyana to place pieces of food on a clean plate, reciting a mantra seven times, snap his fingers then tip the food on clean ground. By doing so, the preta's hunger was relieved and through these merits, his mother was reborn as a dog under the care of a noble family.

Mahāmaudgalyāyana also sought the Buddha's advice to help his mother gain a human birth. The Buddha established a day after the traditional summer retreat (the 15th day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar, usually mid-to-late August) on which Mahāmaudgalyāyana was to offer food and robes to 500 bhikkhus. Through the merits created, Mahāmaudgalyāyana's mother finally gained a human birth.

Reference

Being Professional

Being professional is to pay attention on everything you do. 

Although you do not have the technical or paper qualification on what are you doing, but still you can become a professional when you pay every little attention on what are you trying to do.

I realize this when I am taking a task on the audio-visual control room yesterday. Even though I am not a professional in operating the audio-visual system, however, I manage to complete my task smoothly (though there some minor problem occur at the beginning).

So, try not to worry so much if you do not have all the proper paper qualification. You can still succeed if you are willing to learn and paying attention on what are you trying to achieve.

生命

生命長短無法掌握，
可以掌握的是，
生命的姿態----
要寬，要闊，要深，要厚。
付出，讓生命更寬闊；
付出無求，讓生命更深厚。

Clay Balls

An meaningful article for sharing..

A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake.

They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could.

He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone!

Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left. Then it struck him.

He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he had just thrown it away!

It's like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel It doesn't look like much from the outside. It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it.

We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person.

There is a treasure in each one of us. If we take the time to get to know that person, then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.

May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay.   

Meaningful...

A meaningful article for all to ponder..... Click the image to read the article.

Blog Updating

It has been almost been two months that I have not been updating my content in the blog. 

Well, life have been busy for the past two months. Except work and assignment, I have been busy with Tzu Chi activity also. 

In May, we had various activity for Wesak and also celebration of the Tzu Chi day. We held several free vegetarian dinner at our Tzu Chi branch here.

In June, we had a charity fair for raising fund for the education aids to the local needy students. The presentation will probably be held around end of the year, before the 2009 school term starts.

With the disaster happening in Si Chuan, China and Myanmar, we start the street fund raising for both disaster area. We are glad the Myanmar government had let Tzu Chi volunteers enter their country to provide aids to their people.

I have been completed my last unit for my Master. Now it is just waiting time for the result to come out... Hope I can get pass. (I have get pass all the other 5 units...Heee.. Lucky me.. :D).

I  have watched Kungfu Panda last week also... It's a nice and funny animation and I have also learnt something from the animation also.. Who say we cannot learn from watching movie? :)

Here's the OST from Kungfu Panda - Everyone was Kungfu Fighting:

My Jealousy Test Score

Took the "Jealousy Test" that is posted by one of Mc.Net Member and here is the result:.... :D

My Score: 11

What does the score mean:.. here is the description ...

"Most people experience a certain amount of fear that their loved one could leave them for someone else. After all, these things happen, and when they do, it is usually very painful. You, on the other hand, appear to have a complete lack of jealous feelings. If you were honest with yourself while taking the test, this means that you are extremely secure, strong, and independent. You know that if your partner ever leaves you, you will survive with your self-esteem and dignity intact. You realize that even though you might love your partner very much, s/he is not the only fish in the sea, and that you would eventually find happiness with someone else."... haha...very good result eh?

The questions are on the relationship between two partners (husband & wife, boyfriend & girlfriend). I personally think that trust is the most important in a relationship. If you do not trust your partner, your relationship wont last for long and there's going to be a lot fighting among you and partner. And if you have children, it would be not a good thing for them to see their parents fighting and quarreling all the time. However, do not trust blindly, you must trust with your wisdom.

If somehow, the relationship seem cannot be saved and have to ended, you just have to let go and get on with your life. Of course, you will be sad and sometimes even angry, but do not let these feelings have control over you. You must try conquer them. Also, you can talk over the things with your close friends and also family...

Back to the jealousy thing, personally I think there is no point to jealous on other people. If you want to be as success as those people, you have to work on your own to achieve it. So, there is no point you keep on feeling jealous on other people yet you do not work hard...

Anyone of you happen to drop by here and want to try the test.. Here is the link:

1http://discoveryhealth.queendom.com/jealousy_wom_abridged_access.html- For Women

2.http://discoveryhealth.queendom.com/jealousy_men_abridged_access.html - For Men

Quote For The Day (2)

"The ocean can be filled, yet the month of human being can never filled"...

Agree or not?...

Not So Lucky Day...

Last Saturday probably is "A Not So Lucky Day" for me....

First, during morning time, I was locked outside the office because I did not bring the office key and my colleagues had gone out without telling me they were going out. So, I had to wait outside the office for about 15 minutes before my colleagues came back. Well, luckily I had the newspaper, so while waiting for them to come back, I read the newspaper. Otherwise, I would have been bored to death...Haha..

Then, later in the afternoon time, I went to town to pick up my mother. My mother wanted to buy some fruits from the nearby shop. So, she gone to the shop first. I locked the car doors as they have to be locked manually and then got out from the car.. Then, suddenly I realized my car key was still inside my car and all the doors had been locked.. OMG!...Well, luckily, one of the shop owner knew someone that know to open the door...So, I called the person up, and that person came to the rescue....to unlock the door....Of course, I had to pay some $$... :(

Probably I need to get some lucky charm to prevent those unlucky events happened again..Haha....

Quote For The Day (1)

"The reason we feel lost and unhappy is greed. In fact, we need very little to sustain our life. Leading a simple, well-grounded life, we naturally be happy and at peace".

四百萬元的富翁

轉載自92期慈濟世界:

◎ 專業作家：朵拉

老人微笑，“你今天遇到我，非常幸運，我告訴你，我是一個億萬富翁。”年輕人臉露驚喜，“咦！難道你會送錢給我嗎？”……

每天沮喪自己什麼都沒有，卻不去爭取，不去努力，逕直幻想未來將有大成就大事業。

沒有行動，這是根本不可能發生的事。

收穫，從來不會從天而降。

聽起來非常簡單的道理，我卻花了幾十年才想明白。

當我已經明瞭的時候，人生早就過了幾十年。

前邊的日子太多幻想，不夠實際，等於白過，現在後悔也沒有用，因為來不及。

一個年輕人臉色懊惱地坐在公園的椅子上，沮喪的模樣令一個過路的老人停下腳步，關心地問，“年輕人，你為何悶悶不樂呢？”

年輕人歎息說，“我什麼都沒有。沒有錢，沒有好的工作，沒有妻子，沒有孩子，沒有可以依恃的家庭，難道這不令人感到悲傷嗎？”

老人微笑，“你今天遇到我，非常幸運，我告訴你，我是一個億萬富翁。”

年輕人臉露驚喜，“咦！難道你會送錢給我嗎？”

“是的。”老人說，“如果你可以把你身上的東西賣給我，我就付錢給你。”

年輕人大喜，出力點頭說“好好好，沒問題。”

老人說，“我出一百萬元買你的健康，一百萬買你的年輕，讓你變成一個滿身病痛的老頭子。再出一百萬元買你的智慧，另一百萬買下你的聰明，讓你為我殺人、搶劫，然後在監牢裡過完你的餘生。”

年輕人目瞪口呆，不會回答。

“怎麼樣？”老人笑眯眯地追問年輕人，“賣不賣呀？你要是答應，四百萬元馬上給你。”

年輕人瞪老人一眼，“我才沒那麼笨。”

“聰明人，你還說你什麼都沒有？”老人大笑，“現在你知道了吧？你是一個擁有四百萬元的富翁呢。”

年輕就是財富，就是本錢。重要的是擁有求知欲和上進心，再加上堅強的意志力和堅韌的毅力，那麼，年輕的你的價值何只四百萬。

蔚藍天空，陽光明媚，公園中花樹飄香，鳥兒鳴唱，世界如此美好。

前途不可限量的年輕人對著好風好景自怨自艾，多可惜呀。

看到這故事時，我早就不年輕了。

讀著這篇文章的你，年輕的你，別忘記，未來在你的手上，你要自己好好掌握。至於你的價值是四百萬，或者超過四百萬，你可以給自己定位。