Photos Together

Father's Day have just passed yet.....

Seem like there cannot be any connections between my earthly dad and me. Each time I talk with him there bound to be a debate, a debate of no winner but both losers.

I feel everytime we talked about something our relationship just got from bad to worse. My father is dominating, authoritative, full of himself, haughty, arrogant, uncaring, greedy, insensitive, blunt, ungrateful etc yet he is still my father I always tell myself.

Every step I take towards him, he take 2 steps backwards. What the heck! I will keep on praying to God for a MAJOR Change in our relationship

This week

My Buddy ShuLong




Trio Playing Badminton!!!!
Look At Her Isnt She.....

Father's Day

After Class 3 Comes Class 4.

This week is so tiring man. Why? I feel that I am slogging everyday even though I have already resigned.

Tomorrow will be a defining moment for me only if I pass my class 4 license. There is a dilemma though. If I pass I will have a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. Then again if I pass, I will be serving my dad....While most of my friends own a class 3 license, I own a class 4. However some of my frds are wondering why did I even need a class 4?????!!!!! My father needs that license more than I do. He is constantly instructing me to take over his business and work for him. If I serve him, my life will be =====> NO LIFE!!! But he is my father.... What a dilemma I am in! For the short term I can afford to do so but I feel there is no point if my long term aim and goal is the earn as much money by working day and night non-stop!

LIFE IS MORE THAN JUST MONEY!

I am Sick

Sick Sick Sick is what i hate the most.

Why do people fall sick?

Most people assume that germs and genes cause disease. The germ theory has brought us a long way, and genetic theory promises to take us even further. But there is still a mystery surrounding why certain people get sick while others don't. For example, studies show that if cold virus is placed directly into a person's nose, the chance of getting a cold is about 1 in 8; being exposed to chill, damp, or a draft doesn't increase these odds. Also, when the Black Death wiped out a third of Europe's population in the 14th century, no one knows why the other two-thirds, who were certainly exposed, didn't die.

Every day each of us inhales or ingests enough germs to cause a variety of diseases we never contract. Some sort of "control by the host" seems to be at work. This refers to the body's ability to live with disease-causing agents without getting sick. Germs aren't the only factor. Statistics show that severely ill people often wait until a significant date has passed, such as Christmas or their birthday, before suddenly dying. Studies going back to the Korean War showed that young soldiers in their early twenties had serious blockage of their coronary arteries, yet the disease doesn't show up until middle age. Not everyone exposed to HIV contracts the virus, and in a few rare instances, those with AIDS have reversed their viral status form positive t negative.

Why, then, would you or I get sick when someone else equally at risk doesn't?

The best way to get sick is to suffer from as many of the following conditions as possible:

--Unsanitary conditions: massive exposure to germs remains a major factor
--Being poor: poverty degrades life on all fronts, including health.
--High stress: physical and psychological stress damage the immune system.
--Depression and anxiety: untreated psychological disorders weaken resistance to a wide range of diseases, perhaps even cancer
--Lack of coping mechanisms: stress by itself is a negative factor, but the inability to bounce back form it is more important.
--Lack of control, victimization: all stresses become much worse if you feel that you have no control over your own life.
--Inertia, sedentary lifestyle: if you are inactive and have no outside interests, you chance of getting sick rises sharply
--Feeling alone and unloved: emotional deprivation is as unhealthy as deprivation of good food.
--Sudden loss: the sudden loss of a job or spouse, a reversal in finances, or finding yourself in the midst of a war or natural disaster all constitute a state of loss and lead to higher risk of getting sick.
--Growing old: once considered a major cause of illness, aging is now known not to be a direct cause. Being healthy into your eighties should be your expectation, but if you neglect yourself in old age, the body becomes vastly more susceptible to disease.

None of these factors comes as a huge surprise, since public health officials have drummed into us that most illness in modern society is a "lifestyle disease" born of stress, lack of exercise, and other factors external to germs. But I think most people still assume that being fat, for example, is worse for you than stress, which certainly isn't the case. Outside of diabetes and joint problems, it's hard to find a serious link between moderate overweight and any disorder, while stress and its offshoots are major risks. they exaggerate the effect of aging. Yet in the absence of high blood pressure and artery disease, most people will live a very long time, probably in good health until they contract their final illness. (I've covered a dozen other common beliefs, both true and false, in earlier posts recently.)

But the mystery of who specifically gets sick remains unsolved, in part because there are subtle factors that few experts have adequately examined.

--Some people get sick because they expect to.
--Some people get sick, or sicker, after they are diagnosed with a disease.
--Disease brings certain benefits, known as "secondary gain," that make it positive. The classic example is a child who pretends to be sick in order to get more love and attention, but adults find secondary gains of their own, such as not having to take responsibility for their lives or finding an escape from a situation they can't cope with.
--Some people get sick because they want to give up, or even die.
--Some people have nothing better to do than to get sick.

In the next post I will cover how the healthiest people manage not to get sick, and again, the answers carry a few mysteries and surprises.

Love,
Deepak

My Last Days at KoA Denko.

KoA Denko is a SME Japanese firm I am working in. 8 to 5 job with underpaid salary couple with good healthcare benefits. The employees, my colleagues are nice and fun people to talk and relate with.

Working in this company, I feel gives me slight introduction of working in a fast-pace society. I was wondering why are these people fighting so hard to get their job done or what is it that motivates them? In my opinion, it is the recognition and satisfaction they will achieve if only the job is done exceedingly well.

To really do something well, it really boils down to our hearts. Bible says in Matt 6:21"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

This leads me to my father's company.... It is a small company dealing with heavy vehicles. Its problems are : High costs in operation Eg Diesel prices, Drivers
High human resource turnover rate
Low Sales Volume
Assets owned are depreciating on yearly basis

I was thinking where is my earthly daddy so persistent and strong in keeping his company alive. Then i realise that he always seem to have an undying fire in his HEART to breakthrough his company. My daddy is a relentless person in achieving his goals. He simply never gives up!

My Thoughts

All my life I have been living for myself trying to satisfy all of my desires. However I understand that there are much much more desire I can satisfy than I can gratify....

I think there need to be a change in my mindset and attitude towards myself. I will bless others instead even if I do not have any rewards. Bible says that" we must love God wholeheartly and love people fervently" which is the one thing I want to achieve by the end of 2008.

Financial Column From Sunday Times

START EARLY, AND TIME IS ON YOUR SIDE hehehehehe.

You do not need to be a whiz to save enough to retire:
Just start early and let your money compound.

Point 1: Pay yourself first.
- Sort out All of your bills and set a realistic amount where you can SAVE!
- Then write a cheque to Yourself to set aside that amount for deposit
or investment

For instance $68 a month invested for annual returns of 8 percent over 30 years will
generate a sum of $102,020.

But if your investment horizon is shorter say 10 years, you need to invest $554 a month to generate the same sum of $102,020.

Consider this Scenario A:
If you start saving at the age of 20 putting away $2000 a year until you reach 30, and you continue to stay invested without any further input of cash till you turn 63, you will have nearly the same amount of money socked away as a person who also saves $2000 every year but starts a decade later, between the ages of 30 and 62.

A handy and easy tool that illustrates the effects of compound is the Rule of 72. Take 72 divide by the expected percentage return.... The answer will be number of years to double your investment.

To conclude: We need a good savings discipline and a long investment time horizon.

An Exhausting Week Indeed.

This week has been an exhuasting week. After watching Contender a Muay Thai Reality show, I got really inspire to tone my body. Morning regime of physical workouts which I plan out to train my Abs and Chest specially.

Today is the last day of the week and I am feeling really drained. Nonetheless, I still went to church this evening to hear a great word. Nothing beats the Word of God. After getting sipritually beef up, I am went onto my bed to pray about my worries of life. Just a few days ago, I have made a terrible mistake at work. This mistake has yet to be solved and it seems daunting for its unprecendented scale. This will cause the company to incur great losses if not immediately dealt with. However, I suddenly realise that all these worries that I have are so insignificant compare to the gift that God gave me. I have the helper of God with me all the time!!!! The Holy Spirit is with me in the fire. I am going to pray to the Holy Spirit for a miracle to happen in faith.

Faith is the substance of things hope for and the evidence of things not seen. I going to visualise that I will have the problem solve and believe it in the spirit.
Praise the MOST HIGH GOD!

A day at work

I am working at KoA Denko, a Japanese firm just 2 bustops away from my house. Now I have been working there for 3 months plus already. Initially I did not start off well as I am slow in learning new things.
Got to know alot of new people in the company and one of them is Cammie my senior. She has been working in the company for 3 solid years already. Whats more I got to know that Chris Lim the senior manager sold her life to the company for 26 years. WhOaaaaaa!!!
When I first got into the company, the first challenge was to get use to the people and the work I am about to deal with. Never easy as I thought it would. Thanks to my senior consistency in nuturing and growing me into an independent worker. A million thanks to her.
Then another challenge struck me that is Cammie is LEAVING. What The Huhz!?!?!? I only got 10 days to learn all about her customers.... Life is miserable then.

The Mega Quake.

CHENGDU, China — A powerful earthquake struck Western China on Monday, toppling thousands of homes, factories and offices, trapping students in schools, and killing at least 10,000 people, the country’s worst natural disaster in three decades.

The quake, which was estimated preliminarily to have had a magnitude of 7.9, ravaged a mountainous region outside Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, just after lunchtime Monday, destroying 80 percent of structures in some of the towns and small cities near its epicenter, Chinese officials said. Its tremors were felt as far away as Vietnam and set off another, smaller quake in the outskirts of Beijing, 900 miles away.

Landslides, power failures and fallen mobile phone towers left much of the affected area cut off from the outside world and limited information about the damage. But snapshots of concentrated devastation suggested that the death toll that could rise significantly as rescue workers reached the most heavily damaged areas.



In the town of Juyuan, south of the epicenter in the city of Wenchuan, a school collapsed, trapping 900 students in the rubble and setting off a frantic search for survivors that stretched through the night. Two chemical factories in Shifang were destroyed, spilling 80 tons of toxic liquid ammonia, officials told Chinese state media.




The destruction of a single steam turbine factory in the city of Mianzhu buried “several thousand” people, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday morning.

The quake was already China’s biggest natural disaster since another earthquake leveled the city of Tangshan in eastern China in 1976, leaving 240,000 people dead and posing a severe challenge to the ruling Communist Party, which initially tried to cover up the catastrophe.

This time, officials quickly mobilized 50,000 soldiers to help with rescue efforts, state media said. Prime Minister Wen Jiabao flew to the scene and was shown coordinating disaster response teams from the cabin of his jet.

The prime minister was later shown on national television standing outside the damaged edifice of the Traditional Medicine Hospital in the city of Dujiangyan, shouting encouragement at people trapped in its ruins.

“Hang on a bit longer,” he said. “The troops are rescuing you. As long as there is the slightest hope, we will never relax our efforts.”

The quake was the latest in a series of events that have disrupted China’s planning for the Olympic Games in August, including widespread unrest among the country’s ethnic Tibetan population, which lives in large numbers in the same part of Sichuan Province where the earthquake struck.

The powerful initial quake struck at 2:28 p.m. local time, or 2:28 a.m. Eastern time, near Wenchuan County, according to China’s State Seismological Bureau. Most of the heavy damage appeared to be concentrated in nearby towns, which by Chinese standards are not heavily populated. Chengdu, the largest city in the area, with a population of about 10 million, is about 60 miles away and did not appear to have suffered major damage or heavy casualties.

But officials had yet to describe the impact in Wenchuan itself, which has a population of 112,000 and is home to the Wolong Nature Reserve, the largest panda reserve in China. The town of Beichuan, on the way from Chengdu to Wenchuan, suffered several thousand deaths, state media said.

China’s massive Three Gorges Dam, a few hundred miles east of the earthquake’s epicenter, reported no immediate problems.

At dawn on Tuesday morning in Chengdu, clusters of people were huddled outside, many saying they were too fearful of aftershocks to go indoors. Many wore plastic slickers to protect them from a steady drizzle. Wang Zihong, 35, a businessman from Gansu Province, had spent 12 hours outside his hotel, squatting with others on a street corner.

“It was a terrible shock,” he said. “I couldn’t stand up straight. We were on the second floor and we ran outside.”

Chengdu’s Huaxi Hospital, one of the largest in western China, started receiving patients from surrounding counties on Monday afternoon. By Tuesday morning, 180 patients had arrived from hard-hit surrounding counties.

“Seven thousand people have died in Beichuan, a single county, and we think Wenchuan will be similar, too, because it was the epicenter,” said Kang Zhilin, a spokesman for the hospital. He added: “The first patients who came had jumped from buildings because they were frightened.”

After the tremors shook Chengdu, roughly 4,000 frightened patients had been relocated from wards on the hospital’s upper floors to a courtyard outdoors. By Tuesday morning, the patients were sitting in the rain, covered in plastic.

A woman, Tang Hong, 50, sat beside her injured husband, Yan Chaozhong, in the hospital. They had arrived early in the morning from Dujiangyan County, one place that had suffered heavy damage. They had been inside their fourth-floor apartment when the quake hit. “It was violent,” she said. “Even when we crouched down, it flattened us.”

Ms. Tang said she and her husband had tried to escape down a stairwell, but a second tremor knocked her husband down the stairs, and he broke three ribs. She said four six-story buildings on her street had been flattened. She also wept as she described how a school for handicapped and deaf students collapsed while the children were in class. “It was horrible,” she said. “The entire school building collapsed.”

Minutes after the western temblor struck, a second, smaller quake struck Tongzhou, an outer district of Beijing. Thousands of office workers were evacuated in the capital city, but no damage was reported there.

“I suddenly felt very dizzy, as if I were heavily drunk,” said Zeng Hui, who works on the 22nd floor of an office tower in Beijing. “I thought I was seriously ill, then I looked around and saw my colleagues felt the same way.”

There were reports of fatalities in Chongqing Municipality, near Sichuan, where two primary schools were damaged. Four pupils died and more than 100 others were injured, state media reported. Xinhua devoted extensive coverage to the disaster, publishing regular updates on the situation, including latest death tolls, on its Chinese and English Web sites.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Earthquake death toll over 32,000 as new aftershock hits China
AgenciesLast updated: May 18, 2008, 12:44

Beichuan: Rescue workers dug out more than 60 more survivors after the earthquake in China, while a strong new aftershock hit Sichuan province on Sunday.

The death toll rose to 32,477 and is expected to exceed 50,000. Around 11,000 more people are thought to remain trapped in Yingxiu province.

The latest series of aftershocks to hit Sichuan province was a 6.1 magnitude tremor early on Sunday. There was no immediate report of damage or casualties.

In the provincial capital, Chengdu, buildings swayed and people rushed out into the streets, risking a soaking from a passing storm.




Members of the public who would like to contribute to relief efforts in China can make their donations through the following:

1) Walk-in cash/cheque donations

Singapore Red Cross, 15 Penang Lane, Singapore 238486.
Collection hours are:
Monday to Friday: 9:30am-5:45pm
Saturday & Sunday: 9:30am-5:00pm

2) Cheque donations

Cheque to be made payable to the “Singapore Red Cross Society”.
Please indicate at the back of the cheque name of donor/organisation (if applicable), mailing address and contact numbersand “Red Cross China Earthquake”
Cheques should then be sent to Singapore Red Cross, 15 Penang Lane, Singapore 238486. Once the cheque/s are received, an official non-tax deductible receipt will be issued.
3) Other avenues include banking services offered by UOB, DBS, OCBC and Maybank and the AXS Stations.

Donors may log onto the SRC’s website for detailed instructions to its donation channels
Since the tragedy on 13 May, the SRC has been monitoring the situation closely with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC).

For more information on the SRC and the IFRC’s relief assistance, the public may log on to www.redcross.org.sg or call the SRC at 6334-9152/53.

Media correspondence:
Carol Teo
Head, Corporate Communications
Singapore Red Cross
Tel: (65) 9847 2024 (Mobile) / (65) 6336-0269 x 272 (Office)
Email: carol.teo@redcross.org.sg

Contender

This is indeed a great reality TV show. It is Muay Thai Martial Arts with real demonstration. Every Blow that is being launched out is fatal. All out with no
reservation.

In life, it should be like this as well. I feel that people are very often restricted
by our circumtances rather than overcoming them. Human Limits have no boundaries and
it is forever expanding as long as we keep persisting unto it. Just like those Muay
Thai Fighters, before the match they are bound to be anxious and nervous before the
fight begins. Then as the match starts, they have only one goal that is to throw
everything that they have at another opponent without reservation and hestitation.

I begin to wonder why is there such a major change out and in of the ring? I realise
that it is the circumtances which they are engaging in that makes the difference.
When they are outside the ring, they are in their comfort zone only waiting for
their names to be call.

The uncomfort sets in when their lives are at stake which will cause them to fuel their motivation of fighting their way through until the threat is gone.

We should not be bind by the circumtances that we are in right now but instead confront it face to face.

Why I write Blogs.

Now the time is 6.45am. Really tired and my eyes are swollen after 7 hrs of rest.
But Still I woke up early to write this blog.

There are few reasons why i feel i must write this blog.
1.)It is like a personal diary of my daily life.
2.)It is my perspective on life.
3.)A reminder and reflection of what I have done in the past.
4.)A social network.
5.)My family and close friends are aware what is happening in my life.
6.)Blog is a powerful tool to magnify your thoughts.
7.)Most of All I feel Good About writing Blogs.

Water Baptise

Getting Started

Hi Friends,
I am Sidney here. I am so glad that I can finally start a Blog of our own to share my personal story with the whole world.

Hope that I can have the disciplice to write in everyday LOL!