The Walk of Life

After my recent post Truth in a Joke, about the words women used, it would be nice to know the views of some well known men on the topic of Marriage! Personally I am unable to come up with such humorous views.

By all means marry. If you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher. (Socrates)

"There's a way of transferring funds that is even faster than electronic banking. It's called marriage." (James Holt McGavran)

"I've had bad luck with both my wives. The first one left me and the second one didn't." (Patrick Murray)

The most effective way to remember your wife's birthday is to forget it once... (Anonymous)

A good wife always forgives her husband when she's wrong. (Milton Berle)

In the last three months or less, in our own country, we experienced two horrendous crimes against very young girls! There was Sherway Ooi supposedly murdered by her own parents, then yesterday, another unidentified little girl's body was found stuffed inside a traveling bag. She was sexually molested in the most horrendous way.

Many years ago there was the Ang Mei Heong case, a young girl, sexually molested by some drug addicts high on drugs. Of course the recent case of the missing girl Nurin Jazlin who is still not found. The anguish of the parents of Nurin must be beyond our comprehension. It looks like nowadays it is not safe at all to let your little girls go anywhere unaccompanied or perhaps take your eyes off them.

Some years back there were a spade of kidnapping of children in Shopping Complexes for a ransom of a couple of thousand Ringgit, less than ten actually. Criminals used these tactics to get fast cash and in an amount that an average person can come out with in a short time. Although bad but still your child's life is intact; unlike the recent cases where the child was murdered!

What is happening nowadays? Is it drugs? Or too much pornography that drives these criminals to commit such evil crimes? Mind you, years ago one seldom hear of child sex but today it is in such demand! A breaking down of our social and moral values? Is it an abandonment in the believe of God, hence no fear of God that people can commit such horrendous crimes?

Sometime back a friend sent me an article on Words Women Used. I find the article so funny but at the same time so true and I am sure many men and even women will concur. Share it here to promote better understanding between the sexes and have a laugh. Hey! men, watch out for these Words.

Fine

This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

Five Minutes

If she is getting dressed, this is half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given 5 more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

Nothing

This is the calm before the storm. This means “something” and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with “nothing” usually ends with “fine”.

Go Ahead

That is a dare not permission, so DON’T DO IT.

Loud Sigh

Although not actually a word, the Loud Sigh is often misunderstood by men. A Loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here arguing with you over “Nothing”.

That's Okay

This is one of the most dangerous statements that a woman can make to a man. “That’s Okay” means that she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you should pay for your mistake.

Lastly whenever you hear your woman, call you using your full name like Jonathan Wong Kia Soo, you know you are in serious trouble. Enjoy!

Listening to conversations round the coffee tables, market places, small groups, you often hear them discuss about health food and supplements, healthy eating and physical fitness. You can’t help but noticed that this is one hot topic online and offline. The impression I get is that, when asked, many would love to live up to 100 Plus. It is perfectly legitimate to want to live up to 100 Plus as well as learning to eat right and be healthy. My personal observation and reflection on this draws my attention to the following must have in order to achieve this 100 Plus dream :-

Health.

Very important for someone who wishes to be there. Perhaps that’s why the interest in all these health supplements, food, life-styles. Such health goals will be a major expense item which leads to the second must have.

Money.

Plenty of it to cover the ever increasing Health costs, Spiraling Living Costs, beyond your control Ammenities Costs, myriads of wonderful packages of Medical Insurance Costs and Holidays Costs. For women you need to budget for Beauty Care Products to iron out those wrinkles and perhaps some skin tucks, Liposuction, breasts lifting treatments if not mechanisms, or find a church that specialized in prayers for such, buttoks firming creams or forming guards. For men, like those Contractors All Risk Policy (CAR) you may need special medication such as Viagra. Hey! don’t forget about root canal treatment and implants for your teeth so that you can enjoy your favourite food. How much it costs per tooth today? For those that can afford, moving into a good up market Retirement Home is an added option.

To be financially or physically independent is very important, you don’t want to burden anyone. If you are a boulder type burden then sad to say there may be those, out of kindness, pray that you go peacefully and quickly, otherwise they will slowly disappear from the visitation programmes.

Remember once when my brother and I were driving through Petaling Street where there were a row of funeral parlours, we saw an old beggar there. He looked so miserable, still begging for a living and my brother commented that he would rather die than to live like that! I said, perhaps he did but his urgent prayers were not answered!

Companionship.

Do you still have your spouse, buddies or even close relatives around to enjoy? Well I guess difficult unless they too have joined you in this dream and go this direction? It can get a bit lonely when one by one they bade their farewells. Perhaps make new ones you say, ah! but it is not easy to cultivate a friendship, curse of the Generation Gap thing. As far as children are concerned, nowadays with migration an in-thing, you may not have them by your side or at your beck and call, on-demand so to say or is it liken to pay-per-view? Even for those who live in Retirement Homes, you still can be lonely in a crowd.

Purpose

I put this last but hey! it is definitely not least! Everyone needs a purpose to live whatever it is to you! Without that, you will surely die so says the Theory of Living! Without a purpose, you feel lost and depression slowly sets in and it may drive you to self-terminate this beautiful dream!

In conclusion I would suggests that if you are embarking on this course, set the PURPOSE first then work out the unavoidable related details! :)

The Chinese Moon Cake Festival / Mid-Autumn Festival / Lantern Festival falls on the 25th September 2007. According to the Lunar Calendar it is on the 15th Day of the Eighth Month commonly called Chung Chow in Cantonese. This is the Third major Festival among the Chinese. It is also quite a Romantic Festival because the moon is full and with lanterns everywhere and the poems hanging around!

Historically it suppose to start somewhere in the 14th Century where Choo Yuen Cheong and his deputy Liu Po-wen orchestrated a surprise uprising in a State occupied by the Mongols. They used Moon Cakes which were filled with messages inside giving details of the attack. In short the revolt was successful and since then The Moon Cake Festival is celebrated among the Chinese people.

Today rock's sister brought over a box of beautiful and lovely moon cakes (photo above). It is customary among the Chinese to give each other moon cakes, usually the younger to the elder! Being the eldest in the family, we end up with quite a few boxes of moon cakes! Basically our local Moon Cakes are filled with lotus pastes, bean paste, or a mixture of water-melon seeds and what nots. We even have durian flavoured moon cakes!

Moon Cakes are usually taken with Chinese Tea but i guess the Chinese in Kelantan, one of our North-Eastern State take Moon Cakes with Coffee from their local favourite Coffee Outlet! Hey if you are visiting Malaysia and happen to be in Kelantan please drop by for its unique blend of coffee! Its call "Setarbak Kopi" can't miss it I guess and ask for the Open hours please!