Sunday, May 20, 2012

Sixty and Going Strong


A very wise Chinese philosophy of life and wealth.

 
Sixty and Going Strong
(Translated from the original in Chinese below)
“There are 1000-year old trees in the mountain, but not many 100 year-old people”
At the most, you live until 100 years old (only 1 in 100,000).
If you live until 90, you only have 30 years.
If you live until 80, you only have 20 years.
Because you don’t have many years to live, and you can’t bring along things when you go, you don’t have to be too thrifty. 
Spend the money that should be spent, enjoy what should be enjoyed, donate what you are able to donate, but don’t leave all  to your children or grandchildren, for you don’t want them to become “parasites”.
Don’t worry about what will happen after you are gone, because when you return to dust,  you will feel nothing about praises or criticisms.
Don’t worry too much about your children for “children will have their own destiny and find their own way. Don’t be your children’s slave”
Don’t expect too much from your children. Caring children, though caring, would be too busy with their jobs and commitments to render any help.
Uncaring children may fight over your assets even when you are still alive, and wish for your early demise so they can inherit your properties.
Your children take for granted that they are rightful heirs to your wealth; but you have no claims to their money.
60-year-olds like you, don’t trade in your health for wealth anymore;
Because your money may not be able to buy your health.
When to stop making money, and how much is enough (hundred thousands, million, ten million)? “Out of thousand hectares of good farm land, 
you can only consume three quarts (of rice) daily; out of a thousand of mansions, you only need eight square meters of space to rest at night”. 
So as long as you have enough food and enough money to spend, that is good enough.
So you should live happily. Every family has its own problems. Just do not compare with others for fame and social status and see whose children are doing better, etc. but challenge others for happiness, health and longevity.
Don’t worry about things that you can’t change because it doesn’t help and it may spoil your health.
You have to create your own well-being and find your own happiness;
As long as you are in good mood, think about happy things, do happy things daily and have fun in doing, then you will pass your time happily every day.
One day passes, you will lose one day;
One day passes with happiness, and then you gain one day.
In good spirit, sickness will cure; in good spirit, sickness will cure fast; in good spirit; sickness will never come.
With good mood, suitable amount of exercise, always in the sun, variety of foods, reasonable amount of vitamin 
and mineral intake, hopefully you will live another 20 or 30 years healthy life.
六十而不惑..
“山中也有千年樹,世上難逢百歲人。”
最大限度,你也只活到百多歲(十萬人中才有一個)。
能活到九十歲,只有三十年;
能活到八十歲,只有二十年。
因為剩下的日子不多,你臨走時什麼都帶不走,你不必太節省。  該花的錢要花,該享受的要享受,該捐助的要捐助;惟獨不能留這筆錢給兒孫,把他(她)變 成 “寄生蟲”! 。
不必對死後的事考慮太多,因為變成灰的你,對表揚與批評已無感覺。
不必對兒女的事考慮太多,“兒孫自有兒孫福,休為兒孫做馬牛”。
不要對兒女幻想太多,孝順的兒女有孝心,但工作太忙,幫不了你!
不孝的兒女也許(在你活著時就搶奪)盼著你早死,好早日繼承你的財產。
你的錢財,兒女認為給他們是天經地義;
兒女的錢,卻不是你的錢,你想要卻十分困難。
六十歲的你,再也不要用健康去換取身外之物,
因為此時,你用金錢已未必能買到健康。
錢掙到何時、何數(十萬,百萬,千萬……)才算夠?“良田萬頃,日食三升 ;大廈千間,夜眠八尺”,夠吃夠用就行了。
你要愉快地活著,雖然家家都有一本難念的經,你不要再和別人比名利地位、兒孫如何有出息……等等,而要比誰活得更愉快、健康、長壽!
你無力改變的事,就不必太操心,因為操心也無用,反而影響了自己的健康。
幸福靠自己努力創造,快樂要千方百計去尋找,
只要心境好,每天想愉快的事,做愉快的事,自己找樂趣,就能天天都過得高興。
過一天,少一天;
過一天,樂一天;樂一天,賺一天。
精神好,病能好;精神好,病早好;精神好,病不倒。
心情愉快,適當運動,常見陽光,食物多樣化,
保證多種維生素和微量元素的合理(適度而不超量)吸收,盼能健康地再活二、三十年。

About getting old

 Go ahead, laugh.  Just hold on to those dentures....
 --------------------------------------------------------

He was a widower and she a widow. They had known each other for a number of years being high school classmates and having attended class reunions in the last 20 years without fail.



This 50th anniversary of their class, the widower and the widow made a foursome with two other singles.

They had a wonderful evening, their spirits high.  The widower throwing admiring glances across the table. The widow smiling coyly back at him.

Finally, he picked up courage to ask her, "Will you marry me?"

 

After about six seconds of careful consideration, she answered, "Yes ... yes I will!"

The evening ended on a happy note for the widower. But the next morning he was troubled.

Did she say “Yes” or did she say “No?”   He couldn't remember. Try as he would, he just could not recall. He went over the conversation of the previous evening, but his mind was blank.

He remembered asking the question but for the life of him could not recall her response. With fear and trepidation he picked up the phone and called her.

First, he explained that he couldn't remember as well as he used to. Then he reviewed the past evening. As he gained a little more courage he then inquired of her. "When I asked if you would marry me, did you say “Yes” or did you say “No?”

"Why you silly man I said, ‘Yes. Yes I will.’ And I meant it with all my heart."

The widower was delighted.  He felt his heart skip a beat.

Then she continued. "And I am so glad you called because I couldn't remember who asked me!”

Sunday, April 1, 2012

BRITISH HUMOUR IS DIFFERENT

Email from a friend:


These are classified ads, which were actually placed in U.K. Newspapers:



FREE YORKSHIRE TERRIER.
8 years old, Hateful little bastard. Bites!
______________________________


FREE PUPPIES
1/2 Cocker Spaniel, 1/2 sneaky neighbor's dog.

___________________________________________

FREE PUPPIES. Mother is a Kennel Club registered German Shepherd.

Father is a Super Dog, able to leap tall fences in a single bound.

___________________________________________

COWS, CALVES: NEVER BRED. Also 1 gay bull for sale.

___________________________________________

JOINING NUDIST COLONY!
Must sell washer and dryer £100.

___________________________________________

WEDDING DRESS FOR SALE .

Worn once by mistake.

Call Stephanie.

___________________________________________

And the WINNER is...

FOR SALE BY OWNER. Complete set of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 45 volumes.

Excellent condition, £200 or best offer.

No longer needed, got married, wife knows everything.

(Statement of the Century)

___________________________________________

Children Are Quick

TEACHER: Why are you late?

STUDENT: Class started before I got here.
____________________________________
TEACHER: John, why are you doing your math multiplication on the floor?

JOHN: You told me to do it without using tables.
__________________________________________
TEACHER: Glenn, how do you spell 'crocodile?' GLENN: K-R-O-K-O-D-I-A-L'

TEACHER: No, that's wrong

GLENN: Maybe it is wrong, but you asked me how I spell it.
(I Love this child)
____________________________________________
TEACHER: Donald, what is the chemical formula for water?

DONALD: H I J K L M N O.

TEACHER: What are you talking about?

DONALD: Yesterday you said it's H to O.
__________________________________
TEACHER: Winnie, name one important thing we have today that we didn't
have ten years ago.

WINNIE: Me!
__________________________________________
TEACHER: Glen, why do you always get so dirty?

GLEN: Well, I'm a lot closer to the ground than you are.
_______________________________________
TEACHER: Millie, give me a sentence starting with ' I. '

MILLIE: I is..

TEACHER: No, Millie..... Always say, 'I am.'

MILLIE: All right... 'I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.'
________________________________
TEACHER: George Washington not only chopped down his father's cherry
tree, but also admitted it. Now, Louie, do you know why his father
didn't punish him?

LOUIS: Because George still had the axe in his hand.....
______________________________________
TEACHER: Now, Simon , tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating?

SIMON: No sir, I don't have to, my Mom is a good cook.
______________________________
TEACHER: Clyde , your composition on 'My Dog' is exactly the same as
your brother's. Did you copy his?

CLYDE : No, sir. It's the same dog.

(I want to adopt this kid!!!)
___________________________________
TEACHER: Harold, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when
people are no longer interested?

HAROLD: A teacher
__________________________________
PASS IT AROUND AND MAKE SOMEONE LAUGH


Due to current economic conditions the light at the end of the tunnel
has been turned off.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

The Batik Painter


A heavily meaningful poem by Huzir Sulaiman that painted a picture of the other side of Malaysia, of the poor and forgotten people who are only remembered when votes are needed to win elections.

WIDE ANGLE
By HUZIR SULAIMAN

The ground’s not all mud from yesterday’s rain
The long grass is thick, and thickens each hour
Ruts from the heavy Pajeros remain
In those tyre-tracks: water, blue leaflets, a flower
The wax melts and pools, viscous and slow
The fabric accepts it, and colours retreat
       My daughter went south two days ago
       Outside, damp slippers remember her feet
Worn metal, my canting; warm resin; thick wax
Some mornings I tremble, but patterns unfold
       Blue leaflets turn sodden, then suddenly black
       The convoys are gone; torn bunting sprout mould
       Three months after March, half smirk and half slap:
       “Things go up. Share the burden. Times are tight.”
My chocolate dye starts brown at the tap
My daughter went south; she went there to fight              
The gunnysack’s light, and lightens each week
A silence has settled; our air starts to thin
Our fabric accepts it; our fabric is meek
Slow and viscous the trap we paint ourselves in
They picked up her teeth one by one off the ground
The rain smearing fluids pooling like wax
The red-sided trucks making cannibal sounds
Bells ringing; coughing; torn placards on tyre-tracks
I put down my canting; I must go to bed
My wife’s dusty mirror has cracks in the frame
I have always done whatever they said
When cold, wax hardens. I turn off the flame.


The batik painter of a northern state (most probably Kelantan) lived through a campaign for the general elections.  "Blue leaflets" signify government campaigners in their "heavy Pajeros".

His daughter "went south" to support anti-government demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur.  She was attacked and badly injured (they picked her teeth off the ground) by brutal law enforcers in their "red-sided trucks making cannibal sounds".

He suffered the victorious government's callous decision to raise prices of essential goods "three months after March" elections.  Meanwhile water from the taps still came out in polluted brown color.  And food runs low as the gunnysack gets lighter each week.

Nothing's changed.  He's "always done whatever they said" and went to vote diligently, but he still remained poor as his "wife's dusty mirror has cracks in the frame".  And "when cold, wax hardens" as the flame is turned off (until the next elections when the flame is turned on again).

Sunday, March 4, 2012

About Originality

I have another good bunch of roses for the internet especially Facebook.  I never forgot what my old art teacher used to tell us about originality.  I often wondered how I fared in my search for originality and I wondered out loud in my
Artbreak page.  Then while browsing the FB searching for old acquaintances I found my former art teacher.  He in turn found my art page.  As the saying goes, the rest is history...
Hi Lianchye,
In Jonathan Livingstone Seagull is an interesting line: To be who you are and to go where you want.
I still think about it. I am still fascinated with the attitude.
When my daughter wanted to sing like L. Selonga in her earlier years, I said that it would be more interesting to sing like herself.
She is 32 now. Happy she tells me that she that has her own voice, her own way of working out how a song is to be interpreted. Out on the stage, she sings as the spirit moves. In her preparation, she researches and studies the best of practitioners. She imbibes and learns. Being enriched, she is empowered to be who she is and she sings freely as the music inspires.
She is herself, Michelle Quah.
I think this journey is essential for all of us. We want to be as original as our finger-prints. That's where the fun is!
What about me? I just do it!
Thanks for keeping in touch and for logins to my blog!
Sincerely, another fellow-learner,
Michael Quah

Monday, February 13, 2012

We are one


You do not demand
that I have the ability
to say sweet words
or sing you praises
to please your ears.  

You do not require that I
be able to afford sumptuous dinners
or buy you diamond rings
or a dozen red roses
to please your eyes

For you know

I will be right here beside you
Whenever you need me
Through rain, shine or haze
Through health or sickness
Through good days or bad
Through thick and thin

No sweet words, precious gems
Are needed to represent
Our sacred bond of love

For you and I,
we are one
And till the end of the world
Do we part

Sunday, January 22, 2012

He that goes a borrowing

“He that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing.”  - Benjamin Franklin


Seems some people can't live by such a simple philosophy.  So, while everybody else is saying Keong Hee Tua Huat Chai, a neighbor also Tua Huat!!!  Tua huat phi khee!!!  (phee khee = temper (hokkien dialect).   And she's taking it out on the kids and raising a racket in the house turning the radio on full blast!!! 

 

Why?


Because she fell into the borrowing habit.  First, she borrowed from one.  Then she borrowed to pay the first one.  Then she borrowed more from others.  Then she added more debts to her list.  And then she added more debtors.  

 

It's not that she's dirt poor.  She used to have a maid too (until the maid ran away due to her abuse).


Today one of her creditors, after many visits to her house, made a final 'assault' after many ultimatums.  She had to pay up, or else...


Now, talking about borrowing reminds me about our country's foreign debt.....

 

Oh, forget it!!  It's the Lunar New Year tomorrow.  Let's not spoil this mood.  Let's just be happy.  Shut our minds to the bad thoughts.  Shut our ears to unhappy noises.  Open them to New Year music and songs.  Other neighbors are happily singing karaoke and some are yelling 'yaaaaammmssseeennnggg!!!'.  

 

Now, those are happy noises.

 

Lay out the table, heat up the wok and the pots, pour out the wine.  Eat up, drink up.


Cheers.