The good thing about having blogger friends is that they have done the work for you:
http://ahhou20.blogspot.com/
http://gnelia.blogspot.com/2008/06/primary-friends-gathering-manhattan.html
http://edeltwong.blogs.friendster.com/its_me/
It’s good to see old friends again, some of whom I’d studied together for 5 years. 5 long years of many many lost memories because we were very young then.
It’s kinda scary meeting them as well because I was really quiet then and I don’t really mix around. This gathering gave me the opportunity to get to know them better. Check out how they are doing and find out how their character are really like as opposed to a blurry impression in my mind that’s 16 years outdated.
Cheers to my Primary school friends, may there be many more gatherings to come! (Next one being a mini one at my wedding :P)
The cast of characters:
(Standing, from left to right) Aik Yong, Chee Khuen, Kin Keong, Brian, Hang Khume, Jim Seong, Chia Chee, Chee Seng, Wah Fong
(Sitting, from left to right) Boon Eng, Mei Chin, Ei Lin, Ai Leng, Edel, Ai May, Sze Ping, Bel Le, Swee Keng
Ever wonder how the wedding cards curlings are made?
All by hand!
Dozens and dozens of my pretties!
Tried this shop @ Bangsar Village. Serves gourmet burgers! But that is not the best part. The best part is the handmade sauce, totally fresh and chunky! Totally love the sauce.
Blatant plagiarism warning: I did not write the following piece and to protect the writer, I have chosen not to post links. Thankfully I did not share the author’s extreme experiences in dealing with alcoholics, but i’ve come to regard alcohol as the ’stupid drink that taste bad and makes you feel worse.’ Seriously, guys, got spare cash, please donate boardgames to your neighbouring school.
I saw the effects of excessive alcohol on 3 patients last night.
The first was an Indian lady too intoxicated to give any history except that she was involved in an accident. From another hospital staff, I learnt that she was a chronic alcoholic and regularly falls into drains and all that. She stays with an ‘uncle’ who isn’t a relative and both insisted me letting them go home. I would love to send both of them home, but unfortunately, she’s too drunk to sign her own discharge, and her ‘uncle’ doesn’t have the legal right to sign it on her behalf.
The second was an Indian man who was intoxicated enough to come in and demand to be admitted(!) because of bodyache. When I refused (as he was stable and able) he became aggressive and started shouting and cursing me. Then, he suddenly stood up and threatened me with his fists. Thankfully, a large-sized hospital attendant was around and managed to ‘calm him down’ and got him out of the emergency department after an analgesic injection.
The third was an Indian man was drank so much that his liver had already failed and came in probably in the early stage of hepatic encephalopathy or Wernicke’s. He started giving a story about how his legs were swollen, but his wife gave a story that he had shortness of breath and chest pain. He denied having S.O.B or chest pain, and started telling me to let him go back with ‘extra medicine’.
Alcohol is bad. Everybody suffers, including your friendly neighbourhood casualty doctor. So, for the sake of yourself and everybody around you, stop!
If you want to kill yourself, go jump in front of a train. But make sure you’re not drunk when you do that, coz if you do, you may try to walk home with a bleeding stump that used to be your leg. (This actually happened to an Indian man who was so drunk, he fell asleep on the railway track and after arriving in the hospital with his leg amputated, tried to leave.)
I hate alcoholics. For personal, professional and religious reasons. I think they should all just *die*. To all alcoholics: If you don’t think I should wish death upon you, then stop being one.
Recently I’ve been watching Heroes, a TV series about ordinary people developing superhuman abilities and their coming into terms with themselves.
I watched a few episodes from the files downloaded by my brother in Australia and then watched the rest on DVD.
What struck me and kept me interested was not the acting or the writing. Sure the acting is quite good and the writing can be smart sometimes. The plot itself chugs along at an interesting pace while the time travelling aspect of the plot is tied together nicely throughout.
However, the thing that struck me most was the theme of hope, humanity and heart. The show deals with ordinary human beings developing superhuman powers to do ‘heroic’ acts. But it is not the superordinary acts that inspires and commands respect. It is the simple act of sacrifice, love, courage and compassion.
Heroes are not what powers they have but what they do. Ordinary heroes walk the street, inspiring people to better themselves, inspiring people with their strength of character, showing people that there is always a better way, never take the easy way out.
Another theme of the movie is the evolution of mankind. The heroes are not just ordinary human beings developing superhuman strengths. They are the next step in the evolution of human genes. They are a natural order of progress.
With this theme also comes an evolution of the old generation to the new generation. Where the old generation forsook their ideals and sacrifice others for the ‘good’ of humanities’ future, the young generation sought to sacrifice themselves for their ideals, freeing humanity to make their own future.
The difference here is immense. By the nature of believing in others, in trusting that humanity at large will make the same selfless choice to serve others first, inspires hope for a better future. In deciding to sacrifice oneself for an ideal, one sets an example for others to follow. If one breaks down in despair and decide instead to sacrifice others for their own ideals, they are already damned.
It is interesting to see the similarities between Heroes and the world today. There is a wave of change today. People are asking that the politicians not do things in the interest of ‘good’ or the many. Instead, they ask that the politicians look within themselves to identify the ideals they should sacrifice themselves for. They should not impose their own interpretation of ‘good’ upon others, rather, educate and let humanity have a choice. This portrayal of idealistic politicians is striking chord with voters everywhere. The senator David Palmer in the series ‘24′, The candidate Nathan Petrelli in the series ‘Heroes’, they are a reflection of what people hope to see in senator Obama, Abdullah Badawi. They may look weak, naive. But the alternative is despair and the same cycle of lies and selfish interest.
Good guys are never thought to be able to finish first. Maybe so, but perhaps it is not who finishes first that counts, it is who that had inspired humanity to greater heights of love, compassion, courage, in their finishing that counts.