Shade or Rain

A man was driving along and heading home on a Saturday afternoon. In his mind, he was thinking how good it was to have plenty of trees to provide shade and cool for everybody, even so in his air-conditioned car. Eventually he drove through this particular street where trees grew along both sides. The trees were like umbrellas welcoming him. They really served the purpose he so desired.

Just after a couple of streets down, he noticed on the opposite lane that there were congestion. He then saw that there was a car blocking the entire lane of traffic. The car was in fact crushed by a fallen tree. He also observed that apparently there was a passing storm that has created a havoc through that area.
Nevertheless it was good that there was no driver or passengers in the car.

So shade or rain? Which is better?

?

So Many Things To Do

How in the world are we able to finish so many things? So much to do. So much to be. Housework. Homework. Schoolwork.

Just by looking at the towering pile of books, notes and assessments, how? What is the answer to all these clutter?

The clue is in the jig saw puzzle.

:)

Shade or Shine

A man was driving in his car with his spouse and they had decided to go shopping in the neighborhood shops. In the open space car parks, there were trees lined up in in betweens and also there were car park lots with no trees around.

A discussion arose as to whether to park in the shade or park in the shine of the hot sun.

The woman wanted to park the car in the shade so that the car will not get heated up. The man wanted to park in the shine as the car may receive bird droppings from the birds resting on the tress. Eventually the man parked the car under the shade as there were no available lots under the shine.


The point in discussion was sometimes in life there is no best of both worlds. One want this and the other want that. So at the end of the day, there needs to be some form of compromise or coming to an agreement. Else the discussion may end up in dissatisfaction and destruction at the worse.

At the end, you can still agree to disagree and move on with life.

So what happened at the end for the man and the woman and the car?

After shopping, they discovered that the car did not have any droppings. They still got to enjoy the coolness of the car when they drove off happily ever after.

* Do not suggest to bring along a car covering. Ha ha!

Life's Many Overflowings

The water in the pail is overflowing
The anger in me is overflowing
The urine in my bladder is overflowing
The work is overflowing
The homework is overflowing
The schoolwork is overflowing
The housework is also overflowing
The books on the shelves are overflowing
The games on the iPhone and iPad are overflowing
The stress level is overflowing
The casino and shopping places are also overflowing
The people in our nation are overflowing
The whole creation has been groaning and overflowing
The work of the Lord is also overflowing
The blessings of the Lord are overflowing
The Spirit of the Lord is overflowing
...

~~~

Anger Management

After several accounts with some people around me, I come to realize something. The one who holds the anger usually gets his or her energy drained. Unless the one is the Incredible Hulk who draws his strength from his anger and madness, one should make every effort to manage and control his anger.

Worse still, when agitated the other party gets angry as well, both sides will end up de-energized after shouts and yells. So emotionally draining. Though easily said than done, I have heard suggestions that work sometimes.

1. Take a few breaths and think again.
2. Calm the person down with sound reasoning, fulfilling as close as possible to the persons wants if possible.
3. Count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Discuss the issue now
4. Isolate yourself for a moment so that can give yourself time to cool down and calm down.

Just remember. When you feed on anger, it somehow just feeds on you.

I remember the Bible has a verse that says:
Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.

;)

Eight Treasures

I took the eight treasures dessert at one of the food court and I liked it very much. I remembered the days I was in Taiwan training and had the opportunity to purchase the dessert in a can. It was awesome and cool.

So it was nice eating it hot. I checked the net and supposed the following is just an example of the eight ingredients used for the dessert.

1. Dried Longans
2. Adzuki Beans
3. Mung Beans
4. Pearl Barley
5. Kidney Beans
6. Dried Lotus Seeds
7. Dried Lily Bulbs
8. Honey Dates

But the one I took had red beans and green beans as well. (see the picture below)

How about eight treasures for life? Here is a quick snapshot.

1. God the Father, the Son and the Spirit
2. God's Word
3. Parents
4. Grand Parents
5. Uncles and Aunties
6. Spouse
7. Sons and Daughters
8. Faithful friends

Of course your list differs. Share yours with me as I share this eight treasures dessert with you!

Yum Yum!

The Ants and the Ice Cream Stick

The teacher discovered to her horror a long trail of ants crawling across her desk to the pile of exercise books she has left there, awaiting her marking. Those exercise books belonged to her class students who two days ago submitted their completed journal for her vetting and marking.

She quickly separated those books which were not affected and traced the trail to where the source was located that drew the ants there. It led to this particular exercise book which by now was filled with ants all over since it was disturbed. The teacher could not spray the insect repellent for fear that the spray may damage the students' written work.

When she opened the book, to that particular page, she was terrified with a double dosage. She saw the queen ant and its trail of ant workers with her eggs. Then she saw the ice cream stick taped to that page where all the ants were attracted to. She swiped the entire book into an A4 size plastic bag and sealed it tight.

The teacher took notice of whom the book belonged to and complete cleaning up her desk which by now has been infested with dead ants, ant eggs left behind by the workers and some scurrying ones trying their to stay out of the giant's deadly gaze. Thereafter she madly stormed upstairs to her class where the students were, holding on her hand the evidence of the trouble and inconvenience she had experienced.

"Tony!" "You explain to me, right now, what did you do that had made such a mess of me in my office? the teacher sternly demanded. Tony in a trembling voice told the teacher what he did with his journal book. The teacher for a moment, fainted in front of the class. While the other teachers came to her rescue, the classmates came to Tony and asked him what he said.

Tony said.

"I licked up my ice cream stick and simply stick it to the page of my journal book."

:)

Key Duplication

"Why is the key not able to open the door to the library?" It ought to be able to work well as it was duplicated from another set. After trying a couple of times, turning left and right, eventually the alignment did the job between the key and the latches in the lock. After pondering a couple of times, the fault may lie with the duplication.

This inability to open the door happened several times and we were able to bear with it as long as we were able to open the door and do the task we needed. The only issue is if we have the patience to stand at the door, wiggling with the key and the lock until we get the door opened and have the impression on others watching us "what are these few fellows doing with the door?" Do we look like the locksmith or what?

So after much pondering, the truth may be due to several rounds of duplication that caused the duplicated key to lose some part of the original. So is this the same with parenting?

What we passed down to our kids may be only some parts of us, and so will not be able to do the work as so desire of them. They may catch them different and so live their lives in different directions.

So how can I stop having problem with the lock again?

Duplicate using the original key, instead of duplicating using a duplicated key.

Start with the Source.

^-^

High Fever

It was a frightening experience having high fever as you just lose the sense of control over your body. It was like your brain is over heating and all control functions are breaking down.

What was most needed at that moment was to quickly bring the temperature down. With all clothes removed and into the shower for the coldest shower experience, the water was turned on. The initial feeling was like solid ice flowing down from the head to the entire body.

Have you ever seen ice melting and the vapors coming up the next moment? That was the picture in my mind. Who can one endure the cold shower? The recommended suggestion was to keep breathing hard and blowing out the heat from your body.

After a minute, the body gets adjusted to the cold, and slowly the heat was washed down and the body temperature dropped progressively. The brain gets cooled down and the control functions slowly regained their operation and routine.

With the fan switched off and the windows closed, clothes were quickly put on so that the chill that leads to further complications is not felt.

=)

Better

Here are two pictures of the numerous 'Better' used in the context of life's considerations. Hope they will inspire us to make correct decisions in life and walk the path of life. Of course it is my hope that we all follow the path of wisdom laid by our Master Wisdom, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

These verses are all taken from the Holy Bible. You can find them in the book of Proverbs.

May the Lord give you all wisdom needed for the journey of life.

:)

Which Is Better?

Life is full of choices. Life is also filled with lots of hectic situations. All these require us to make wise decision; to assess, evaluate and decide which is better.

I posed a thought to my children. Which is better? To be grateful or thankful to the person or to be angry with the person?

Most will choose to be angry when irritated. Not many would choose to be grateful and thankful. You have heard that courtesy begets courtesy. So in the same manner if you hit a rock with your fist, you will feel the pain as if the rock just hit you.

So the lesson here is: Better to be kind and receive kindness than knocking yourself out in the end.

When the next time you feel like retaliating, try redeeming and repaying with kindness. Try to say 'thank you so and so' for every little act others do to you and observe the results.

:)

The Hand Learned Teamwork That Day

The hand proudly declared he is greater than all the other parts of the body. The leg humbly smiled in acknowledging the statement he made. The other parts of the body also kept quiet.

The hand held out his arms, showing off the muscles going up and down. Then the next moment they heard a loud noise coming towards them. The hand in an instance turned pale and felt he was moving.

The loud noise was actually a dog chasing after them. He then saw the pair of legs were moving too which was why he was moved along with them. The eyes noticed that there was a stick along the path and signaled to the hand to pick it up.

Then the hand quickly picked it up and the whole body turned to face the ferocious dog. The mouth and tongue shouted with the most ferocious scream ever heard. The hands and the body faced the attacking foe in courageous confrontation.

When the dog noticed the sudden change of atmosphere and sensed the rising heat was greater than its anger, it turned and ran.

A great sense of relief flowed the entire body and they all jumped up in jubilation. The hands once more fast in declaration and thanked everybody for the great teamwork. He now realized that each part is not greater than the other, but just each part works together for the greater good.

The leg and the other parts smiled in agreement.

:)

Process Learning Using My Apple iPhone

I was frustrated trying to write a note in Chinese using the messaging app in my Apple iPhone. I was wondering how come the Chinese character did not show up in the free hand writing pad. I tried writing the word slowly and carefully a couple of times. But still the word I wanted did not show up in the messaging tool.

I was wondering what went wrong. When my daughter came over and saw my depressed look. She then told me that I had written the Chinese character in a different order. So the messaging program was not able to recognize the stroke I made on the writing pad.

She showed me the stroke and viola! The word appeared.

I learned from this lesson that it is so important to follow the process of learning. Even the simple style of writing is also very important. Following a different process may not get the result you need. Though sometimes moving your own way may be somehow found as creative and innovative, applying the basics is still essential for creativity and innovation.

So you may wondering what is the Chinese character I had trouble with. Here it is:

Simple word, right! Try it out for yourself!

:)

Blessed Valentines Day

Valentines Day in Singapore is somehow very much commercialized. Everywhere during this occasion is trying to  seize the opportunity to earn a slightly more revenue. Dashing roses and flowers are sold by roadside vendors as well as the usual supermarkets and flower boutiques or shops. Restaurants and gift shops are all ready and prepared for the occasion, for those who booked early and those who are last minute shoppers.

Singapore. Even though year after year, you will observe the usual stuff happenings, life goes on in the majority of people here. One would tease another what are you getting for Valentine's Day for your spouse. Another would inquire where you are going for the Valentine's Day dinner and what flower have you bought. When the next day comes, the next day's busyness would draw us back to reality.

Nonetheless, to try out a more meaningful activity, one could try out getting a few stocks of roses and surprise your aging parents or an aging neighbor or distribute some to the aged at the homes.

Like I say, Christmas need not be celebrated only during the November and December months. We could celebrate it everyday. So the same goes for Valentine's Day. We could celebrate it early and save and escape the marked up amounts of seasonal prices.

Blessed Valentines Day 2011.

@

Re-learning Science

"Classifying is putting the great variety of things around us into groups, classes or categories." This was one of the definitions that I need to go through with my kids as we sat together to learn the subject of science for their primary education. Diversity is the great variety of things around us.

Re-learning science was a eye-opening experience and process. In fact, it was a big eye-opening step to learning all over again the science topics we once learned when we were their age. It was also fun going through the theories and explanations found in their text. It also provided me the platform to ask my kids questions on the origin of these things.

That is when I will explain to them the beginning of life which started from our Almighty Creator God.

Some lessons were hard to explain when the picture of God's existence and His purpose for us are left out of the discussion. We just could not figure out the answers to all the 'Why?' questions. Of course there will be difficult questions such as 'Why God allowed certain events to happen?'. But that does not mean we do not know the answers. Just that we need to be more patient to wait for the answers.

Somehow, the waiting may eventually become the answers themselves.

Coming back to science, I have explained to myself and also to my kids that most of what is found in the text initiated were questions in the minds of the seekers. As they observe life and test out experiments, the findings slowly become clearer and clearer. And soon enough, the conclusion becomes the present day textbook that we have.

And it does not end there as days pass by, we improve further and you will discover that editions were eventually made to the textbook so that all students whether young or old can be updated with the latest findings and conclusions.

Isn't the great diversity of things around us interesting, awesome and overwhelming!

:)

Washing The Dishes

While instructing the importance of washing the dishes, I told a story of the dish that was not washed properly after the dish washing personnel did not hiss thorough job.

The next day or days later customers to the restaurant reduced significantly. They were not able to find out why there were cases of food poisoning complains received from customers. This restaurant was famous for its good quality dishes.

The management of the restaurant could not figure out what was the cause of the incident. The only remedial action taken was to have the entire restaurant closed for a few days. During the few days all the staffs were asked to help clean up the entire restaurant so as to rebuild the name of the place.

All these could have been avoided had the staff did an excellent job in doing the dish washing. The task of dish washing is very simple, but the thought of dish washing must be stringent.

So as you help to wash the dishes, be sure to use the appropriate soap and a thorough swipe of all the surfaces of the utensils. With a medium slow flow of tap water, the rinsing and the feeling of the hand action would ensure that all the dishes are washed as sparkling clean as silver.

Though dish washing by hand has been replaced by a dish washing machinery, the equipment can break down if certain process is not followed closely.

!)

Chinese Opera

It was a long long time since I come close to watching a Chinese Opera. The last time I remembered watching one was when I was a small kid. I still recalled that the opera stage was built on wooden poles and the stage was about six to seven feet high. At this level, all the audience would be able to watch and more people can enjoy the live movie.

I could remember walking next to the stage and watching the backstage opera actors putting on their costumes and makeup. I also witnessed the orchestra behind the props, playing and enjoying to the needed Chinese tunes to create that atmosphere for the story at front stage. Their instruments were indeed out of the ordinary.

The opera actors were awesome too. Their singing were at high pitch and their acting were natural and sometimes fun to watch. You can literally see their faces all laid with thick makeup and can therefore see their expressions vividly when the stage lights were all shining on them. Even the supporting actors and actresses were all beautifully dressed for the big show.

Just for fun, I also walked under the stage so that we could see the shadow of the folks above walking here and there on the stage. It was dark and fun. In those days, you will also see hawkers selling food items like sweets, packets snacks and lollipop candies.

Those were really good memories of my childhood days.

:)

Shopping At Two Dollar ($2) Shop

The experience of shopping at those two dollars or $2 shops is most interesting. You can observe the numerous varieties of products offering for almost anything you need and use in your daily life. Whether it is for home use or office use, they have it.

These shops include $1.99 shops or the higher value Japanese brand Daiso.

Though not all items are value for money, you can shop for the many options they hold in stock and select the most suitable ones.

Happy shopping!

$)

Decided To Keep The Fish Tank

After cleaning up the fish tank, I was quite hesitant to keep it since the death of the entire school of guppies which we witnessed them growing from a tweet to the present size. It was indeed a full life cycle - from birth to death.

After much thought and for the benefit of relaxing our eyes after a day's hard work, we decided to set the fish tank alive again. Several lessons were learnt along the way:

1. The sponge filters need to be replaced after maximum two rewash for the health of the fish against bacteria built up in the filters.

2. To clear up the wigglies in the tank is to consult the aquarium shop on suitable medicinal fluid for the water to kill off these pest.

3. Cleaning up is back breaking but the benefits gain is worth the while for everyone.

Enjoy the many varieties and species of fish.

;)

Clean Up The Fish Tank

It was terrible cleaning up the fish tank after noticing that one by one the fish died. Unable to bear with the sight already, I decided the cleaning up was inevitable.

Firstly it was necessary to get some fresh water mixed with some anti-chlorine fluid in an empty little tank, enough to contain the balance of the surviving fish. I scooped up the remaining three angel fish and put in place the air pump in the tank too.

Using a plastic glove, I picked up the decaying water hyacinth and the rotting fish. Thereafter, I took out the filter sponges and discarded them as well. With a blue plastic container and a scoop, I scooped out all the water so that by the time it was almost empty, I could carry the entire tank to the toilet to discard the balance of the water.

It was back breaking washing up the tank, wiping away the algae or fungi stains on the walls of the tank and also the water pump equipment.

After placing the entire fish tank and equipment on the floor for all to dry, I thought to myself that taking care of both living and non-living things is a very energy consuming thing though enjoying the sight of the fish is sometimes quite relaxing and fun.

Nevertheless, it was a worthwhile experience to once again rear fish, especially those few guppies which gave birth to a couple more. It was like a life cycle journey.

Now all that is left is that little tank and air pump and three angel fish.

:0

Back to Work

After the Lunar New Year weekend, it is time to get back to work. The mood of the festivities is still in the blood stream and so the engine to work needs to be warmed up for a while.

In fact many of my colleagues are still not in office and likely on leave or out of town.

And soon we shall have our office Start Work lunch where we shall gather to enjoy a time of catch up over lunch and over 'Loh Hee'.

Here is a red packet for the Golden Rabbit year!

:0

Lion Dance

Right now in the warm afternoon, at my relative's house, they have invited a lion dance troupe to entertain the guest and also beef up the Chinese New Year atmosphere.

It was great witnessing the duo lions in action fetching the gift on the roof and the floor plate. The duo lions also walked around the house to bless the entire household. The biggest highlight for the day indeed plus the drumming and plating sounds of the drummers.

Now the lions are in the kitchen area.

Got to go now.

Roar!

:)

The Ingredients

Why the ingredients? I was at my parent in law's place, listening to the conversations of life. The older folks were gathered to share on their perspectives of daily living and experiences. The middle ages talked about the process of making another set of 'char siew pau' (roasted pork meat bun). The younger ones are busy learning from the people and things around. I could visualize the question marks on their heads on some occasions.

Indeed the ingredients to community living are patience, tolerance and understanding. The patience to listen, the tolerance to bear with human weakness and deficiencies and understanding to grasp with both answers and unanswered questions.

These will give us hope, wisdom and strength to move forward with determination, greater enthusiasm and love.

Leave those baggages behind now.

Ha ha.

?)

Awesome Time At Mark's House

I had an awesome time at Mark's house. In fact it was his new house. Beautifully renovated. After a very simple dinner, I left the other visitors to their life sharing and went to the guest room to watch two DVD movies.

RED: Retired, Extremely Dangerous as screened played by Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and their team of Ex-CIA agents.

Sorcerer's Apprentice: Awesome magical display by Nicholas Cage training the new Prime Merlinean. It was a new term I know.

Surely it was a good time out and break, catching up with movies.

$)

Here Is A Post From My Phone

I am trying out to see whether I can post a blog from my phone so that I need not to have access a computer to do a post. This will really save the moment for my blog buzz.

So here is one post on the usefulness of information technology for daily life. Only one thing to note not to overly rely on it. Somehow most gadgets are battery operated and have their life span. Even Batteries Not Included needs the electrical shock to keep it alive.

;)

Wondering Where I Am From?

Hey! Here is second blog posting and I wish to write about where I am from. I am Doogle Hoo. I live in Singapore and is married and has a couple of kids. Life in Singapore is a busy one which is why this busy buzz blog is all about and all the more needed to buzz and blog down wonders and moments here.

Today is the third day of the Chinese New Year holidays. We are awaiting to go to our next destination on our annual event of visitations to family, relatives and friends. It is a great few days to catch up and also to enjoy the time together over food, fun and festivities.

Talk about food - we particularly enjoy the 'bak kwa' (barbeque pork) and pineapple tarts in various designs.

Oh! For the fun time, we enjoy mahjong and card games if they are available seats, or safe fireworks lighting as those big ones you see in big events are restricted items in Singapore. We will get fined if we are found possessing these items.

As for festivities, the one thing Singaporean does best is shopping and shopping and shopping. Chinatown is a definite one stop and also the shopping malls.

So you can drop by and chat over tea sometimes. Tea is good!

:)

Buzz Buss Blog Away

This is what this blog is going to be about. Getting to blog about everything buzz buss and blogs away. Life sometimes is just too busy or buzy that we can hardly get the time to buzz our life down. Oops! The phrase is slow down our footsteps and apply some brakes on our foot pedal.

So here goes Buzz Buzz Blog away and see life in many lights.