Have you heard about 'ARSE-ICONS'? No? Well... here goes.
(_!_) a regular arse
(__!__) a fat arse
(!) a tight arse
(_*_) a sore arse
{_!_} a swishy arse
(_o_) an arse that's been around
(_x_) kiss my arse
(_X_) leave my arse alone
(_zzz_) a tired arse
(_E=mc2_) a smart arse
(_$_) Money coming out of his arse
(_?_) Dumb arse
My apologies to whomever who finds this offensive :) Hope this brings some smiles to your day. It did to mine. Thanks to you Anne Mathew. You never fail to bring laughter to my life. She just e-mooned me.
Coffee and cigarettes are a good combination. When you are having a coffee and a cigarette to tag along, it feels good. A lot of things get discussed over coffee and cigarettes :) These are the simple habits or addictions of life.
Things that feel good are not necessarily good or healthy for one's being. As good combinations go, it is also a very hard habit to break.
I don't smoke now but i did try many years ago. My dad used to be a heavy smoker. And he was a very agitated man. I swore to myself never to smoke when i grew up. i dodge friends that keep trying to get me to be like them and smoke with them. Over at discos and parties, i was always offered a smoke and i always declined. They respected that. One day, when i was going through a very tough time, i grabbed two cigarettes from my friend's table and went to the loo. I sat thinking for a long time... lighted both up and put both in my mouth. After a few puffs, i threw both in the toilet and flushed them away. Rule of the thumb, never try to smoke two cigarettes at once :D
Smoking was quite like Mills and Boons story books. You smoke one, they are all alike. You read one Mills and Boons book, they are all alike too. I never did smoke again after those two in the toilet. It didn't solve my problem and i didn't find the need for them anymore.
Coffee on the other hand is the most hard habit to break. In my family, we have coffee even when we were kids. Black coffee. I remember grandma and her really tall glass of black coffee. It used to make me smile when i see her with her tall glass of coffee.
The longest i went without any coffee was one month after i went for a detox programme. After the detox regime, i forgot about coffee completely. Until a month later, coffee came back in full glory. Slowly but happily, i welcomed it back to my life :) It has been a habit ever since to have one each morning to send a wake up call to all my organs.
Coffee on the other hand are not quite like Mills and Boons story books *LOL*
And why am i talking about coffee and cigarettes?
I took on a new project. Its called the Sketchbook Project. I took it on after i read about it on Emila's side. She is taking on the challenge too. It would be fun to do it together.
Its been quite a long while since i drew or sketch anything. I got grey hair to prove that its been very long. I probably won't remember how to hold a pencil correctly.. and sometimes, i can't even read what i scribbled *LOL* But i could use with some excitement to keep me busy for 3 months.
We are actually quite busy now at work till our Christmas break. What have i got myself into *LOL* Worse come to worse, i'll just keep the sketchbook if i don't finish it by December. What a loser to think such thoughts.. hahahahahahaa
Anybody else wanna join us in this? I choose the theme coffee and cigarettes. It would be fun.
Most of us get countless of emails everyday. Some are probably SPAM or funnies from friends and some are those chain-letters that people forward to you to earn themselves some "good luck" while you DIE (yes... its always in caps in the emails) because if you didn't forward the email out in 15mins or so or if you didn't send it out to 10 people, you are going to have 10 years of bad luck. Or so it says :)
I just don't quite understand why people do those silly emails. Even if you get those emails, why do you forward it to your loved ones or friends or anybody for that matter to get bad luck or worse... DIE if they don't forward it out. *LOL* Not that i believe that i'm going to DIE if i don't forward those chain emails.
Sometimes you get good thought provoking emails... that should be shared. So here i am sharing one with you. Some of you probably got this in email many times over the years or read it somewhere. But it is always good to keep receiving these ones to remind us on what really matters most in the end.
So here goes...
Five Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware, Platinum Quality Author
For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.
People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learned never to underestimate someone's capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.
When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:
1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people have had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.
It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.
2. I wish I didn't work so hard.
This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.
By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.
3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.
We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.
It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier. This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.
When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.
Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.
Hope you all enjoyed reading the above. Something to crack your head over for the weekend. I might need to re-evaluate my life too :) I should probably spend more time with Curly than in front of this blinking thing. Hope you guys have a great weekend ahead.
I am sad. She is always working. No one is playing with me.
I remember a moment in time where we all will go... Baila Baila Baila Baila Baila Me
or we'll go BammmmboleoooooooooOOOOooo and then sometimes we'll twirl round and round in a very tight office :) It was a very happy place to be... and it was where i was most inspired.
It was also the place where I learnt to make a proper cup of coffee :) I spent 6 months in that office for training but the experience was enough to carry me through a lot of things.
We always have music in that office... it was like a mini disco. A lot of Gipsy Kings and instrumentals. A lot of smokes too because they love to smoke above our heads. *LOL* I came back home smelling like i just came back from clubbing.
It was also one of the crazy times in my life where we moved all the computers back to my boss's apartment to work over the weekend so that we can all be in one place. The office were not allowed to open on Sundays way back then. We crashed there for 48 hours to prepare for an important pitching. I don't even remember how we crawled back home after that 48 hours of no sleep.
A happy moment in time :) Give me Gipsy Kings anytime and the Baila Baila Baila Baila Baila Me comes back all at once.
Music can be a very useful tool when you are stuck or you need some inspiration.
I have a high respect for anyone who can play the guitar well. And not those campfire guitarist. But real guitarist that can play full songs. Or any song on demand :) I wonder if i could find a guitarist in my winter years to play some tunes for me. And he has to love dogs too :D Or maybe i could send Dom for some guitar lessons...
This is one of my new furfriends. She is the first one to warmed over and trusted me.
I have been feeding some strays in the backlane behind my house. There are some regulars and some from the other neighbourhood. Our lane, which my neighbour named Jalan Kucing (meaning Cat Road) has more smaller strays. A few of my neighbours are kind and feed the cats too. The bigger cats do find their own way and food.
I do not know if feeding strays is right or wrong. Are we adding on to the populace of the strays by feeding them? But can you walk away if you see a thin hungry frail kitten?
Some of these strays love our garden. We have a big mango tree which they love to climb and hang out. They also love to go up to the roof to sleep. Sometimes we hear them walk on the roof in the night. Other times we can hear some chase and run up on the roof when they help us to eradicate the rats.
Lately, i've moved their plate of food from the backlane to this spot in the back of our garden. Here they have their own space to eat peacefully and properly. Its a guarantee meal each evening when i am around. Though they don't quite like to eat kiblets, if there's nothing to eat out there, they will always come by to eat the kibs.
These are the regulars which i feed. There's mommy cat who is always wary of strangers. The smaller kitty who is terrified of people. The other two who are eating are more trusting.
Cats have a different personality compared to a dog when it comes to trust. Their survival instincts makes them less easy to trust which should be respected. I think trying to smother affection to a stray cat will just result in frightened and probably aggressive cats.
when the two trusting ones were little...
I've never owned any cats in my entire lifetime. We always have dogs.
Dom is very protective of his garden. When he sees a cat, he'll chase them up the tree. On some days, he is quite open to the cats being there and wouldn't bug them at all. But when he's feeling like having some fun, he'll chase them up and down and out. Sometimes he chases the birds in the garden too. Well... his brother Piper is not around. There's no other furry fella to play chase with.
With time, i am sure i'll have names for these four cats :) In the meantime, one of them is ever so willing to pose for me. She actually loves the camera. Compared to dogs, they make very good photography subjects. They love to pose and they can sit still :) Hope you enjoyed our new furfriends.
I can pose and sit still too... if there are treats involved here
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