smoking

He has been a smoker all his life; smoking at least a pack a day. No great effort was made to stop smoking all this while.

Two months ago, afer a bout of incessant coughing, the doctor gave him a TB test (negative) and a scan showed a black spot in his lung. Within 2 weeks, the dark spot grew 4 x in size. The scare word here is cancer , of course.

Now let me ask you, if you were him, would that scare you enough to stop smoking?

It did for him! Overnight, he made up his mind to throw away his cigarettes. The conclusion is this. All it takes is sheer will power to stop a bad habit. No need for "tak nak"
campaign,huh?

teenage girls

In a study done recently in America,it was found that teenage girls tend to be more depressed and anxious the more they talk about their problems. This does not apply to boys, it seems.

So on one hand I want to encourage my teenagers to have some close girl friends with whom they can share their problems with, I have to warn them not to do it excessively. Like talking and talking about the same old problem and whining about it?

Maybe this means teenage girls must have an older person with whom they can share their problem. The more matured person can give counselling and advice and hopefully, help to lighten their problem.

May we remember this when any teenage girl chooses to share her burden with us

soup

I met this lady at the photostating shop this morning. She had with her a book on soup recipes which she wanted to photostat. We chatted, of course. Then she said to me, " I drink soup every day and find it no trouble to boil even for one person. This is why I am so strong."

I know the cantonese people are the ones who know how to boil a good soup. Remember all the cantonese soap dramas where the mother always says to her children when they are back from work, "Come and drink this soup. I spend 4 hours boiling it."

I also remember my mother boiling soup for our family every day; something I always looked forward to during my university vacation. The soup is boiled charcoal style , and there is indeed a difference in how the soup tasted.My niece also missed her dad's ( my late brother) soup boiled in this manner.

By the way, guess how old the lady at the photostating shop is ? She is in her 70's. So soup, anyone?

credit cards

I was given 2 credit cards even though I only applied for one. I have been using only one all along. The bank still charges me for 2, meaning I have to pay the annual subscription fee for 2 cards. After bringing up the matter with them over the phone, the bank called me a few days later to say that the annual fee will be waived for the second card on a year by year basis.

Despite that, will you still want to use the second card if you were me?

How come they are so nice all of a sudden?

father child bonding

What I just heard,

a company gave away mothers' day cards to prisoners and the response was overwhelming. Ecouraged by that, the same company decided to give away fathers' day cards but there was very poor response.

Why was that? Bearing in mind what I heard over the radio that the modern day father only spends 10 minutes a day bonding with his kids, could this be the reason?

family tradition

Conversation between son and me in car on the way back from his school.

Son: Must I really uphold the family tradition?

Me: Huh? What tradition?

Son: Dad says that no one has failed before from his side and your side of the family.


What would you have replied to him?

disowning one's flesh and blood

The recent case of the grandparents of the murdered 4 year-old-girl disowning their daughter, what do you think of that? I hope it was said in the heat of the moment, because the daughter really needs her parents' emotional support now. What led this mother to help cover up her boyfriend's crime? ( unemployed boyfriend,it was reported) Is love that blind? What made her ( a single mother) fall for such a man.....is there any sympathy for her out there? Only those who have been in her shoes would understand and feel for her, I think. Feel for her and try to understand why she can fall for a "useless" man who might have used "sweet " words to entice her in her "vulnerable " state, being a single mother and "rejected" by her husband. I don't know....but I am just stating these thoughts as they run through my mind.

On the other hand, we have the case of parents who disowned their sons publicly because they have been "chased" by loan sharks to repay their sons' loans. Is it more right for these parents to do so as their lives are at stake if they don't do so?

In between biting his piece of rich chocolate fudge, son asked " So when are you going to buy the treadmill so that I can exercise some fat off ?"

I did own a treadmill some years back but have that it was not a child-friendly item to have around the house as the kids were still very young. Now , daughter follows the exercise video, dad joins a gym and I walk around the park. Son prefers a real exercise machine!

Now how do you all get your exercise ? I know sbanboy goes to the gym, what about the rest of you?

"bully"

Son has been telling me ( it took several sittings at different times and places, and that upon probing on my part ) about this boy in school who likes to pick on him. That boy has kicked son before intentionally, so son says. I let the matter drop and monitor to see if anything else happens.
One day, son told me that he has offered a peace offering to that boy. Son says that boy has been eyeing son's fried chicken during break time so son decides to share with him . Of course my main concern was whether son has enough to eat ...son has a voracious appetitie , you see. Son says it is okay and today, he even defended the "bully" saying that the latter is helping him to finish his food faster? Should I feel proud that son is solving his own problem in a peaceful manne? A future UN peace official in the making?

Anyway, this afternoon, the "bully" was standing next to my son who pointed him out to me . I took a look at him and asked him whether he was too poor to bring his own food to school or what. He didn't answer me . Then I nearly wanted to ask him why he kicked my boy, but zipped my lips at the last minute. Why? That "bully" had one bandaged toe on his right foot. Someone could have taught him a lesson ?

woman's mind

Son has to write down a name of one person who is an athlete for his homework. He forgot the full name of this boy he wanted to write so I suggested he write about this girl instead. Her name is easy to spell out.

Son's reaction? " She will scold me for writing her name. On the other hand ,if I don't write down her name, she might feel insulted"

Then son said " Don't you know how a woman's mind works?" Gee, he already figured that out at his age, poor guy!

how much

While looking at the menu, son turned to me and asked "How much do you earn in a day? I am concerned that I am using too much of your money."

Would you reply if you were in my shoes?

solution

I was trying on my new blouse, ( bought on impulse) and was telling daughter that I don't think I look good .

Daughter's reply: Go lose weight!

That is the simple solution, given out in a straightforward manner without any dressing.