Where my soul belongs

All my bags are packed I’m ready to go. I’m standing here outside the door – song by John Denver.

I leave on Monday evening and in a little more than a day or two I should be taking the cab ride to the airport. The past two weeks had been a packing marathon. I have packed, unpacked, repacked, un-unpacked and then with a few more throwing ins and outs of my stuff, I think I am done. Got the main luggage and the box weighed and I am pretty proud to say that I am under weight (oops not me but the 2 pieces of checked in luggage).

But what lies in the main luggage, the hand luggage, a box and a computer bag. To give you a peep (just only a peep) into the major items – a 24cm frying pan, a pot, hair dryer, 1 laptop, 1 netbook, kenwood small kettle, tupperwares, clothes and personal effects, dried foodstuff (dried shrimps, anchovies, etc). Don’t ask me what are the other unimportant and minor items. That’s it! Do you believe me? Oh yes, forgot to mention there are two packs of cat food (friskies) that’s taking the flight too. I have a pet cat there and also 4 puppies but I suppose these puppies are now fully grown dogs.

I am going on a holiday to my winter home. And there is so much to look forward to. The familiarities of the same room that I have been occupying since "beginningless time", the little village road with children running around with genuine innocence and the warm and kind gestures of the villagers are the distinct charms that grabs the soul of many a visitor. Just thinking of it makes me want to be there now.

Banks Give Them Free So Why Should I Pay @#&%$ RM50 Per Card

I dont know about others but I am doing away with all credit cards except for one which will be a supplementary card. With the new policy enforced on RM50 per card and RM25 for supplementary cards, who needs a string of them especially when I do not believe in spending on credits except for the points but even then it is no big attraction for me. Maybe for the purchase of air tickets where insurance coverage is included. And to pay RM50 per card, why not go supplementary.

Have You Heard A Cat Nagging At Another Cat?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kZ7YzmsvJY

Watch this video of a nagging cat at her partner.

Why Are Men Busy Checking Their Thumbs – Because The Size Of The Penis Is Three Times The Length Of The Thumb

* It takes your food seven seconds to get from your mouth to your stomach.
* One human hair can support 3 kg (6.6 lb).
* The average man's penis is three times the length of his thumb.
* Human thighbones are stronger than concrete.
* A woman's heart beats faster than a man's.
* There are about one trillion bacteria on each of your feet.
* Women blink twice as often as men.
* The average person's skin weighs twice as much as the brain.
* Your body uses 300 muscles to balance itself when you are standing still.
* If saliva cannot dissolve something, you cannot taste it.
* Women will be finished reading this by now.
* Men are still busy checking their thumbs.

Read more here

Twelve Year Old Girl Shed Crystal Tears - Real Or Fraud

Can anyone believe that a person can shed crystal tears? I actually bought this story way back in 2005 (call me naïve but I am very much a fairy tale person).

It is about a 12 year old Lebanese girl, Hasnah Mohamed Meselmani, who shed Herkimer diamond tears from her left eye. She appeared close-up on television and is on YouTube so who can blame me on such naivety.

Here are two links. Read these and decide whether you are in the same bandwagon as this dreamer or you are the wiser one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elivMsS8bl0 (Youtube )
http://www.crystalinks.com/crystaltears.html
http://www.hoax-slayer.com/girl-crystal-tears.shtml

F.A.I.L.U.R.E - What Does It Mean?

Do you fit into any of this or do you fit into all? If you fit into all, then there is something to think about
F – Frustration, futility, hopelessness
A – Aggressiveness (misdirected)
I – Insecurity
L – Loneliness
U – Uncertainty
R – Resentment
E – Emptiness

Frustration is developed when certain things cannot be achieved or when things do not go the way you had wanted it to be. All of us at some point in life have suffered some form of frustrations but as we grow older, we learn that not all desires can be satisfied and that perfection is not the key to having a happy life. When life’s experiences bring about deep dissatisfaction and frustration, then we have to recognize this as a symptom of failure.

Aggressiveness, often misdirected, follows frustrations as a shadow follows you. To achieve and reach a certain goal, we need to be aggressive and assertive at times. Therefore, aggressiveness is not an abnormal behavior but rather a needed element for success. We need to go after the things we sought in an aggressive and assertive rather than in a defensive and passive manner. It is when our path to achieving our goal is blocked and you find no solution to getting out of that jam, that this aggressiveness takes on a turn to misdirected aggressiveness. This then becomes a destructive force. Many a home quarrel begins with the husband coming home and lashing out his misdirected aggressiveness on his wife and children. This is the second symptom of failure.

Insecurity stems from a feeling of inadequacy. Very often failures need to prove to themselves and to others their superiority. “He should be seen successful”. “He should be seen happy”. “He should be seen …..” Therefore, if you see someone behaving rudely or someone who tries to belittle others, this person may be undergoing the third symptom of failure.

Tell me if you have not been lonely before. This is another fallacy of being human. But it is the extreme feeling of loneliness where you become a social recluse and feel alienated from other people, that makes you fall into the fourth symptom of failure.

If no decision is made, nothing can go wrong! Many people fear of being proven wrong. Successful people make mistakes and admit them. It is the pathetic who is afraid to admit he has been wrong. If you do not make a mistake, you will never make a discovery. Thomas Edison tested 3,000 filaments before he came up with the light bulb. Uncertainty makes up the fifth symptom of failure.

Failures look for scapegoats. Failures resent success and happiness of others. He often blames society for all his shortcomings. Resentment is an attempt to make our failure palatable by explaining it in terms of unfair treatment, injustice. As long as you harbour resentment, this becomes the sixth symptom of failure

You have acquired all the wealth, all the external symbols of success but when you open the “treasure chest”, you find it all empty. You have lost the capacity to enjoy. Emptiness then becomes the seventh and final symptom of failure

My Fruit Trees Drink Coffee - Not Joking !!!

See the tiny pot and the crystal ball

I am not very much of a flower person. Whatever remaining flowers I had in the garden were given away and instead I only have fruit trees in pots. My longan plant in a pot started bearing fruits when it was hardly 5 feet tall and after 5 years it is still bearing fruits though smaller in numbers. The mango tree has been giving us fruits year after year. In this family of "abundance" is a dukong (mix of duku-langsat) tree, some dragon fruit plants, cherry apple (apples the size slightly bigger than cherry tomatoes), soursop, lime, custard apple and a fig tree. I have given away a lemon plant which is hardly 2 feet tall bearing numerous big fruits, an egg plant about a foot tall with long whitish (not purplish) brinjals and a guava plant also about two feet tall with fruits that are so big that it almost toppled the plant.

This morning as I was doing my daily chores of watering the plants I saw, to my amazement, a tiny little fruit from the custard apple tree. This plant is a scrawny little plant in a little pot that has hardly any soil where it shares the same abode as the dukong tree which is also very soil deprived. Most of these plants are soil deprived simply because the plants have outgrown the pot and is filled with roots rather than soil.

But what makes them flower and bear fruits? I am at a lost too because I do not use fertilizers except for the free coffee powder from Starbucks. So my plants drink coffee too! Also notice the crystals sitting on the surface of the soil. For your information I also have crystals buried in the soil. So, is the the coffee or the crystals doing its job????

I Cant Believe I Found 21 pcs Of Herkimer Diamond In My Kitchen Cabinet

Herkimer diamond found in its original matrix

My find in the kitchen cabinet

I decided to open one of the seldom opened cabinets in the kitchen and LOL what did I find. Exactly 21 pieces of Herkimer Diamond in a small container. I thought I have either given or sold all my Herkimer Diamonds but this find put a smile on my face. I can now own one of these again.

Herkimer Diamond is the happiest stone in the mineral kingdom. I have had good experiences with the use of Herkimer Diamond especially in dream work. Read more here

Those who are looking for them (especially healers), drop me a line.

India Is Like Home To Me Though I Am Chinese

Time just passes us by without us even noticing it. It is again the time of the year for me to get ready. I have been packing and unpacking and re-packing for the past few days. This year's packing is a little more fun as I know exactly what I still have in India, what I need to bring and what I dont need to get. I dont need to bring my rice cooker as I will have one to use when I arrive. And my pots and pans are still waiting for me in India. Basically it's buying foodstuff like ikan bilis, dried shrimps, 'lap cheong', shrimp sambal belachan ...... a long list to go.

The past 2 to 3 weeks had been depressing with news of Wamlung Monastery needing financial assistance for repair works and with the quakes and the tsunami in various parts of the world. Sometimes I wish I can do more than what I am doing now but I suppose all of us have our limitations to everything. So let's live and let live! I give thanks to all the people who brings cheer into my life

MUST MUST LISTEN - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Let's have some fun after such a long absence. I promise you a real good time listening to this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmdAF4ihedM

The Books Have Been Removed

It has been a long time since I last blog here because of the book sale. It was done intentionally so that people looking for books will have an easier time browsing through. The books now have been removed but if any of you are keen on certain books, do drop me a line. And for those who have yet to claim your FOC book, do let me know when you are ready to do so. And thanks to all who have bought and also to those who have shown interest.

The book sale was timely as just before the Hari Raya I was informed about a certain monastery in Tibet that needed funds for repair works. Collection of funds was set into gear and together with the sale of books and contributions, a decent amount was collected.

Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu