Home Sweet Home

The thing about going back home is, you are back to the people who genuinely cares for you. That alone is enough as a reason to state why balik kampung is my best moment.

I am just back from Kampung. I wanted to stay longer but duty calls and I don't have a choice but to go back to work although the next day would again be another holiday.

At kampung, the children were playing truant, had an experimental time enjoying firecrackers and Nonel being the little baby was adored by everyone. The smiles never left anyone. It seemed like a ton of burden just being lifted up from everyone's shoulders.

My mother was the busiest. My father looked much older but still as strong as he was. I wonder how gray or white his hair would be if only he allow it to grow, but being him, bald is always the option.

And..the fun part that really made my day was my father's choice on the exterior wall paint colour (purple + green + pink) ^_^. To be honest I thought it ruined the entire beauty of the house building but amazingly it did not ticked me off. In fact, I laughed until my stomach hurt, to the astonishment of my mother who forbid me from complaining it to my beloved father.It did not help that the paint colour of the interior was as bizarre as the outside which left me confused on what could be the best curtains colour to drape the windows in order to at least balance the outrageous wall's paint. ah...its a challenge.. I should smile..^_^

Being born in a very challenging environment, multi talented and opinionated parents and siblings made my kind of life not only full of challenge but made it more colourful. I could not asked for a better family to grow in character. The hardest place I ever been and yet the place I can always call home.

I am blessed indeed.

The magic thread by William J.Bennet

Peter is a boy who is strong and able, yet sadly flawed by an attitude of impatience. Always dissatisfied by his present condition, Peter spends his life day-dreaming about the future.

One day while wandering in the forest, Peter meets a strange old woman who gives him a most tantalizing opportunity - the chance to skip the dull, mundane moments of life. She hands peter a silver ball from which a tiny fold thread. "This is your life thread". She explains. "Do not touch it and time will pass normally. But if you wish time to pass more quickly, you have only to pull the thread a little way and an hour will pass like a second. But I warn, you, once the thread has been pulled out, it cannot be pushed back again."

The magical thread seems the answer to all of Peter's problems. It is just what he has always wanted. He takes the ball and runs home.

The following day in school Peter has his first opportunity to put the silver ball to use. The lesson is dragging, and the teacher scolds Peter for not concentrating. Peter fingers the silver ball and gives the thread a slight tug. Suddenly the teacher dismisses the class, and Peter is free to leave school. He is overjoyed! How easy his life will now be. From this moment, Peter begins to pull the thread a little everyday.

But soon Peter begins to use the magic thread to rush through larger portions of life. Why waste time pulling the thread just a little every day when he can pull it hard and complete school altogether? He does so and finds himself out of school and apprenticed in a trade. Peter uses the same technique to rush through his engagement to his sweetheart. He cannot bear to wait months to marry her, so he uses the gold thread to hasten the arrival of his wedding day.

Peter continues this pattern throughout his life. When hard, trying times come, he escapes them with his magic thread. When the baby cries at night, when he faces financial struggles, when he wishes his own children to be launched in careers of their own, Peter pulls the magic thread and bypasses the discomfort of the moment.

But sadly, when he comes to the end of his life. Peter realizes he emptiness of such an existence. By following impatience and discontentment to rule him, Peter has robbed himself of life's richest moments and memories. With only the grave to look forward to, he deeply regrets ever having used the magic thread

"

Too often, people want what they want (or what they think they want, which is usually "happiness" in one form or another) right now. The irony of their impatience is that only by learning to wait, and by a willingness to accept the bad with the good, do we usually attain those things that are truly worthwhile

."

The proper Care & Feeding of husbands by Dr.Laura Schlessinget

About this book

Generally the content of the book is about Dr.Laura suggestions to the wives on how to maintain a healthy, balanced and fulfilling relationship with their husbands by giving them the proper care and feeding.

In my opinion, while the book presented various real life situation, it does not emphasized much on each topic that she was supposed to talk about. The content barely scratch the surface. Nonetheless it reached its goal to bash the women for becoming too independent until they become selfish and thus could not care less about the husbands need.

In every pages it feels like the author offer the same principles which are to not nag your man,to appreciate them more, to give him his own space with his friends and to be grateful and to be contented for what he is.

Let me just list down a few of the notions that I get from reading this book. Please note that this book maybe helpful to some and especially helpful if you are someone who loves to be in control and loves nagging your husband, or always demanding an equality in everything.

1. The common need of men are food, love and sex. Don't neglect any.

2. Men are simple creatures. They talk less (although I have met some who talk more, so its a generalization by the author) and do more. They don't beat around the bush like women do.

2. Appreciate the inherit attributes of each gender. Woman has the attribute to nurture whereas the man has the attribute to "slay the dragons".

3. If a woman decided to stay as a homemaker, then do the house chores, care and nurture the children, teach the children the right value but when its time for the husband to go home, make yourself presentable enough for him to see the moment he walks in the door. Give him a BIG HUG and a kiss! ^_____^ . Don't complain, sulk or pout or make excuses to not become intimate because you think your life is colorless compared to him. You and your husband share the same weight on your shoulders. It's only fair to enjoy each other after a long hard work on each day.

4. Woman should not be blindly submissive to the husband in case he is the sort of a criminal type who really are oppressive and a bully. We are only to submit to a man who is equally loving to us.^_^

5. Give him your best loving and care and you will no longer have to beg for your husband attention nor to nag them inappropriately.

6. He do loves making his wife happy so don't burden him with complaint you don't want him to solve. It only leaves him confused. Please forget about the so called woman neediness to make a man listen to everything just for the sake of making him understand it. It might not help.

So, is that helpful? Honestly I took a deep breath after reading the book. It felt as if, my mom just had finished nagging me. ^_^

Good luck wifey and wifey to be. May we please our husband more so he may rejoice and be blessed because of us. ^_^

Let me leave you with a joke shared in the book

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" A new Perfect Husband Shopping Center opened where a woman could go to choose from among many men to find the perfect husband. It was laid out on five floors, with the men increasing in positive attributes as you ascended the floors. They must choose a man from that floor, and if you go up a floor, you can't go back down except to leave the store. So, a couple of girlfriends go to the store to find a man to marry.

The first floor signs reads: "These men have high-paying jobs and love kids.' The women read the sign and say, 'Well, that's wonderful...but', and wonder what's on the next floor.

The second floor sign reads: 'These men have high-paying jobs, love kids, and are extremely good looking.''Hmmm', say the girls. 'Wonder what's further up?'

The third floor sign reads: 'These men have high-paying jobs, love kids, are extremely good looking, and will help with housework.' 'Wow!' say the women. 'Very tempting...but there's more further up!'

The fourth floor sign reads: 'These men have high-paying jobs, love kids, are extremely good looking, will help with the housework, and are great in bed.' 'Oh, mercy me. But just think! What must be awaiting us further up?!' Say the women.

So, up to the fifth floor sign reads: 'This floor is just to prove that women are impossible to please.'"

^__________^ r we?, men are the same aren't they? :P

7 Habits of highly effective people by Stephen R.Covey

Before I start with my full review, let me include an excerpt that I found most thought-provoking in this book.In fact, the author actually captured it from an often quoted fable called "The Animal school" by R.H.Reeves:

Once upon a time, the animals decided they must do something heroic to meet the problems of a "New World", so they organized a school. They adopted an activity curriculum consisting of running, climbing, swimming and flying. To make it easier to administer, all animals took all the subjects.

The duck was excellent in swimming, better in fact than his instructor, and made excellent grades in flying, but he was very poor in running. Since he was low in running he had to stay after school and also drop swimming to practice running. This was kept up until his web feet were badly worn and he was only average in swimming. But average was acceptable in school, so nobody worried about that except the duck.

The rabbit started at the top of the class in running, but had a nervous breakdown because of so much makeup in swimming.

The squirrel was excellent in climbing until he developed frustrations in flying class where his teacher made him start from the ground up instead of from tree-top down. He also developed Charley horses from over-exertion and he got a C in climbing and a D in running.

The eagle was a problem child and had to be disciplined severely. In climbing class he beat all the others to the top of the tree, but insisted on using his own way to getting there.

At the end of the year, an abnormal eel that could swim exceedingly well and also could run, climb and fly a little had the highest average and was a valedictorian.

The prairie dogs stayed out of school and fought the tax levy because administration would not add digging and burrowing to the curriculum. They apprenticed their children to the badger and later joined the groundhogs and gophers to start a successful private school.

Now give me sometimes to make a commentary on the above subject. The excerpt actually fall under the title of "valuing the differences". I agree on that but I also have something else on my mind.

My first opinion

The first one is, it tells me that rather than keep on harnessing your skill on something else that you can only become average at or probably going to flop at, why not excel and keep on harnessing the skill that you have already been gifted with.

My second opinion

The second one is, if you are determined enough to do something, you could become average but no one would worry about it except you. so, do it anyway.

So what's in for me

With that realization, my own struggle with learning and honing skills come to mind.I am trying to be a well-rounded person (if it does exist)but I might be losing my energy on trying to be good at things that I am not. So, I think I should try to write more since it is what I love to do the most. I might not be good at it yet, but who is going to complain anyway? and another take is who knows If I continue on writing I am going to excel at it in the end. ^_^

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About my review

I have touched on the most interesting part that I found on the book. So now let me get on with my first intention which is to make a short review about the book.

What I have found interesting

1. The book was very comprehensive and I can't possibly quote everything that I like because all the contents are interesting, helpful and inspiring. No wonder it was a best-selling book.

2. If you are looking for a book to start on getting serious with your life, if let say its becoming less interesting, this book will give all the finest detail to be a better person.

3. There is one thing the author emphasized about that grasped my attention. He emphasized about the way we looked at things depended mostly on our experiences because we tend to draw whatever knowledge that has been deposited in our mind through our unique and vast experiences. So, that is why it is not fair to say someone else is wrong and we are right.

4. Of course, like I said what I found most interesting was the part where we need to value the differences of other people who can be good at different things and think in a different way.

So what's next

Its a matter of applying what has been read, especially of the thing that I found most helpful to me. So that is why I am going to write more.. ^_^

Book review :The year of living biblically: One man humble quest to follow the bible as literally as possible by A.J. Jacobs

Since I've been reading a lot of books I feel it is only fair for me to write a short review of those that inspired me. I will start with this book.

What I have found inspiring:-

1. Honestly I never read the bible from back to back so of course one thing I like the most is the fact that the writer actually took all the efforts to read as many bible as possible to see the difference of each translation.

2. I would also give him credit for his magnificent effort in looking for counselors from various churches. It means he was not being one sided.

3. The fact that he was taking the bible as literally as possible actually baffled me and at the beginning I condoned the idea but towards the middle of it I found myself criticizing his undertakings. However at the end I was quite impressed of what actually transpired throughout his quest.

4. I gained a perspective of religion from the agnostic point of view and to me that was equal to flying out to the airspace, a place where I have heard of but could never really associate myself with.

So what's next

As you know, the reason why we read a book is to add on our knowledge and by all means try to be a better person to make a good impact in this world. Having said that, I've decided to follow his step to finish reading the bible. It just seems so foolish not to finish reading it. One man have made it, or maybe it is just me who has not make the time to read it back to back...^_^

TIME TO CHANGE!