The world is ending- Mayan

Australia's Gillard in spoof: Mayans were right, world is ending

Thu Dec 6, 2012 6:06AM EST

CANBERRA (Reuters) - According to Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, the Mayans were right and the apocalypse is near.

In a spoof 50-second video appearance promoting a local radio station's breakfast show, Gillard provided hair-raising details that she said would come when the world ends this month, as the ancient Mayans calendar predicted.

With the straight face she often uses in a normal press conference, and surrounded by Australian national flags, Gillard addressed viewers as "My dear remaining fellow Australians."

"The end of world is coming. It wasn't Y2K, it wasn't even the carbon price," said Gillard firmly. "It turns out that the Mayan calendar is true."

Y2K was the computer glitch feared globally just before the year 2000, while the carbon tax refers to a major controversial policy put forward by her Labour government in 2012.

She went into terrifying details about the end of the world such as "flesh-eating zombies" and "demonic hell beasts", but then wooed her constituents with promises.

"If you know one thing about me it is this: I will always fight for you to the very end," she said, but noted that there is also a bright spot.

"At least this means I won't have to do Q&A again," she said, referring to an Australian TV show where politicians usually have to face tough questions from the audience.

A spokesman for Gillard said the video, which was uploaded by radio station Triple J on Thursday and has already been viewed more than 232,000 times on YouTube, was simply a spoof.

"It's just bit of fun," he told Reuters. "It's just a bit of humor for the end of the year. Nothing else."

The video comes out in the wake of a phone hoax in which two Australian presenters from another local radio station called the hospital which is treating Prince William's wife Kate and posed as Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles to ask questions about her condition.

Appreciation dinner from HL Bank

Last night I attended the Appreciation Dinner organized by  HL Bank at E&O.   I was invited and I wanted to attend the dinner to catch up with some old banker friends from the bank. I was expecting an organized dinner and would want to enjoy some quality time with my friends.

When I reach the dinner hall, there were already a big group of guest and bankers enjoying their drinks.  The bank provides  wine, whiskey and beer.  Unlimited quantity and everyone was drinking , talking and laughing. I walk around and managed to locate the person who have invited me and I asked to see my friends from the bank and unfortunately, they were not invited or not free to attend. I was quite disappointed as the HL bankers were quite strange to me but among the guest I saw a few familiar faces.  I said "hello" to them and that was about it.

I was told that I would be sitting among the main tables and I try to refuse as I do not know them very well or do not know them at all except their CEO who is sitting in the main table. However, the organizers refused to change table for me and I was forced to sit at one of the main tables with Dato's , HL bank's strong supporters. I exchanged my name card with them and we waited patiently for the dinner to stay. We did not wait long before dinner was served.

The host at my table was the  Corporate Division head of the bank and he introduced himself nicely before the start of the dinner. But , he was talking about having " Char Keow Teow" at lorong selamat in Penang bfore he come to the dinner.  He told us that he was very full and he only drinks whiskey. So, I expect the remaining nine people will eat with me. 

The first dish came and only four people eat while the rest of them continue drinking wine and whiskey .  The second dish came and only four people left sitting around the table and only two person eat the food. By the fhird dish, only one person , that is me sitting there and eating while the rest of the table guest have stood up and gather in groups to drink. It was so akward and I continued with my eating and drinking wine.  I did not bother to stand up and join them in their drinking spress.

This scene reminds me of my old days when the bankers force us to drink whiskey and brandy during noon and we drink like cows and ended flat out. We even try to use chinese tea to represent brandy to bluff the tipsy bankers. We were drunk many times over and in many occasions.  This was the trend and culture at that time. And last night's occasion remind me of these whiskeyful days.  I shivered down my spine as these 60 plus old people dirnk like a 20 years old. It is very damaging as the strong whiskey and brandies will hurt our stomach especially when we have not eat enough food.

After the fourth dishes,  I get up to excuse myself and enough is enough.   I have better things to do despite the food servings were good.  The smell of whiskey have already intoxicate me and before I fall, I ran.
Best wishes to these guys staying behind and I hope the best for you.

Namaste.

What is jealousy?

This is another issue of "ego". Nobody can be better than us or ourself is more important and nobody can hurt us.  If they do, we will fight back or someone is better, we should pull them down. Pertruding nails must be hammered down. This is another common weakness among us human beings.

Why eyes have to narrowed when we see somebody been appreciated by another or look better than us. The narrowing eyes is to bring the person into focus and examine him or her thoroughly and to find fault with the person. We are always better than the other person.

Our heart tighten as our eyes narrowed. We feel hurt and revengeful and thinking of a scheme to regain the lead or dinimished the brightness of the person and raise our light  to outshine the other person.It is really horrible and why cann't we appreciate and feel happy for another person's achievement and share the merits with them.

We should let go of this jealousy and release your heart from the clutch and open it up to enjoy the success of others. We should even help to make the brightness of another person brigther and enjoy the shine with him or her.

You might say that it is not an easy matter and I am not saying that it will be easy. Conquering our own self is the toughtest challenge we can have. If we diminished our brightness , it will hurt us or if we fan the brightness of another person, we will lose out. The other person may or may not share their shine with you or they can totally over shadowed us. Other people will neglect us and they will admire the other person and will grace his or her shine in life.

It is a basic human weakness that we should take care of ourself and guard our interest first before others.  To put somebody ahead of us and step on our pride to fan the goodness in others, is a very difficult thing to do. It is against the basic principle of "self". But , if we can break it and walk over it, our aura will shine and it will be shining much more vigoriously inside us. We could feel the lift and happiness will surged up inside us.  We can lfy without wings.

Before we can attain that status, we have to take the first step is kill our ego which fans jealousy. With the ego gone, a sudden force within us will rose and push up into the open space above. Our spirit will get lifted and it becomes a very easy task to feel eternal happiness.  So, the first step is to kill self , and it will naturally build up the momentum to lift above ourself.
This is the power within us and we can do it. Just kill ego and destory jealousy and a new life will come.

Namaste.

A chip off an old block

This afternoon , I  had lunch with my boss and his pal, C at Kampachi.   Mr C is a retired lawyer and he is quite a funny fella. During the lunch , we talk about the good old time and how we have enjoy it.

The first thing we talk about the is the hard liquor of the past like whiskey, martel, johnney walker,  dimples etc . Most of these drinks have faded and some is still around.  We could drink by the bottles and get high at lunch time.  We talk about our old friends like Whiskey Teh,  Martel king ,etc.

Next we talk about the clubs we went at that time and look for dancing girls for the tea dance and some even go all the way .. you know what.  Well, when we talk about drinks , we always link it with songs and women.  So, wine, women and song.. this arrangement was like heaven to us.

Finally, we talk about the girls of our school days.  Our chosen queens of our class or our school  and how we stare at these beautiful girls and have wet dreams about them. Ow, how time flies. We talk to talk about those popular girls at their twilight years and how they look.  Some of these popular girls looks older than their husband and really look horrible at their old age.  All of us concur that if we want to see how our wives ages,  we only need to look their mother.  It is usually a chip off an old block.

It seems cruel and disgusting on our jokes and comments but this is the facts of life. We are just enjoying to be frank and going down memory lane. What is wrong with it ?  Good memories are mend for reviving a thousand times.

We have stopped all these activities a long time ago and nowadays, it is just plain water and early sleeps . All this abstains are mend to keep us alive and provide the energy to last the day and the lest we need is sex and drinks. Haiyoo, we have to gradually phase ourself out..

Namaste.

Dinner at singelang , 8th row , Penang

Last night,  I had a dinner with my wife , BIL ES, BIL EH and SIL, G.   My wife was buying a dinner for her brothers and sister.  They have not been together for sometime now after the death of their father.

Singelang is a seafood restaurant and they also serve frog congees and frog legs.  The restaurant was was located on a one and half pre-war  house and its maximum capacity is only about 8 tables. Their specialties are steam fish, pork legs and frog legs. The steam fish was very fresh while the pork legs were abit too fat while the frog legs were delicious.  For 5 person, it cost about RM135.00 and this is a reasonable price for dinner in Penang.

The owner is a Teochew man who try to sell us  shark's fin and abalone claypot.  He told us that he can offer fish stomach, shark's fin ( whole piece ) and one abalone for each small claypot per person for RM150 and the minimum number of orders  is 5 and above.

With an above average taste, a simple set up and reasonable price, it is value for money.  By the way, he has operate the restaurant for eight years and it should be a good choice for dinner or lunch.

So live to eat and enjoy life at a reasonable price.

Namaste.

The Strait Mall in Farlim, Penang

Today, I had my breakfast and lunch at the strait mall.  There are only a few eateries there which is open for business.  The Paparich , Roti Bakar, Subway, Chatime, etc and a few shops will be open for business in December 12 ie Starbuck, Coffee Bean,  James Foo  and many more. Most of the shops are fast food outlets.

My breakfast was at Paparich, i had a chicken congee and coffee while my sister, H had "hor fun "siew mai" and we spend 40 minutes chatting and enjoying the air-condition.  The taste of the food was t okay and it was more expensive at the food at the normal coffee shope. We are also paying for the facilities at the eateries.  The service was also okay.

My lunch with my wife was at the newly open Roti Bakar.  It s their second day of operation and all the waiters and waitress was students breaking for holidays. Their service was a disaster and their  service was a disaster as food was delayed and with students bumping into customers. Okay, things will  take time to stabilize but the first impression is very important as customers will take some time to forget their unpleasant encounters.

In time to come the Mall will be occupied and there will many more choice for the people of Farlim. For me, home coked is the best and if there is no choice, such eateries will provide me the food excitements and choices. 

Looking at the population of Farlim with their newly constructed condos and apartments,  there could be demand for such mid-ranged food options especially the home cooked food is getting less as people spend most of their time chasing after their money dreams and unlimited wealth.  The joy of cooking and eating own cooked food is fading and people opted for convenience and choice of food.

For a conservative like me, a properly home cooked food will bring the joy of eating and spending time with our family.  In France, I was told that the people spend their time learning how to cook and spend long time enjoying their home cooked dishes and this brings them immense joy and happiness.

Namaste.

Staying together is tough

Today is my BIL ES 's birthday. We had a dinner gathering at Starview Restaurant . It started at 7.30 pm and lasted until 10.30 pm .It was s long dinner. There was so much chatting and drinking and many discussion topics float atcross the dinner table. Red wine was served and we drink to our heart/s delight. It was a good dinner. The food and the cakes were excellent.

After the dinner, it is back to our usual life. We started to disperse and the members go separate ways back to their life. One thing noticeable.  Eating and drinking can be fun but when we go back to our own life , it is back to  reality. We have to face the hard facts of life.'

When we are courting, both couples try to please each other to preserve the relationship but once, they are married, true colors will come out an and more and more unpleasant things will happen and couples starts to argue and fight over what they think is right.The difference gets wider and wider unless one side absorbs the hurts and pain.

The other day, my daugther M placed a comment on the FB and her message was that relationship is difficult to maintain until old age.  When I saw it , I know that she is growing up fast. When a young couple is courting, the love is blind and their love is forever and ever.  It is a fairy tale. But, in reality, things are not so nice and it is rocky.  The grass is greener on the other side.

After reading her comments, I wrote a comment on her FB to tell her that everything is possible and she has to work very hard on her relationship.  There must be mutual respects, tolerance and understandings.  Sometimes, we have to agree to disagree so that we can live together. We also have to accept separation so that relationship can be preserved.  Staying together is not the solution and it is better to meet as friends then living as a couple. Our mindset would need to be changed.

There is a chinese saying " meeting each other is easy but living to gether is very difficult.  This Great Wisdom have been through many generations and we have to be aware and accept this arrangement.

Namaste