Life’s So Beautiful

Archive for the ‘Motivation’ Category

Yes, Canada has done it! Canada successfully won the ice hockey gold through a golden goal by Sidney Crosby in overtime to give Canada an euphoric 3-2 victory over USA at the Vancouver Games. The win sparked off massive celebrations across Canada from the Atlantic provinces right up to the Yukon. With a total haul of 14 golds, Canada created history for the most golds won by any country at a Winter Olympics.

Ice hockey is the most popular sports in Canada.  Indeed the country seems fanatical about the sports. Ice hockey stars are revered. Don’t be surprised if some Canadians give you a blank stare when you mention Wayne Rooney or Ronaldo. But ask them about Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr or Guy Lafleur and see how they respond.

During my university days at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada in the late 1970s, I witnessed firsthand the fanatical popularity of ice hockey among Canadians. Being in Montreal, my favorite team was the Montreal Canadiens which was then the most successful team in the NHL, winning 4 consecutive Stanley Cups during the period 1976 to 1979.  And their most famous player then was none other than Guy Lafleur. Fans chanted “Guy, Guy, Guy!” whenever he touched the puck. He became known among English fans as “Flower”, while among French fans he was dubbed “le Demon Blond” or the Blond Devil. He is regarded as one of the greatest ice hockey stars of all time.

Guy Lafleur...the Blond Devil

So I know what it means to the Canadians to win the Winter Olympics ice hockey gold. Ice hockey is their national passion. Ice hockey is to the Canadians what soccer is to most of the rest of the world.  Canada=Ice Hockey! So congratulations Canada!

Canada is such a lovely and peaceful country. If you have never been to Canada, do visit it one day. It is a huge country so it would take you weeks if you want to travel from British Columbia to the Atlantic Provinces. But I can assure you that you won’t regret it….indeed you will be awed by the breathtaking beauty of Canada. Just thinking of Canada brings back a lot of nostalgia of the fun and happy memories I had there. O Canada!

Today is the last day of February and it is also Chap Goh Meh, the finale to the Chinese New Year celebration. Being a Sunday, this year’s Chap Goh Meh will be celebrated on a grander scale by the Chinese.

Chap Goh Meh, meaning “fifteenth night” in Hokkien, is a day to spend with loved ones. It is like Valentine’s Day for the Chinese. On this day, single adults throw oranges into rivers in the hope of finding a life partner. The Hokkien even have a saying which goes “tim kam chua ho ang”  which literally means “throw a mandarin orange, marry a good husband.” But nowadays a lot of young people throw oranges into rivers merely for fun.

People used to write their names and telephone numbers on oranges that they threw into rivers or lakes.  Nowadays with the widespread use of the internet, I guess people will probably write their emails or their websites addresses on the oranges that they throw……some may even write the names that they use on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

To all my friends and associates, I wish you all a very happy Chap Goh Meh!  Go now to the supermarkets to buy a box of mandarin oranges and see you at the lakeside at Bulatan Park tonight! Who knows, you may find your life partner tonight! Hahaha…happy orange throwing!

At the stroke of midnight about half an hour ago, the sky of Miri erupted in a glorious display of fireworks as the Chinese celebrated the arrival of the Year of the Tiger.  And this was accompanied by deafening firecrackers that turned the whole city into a war-like zone. I managed to capture some of the firework display on  my compact digital camera.

Morning had broken and I was sending my wife and son to work yesterday when we saw the sun’s rays  emanating from the clouds that had shielded the sun from view. And the clouds had so intense silver linings. It was a sight to behold and I quickly captured the views on my camera. Unfortunately I don’t any zoom lens so the photos that I took do not depict the actual scene well.  Anyway you can get an idea of the beauty of the scene from these photos.

As we were driving, we then saw this huge rainbow stretching across the sky. I always feel blessed and often I am seized by a sense  that something good is going to come my way whenever I see a huge rainbow like this. So needless to say, I “captured” the rainbow on my camera. The last time I saw one was a couple of months ago and I also quickly “captured” it on my camera and on that night, I had an amazing windfall. Hmm….maybe something great is going to materialize this weekend…..I am keeping my fingers crossed!

On April 1 1961 (yes, April Fool Day), a Scottish girl was born to a couple who already had nine children. At her birth, her mother was 47 and during the difficult childbirth, the girl was briefly deprived of oxygen and was later diagnosed as having learning difficulties. She was often bullied as a child and was nicknamed “Susie Simple” at school.

After leaving school with few qualifications, she took singing and acting lessons. In 1995 her audition for Michael Barrymore’s “My Kind of People” was filmed. The amateur video shows Barrymore was apparently more interested in mocking her than in her singing ability.

After winning several local singing competitions, she was urged by her mother to enter Britain’s Got Talent. She almost abandoned her plan to enter the show as she believed she was too old and that it was a young person’s game. Her mother’s death motivated her to go on Britain’s Got Talent as a tribute to her mother.

In August 2008 she applied for an audition for the third series of Britain’s Got Talent and was accepted after a preliminary audition in Glasgow. She sang “I Dreamed A Dream” from Les Miserables in the first round. When she first took to the stage, the initially cynical attitude of the audience and the judges was obvious….she was “prejudged”  because of her appearance. This cynicism was transformed into a standing ovation when she finished her rendition of “I Dreamed A Dream”. Her initial demeanour and homely appearance caused the judges and the audience to be “waiting for her to squawk like a duck”.

A new superstar was born and the world came to know about this Scottish lady Susan Boyle. Boyle’s first album “I Dreamed A Dream” was released on November 23 2009 and has enjoyed phenomenal success worldwide, racking up sales of a few million copies so far! Her album raced to the top of the charts in US, UK and many countries worldwide.

Boyle’s story is a like a fairy tale about overcoming adversity and prejudice and a rebuke to people’s tendency to judge others based on their physical appearance. Her performance is a victory for talent and artistry in a culture obsessed with physical attractiveness and presentation.

I bought Susan Boyle’s “I Dreamed A Dream” last week and have been enjoying her renditions of  “I Dreamed A Dream”, “Wild Horses”, “Cry Me A River”, “How Great Thou Art”, “You’ll See”, “Daydream Believer”, “Up To The Mountain”, “Amazing Grace”, “Who I Was Born To Be”, “Proud”, “The End Of The World” and “Silent Night”. You can find the album at Speedy Video in Miri……go buy it and enjoy the music!

I Dreamed A Dream by Susan Boyle

2010 is here!  A very very happy new year to everyone!

In this new year, may God grant you…..

12 months of happiness

52 weeks of fun

365 days of success

8,760 hours of good health

525,600 minutes of blessings

31,536,000 seconds of joy

The last day of 2009 will end in a few hours. It is time to say goodbye to 2009 and say hello to 2010.

Goodbye 2009

As I look back at the past one year, I honestly think 2009 has been a  good year for me. I feel blessed in many areas of my life and I am filled with a great sense of gratitude to all those who have touched my life.

My wife and my two sons have been a source of immense joy for me. My wife has given me full support in what I set out to do and has always been the pillar of my life. My son Clarence has been a source of my inspiration for what he has been able to achieve in his professional career. And my younger son Leslie completed his Bachelor of Commerce in June this year and is now attached to a reputable audit firm. I am really awed by his prudence in money matters. To both of my sons, I just wish to say that I am proud of you two.

This year has seen a few milestones in my life:

1. I started this blog on March 17 of this year so this blog is now almost 10 months old. I am glad that I have persisted in keeping this blog active and updated regularly. In a couple of months, this blog will be 1 year old….I look forward to that day!

2. In April this year, I attended the Global Internet Summit in Penang. That was a real eye-opener for me and I am so glad that I took the initiative to attend it.

3. On October 22 this year, eBay granted me the Top-Rated Seller status. That is a real milestone in my eBay business and I am indebted to all my eBay customers who make it possible.

4. Several of my investments in online investment programs paid off handsomely this year. I am glad that I did my due diligence on these programs and invested in them. Why leave all your money in bank earning a meagre 2-3% per annum when you can get almost ten times that return PER MONTH investing in reliable online programs?

5. I read a couple of books this year that have changed my mentality about money and life, notably “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari” by Robin Sharma, “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne and “How To Be Wildly Wealthy Fast” by Sandy Forster. I am learning to have a prosperity conscious mind and it has been an interesting journey.

2010 is just a few hours away.  I look forward to the new year with great anticipation and I am confident 2010 will be an even better year for me. And I wish you all success in whatever you do in the coming year. May you be blessed!

This is a young girl destined for success:

She visited a durian farm one day and wanted to buy a large durian.

“That’s five dollars,” said the farmer.

“I’ve only got one dollar,” said the young girl.

The farmer pointed to a small durian hanging on a nearby durian tree and said, “How about that one?”

“Okay, I’ll take it,” said the little girl. “But leave it on the tree. I’ll be back for it in a month.”

This moving story is from an email sent to me by my eldest brother……I hope it will touch your heart and make you realize that we human can learn a lot from this pair of baby hippo and a century-old tortoise.

A baby hippopotamus that survived the tsunami waves on the Kenyan coast has formed a strong bond with a giant male century-old tortoise in an animal facility in the port city of Mombassa , officials said

The century-old tortoise and the baby hippo

The hippopotamus, nicknamed Owen and weighing about 300 kilograms (650 pounds), was swept down Sabaki River into the Indian Ocean , then forced back to shore when tsunami waves struck the Kenyan coast on December 26, before wildlife rangers rescued him.

“It is incredible. A-less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted a male tortoise, about a century old, and the tortoise seems to be very happy with being a ‘mother’,” ecologist Paula Kahumbu, who is in charge of Lafarge Park , told AFP.

“After it was swept away and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized. It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother. Fortunately, it landed on the tortoise and established a strong bond. They swim, eat and sleep together,” the ecologist added.

Baby hippo following its "mother"

Resting next to each other

“The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it followed its mother. If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive, as if protecting its biological mother,” Kahumbu added.

What a strange pair!

“The hippo is a young baby, he was left at a very tender age and by nature, hippos are social animals that like to stay with their mothers for four years,” he explained.

Isn't that so touching?

Love is.........

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

This is a real story that shows that our differences don’t matter much when we need the comfort of another. We could all learn a lesson from these two creatures: “Look beyond the differences and find a way to walk the path together.”

Today is the birthday of my cousin Sylvester Lim and his daughter Krystle. I find it amazing that a father and a daughter share the same birthday. I guess that is probably why there is such a special bond between my cousin and his daughter. To my cousin and my niece, I wish you both  an awesome birthday. Sylvester, you finally hit the magical 55 today…..can I call you a senior citizen now?

I finished listing my China first day covers, stamp presentation packs and maxim cards on eBay this afternoon. That gave me a sense of accomplishment.  It was then that I realised how hungry I was…it was almost 3.30pm and I had not taken any lunch. I went to Pelita Commercial Centre to have a plate of “char siew” (barbecue) pork rice and some cucur pisang (banana fritters).

After picking up my wife and my son from their respective offices, we drove back to Senadin to have dinner at one of the restaurants there.  After dinner, I noticed this huge rainbow in the sky….I have hardly ever seen such a huge rainbow.  I don’t know why but seeing the huge rainbow gave me a sense of euphoria and a feeling that something good is going to happen.

On reaching our home, I checked my mails and my eBay account……hmmm, there had been a few sales from my eBay listings. I took a quick warm bathe and then left my house to attend the World Vision Sharing Session by Malaysian actress Lee Sinje at the Imperial Hotel.  I have been a World Vision child sponsor for a couple of years so I did not want to miss the opportunity to hear an Asian movie queen ( Lee Sinje won the Golden Horse Best Actress Award for her role in the Hong Kong horror movie “The Eye”) sharing her experience with World Vision child sponsorship.

I estimate the crowd to be over 200.  Lee Sinje received a very warm applause when she entered the ballroom where the session was being held.  She shared her experience about going to Mongolia to meet her sponsored child and what an impact it had on her. She also talked about her trips to Africa and India. She obviously touched quite a lot of hearts with her sharing as evidenced by the number of people signing up as child sponsors after the sharing session.

I was deeply touched by Lee’s sincere sharing and her commitment to help World Vision. I signed up to sponsor another child. For only RM50 a month, you can sign up to be a child sponsor. Think about it..by just sacrificing one dinner outing each month, you can make a difference in this world!

I know there are a lot of people out there who have the thinking that they cannot make any difference. In their mind, they think of the millions and millions of starving children and they just conclude that they cannot do anything about it and so they adopt an indifferent attitude. WAKE UP PLEASE! YOU CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT……YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! You cannot sponsor millions of children but you can make an immense difference in the life of the child you sponsor! You will be giving that child a chance in life, a chance for the child to reach his/her potential.

If you are still not convinced that you can make a difference, please watch the following YouTube movie and let its message sink into your heart.