Dearest Ja…

"There wasn’t time for one last hug. There was no final kiss. It’s those little smiles that I so truly miss..."

If you are still around, today will be your 21st birthday. Mak miss you so very much... al-Fatihah...

In remembrance: Mirza Ashran Mustafa (1985 - 2006)

World Heritage...

“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living...” – Miriam Beard

December is a lazy laid-back month where people would want to take a long break away from office, go for a holiday somewhere far.

Those skeleton staff who need to take care of the department are also relax on their job. Meetings are kept to the minimal. Everyone is in festivity frame of mind. This is the month where staff will know of their performance ratings which will later translate into their bonuses and increments. This is also the month where staff will try to finish their annual leave and for some who have the pleasure of accumulating leave and have no plan to utilize them will be calculating the cash conversion for 10 days at the max. The rest of the leave if not utilized will be burnt to ashes…

As for me I have less than 10 days left. Usually I’ll be cashing in all my leave balance but last week while looking through the mails, we came across our Enrich points flyers and decided that we will convert some for free tickets to somewhere. And we have chosen Cambodia. Our plan is to visit one of the most important archaeological sites in South-East Asia, the Angkor Wat.

I need to look for my khaki slacks and start packing my bag...

My Overseas Travelogue: munmus.blogspot.com

Good Karma...

"Many of us spend half our time wishing for things we could have if we didn't spend half our time wishing..." — Alexander Woollcott

I received this in my e-mail.

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three R’s: Respect for self, Respect for other’s and Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.
7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19. Approach love with reckless abandon.

把這則曼陀羅寄給至少五個人，您的生活就會有所提昇。

FORWARD THIS MANTRA AND YOUR LIFE WILL IMPROVE (or something like that…)

The passage of time

"Another year gone. Time just seems to fly me by..."

(1985 - Sara, Iwan and Ja)

Last night, while lying on my bed, I reflected on the happenings during the year. This is my year of joy and delight. This is also my year of grief and sorrow. Early this year I lost my youngest son, Ja in a road accident. This year my eldest daughter, Sara and my second son, Iwan graduated from their varsities. This year Iwan got married to Ella. And only last week Sara received her PTD result and will be going away next week to report for training.

To Ja, I miss him so very much. To Sara and Iwan, I will be missing them too. A few months ago Iwan and Ella moved out to stay on their own in their new apartment. As for Sara, I know she will be busy attending the PTD program and later will be posted somewhere away from home. I realize our children need to get out on their own. I am going to miss their squeals, smiles and laughter.

Time stood still as I watched them grow. Thinking about it, I felt a slight pull on my heartstrings… All these years I hope I understood them well. I hope I have given them enough attention, love and care. And have guided them through every fear, through good decision, and blunder.

To my children I often said, “Life journey will never end at any destination because the destination for one is a milestone for another...”

An affair to remember...

"To a friend, our goodbye isn't painful unless we're never going to say hello again…"

(1 - 3 Dec, 2006, Andaman Langkawi...) 

Childhood sweethearts share an innocence
That, if they marry, lasts them all their lives,
An early sacrifice that makes no sense,
Save that something beautiful survives.

There is the sense that angels would do this,
A rightness like a rock before the sea,
A hunger for a symbiotic kiss,
For love as pure as it was meant to be.

And so it is for those who make that choice,
Who dare to love so faithfully and long
That each becomes to each a second voice,
Transforming merest moments into song.

How beautiful first love! Yet better still,
A love for life sustained by wish and will.

(Nicholas Gordon)

To a friend, our goodbye isn't painful unless we're never going to say hello again…