Dear Karen

This post today is dedicated to a dear friend, Karen


Dear Karen,

I'm sure you are up there in Heaven with your loved ones. Sorry that I wasn't there to send you on your last journey, I understand that it has been a long, tough and frightening journey for you. A long journey of fighting with the cancer cells in you. You have shown remarkable strength throughout your journey, the medication, the chemo, from the time you know you had them, till they start to spread throughout you, not once have you given up life. You never fail to always put on a smiley face whenever you are with us, while within you, it must have been a painful struggle.

Yesterday, your suffering ended. I do not know what was going through your mind when you finally decided to draw your last breathe but I think you know you are ready to go.

Dear Karen, thank you for bringing joy and happiness to all who know you when you are alive and for your generosity and sincerity in treating people. You will always been remembered in our hearts.


With love from Winnie

Final Destination 3 - will you or will you not?

"The One" and I were watching "Final Destination 3" on DVD at home today. Usually for me, I'm not really keen on watching suspense or horror movies (I didn't even watched Final Destination 1 and 2), I get scared easily (OK OK I'm timid) and keep thinking of scenes from the movie and frighten myself hahahaha..

In this movie, it's about this gal, Wendy, who's able to 'foresee' and 'sense' death; and the destiny of 6 other people who were supposed to die but escaped death "by luck". However, "Death" catches up with them really soon and as the movie goes.."You can RUN but you cant HIDE".

What I find interesting is, in fact in the beginning of the movie, Wendy actually captured the photos of those people who actually 'escapes' death the first time (that means they are predestined to 'escape' death) and from the photographs, 'predicted how' they are going to die..so the fact is they will die but with the knowledge of "HOW they will die"..hmm, here comes the question, if you have the chance to know how you will die, will you want to know and infact change that fate??

For me, it 50%:50%, if its a peaceful one, why not let it happen right? If its not, hmm, but should I decide to try and alter it...for every stage that I made a change, the conclusion will affect not just me, but the fate of others too. The change might be good, but it might also turn out worst, no one knows. Will you take that chance?

Cheerios and keep smiling!

With Love from PoohBear

Free is too expensive..OWN the internet!

Everyone's looking to earn some money from the internet, be it as an income or supplementary income. I found something pretty interesting on the net that caught my attention, "Free is too expensive..OWN THE INTERNET". Its actually a company AGLOCO that allow net-surfer (like you and me) to earn money while surfing the net.

(This is a sample email that I extracted from the AGLOCO website)

AGLOCO’s story is simple:

Do you realize how valuable you are? Advertisers, search providers and online retailers are paying billions to reach you while you surf. How much of that money are you making? NONE!
AGLOCO thinks you deserve a piece of the action.

AGLOCO collects money from those companies on behalf of its members. (For example, Google currently pays AOL 10 cents for every Google search by an AOL user. And Google still has enough profit to pay $1.6 billion dollars for YouTube, an 18-month old site full of content that YouTube’s users did not get paid for!

AGLOCO will work to get its Members their share of this and more.

AGLOCO is building a new form of online community that they call an Economic Network. They are not only paying Members their fair share, but they’re building a community that will generate the kind of fortune that YouTube. But instead of that wealth making only a few people rich, the entire community will get its share.

What's the catch? No catch - no spyware, no pop-ups and no spam - membership and software are free and AGLOCO is 100% member owned. Privacy is a core value and AGLOCO never sells or rents member information.


I reckon, what's there to lose? Its free, I don't have to do anything, Anyway, I DO SURF the net. If you will like to sign up under me (I do automatically get credit for referring you and helping to build AGLOCO), this is my link: http://www.agloco.com/r/BBBP2517

To find out more about this company, the company web link is http://www.agloco.com/
(P/S: Do note, the VIEWBAR is in testing stage, so its not available for download yet. Signing up just give you the privilege of 'be in line' till its available for downloading)

Will we all be richer after this? Only time will tell isn't it? ;)


Cheerios and keep Smiling!
With Love from PoohBear

Little bits of the blissful life :) Part 3

Comic runs from Upper left, to right, lower left, to right
1. I'm going to break up with you! I'm packing my things and going back home!
2. That's great, Darling
3. Here, take these money for the ride
4. These money is not enough, what about the money for the ride back?!

Cheerios and keep smiling!
With Love from PoohBear

Little bits of the blissful life :) Part 2

Comic runs from upper left, to right, then lower left, to right
1. I should have listen to my mother not to have marry you!
2. You're saying your mother did try to stop you from marrying me?
3. YES!
4. Duh! I've been blaming her all these years! (translating to "She has infact tried to 'save' me from you!")

Cheerios and keep smiling!
With Love from PoohBear

Little bits of the blissful life :) Part 1

Got these comics from an email a girlfriend, Janice, sent me..Thanks Janice! There's a few but I have picked 3 and put it up here. Thought I'll share these with you guys for a little laugh. It's in the Chinese language, so I'll do a little translation for those who can't really understand. Please do bear with my poor translation :) Enjoy!


The comics runs from Upper left, to right then lower left, to right
1. Hey, why are you looking so gloomy?
2. Sigh, my wife is throwing a tantrum, she's not going to speak to me for a week!
3. Shouldn't you be happy?!! At least you will have one week of peace!
4. That's the problem! Today is the last day of that one week!!


Cheerios and keep Smiling!
With Love from PoohBear

Divorce your mother-in-law

Was watching 'The Gill Deacon show" on TV and an interesting topic came up on the show, "Divorce your mother-in-law". On the show, Relationship counselor Owen Williams said, "The only woman a man needs to divorce is his mother"..hmm interesting..he goes on to talk about the typical 'soft' man who was always caught inbetween his wife and his mom, trying to please both parties and ending up being an angry man as he can't please both. He also brings up certain points on how to deal with the wife-husband-mother in law realtionship :

The no. 1 most important point:
1. Forming an allies with your wife
both husband and wife needs to talk about the value that BOTH of them wanted and valued in THEIR OWN family, that they both form now and be able to bring that point across to the mother

2. Talk about why certain things that need to be done is important
If things such as dinner at the in-law's place every weekend is important or having to travel 200 miles across to spend x'mas at nanny's place is important, talk about it and let each other know why it is important. Each partner will have to respect what are the things that each other feel is important and try to stay in tune with the feeling of your partners.

3. Discuss and don't presume and EXPECT that things are suppose to be done in certain way or should/shouldn't be done in certain way
We all come from different family background, upbringing, what and how things are done in one family does not mean it is done the same way in the other family. Talk about how things are done, if necessary, modify, compromise & discuss how it will be done in YOUR OWN family that you both now form.

When the host Gill asked, "so who owns the largest responsibility here (in this 3 legged relationship)?" which Owen William replies, 'Its the man, he has to learn to stand up and be ready to face confrontation and conflict" Finally, a man who speaks up for the woman!

I do admit that having a man who is able to 'divorce' from his mother, is very attractive. Attractive in a sense that it shows that he has his own opinions, and is ready to lead, share and shoulder that responsibility of making decisions to take care of his own family; that he now forms with his partner (it's a union of husband and wife, the beginning of THEIR life, isn't it?) and last but not least, when a man promises something to his wife and vice versa, they should always honour their words..If you said you will do it, make sure you will (and try not to have a short memory on things you promised, for the other partner might not have such a short memory...)


Cheerios and keep smiling!
With Love from PoohBear

Reflecting on the Winter feel..

Winter finally arrived in Canada, the days of the 'green winter' is over, temperature has fallen below 0oC and down to -oC in the days and nights...Am I enjoying it? Hmm, not really, although I always wanted to experience winter, now that its here, I don't seems to enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

The other day, I was chatting with one of my close girlfriend, Cyndi (she recalled her winter experiences when she was sent to work in Germany for 2 months). We both agreed that winter wasn't our favourite season. The sky gets dark early as the sun sets at around 4pm, sometimes, you don't even see the sun, just daylight (it's a gloomy day and makes us feel gloomy too), the troublesome thoughts of having to put on layers of clothing just to get to the mall to do the necessity of groceries shopping, the transports get delayed due to accidents, snow covered tracks, flights cancelled, delayed due to freezing rain and just in the News this morning, there might be an increase in the price of fruits (due to the cold snap in the California state of USA, a lot of the citrus fruits such as oranges are frozen and can't be exported to Canada for sales. Decrease supply, increase prices) and vegetables.

For Icewine lovers, like me, (Icewine is a wine produce unique to Canada and northeasten states of USA where grapes are left growing during the winter to be frozen naturally by the snow (photo on left), harvested and produced into icewine), you might have to pay a higher price for that one bottle of Icewine this year as the warm winter weather threatens Icewine harvest.


Photo taken by courtesy of Rivard

Whilst there were moments which I do enjoy too, such as once, when I was walking to the mall, the flurries came flying down (which is a pretty sight); Yesterday night before going to bed, I was looking out of the window and its seems pretty bright for 9pm on a winter night ("The One" was telling me that's because the whiteness of the snow reflected the moonlight, making the night seems brighter) and of course the much heard of mystery of the 'Northern Light' that can be seen in Canada during the winter months. (Hopefully one day, "The One" and I will be able to go and view this amazing, mysterious natural phenomenon)

I guess for me who grew up having the priviledge of sunshine almost 365 days a year, I am a summer gal. Give me the warmth of the sun, sound of birds chirping, sights of budding plants and the smell of blooming flowers any time! Well, till Spring and Summer comes around, long live the SUN!


Cheerios and keep smiling!
With Love from PoohBear

Smile! you're on 'If Poohbear can cook, so can you!"

Since the day "The One" and I became officially independent from home, I have had to learn to cook up different taste (sweet, sour, bitter (when I over-burnt something hahaha), spicy) and inventive (from the original recipe) dishes every now and then, so that we don't get bored eating the same old dishes week after week...the days when I am being pampered with home cooked food from mom seems so farrrr away now ;P

Every so often, I have to rely on memories of the smell, taste and look to figure out which ingredients mom used to add during cooking to make the dishes and sauces..."The One" has been very brave and supportive till now in trying out dishes that I cooked hahaha (previously it used to be my brave daddy, mommy and kiddo bro who had to 'suffer' this 'torture' ;P; but, but, it hasn't been that bad, has it guys?? hehehe) Now that I'm, as the chinese says, "108,000 miles away from home", the internet has become my next best teacher for 'googling' on recipes.

Today, as usual, I wanted to try and make something different from the usual braised pork bellies dish that I have made; while 'googling' I came across a recipe on making sweet and sour (vinegar) pork bellies. As I walked my way towards the kitchen, passing the living room, I turned and 'informed' "The One" who was playing his online gaming, 'I got a new recipe and I'm going to go try cooking it now..." "The One" twitched his eyebrow, looked at me suspiciously (wondering what new recipe I've found this time to torture him hahaha), but he bravely replied, 'OK'. After about 30-40 mins in that kitchen working my 'magic' of transforming a piece of raw meat into a plate of edible dish, it is finally done! When I lay my eyes on the finished dish, I knew I was going to like it. It looked like 'restaurant-styled-cooked' (from the photo, does it?? ;)) and best of all , "The One" and I both agreed that it even tasted like 'restaurant-styled' sweet and sour pork!..I loved it, "The One" loved it too..he even asked, 'that's all? there's no more?'

It's always a great feeling and achievement whenever I cooked something nice which both of us enjoyed. As I told "The One", I hope I'm the lucky ones who 'live to eat', who's gets to enjoy my food while savouring my meals and not eat just for the sake of 'eat to live' :)


Cheerios and keep smiling!
With Love from PoohBear

The day my view on the 'simple toilet bowl' changed

It was a 'happening' day for me, was trying to heat up food for lunch when I broke a plate while removing it from the microwave...had to mop the floor, clean up the mess, no lunch (I cooked noodles instead) PLUS the toilet was choked yesterday evening! (the water cant drain from the toilet bowl (I'll spare you guys the gross, gruesome details and smell of the toilet..arghhh)

Yesterday, "The One" and I tried to use metal wire, chemical to unclog the toilet bowl but failed. We can't use the toilet and luckily for us, the mall is just opposite the apartment (so we can use the toilet there in case of emergency!) Early in the morning, as soon as the mall is opened, I went and got a plunger from the store. Wanted to do the plunging but the smell was horrible and I felt soooo nauseous with the smell, I just can't do it. In the evening, "The One" came home from work, "armed" with a raincoat, lots of gloves (3 layers) and with the plunger in hand, BRAVED himself for the sight and smell of 'the enemy' before engaging in the 'battle of the toilet'. After a few 'attacks' with the plunger, SUCCESS! Watching the water slowly moving down was a GREAT FEELING OF RELIEF!! Phew! Phew! Phew! I told "The One", in my years, I never had the experience of having to clear a choked toilet bowl, not while back home in Singapore nor in Australia (Probably leaking toilet bowls, not enough water in the water tank..but never clearing a choked toilet bowl). "The One" said that he never had to do this before too! This was his FIRST battle with the toilet bowl. After his "battle", while clearing up the stuffs, "The One" while "disarming"said, "I was thinking about this and felt that it is when you experienced something 'bad', then you learn to appreciate the 'good' and feel fortunte and privilege to have it"...I nodded and give "The One" a PoohBeary Hug..(does that theory applies to me too? hehehe)

Just like changing a tire on the car or fixing the toilet, no one in school ever taught us how to do that..it comes with experiencing and learning. During this 'toilet ordeal', as usual, I turned to the internet for help. Found a pretty good web on fixing toilet, Fix a Toilet.com: Do-It-Yourself Toilet Repair which offer simple but practical stuffs on fixing that toilet problem yourself.

On a lighter note, there is a Toilet Restaurant in Taiwan...you'll definitely need a 'sane mind' and 'strong' after-effect mindset to dine there, as for me now (before this toilet episode, I used to think its "sure, why not..new experiences") but after this, its "No, thanks" for many years to come, any takers??



Toilet Restaurant in Taiwan, Pictures from cool hunting link

Cheerios and Keep Smiling!
With Love from PoohBear

Harrassed!!

If most of you wondered where I have been missing to from the msn and net these few days, that's because I was 'harrassed' by this very persistant virus on my computer..hahaha

Recently, my comp was 'attacked' by a very tough and persistent comp virus. "The One" and I had a 'headache' time trying to clean it out (deleting files, disk cleaning, disk fragmentation...) and even using the Norton antivirus 2007 to try to kill that virus (which didn't work!) Was getting so despondent when a friend from far away Singapore (2 in fact!), Janet and Khee liang came to the rescue! hehehehe

It was night time for them and day time for me while Janet and Khee liang tried to find out info on the virus, download anti-virus software, explain to me how to 'kill' the virus (this 'major operation' was done over the internet, this is a big challenge huh..even when I used to sit down face to face with my kiddo bro at the computer, he sometimes wishes he can 'strangle-me-to-death-on-the-spot' He has to explain to me slowly while I'll keep asking him, "why? say again? after this step, do what again?" hahaha) Khee liang even has to resort to using his hand phone to capture one by one the screen on his computer while downloading and sending me over the net, and explain to me step by step how it should be carried out. (Thanks for your patience, Khee liang)

After almost spending at least 6-7 hours, the whole morning (and night for them) on the net, Janet and Khee liang, I finally "KILLED" that hard to tackle virus! (Janet, that software that you ask me to download, it worked ;)) after scanning, downloading, follow that instructions to 'kill' it, I did a full system scan again..and showed that its 'clean' :)

I prayed hard that it is really cleaned out, this morning when I switched on the computer, HOORAY!! no more 'system alert' warning sign of the virus! it has been KILLED!!

Once again, thanks guys for all your help and despite the time difference and your busy schedules, what you have done is deeply appreciated :) Thank you!

Cheerios and Keep Smiling!
With Love from PoohBear

2007-World's Oldest Mom

In 2005, World's Oldest Mom is a 66 years old woman, Adriana lliescu, in Romania, "It's A Girl for World's Oldest Mom" -CBS News . She was supposedly expecting triplets after undergoing IVF treatment, however, she lost the third after nine-ten week and had to undergo a c-section when the smaller of the twins died in the womb. Baby Girl, Eliza Maria was born.

In 2007, an unidentified Spanish woman gave birth to twins making her the World's New Oldest Mom at 67, one year older than Adriana lliescu. Hospital did not disclose the identity of the woman nor the gender of the twins babies.

Whats the NEWS with these woman being the World's oldest mom? Having a baby is a huge responsibility in term of financial, physical and mental aspect. It is a wonderful, challenging and exciting experience both for the parents-to-be as well as the newborn baby. At their age (60s going 70s) when most will have been too tired even after a workout in the gym, will these moms be able to provide the care, attention, time and energy for their baby? Apart from all these factors (and to put it nicely, the fact that who knows when God will call them home?), what will happen to their children? Depriving these children the time, the rights to know their parents and experience the love, care, guidance and support that they will need throughout their life..is really having a baby at these age (in the 60s) a fair and wise choice? I know of close friends who are in their early 30s who desperately want kids and tried all methods to try to conceive but failed..while for others its as easy as a snap of the finger. Sometimes, I do feel that God is unfair, but as always, who am I to question what God has in plan for each of us?


Cheerios and keep smiling!
With Love from PoohBear

Canada Immigrants

Read an article on CTV.ca, Chinese immigrants sending infants home:report. It is sad to know that parents have to separate from their children because of financial difficulties. The fact that Canadian govt do not recognized professional credential of foreign nationals is an issue that has been existing for quite a while. Immigrants who used to be professionals such as engineers, lawyers back home, working in totally unrelated field when they could not find relevant employment. These professional are getting minimum wage jobs (taxi drivers, gardener etc) compared to the amount of pay they could be getting back home.

All parents hope to give their children a brighter future, but to do that, many of them have to sacrifice their own dreams and hopes. In other reports, many skilled immigrants aren't staying, Overqualified jobseeker wins discrimination case , all reports on the difficulties and struggles that immigrants are facing and dealing with everyday on top of the daily life of adjusting to a new culture, new land.

The last statement from the article “many skilled immigrants aren't staying” definitely stands out from all others, "People stayed where their families are"...People come and people go, the only bond that bind its citizens to a country may no longer be whether it offers a brighter future for their children (alot of other countries are able to offer that) or for the better economic reason (from the aspect of the business people) but just plain simple but a powerful force, family bond.

Cheerios and keep smiling!
With Love From PoohBear

Adventure of the day

First day of 2007..how did "The One" and I spent it? We were dead tired reaching home late after that New Year Eve's Bash at Nathan Phillips Square and it was a pleasant surprise receiving a call from home in Singapore, chatted with daddy, mommy and kiddo brother..miss u guys..

We spent the day resting at home and "The One" let me try playing with his Playstation 2. It always seems so easy when I watched him played and moved his character on the online game, "SOCOM US Navy Seals:Combined Assault", when I actually tried to manoeuvre his characters (jumping, running, turning left and right, firing...) with the control, we had such a good laugh as "The One" kept giving me directions, "right right, left left, aiya not that high..what are you doing na...right in front of you, shoot! shoot!" Hahaha I guess he must be feeling as if he's going on a roller coaster ride watching me play! Hmm, I think I'm never cut out to be in the Army, now that's confirmed for sure ;) but we had such fun in that 10 mins play than you had in your 3 hours play, didn't we, "The One"? ;P

So that's my 'adventure' of the day with "The One" on the first day of 2007, till one day when I master the skill of controlling that remote (secretly)..I'll show you how 'deadly' I can be OK, "The One"? hehehe


Cheerios and Keep smiling!
With Love from PoohBear

Happy New Year 2007!

Happy New Year 2007 to everyone! To usher in the First New Year together, "The One" and I took the TTC to downtown Nathan Phillips Square to send the last day of 2006 off with hundreds of others at the annual New Year's Eve bash held there. It is a Cold, windy, rainy night (definitely not in the best weather for a party!) but there were still quite a big turn out, everyone armed with umbrellas in hand.

The pond in front of City Hall was converted into an outdoor ice skating rink, lots of kids and adults likewise were happily skating away in the rain while waiting for the arrival of the new year.

New Year's Eve Bash at Nathan

Phillips Square

Outdoor Ice Skating Rink

(Arches on top of pond are named "Freedom Arches" which symbolise 'Only in freedom can the Human Spirit soar')

We were holding our umbrellas (we even shared our umbrella with 2 french girls ;) ) and enjoying the open air concert. At the strike of midnight, there were fireworks display...and lots of well wishing, kissing, hugging all around..as "The One" tried to take photos of the fireworks amidst the swarms of umbrellas! hahaha

Fireworks display at the City Hall's New Year's Eve Bash on the
strike of midnight


As we made our way to the subway heading home, "The One" said lightheartedly, "this is the first and the last year we are coming out for New Year count down, this year just to show you how it is..(hehehe), next year we are going to just sit in front of the TV and enjoy the nice warm heater in our home"...I looked at "The One", grinned at him as we hold hands, walking side by side with our umbrellas in the rain.

Welcome 1st Jan 2007!


Cheerios and keep smiling!
With Love from PoohBear

p/s: "The One", these are what memories are made of, without such "unusual happenings, the rain, the wind, the cold", there wont be anything to look back on when we are old, you know? ;))