Pick Pockets

I just received upsetting news about my 80 year old father.  He was out doing marketing with my mother at this Sunday wet and fresh market in Kuching when someone bumped into him and picked his wallet.  The inconvenience for him was not only that he lost a substantial amount of cash but he also lost his driving license and his identity card.  

What is the world coming to?  I mean why pick on the elderly???  They are not rich and they are barely getting by with their small pensions but some ruthless individuals or group of people just prey on the elderly instead of working for their own living!  It is really disgusting and very worrying about what society is becoming nowadays!!!

Common Sense

A friend of mine sent me this article which is SO TRUE!!!

Date: Aug 27, 2008 10:08

Subject:  Obituary of the late Mr. Common Sense

(Interesting and sadly true)

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years.  No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.  He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: Knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm; Life isn't always fair; and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place.  Reports of a 6 year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an Aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realise that a steaming cup of coffee was hot.  She spilled a little on her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.  He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I'm A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realised he was gone.  If you still remember him, pass this on.  If not, join the majority and do nothing.

Noro Virus

Noro virus

courtesy of www.dbtechno.com

For the past month or so Dunedin has been struck by suspected Noro virus where you get diarrhea and also vomiting.  Today I tried to visit a friend whose baby is in the children's ward but was turned away from the hospital with a sudden lock down at the hospital.  Yesterday, I was still able to visit her and her baby but we had to gel our hands before going up into the wards as well as on the way out.

All schools are affected by the outbreak with an average of 100 - 150 students away from our school for the past 2 weeks and teachers are out too with some sort of illness.  My daughter and I are hoping that we will survive through this very very long winter which started in as early as April and still snowing here and there now even though we are supposed to start our spring in September!  The cherry blossoms are out but the weather in Dunedin still hovers around 10 deg Celsius during the day and drops below 5 deg at night.  

It has also been very wet in the past 2 -3 weeks.  Two Saturdays ago, I went to the laundrette for my usual Saturday drying loads but was I surprised to see the long queue!  My usual 40 minutes to dry our clothes was not even enough wait time!  And people were getting grumpy if you used more than one drier!  One man mentioned that it was worst than watching paint dry!  I think I spent close to 3 hours there just to dry 2 loads of laundry!!!  What a waste of time but I had to dry my daughter's school uniform so had no choice!  Luckily, today it was almost empty when I got there at my usual time.

I wonder how long this winter is going to be.....  The only good thing now is that petrol price has come down to just $2 for 91 octane despite the lower oil price.  However, the economist are telling us that the price is not coming down as fast as the Kiwi dollar is weakening against other currencies......Oh well.....

Do you remember everything you see?

I was helping out ice skating club with marshalling this past weekend at the South Island Figure Skating Championship.  A female skater was doing a double jump when she fell to land and thus ended up on the ice.  I saw it happened as I was in charge of getting the skaters on the ice for their warm-up and their programme.  But when someone asked me can you describe what happened?  For the life of me, I could not describe it as it all happened so fast!  All I remember is she fell and did not get up so her sister who is also a skater went in to check on her first when she failed to pick herself up and continue skating.  Fortunately she did not break any bones I think but fell on her hip.  

Now I understand when people said they cannot recall when they saw.  If it happened really fast, it may not even register on your brain later!  I mean we saw it happened but cannot describe how it occurred after that.  I was not even traumatised as it was nothing to do with me but imagine someone who witnessed something terrible and expected to recall everything later!  How can they remember?!!!

Incidentally, Jo-Ann did come in first again in her division but failed to make it on time to the prize giving so missed out on all the photo taking opportunity!

Wanaka - hometown for the wealthy

One of the illusion rooms in Puzzle World

Jo-Ann and Rina in front of Puzzle World, Wanaka

The leaning clock tower at Puzzle World

The outdoor maze

Rina, Jo-Ann and Winnie by the lake with Wanaka town centre in the background

On our last visit to Queenstown, I decided to take an hour detour and take a tour of Wanaka as we have never been there. Always heard that only the rich can afford to live there and apparently there are lots of American retirees who had settled down there. My first impression of the tiny lakeside town centre was that the architecture really reminds me of suburban USA.

I think the main attraction for tourists to Wanaka is Puzzle World where you can go and walk through an outdoor maze, an indoor area with illusion rooms or just sit down, have some snacks and try the puzzles for yourself and decide if you want to buy them. It is quite a good marketing ploy to let visitors try out as it gets people hooked and some people spend a long time day or bring their kids there to play the puzzles for free. There were a lot of wonderful wooden puzzles plus others made of other materials. My daughter and her friends really enjoyed their visit there. So if you are in Wanaka area, you may want to visit and give yourself at least an hour or more if you are a puzzle king or queen!

Queenstown Skyline Gondola

View from the viewing deck in the main building looking down at Queenstown

Looking down at the bungy jump from the viewing deck

Part of the luge track we 'drove' on

Rina, Jo-Ann's classmate on the luge

Jo-Ann on the podium with her trophy

Last week we were back in Queenstown again for my daughter's regional figure skating competition.  We had some free time so we decided to take the cable car ride up to take a bird's eye view of Queenstown and the surrounding area.

It was an awesome ride and the view was breathtaking!  There was also a small platform where people could bungy jump and a cliff where people can jump off and parachute down and my daughter's favourite was the luge rides.  

I hope you enjoy the photos......

I brought a miracle to my friend!

I have been thinking of my friend who is in financial trouble and decided to visit her just now and I bought some baby clothes, diapers, baby food and some firelogs for heating.  When we showed up in her house with the firelogs, she was so touched and revealed to me that she did not know what to do as she was on her last 2 pieces of fire wood and less than 20 pieces of coal which was supposed to last her until the next pay out on Wednesday!  She just cannot believe that when she prayed to God for help for wood for her burner that God sent me with 2 boxes of firelogs for her.

It was really surreal because originally I did not plan to visit her this evening but decided to do so at the last minute.  She had a major accident a couple of years ago and has 6 slipped discs and cannot carry heavy loads so even if she could afford to buy the firelogs, she could not carry the box to her car or from her car to the log burner.  That was the main reason I decided to buy them for her and deliver them to her up to the log burner!  Low and behold, I did not know that my decision was the miracle God gave to her when she prayed for help (as we are still in the middle in winter)!  And I am telling you it feels really GREAT(!!!) to know that I brought a miracle to my friend!!!  PRAISE THE LORD!