Epilog - The Search For Happiness

"Has the rich man found happiness?"

As promised, if indeed the rich man got the answer from the Master, he should give his bag of his whole fortune to him as reward. He would then lose all that he had AGAIN. Would he still be happy or not happy? The question seems to be too materialistic and any answer whatsoever may spoil the whole story. But it's a real question for the real situation in the real world. It's a question too difficult for the writer. The writer has to go and find another (cleverer) Master for an answer!

The rich man would reply, "Well. Your answer is good, but not as good as what I wanted .............. Here's $5000. Thanks very much for your time." It might be a truly happy ending for everyone!

The Search For Happiness

A very rich man had a lot of money. He could buy everything he wanted to have. But he was not happy at all, for which he was very annoyed.
One day, he had a strange idea. He put all his wealth including jewelry, gold and all his valuables into a bag, and carried it to start off a journey. He was trying to search for someone who could tell him how to find happiness, and in return he would give him his bag as reward. He travelled afar to lots of places, asked lots of people and spent tirelessly lots of time in order to search for an answer. Despite the effort, he was unable to find anyone who could give him a satisfactory answer.
Finally he came to a small village. A local resident told him he could try to visit a Master living there who was a very clever man and might be able to help him with an answer. So the rich man was very excited and went up to see the Master who was sitting in a small room meditating. He approached the Master and said earnestly, "Master. All the wealth in my whole life is in this bag. If you could tell me the method to find happiness, this bag will be yours." The Master didn't say a word. He stood up and suddenly grabbed the rich man's bag of fortune and ran away from the house very quickly. The rich man was shocked and didn't know how to react. He then became desperate. He tried to chase the Master but as a new comer to the place, he was not able to do so. He went back to the house, feeling he was cheated. He was very sad as he felt he lost all that he had.
Half an hour later, the Master suddenly returned. He handed back the bag to the rich man and said, "Here is your bag. All the things are still inside untouched." Seeing he got back all he had, the rich man cheered up again. The Master asked, " Do you feel happy now?" To which, the rich man nodded. The Master then continued, "Good. You have already got your answer now."

Happiness does not rest on what and how much you own. Appreciate what you are having is the key. At most times, happiness is already around us, but we just failed to realize.

Love - In The Eyes of The Kids

A question was posted to a group of 4-8 year-olds:

"What does love mean?"

Here are some of the answers:

Rebecca (8) -

When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore ... So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love.

Billy (4) -

Love is when my Mommy kisses me in bed, I give her a kiss too.

Karl (5) -

Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.

Chrissy (6) -

Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.

Terri (4) -

Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.

Danny (7) -

Love is when Mommy makes coffee for my Daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to Daddy, to make sure the taste is ok.

Emily (8) -

Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss.

Nikky (7) -

Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday ...

Tommy (6) -

Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.

Cindy (8) -

During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my Daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore.

Clare (6) -

My Mommy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.

Elaine (5) -

Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.

Chris (7) -

Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he's handsomer than Tom Cruise.

Mary Ann (4) -

Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.

Lauren (5) -

I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.

Karen (7) -

When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.

Mark (6) -

Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross ...

Jessica (8) -

You really shouldn't say "I love you" unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.

And the final one came from 4-year-old Charlie whose neighbour was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Charlie said, "I saw the man cry. I went into the man's yard, climbed onto his lap and sat there ..." When his mother asked him what he had said to the neighbour, Charlie continued, "I did nothing. I just watched him cry."

This is love.

Cantonese Terms Originated From English

Some Cantonese terms are said to have originated from English. Following is a collection:

派頭 - pride
疴畢甩 - all blood
蛇guare - scared
仆街 - poor guy
薯嘜 - schmuck
花臣 - fashion
蝦碌 - hard luck
老粒 - rob
符碌 - fluke
唱錢 - change
茄呢啡 - carefree
咕喱 - coolie
發蹄腾 - frightened
频能 - panic
爆格 - burglary
嗌交 - argue
木獨- moody
sar霖 - salute
哂冷 - show hand
呼佬 - full house
嗱茜 - lazy
撈sau - lousy
直筆甩 - straight
爆缸 - bludgeon
麻甩佬 - bloke
𡃁(仔) - lad
(慶過) lart 雞 - liquor
(眼) 碌碌 - look look
(喊到)飛呢發辣 - fully flated
(我)丙(你) - punch
泊(車) - park
索(女) - sharp
腾雞 - frightened
冚扮爛 - all brands
他條 - tardy
吱喳 - chatter
巴閉 - bossy
古板 - stubborn
盟塞 - stuffed
無厘頭 - moony
笨ch七 - blunt
威水 - wealthy
可口可樂 - Coca Cola
摩登 - modern
時尚 - chic
忌廉 - cream
巴士 - bus
的士 - taxi
一啤 - pair
士啤 - spare
士多 - store
多士 - toast
派對 - party
士的 - stick
咭 - card
呔 - tyre/tie
(蛋)撻 - tart

This is Life

Teen Age : has time and energy, but no money.
Middle Age : has energy and money, but no time.
Old Age : has money and time, but no energy.

Am I A Fool?

You might have been approached by people on the street who asked for money for some reasons (e.g. to buy a ticket to go home because he lost his wallet etc.) Sometimes you might struggle whether you should give help or not. You know that if you lend the money, it's very unlikely you will get it back (you don't want to leave your contact to a person you don't know anyway). You might have seen or heard from the news that there are plenty of people who lie in order to cheat for money. Although the amount of money may not be too much, you might think you would become a fool if you are cheated by one of those. What will you do?

Imagine the person isn't a liar and we turn him down. He might panic and feel desperate. He might have missed something very important, the result of which may be very serious (e.g. he needs to go home urgently because his child is very sick etc.) In that case, we might have unknowingly done something very seriously wrong just because we decline to help. On the other hand, if the person is indeed a liar and we are cheated. It is only he who has done wrong and not us. If a person lies to cheat for money, he must be in need of money for some reasons, be they good or bad. He might need the money because he could have been out of job for long and he needs food for his family, in which case we would have done something for good sake. He might need the money desperately to buy drugs, in which case we might feel guilty as we could have helped in crimes. But to think further, if he doesn't get the money from us, he would turn to others anyway. Worse still, he might resort to other violent means like theft and robbery if he is really desperate, in which case we could instead have helped to avoid serious crimes by being cheated. We might be seen by others as being fooled, but we know we are not foolish as we know exactly what we are doing after all considerations.

Hence, don't bother too much about ourselves for being a fool. Concern more on others as in most cases our help could have made quite a difference to others. If we look to ourselves first, the matter may become an ugly one. If we look to others first, the same matter may look much brighter.

Moving Forward to a New 2013

Sorrow looks back
Despair looks down

Worry looks around

Hope looks forward

Faith looks up
Love looks everywhere

Wish everyone a Happy, Healthy and Harmonious New Year
of
2013
May God bless you all

Tonight We Love

Last week, I casually came across an oldie which is one of my favourites for over 50 years. This song is adapted from a very beautiful classic piece - Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, and was sung by a very beautiful girl (in my mind) with a very beautiful name and a very beautiful voice - Caterina Valente.

(extract from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUH6PVu5kf0)

Squares

How many squares are there are in this diagram?

The answer is :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpkBjMams54

Word Puzzle

Can you figure out what these words all have in common?

1. Assess
2. Banana
3. Dresser
4. Grammar
5. Potato
6. Revive
7. Uneven

It's not that they all have at least 2 double letters. What else?

The answer is:

Take the first letter, place it at the end of the word, and then spell the word backwards, it will be the same word.