Don't Cry For Me Argentina.......

Do not shed tears for a man who does not love you.

It just falls to the ground...evaporates...and is gone. 

Oceans of tears will not move a heart gone cold.

(Please excuse me while I continue crying till all my tears have dried up....)

Do all VIP's write their speeches ?

There was a dinner & award presentation at one of Penang’s hotels on Gurney Drive. I was invited to attend but I declined. I am not particularly fond of Chinese course dinners which can drag on for hours. It was attended by most of the top insurance people in Penang and northern Malaysia region.

I had been involved with the clerical and administration function for the event. This meant I was preparing and sending out invitation letters by post and fax, keeping track of the replies, calling up invitees who have not responded, answering queries from invitees, recording payments received from the participants, going to the bank to pay in the cheques / cash, preparing lists, writing speeches and fine-tuning speeches.

I always thought that VIP’s wrote their speeches. How naïve! I had to write the speech for the VIP at this evening’s event who is a politician. I was briefed on what points to put in, the style of language and the personality of the politician.

At the same time, I was asked to fine tune a draft speech for another person who was making a speech at the same event.

I must say I did a pretty good job. However, I will never be credited for writing the speech. The only consolation I get is that my company charged the organiser a fee for my services.

Smile.....

I was driving in the middle of a hot day, on a not-looking-forward-to kind of errand. Then I saw a sight that made me smile - a dog stretched out on his back, rolling in the grass.

Do you like diamond jewelry ?

I bumped into an ex-colleague recently at a McDonald’s fast food outlet. She is married to a rich man’s grandson. The grandfather started one of the most popular Chinese medical shops in Penang. The old man had made lots of money from retailing Chinese Herbal medicine. He then invested his gains in land and buildings. Now he is gone, but his sons and grandchildren still enjoy the fruits of the old man’s labour.

This ex-colleague was wearing a very sparkly diamond bangle. I, like any other woman, love diamonds and rather fancy having diamond jewelry. I was given a diamond ring during my wedding tea ceremony but it technically doesn’t really belong to me, as in me, Blue Skies. Rather, I was given it because it was already earmarked as a gift for any future bride of my husband. Therefore, it belongs to me so long as I am Mrs. ---. So I will have to give it to my son when the time is right so that it will remain in my husband’s family.

I mentioned to hubs, “Guess who I bumped into and yadda yadda yadda”. He replied, “This woman is crazy wearing something like this around. Times are bad and she is lucky someone does not go and chop off her wrist to get the bangle. She should only wear it on special occasions. It is not something to wear everyday.”

All creatures great and small

My son and I would dearly love to have a pet dog. We’ve asked da Boss (a.k.a hubs) for permission. However, every time the answer is no. He has his own reasons, which sound sensible to him. Among them are – how is the little boy going to deal with death? Why expose the little boy to this inevitable fact of life. Another one of his reasons is this – how do we know that by keeping this particular animal as a pet we are doing the best we can for the animal? I have tried telling him the positive aspects but every time I just end up going, Hmmmmffff !!!!!

A friend suggested alternatives, which I shall share with you, dear reader of my blog, in the following paragraphs.

It seems there are these things called virtual pets. There are websites for these creatures. You cannot touch them or hold them – they appear on your computer (in my case, a Dell notebook) screen.

Then there were those things called digital pets or Tamagotchi, which appeared on the retail scene in the late 90’s. Those were handheld gadgets the size of an egg. By pressing buttons on the gadget, you could feed it, play with it, dispose it’s poop, check it’s weight, age, hunger and happiness levels.

I don’t claim to know much about the “fake pets” I mentioned above, but I find them unnatural, unreal and unhealthy. We are humans blessed with senses. As such, we should be able see our pets, say “yucks” when we get a whiff of their nasty odors, hear them bark excitedly when we come home, love and hug them endlessly. We need to form relationships with real warm-blooded and cool-blooded beings - four footed ones, feathered ones, tiny furry ones, scaly ones with tongues darting in and out, slithery slippery ones……..and also fellow human beings. Wait a minute, writing about pets reminds me of the following hymn written by Cecil Frances Walker. I used to sing it a long time ago when I was in school. It’s called All Things Bright and Beautiful. Enjoy.

Chorus

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful:

The Lord God made them all.

Each little flower that opens,

Each little bird that sings,

He made their glowing colors,

He made their tiny wings.

Chorus

The rich man in his castle,

The poor man at his gate,

He made them,

high or lowly,

And ordered their estate.

Chorus

The purple headed mountains,

The river running by,

The sunset and the morning

That brightens up the sky.

Chorus
The cold wind in the winter,

The pleasant summer sun,

The ripe fruits in the garden,

He made them every one.

Chorus

The tall trees in the greenwood,

The meadows where we play,

The rushes by the water,

To gather every day.

Chorus

He gave us eyes to see them,

And lips that we might tell

How great is God Almighty,

Who has made all things well.

Chorus