Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Hard work, prayers, the key to straight A’s


THERE is no secret recipe to Ahmad Muhaimin Roslizar’s success in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) last year when he scored 10A’s.
From right: Yoo Chang Shen, Ahmad Muhaimin, Muhd Haziq, Khoo Boo Chuan, Bryan Lee Yen Pei and Ooi Chun Kit are members of a study group.
He obtained A+ in Mathematics, Additional Mathematics and English for Science and Technology, A in Bahasa Melayu, English Language, Islamic Education and Physics, and A- in History, Chemistry and Biology.
“Study hard, do your homework and never forget to say your prayers,” he said.
One of the top students at SMK Seksyen 3 Bandar Kinrara in Selangor, Ahmad Muhaimin previously obtained 8A’s in the Penilaian Menengah Rendah.
“I really appreciate my parents for their support, my teachers for never getting tired of my queries and my study group which made learning fun.
“Nine of us were in the group and we met twice a month to study,” he said.
An avid badminton player, Ahmad Muhaimin plans to study harder to achieve his ambition of becoming a scientist.
He said a friend from the study group, Muhd Haziq Muhd Kamal who wants to become an engineer, also scored 10A’s with A+ in Mathematics, Additional Mathematics and English for Science and Technology, A in Physics, Biology, English and A- for Bahasa Melayu, Islamic Education, Chemistry and History.


Warm Regard, Sara Pandian

Extreme parenting


With harsh parenting quickly becoming a hot topic in child-raising, parents and educators debate its effectiveness and potential drawbacks.
EVERY parent wants their child to be successful.
The obvious aside, parents want their children to be successful for a variety of reasons.
The simple fact of wanting a child to be happy, the fear of a child being left behind and a family quest of upward mobility – or to preserve an existing social status – are some of the common reasons one might hear.
However noble – or ego stroking – these motivations may be, a child’s success is a seductive lure by itself and some parents are willing to fight tooth and nail to ensure that.
Under pressure: A young child is coaxed to play her piano pieces by her cane-wielding mother.
Such zealous efforts are best encapsulated by Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother – the best-selling memoir on tough-love parenting, Chinese-style — which is already one of the most controversial books of 2011.
Hard hitting, thought-provoking and brutally honest, the book showcased Chua’s already famous list of don’ts and put the spotlight on how parenting can sometimes be harsh and manipulative.
To illustrate, Chua documented how her daughters, Sophia and Louisa, were never allowed to attend a sleepover, have a play date, watch the television, play computer games, choose their own extracurricular activities and get any grade less than an A, among others.
It goes without saying that the memoirs did not go down well with many American parents and a firestorm of criticism resulted after an excerpt was published by the Wall Street Journal.
The book’s cut-to-the-bone accounts went viral and the memoir even made an impact on local shores when HELP University College devoted a one-day parenting seminar in response to it.
Bringing together some of the who’s who in the local parenting and early childhood education scene, the seminar was conceived to examine a wide range of parenting styles and the impact of early childhood education.
Although some speakers had not read the book, the concepts of extreme parenting and corporal punishment were second nature to them and a number noted positives in Chua’s methods.
Among them was Datin Amy-Jean Yee, a consultant at St Simon Fung Private School in Kota Kinabalu who noted that Western parents tended to worry too much about their children’s self-esteem.
Yee opines that pushing young children too far is counterproductive as it may lead to burnout.
“The obsession over a child’s self-esteem sees many parents adopting a laissez-faireapproach – one where discipline is rarely enforced,” she said.
“James Dobson – an American psychologist and author – has already criticised this and there are many pitfalls of lax parenting.”
Yee added that the ability to be forthright without having to tiptoe around an issue had to be common practice in order to set rules effectively, which would lead to stability.
“There must be well-defined parameters for children to fall back on and this builds accountability in them,” she said.
Joining the debate, Dr Adrian Hare, the head of HELP’s English Department, got the crowd thinking with his no-holds-barred criticism.
Focusing on the refusal – or inability – of many parents to admonish their children in public, Dr Hare reversed the commonly held view of self-esteem.
“The common thing we hear from parents is that they don’t want their child to be humiliated,” he said to a wide-eyed audience.
“Well, the parents should feel humiliated for being unable to discipline their children in public.
No endorsement
Moving along, the speakers were quick to note that they were not advocating Chua’s extreme measures.
“Discipline – and encouraging a child to succeed – is important as long as it does not get too overbearing,” mulled Yee.
“Ultimately, children should not be robbed of their childhood.”
Pointing out that children had been sent to her for help because they were “sick with school”, Yee warned against pushing children too hard at a young age, she added that the sheer number of tuition classes many young children were subjected to, could pass as a social hazard.
“Some may only get five to six hours of sleep a day and if things get worse, being at school could become a terrible rat race.”
Her views are shared by Justina Poh, an educator at a Cambridge English For Life centre in Kota Kemuning.
Relating how parents complained about the lack of homework their children were given, Poh pointed out that one’s childhood should not be like a pressure cooker.
“Some parents just take things too seriously,” said the mother of two. “I made it a point not too be too domineering on my children.
Emphasising that Chua’s book was not intended to be prescriptive, Assoc Prof Christine Lee Kim-Eng of Singapore’s National Institute of Education said that extreme parenting yielded mixed results.
Dismal failures are met as frequently – if not more – as success stories and it would be foolhardy for parents to associate extreme parenting with successful children.
“Although she hasn’t stopped trying, Chua herself conceded that what worked for her older daughter did not work with her younger one who rebelled,” she mused.
Drawing parallels to her two “boys” – the older is driven while the younger is rather laidback – Lee said that it was pivotal for parents to “know” their children before committing to any particular method.
Mind matters
Offering a more academic take on the matter, Prof Ray Wilks, the head of the International Medical University’s Psychology programme, ventured that the effectiveness of extreme parenting hinged on a child’s psyche.
Simply put: Not everyone was cut out for hairdryer treatment and parents ran the risk of adversely affecting a child’s long term development or interest in a field by pushing – or scolding – too hard.
“Not every child can take it mentally,” he said.
“If children deem themselves unworthy, they could end up having an inferiority complex and this won’t help their self-confidence.
“A lack of freedom when it comes to social activities could also result in a child becoming introverted and this could be a problem later in life.
“In an ideal situation, children should be able to sit back at some stage and take pride that they have given their best in a particular endeavor.”
But what happens when one’s best isn’t quite good enough?
Meet the Pohs: Strict parenting often requires children to comply to certain rules before they get to indulge in their favourite activities.
This gave rise to another debate and it is interesting that Chua herself admitted that the Chinese parenting approach was weakest when it came to failure – it did not tolerate that possibility.
And that refusal to go under was the cornerstone of a virtuous circle of confidence, hard work, and more success.
To that, Prof Wilks argued out that while hard work was often the trait of successful men, unsuccessful men often worked hard – if not harder – as well.
He added that there was no guarantee of personal success and initial setbacks on paper should not prompt parents to up the ante at the expense of normal social interaction.
However, advocates of extreme parenting begged to differ this was best exemplified by Hassan (who requested anonymity), a firm advocate of strict parenting.
“Normal social interaction?” he remarked. “I don’t want my daughter to be normal and I don’t mind pushing her to ensure she is successful.
“I even considered enrolling her in a Chinese school for a rigorous experience,but my wife and I don’t speak Chinese, so we send her for extra language classes instead.”
As he spoke, his 10-year-old daughter Zuraida could be heard practicing Schumann’s Op 68 on the piano.
“She’s already in Grade Four and we’ll make a musician out of her yet,” enthused Hassan.
“Her progress is good and I’m sure she can perform at some big events one day.”
Dysfunctional behaviour
Zuraida’s orientation bears some uncanny resemblance to Chua’s daughters.
Also a piano player, Sophia won an international competition to perform at Carnegie Hall while Louisa’s prowess with the violin saw her accepted by Naoko Tanaka’s – a world renowned violin teacher – private studio.
However, this was far from a picture-perfect scene.
Teeth marks were discovered on the piano and a younger Sophia was the culprit. Unhappy at being pushed for hours, she gnawed on her piano in frustration.
As for Louisa, catching the eyes – or rather, ears – of a world-renowned teacher turned out to be the last thing she wanted and as she ended up playing more tennis after rebelling.
A rift of sorts, perhaps, but worse examples can be derived from the detritus of parenting experiments gone wrong.
And at times, the wrong just hides behind a façade of what appears to be a success story, which ironically serves as an effective smoke screen.
An investment banker in London, Kok Siang (not his real name) was the pride of his family ever since he was knee-high.
A musician of sorts – he plays the piano and violin – Kok Siang’s rigorous drilling paid off as he constantly scored straight A’s during his school days.
In fact, the only instance he missed out was in Form Four when he was convalescing from dengue fever.
“It wasn’t a major exam like the SPM but my parents gave me a grilling for getting a B in Biology,” he recalled.
“They did not – or refused to – consider the fact that I missed school for a few weeks and I could not prepare because I was ill.
“It was then and there where I felt that they were more interested with my accomplishments than me.”
The seething incident later degenerated into meltdown and Kok Siang’s relationship with his parents was altered forever.
He still pays his respects out of filial piety but his recent three-day stopover in Malaysia for Chinese New Year sums up everything.
“Why stay longer?” he shrugged. “I don’t know whether they want to see me or my ‘success’.
“Maybe it’s both but they always emphasise and brag about the wrong thing if that’s the case. I don’t really know till today.
“There’s only one thing worse than being a bad or an abusive parent – you can be a stranger.”
Striking a balance
Kok Siang’s case personifies Prof Wilks warning that parents should not take their children’s successes as an extension of their own.
“It does happen quite a bit and often, people don’t realise it,” he said.
“In most cases, parents stress high achievement and they lose sight of the advantages of having a well-rounded child.”
By well-rounded, Prof Wilks is not referring to a string of extra-curricular accomplishments on paper, but rather, sufficient time with a good support group of trusted friends and family members.
Prof Wilks argues that an emphasis on achievement should not come at the expense of normal social interaction.
“In essence, parents would want their children to be responsible citizens who are compassionate, confident, upright and self-motivated.
“Achieving helps but parents must not get too distracted by this.”
Sharing similar sentiments, Lee emphasised that children had to find their “own way” in life.
She added that she was not advocating a model of anti-perfection but rather, a simple reminder: Why not let children be themselves?
“In this case, parents function as a guide and not a dictator,” she said philosophically.
“If you have to try so hard to get them to do something, it probably isn’t working.”
But giving credit where credit is due, the interviewees in this story did not withhold praise from Chua.
Prof Wilks said that he would congratulate Chua on a “job well done” as her children turned out the way she hoped they would be – successful.
On the other hand, Lee pointed out that Chua showed tremendous resolve in parenting.
“Quite frankly, not everyone could do what she did to her girls,” she quipped.
And Poh can hardly disagree.
“I could never imagine myself being so harsh on my children and I would not want to,” she said.
“However, her list of ‘don’ts’ give me a few ideas for the future.”


Warm Regard, Sara Pandian

Naked, drunken dad stabs son to death


PETALING JAYA: A youth who insisted that his naked and drunken father put on his clothes was stabbed to death after the father and son got into a heated argument.
Razak Kumar, 20, died at the scene after he was stabbed in the chest with a kitchen knife on Sunday.
The 8.30pm incident occurred in front of their home in Block G, Bandar Sungai Mas, Banting.
Selangor CID chief SAC Mohd Adnan Abdullah said the argument occurred when Razak told his father to put on his clothes.
He said the man, in his 40s, got angry when asked to do so and rushed into his house, returning later with a knife.
The man then stabbed his son before fleeing the scene, SAC Mohd Adnan said.
“However, he was arrested at 11am yesterday at a nearby petrol station, fully-clothed,” he said, adding that Razak’s mother was in the house when the incident happened.
The case is being investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.


Warm Regard, Sara Pandian

Monday, March 28, 2011

Vietnam zoo owner jailed for selling dead tigers



HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - A zoo owner in Vietnam has been sentenced to three years in prison for selling the carcasses of several endangered tigers that died in his care, a judge said Monday.
Huynh Van Hai was convicted during a two-day trial earlier this month of selling the dead tigers, which had been raised at his zoo in Binh Duong province near Ho Chi Minh City, said presiding judge Hoang Huy Toan.
Hai told the court that the tigers died of natural causes - four of bird flu contracted after eating infected chickens in 2003 and another from choking on a bone, Toan said.
Rather than reporting the deaths to authorities as required, he sold the dead animals, saying he needed the money to care for his other tigers, Toan said.
Tiger parts are prized in traditional medicine for their supposed healing qualities and fetch top dollar on the illegal black market, where 3.5 ounces (100 grams) of tiger bone glue sells for $1,000.
The case was uncovered in early 2006, when police found one of the dead tigers being transported in a taxi. Toan said 14 other defendants involved in the case, including Hai's son, have been sentenced to up to 30 months in jail on the same charges.
Local conservation group Education for Nature Vietnam hailed the court's decision as a "vital first step" in ending the trade in tiger parts.

Warm Regard, Sara Pandian

‘Vanakam’ to Chennai kopitiam


Carving her niche: Chong at her ‘Bee’s Kopitiam’ outlet that serves various local dishes including char kuey teow and satay to South Indians in Chennai. — Bernama
CHENNAI: For a former Malaysian air stewardess, the sky's the limit, even when she ventures into the food business in a totally alien and competitive place like South India.
Chong Bee Bee, from Sungai Petani, Kedah, has to thank her grandma for the invaluable cooking tips.
Like the Singapore Airlines aircraft she served on for decades, the enterprising woman's “Bee's Kopitiam” outlet at Express Avenue Mall here is also doing soaring business.
Aunty Bee, as she is popularly known among her customers, has even proved management gurus wrong that a university degree or plenty of funds are needed to build lofty dreams.
“I was planning for the last 10 years.
“I wanted to start a simple concept of one-dish meals.
“ I chose Chennai because most people speak English and the people are friendly, too,” the 39-year-old self-made entrepreneur told Bernama.
After serving the airlines, she quit her job, got married and moved to Chennai with her French husband, who is an IT consultant.
She started off with home catering before braving into the food business.
Last June, she finally broke into the competitive food industry, opening an outlet selling Malaysian cuisine in Chennai, a hotbed for spicy South Indian dishes.
At her cosy outlet located in the food court inside the mall, Bee serves an array of Malaysian flavours to local Indians, foreigners and Malaysians living in Chennai, where there is a growing taste for exotic delicacies.
Customers are spoilt for choice.
They can pick any mouth-watering dish from her menu char kuey teow, chicken rice, rendangroti canai and mee goreng, all freshly-cooked and served hot in traditional Malaysian style.
“I have about 16 main course recipes on the menu.
“I don't Indianise the food.
“I try to maintain the originality.
“Indians are getting accustomed to Malaysian food,” she noted.
Backed by a nine-staff team, all locals, Bee operates her restaurant for 12 gruelling hours daily.
“My rendang sells like hot cakes and my satay is also a best-selling product.
“On Thursdays and Fridays, I serve Singapore chilli crabs.
“My idea is to cater to people who appreciate food.
“Now, I have my regular customers.
“I don't face competition here,” she added.
With her hospitality industry skills, Bee's next ambitious aim is to open a French-Oriental restaurant in India.


Warm Regard, Sara Pandian

12 Ways To Boost Your Creativity At Work


As workplaces continue to rightsize and downsize, we all find ourselves doing more with less. How do we stay ahead of the workload while staying sane? The key is to put your creativity to work for you so you can do more with less and shine like never before.
Just what is creativity? It is the ability to make, produce, cause to exist or bring into being; the ability to make something out of nothing or to make something better than it was before. Creativity is an inborn force that we all have: If you're alive, you're creative.
It needs to be said, though, that not everyone has the raw talent, creative vision and self-management skills to run out and make a living being an artist. But remember that artistic talent is only one way of potentially millions that you can express your creativity at home or at work.
In today's workplace, creative thinking, problem solving and innovation are at a premium. Here are 12 ways you can express your creativity more powerfully in any workplace:
1.) Use your values, interests, skills and aptitudes to express your unique perspectives, opinions and contributions.
2.) Take full advantage of the unique features of your personality to express your creativity in ways that are natural for you.
3.) Dress your body and your work space in ways that reflect your passion and energy.
4.) In what you say - either verbally or in writing - and how you say it, make sure you use word choice, vocabulary and communication style to showcase your uniqueness.
5.) Everybody works differently. Use your work habits, decision making and problem solving style to express who you really are.
6.) Everybody lives their lives differently. Use your personal habits, time management and outside interests to positively impact who you are at work.
7.) What are you passionate about? What kinds of things do you channel your energy into? What are you committeed to? Take all three to work with you and put them to work for you.
8.) Every creative act begins with a conception. Make sure you capture your workplace brainstorms in concrete ways.
9.) Every creative act develops through an incubation phase. Make sure you put safe boundaries around your own creative work time so it doesn't get overwhelmed with other responsibilities.
10.) Every creative act ends with a birth. Make sure you help each project grow to its next level.
11.) Celebrate your beginnings and your endings. Mark the big moments and look for reasons to play.
12.) Know when it's time to move on ? from ideas, projects and jobs ? then do it.
Still not sure you even are creative? Try reading the now-classic The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. If Julia can't convince you you are creative, then no one can! 
Cheryl Lynch Simpson is a Spiritual Director and Solutions Coach who helps women discover and create the life they've always wanted to live. Cheryl is the author of over 30 print/Internet articles and the founder of Coaching Solutions For Women, a coaching website that produces and showcases career, business, and life solutions that improve the life balance of today's busy women. For a complimentary copy of her latest e-book, Ten-Minute Stress Zappers for Women Service Business Owners, visit .


Warm Regard, Sara Pandian

BANANAS – very interesting

A professor at CCNY for a physiological psych class told his class about bananas. He said the expression 'going bananas' is from the effects of bananas on the brain. Read on: 
[]
Never, put your banana in the refrigerator!!! 

This is interesting.
 
After reading this, you'll never look at a banana in the same way again. 


Bananas contain three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy.

Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes.

But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit.
 It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet. 

Depression:
 According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier. 

PMS:
 Forget the pills - eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood. 

Anemia:
 High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia. 

Blood Pressure:
 This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke. 

Brain Power:
 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school ( England ) were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert. 

Constipation:
 High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives. 

Hangovers:
 One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system. 

Heartburn:
 Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief. 

Morning Sickness:
 Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness. 

Mosquito bites:
 Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation. 

Nerves:
 Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system. 

Overweight
 and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and chips. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady. 

Ulcers:
 The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach. 

Temperature control:
 Many other cultures see bananas as a 'cooling' fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand , for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature. 

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): 
Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan. 
[]
Smoking &Tobacco Use:
 Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal. 

Stress:
 Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack. 

Strokes:
 According to research in The New England Journal of Medicine, eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%! 

Warts:
 Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape! 

So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, 'A banana a day keeps the doctor away!' 



Warm Regard, Sara Pandian

Lifebuoy Hand Wash You Eat What You Touch Ads


Interesting Lifebuoy Handwash advertisements by advertising agency Lowe Jakarta that 
scares us into washing our hands more often. You eat what you touch - so before you eat something, think about what you have touched previously. Creative way to show how gross it can be when we dont wash our hands.

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Animals Teach Us To Be People - Zoo Aquarium Ads



A series of advertisements from Zoo Aquarium in Madrid that compares animals to people with some thought provoking lines. The approach might be somewhat misleading since animals do have their own weakness but looking from the point of view that humans are much more intelligent beings, the animals fare much better in some areas of morality.

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Warm Regard, Sara Pandian

Saturday, March 26, 2011

INOVASI TOUR & TRAVEL SDN BHD: TRIP to St Anne Church in PENANG

INOVASI TOUR & TRAVEL SDN BHD: TRIP to St Anne Church in PENANG: "FEELING WANNA TO VISIT AND GET TO KNOW MORE Be free to contact below mention person MR RAJAN (+6 0196504595) For more details on trip St A..."

Warm Regard,Sara Pandian

SARA PANDIAN BLOG: Shop - Office for rental

SARA PANDIAN BLOG: Shop - Office for rental: "Shop - Office for rental at Cheras Megan Plaza Phoenix, Kuala Lumpur Property Type: Shop-Office Built-Up: 759 Square Feet Posted Date: 23..."

Warm Regard,Sara Pandian

Friday, March 25, 2011

GUIDE TO A BETTER LIFE

This is amazing, Randy Pausch 47 yrs old, A computer Sc. lecturer from Mellon Universityhe died of pancreatic cancer in 2008, but wrote a book ‘The last lecture” before then, one of the bestsellers in 2007. What a legacy to leave behind…
In a letter to his wife Jai and his children, Dylan, 
Logan , and Chloe, he wrote this beautiful "guide to a better life" for his wife and children to follow.
May you be blessed by his insight.

cid:part1.04080308.06090108@mweusg.com

POINTS ON HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR LIFE
 

Personality:

1. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
2. Don't have negative thoughts of things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment
3. Don't over do; keep your limits
4. Don't take yourself so seriously; no one else does
5. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip
6. Dream more while you are awake
7. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need..
8. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner of his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
9. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
10. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present
11. No one is in charge of your happiness except you
12. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
13. Smile and laugh more
14. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Community:

15. Call your family often
16. Each day give something good to others
17. Forgive everyone for everything
18. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6
19. Try to make at least three people smile each day
20. What other people think of you is none of your business
21. Your job will not take care of you when you are sick. Your family and friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:

22. Put GOD first in anything and everything that you think, say and do.
23. GOD heals everything
24. Do the right things
25. However good or bad a situation is, it will change
26. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up
27. The best is yet to come
28. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful
29. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it
30. If you know GOD you will always be happy. So, be happy.

While you practice all of the above, share this knowledge with the people you love, people you school with,
people you play with, people you work with and people you live with.
Not only will it enrich YOUR life, but also that of those around you. 


Warm Regard, Sara Pandian

Baby sister left alone in a bag


JOHOR BARU: A six-year-old boy, who was left alone to take care of three other siblings, decided to put his three-month-old baby sister in a travelling bag before leaving her at the void deck of an apartment block in Larkin.
The baby girl was left alone for more than half an hour before one of the residents saw her trying to crawl out of the bag.
The man immediately contacted police and rescued the baby.
Police brought the mother and her four children to the police station, located just a few metres away from the apartment block.
In safe hands: A policeman carrying the three-month-old baby girl and escorting her brother in Johor Baru yesterday. — Bernama
“Initial investigations revealed that the children were left under the care of their grandmmother while the mother was job hunting,’’ Johor Baru (South) OCPD ACP Zainuddin Yaakob said.
However he added, the grandmother had left the children aged between three months and six years at home as she had an appointment with a doctor at a nearby clinic.
ACP Zainuddin said the woman informed the police that her husband was away working in a resort at Pulau Sibu in Mersing, and she needed a job badly.



Warm Regard, Sara Pandian

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Shop - Office for rental Megan Plaza Phoenix Cheras KL


Shop - Office for rental at Cheras
Megan Plaza Phoenix, Kuala Lumpur

Property Type:Shop-Office
Built-Up:759 Square Feet


Furniture: 
2.5 Air Con + 1.5 + one air con point.
Washroom + Toilet
3 telephone socket   
8 plug points
•Newly painted with new carpet
•24-hour security with lift
•Ready to move in as it has.. >>open concept + 1 pantry
•Private wash room
•Ample free basement car parks
•Easily accessible via Cheras main road that links to KL, PJ, Putrajaya, Cyberjaya, Shah Alam, Kajang, Seri Kembangan, Bkt. Jalil, Klang, etc.
•Under the newly launched Economic Transformation Program, there would be a MRT station nearby
•Nearby Plaza Phoenix would be refurnished to become a commercial centre inclusive of business travel hotel
•Monthly rental inclusive of maintenance fee


Below are photo attached




If you interested to view the UNIT you can email sarapandian@gmail.com or can reach me 0123611880 For appointment.


Warm Regard, Sara Pandian

The Simple Dollar: Some Thoughts on Balancing "Fun" Spending and Planning for the Future


Posted: 18 Mar 2011 07:00 AM PDT
One of my biggest splurges each year comes in August, when I travel to Indianapolis with a few friends and attend GenCon, a gaming convention. During a given year, my wife usually goes on some sort of trip by herself as well, often to visit family in the Pacific Northwest.
I usually pick up a new game and a new book about once a month, on average. Sarah’s more of a reader and tends to pick up two or three.
We go out to eat perhaps twice a month as a family.
Sarah and I tend to buy each other fairly nice gifts for gift-giving occasions.
All of these things are splurges. Each of them are expenditures that are purely for personal enjoyment that would be easily cut out of our lives if we were to do so.
I’m absolutely in favor of some degree of splurging in everyone’s life. The ability to freely experience the things we enjoy is a wonderful aspect of modern life, and eliminating it completely from our lives leads only to misery.
The challenge comes in when the cost of splurging begins to interfere with other aspects of one’s life. It’s particularly dangerous if splurging actually makes it difficult for you to pay your bills, but it’s also an area of concern if splurging is keeping you from moving forward on your goals and plans for those goals.
I’ll use my own life as an example. One of our biggest goals is to eventually buy a home in the country, hopefully before our children grow up. We’d like to build a home that includes a nice home office (rather than the small reconstituted bedroom I currently use) and a few other features, as well as a small barn in the back.
In order to achieve that goal, we had to establish a savings plan that would pay for that home in eight or so years (ideally paired with a rapid payoff of our current home’s mortgage). It’s an aggressive plan, but it’s a big goal that both my wife and I want to achieve.
Splurging is not allowed to interfere with that goal. Covering our monthly savings for that goal comes first before any splurging.
In other words, we treat our financial goals as bills that have to be paid. Once those bills are paid, we can then focus on the splurges we want in our life.
So, for example, I save slowly throughout the year for my GenCon trip. I put away about $20 a week all year long and when the trip arrives, I can easily afford the whole trip – the food, the travel, the hotel stay (usually, I’m in a room with several other people), and the event participation, often leaving myself with enough cash to pick up a game or three.
How do we determine how much we have each week or each month with which to splurge?Sarah and I each have a “splurge” line in our effective family budget. We’re each allowed to spend a certain amount each month without question. If we don’t spend it (or aren’t saving it for some specific goal), it just rolls back into the general pool, helping all of us.
Family-wide splurges usually come out of our excess money at the end of the month, as we constantly come in under budget (since I usually budget for the maximum for almost every bill).
An important thing to note is that I could easily define things like cell phones, television service, and internet service as splurges. All of these services are useful to us, but all of them are also, in essence, splurges.
Again, if splurges get in the way of your long term goals, cut back on them. Yes, that might mean your cell phone or your cable box.
Another good rule of thumb I’ve found is that if a splurge no longer feels like a splurge – in other words, it no longer feels special – it’s time to cut back on it.
My GenCon trip is a highlight of my year, so it always feels “special.” On the other hand, if I get a new book more often than once a month or so, it begins to feel routine (especially considering I can read public domain books for free quite easily or just pick up something onPaperBackSwap).
In the end, splurges come around after your goals are taken care of. If you find yourself splurging without taking care of your goals first, your future won’t be what you want it to be.


Warm Regard, Sara Pandian

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