A Laugh A Day Keeps The Doctor away???

You must have heard of the phrase:"An apple a day keeps the doctor away". But have you heard of this:"A laugh a day keeps the doctor away"? Sounds weird, huh? Actually, it is quite true. Research has shown health benefits of laughter ranging from strengthening the immune system to reducing food cravings to increasing one's threshold for pain. There's even an emerging therapeutic field known as humor therapy to help people heal more quickly, among other things. Humor also has several important stress relieving benefits. Basically, laughing reduces stress and depression. Amazing, huh?
Jokes play an important part is creating humor and thus helps people laugh (unless you are one of those old, glum and forever unsmiling people). Here are some football jokes for you (because I love soccer):
Nuts over EPL football
1. How do you know when you are reading the newspapers upside-down?
Ans: When Newcastle United are at the top of the league table!

2. A Manchester United fan once asked Wayne Rooney for his autograph. A week later, he asked Rooney for his autograph again. This time, Rooney got suspicious and asked,"Why do you need so many of my autographs? I thought you asked for it just last week?" The fan replies,"Oh, it is because I need 10 of yours to exchange it with one of Cristiano Ronaldo's autographs."

Hope you liked my jokes.

P.S. "An apple a day keeps the doctor away". I hate apples!

An interview on my mum on the book that inspired her most

Qns:What is the book that inspired you most?

Ans:There are many books that I have read since I was a child that gave me much inspirations at different stages in my life. One book has inspired me most is “Tuesdays with Morrie” by Mitch Albom.

Qns:Why & How?

Ans:Mitch Albom is an award-winning sportswriter. In this book, he recounts how he renewed his warm relationship with his revered mentor, Morrie Schwartz, who was his college professor some sixteen years ago.

Mitch heard about his teacher from an interview show on TV and decided to pay a visit. This visit soon turned into regular meetings - on Tuesdays, in his study, just as they used to do, back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final "class": lessons on how to live.

Albom plots Morrie's declining health, which is quite depressing, but at the same time imparts Morrie's wisdom. As a dying man, Morrie shows us how he learns to appreciate the things he used to be able to do. As readers, we soon begin to realize that human relationships and health are more important than all the gadgets, modern conveniences, pressures to get ahead professionally and monetarily combined.

From time to time, we get so obsessed with the real trivialities of life. We become lost in a fast-paced lifestyle and we stop to care. We are always in a hurry that we never think of stopping and appreciating what is around us.

This book sets me into self reflection, just as Morrie took Mitch through the weekly lesson. The many lessons include asking us to stop for a minute, breath, and remember why we are doing what we do. It teaches us to grasp the things that are really important in our lives and not to let go. It also tells us that the one thing that we should do best is to love, to love the people who have enriched our lives.

Tuesdays with Morrie helps me ponder over what matters most to me, rethink what I really value in life, and that I should live according to what really matters.

There are many meaningful quotes by Morrie in this book, which I like a lot, such as, “You live on - in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here”, “If you can accept that you can die at any time - then you might not be as ambitious as you are" and “Love is when you are as concerned about someone else's situation as you are about your own."

Village by the Sea

This is a book review on the book Village by the Sea by Anita Desai.
Here's a brief summary about the book:
In a small sleepy fishing village of Thul, four siblings have to take care of themselves as well as their sick mother. Their father is a drunkard who always goes to the toddy shop at night to drink. Hari, the only son, climbs trees for coconuts and fishes in the sea for food. Lila, Bela and Kamal help to do housework. Only Bela and Kamal, the youngest in the family, get to study.
When money runs very short, Hari runs in desperation to Bombay, where he gets a job in an eating house. He leaves his family to cope with their problems while he earns money to bring back home to Thul.
The siblings received help during the time of the crisis, so they eventually managed to pull through. In the end, Lila's mother was sent to the hospital to be treated(sponsored by a rich family), her father turned over a new leaf and Hari returns with money.
I think that this is a very well-written mordern day fairy tale and adventure story. Anita Desai writes in such a way that Village By The Sea not only introduces many themes that relates to real-life situations, but also more about India.

Confessions of a Bubble Tea Junkie

I was addicted when I drank my first cup of bubble tea - a Singaporean treat. All around Singapore you can find shops which sell bubble tea. One cup of bubble tea mainly consists of tea, tapioca pearls and syrup. If brewed properly, it can be as addictive as alcohol.
However, I must admit, it is unhealthy. (do not take it too often) But that is what most Singaporeans do right? Consume unhealthy stuff. Let us take a peek into the recipe of cup of bubble tea:
How to make a bubble tea

• 1 Scoop non-dairy powder creamer
• 1 Scoop bubble tea sugar syrup
• 1 cup ice
• 2 fl. oz. of cooked Bubble Tea Tapioca Pearls
  

1. Put hot tea, creamer and Bubble Tea sugar syrup in shaker and mix well.
2. Add in ice, cover shaker and shake for a nice froth.
3. Add tapioca pearls to a cup, and pour your drink over.
4. Put in your fat bubble tea straw and enjoy.

The most popular of bubble teas are milk tea, green tea and red tea. The non-local types are black, green, oolong, chai, or yerba teas.
One last question: Could you share your thoughts on bubble tea with me? (post it in the comment box)

Organ Trading: Illegal or not?

Recently, there was an incident about organ trading, if you recall.C K Tang Executive Chairman Tang Wee Sung will likely plead guilty to supposedly agreeing to buy a kidney. He was desperate for a kidney because he had a severe kidney failure.

He allegedly purchased a kidney from Indonesian Sulaiman Damanik for S$300,000. However, Tang's deed was discovered before the transplant could take place.

Wang Chin Sing acted as the middle man who allegedly facilitated the kidney-for-sale deal.

There was a forum by the parliament, debating whether organ trading should be legal or not. The result of the heated debate was: the new law did not seek to legalise organ trading. Here are my view points on this topic:

1. Organ trading has its own advantages and disadvantages.
   
2. Organ trading can save lives. However, there is a shortage of organs all around the world. That is why people resort to buying organs illegally from the black market.
3. What's bad about organ trading is that the newly transplanted organ may not be used to the new body and therefore causes disease or damages the body.
4. In addition, the organ seller may not get the sum of money originally promised by the middle man if they sell their organs to the black market and the middle man might sell the organ at several times the cost price to the buyer. This occurs because people are desperate to live and may resort to buying organs from the black market.
5. One last point. I think that the government should allow legal organ trading at a subsidised price. This will benefit both parties as the sellers get the original sum promised and buyers will be able to afford the new organ as the original price is subsidised by the government.

What do you think of organ trading. Do you feel that is illegal or legal?

My review on blogging so far

What can I say about blogging? Three opinions:

1. It's fun, enjoyable and exciting.
2. It allows us to express our feelings about events which happened in our everyday life.
3. Best of all, it improves our English!

What I like about blogging is basically what I have stated above. However, what I dislike about blogging is the fact that sometimes people are too lazy to search the internet for our blogs so they would not read our blogs. Therefore, I really hate the lack of reading and posting comments.

Here's a quick glance of my opinions in improving this process of blogging:

1. I suggest that we should blog about thrice per week to improve our blogging skills.
2. Secondly, we should link to others' blogs so that we can read up on their most recent posts. Reading will also help in improving the blogging process.
3. Lastly, we should read more books. This might give us some ideas to blog about.

In one of my previous posts, I have linked to my bookshelf at weread. I think this is a very good idea as it will introduce readers to some good books and also might allow people to be more interested in reading.

Beach Cleaning 2009

Today, I went to Changi Beach with my class to pick litter on the beach. A few observations of mine include:
1. There is so much litter on the beach! This goes to show that most Singaporeans are irresponsible.
2. The beach breeze is so cooling. Usually we do not go to beaches, so it is a real treat to be there.
3. Me and my partner collected a lot of rubbish (probably one of the most full rubbish bag ) without cheating ( some people cheated by collecting rubbish from rubbish bins! )
From this experience, I learned that we should do more things for our community to improve other peoples' lives. Please comment on this. Thanks.