The Man With The Hammer

I usually don't blog about office stuff but this.....I got to share.

Aside from my two bosses, there is only one other staff working together with me. This morning both my bosses were away for a convention in town, leaving me to man the fort until my colleague arrives later in the morning. But she called in later to say that she was still stuck in the doctor's office and would be late.

So there I was, enjoying the solitude and the liberty to do my work without being disturbed when a man came to the office door. He knocked on the glass panel and I went to see what he wanted. You see, we just moved to a new office, so contractors and suppliers are still coming around to put in the finishing touches. This guy is middle aged and he waved a delivery order at me from the other side of the glass door. He was supposed to come and fix some chairs in the meeting room. I know I always teach my kids never to open the door to strangers but I opened the door to let him in.

I showed him to the meeting room and he proceeded to repair those new chairs. After a while, he turned and asked for my boss. I told him that she was not in. His next question - "You are ALL alone then?"

I, immediately went on red alert.

The office space is not very big - just the size of one shop office. He could very well see that I was alone at that moment. I told him that my colleague has just stepped out for a while and will be back soon.

He walked towards me, his hammer swinging beside him. I tell you, he could have hammered me with it and no one would find my body until much later!

"Okay, the job's done. Sign on the D/O and give me back the last two copies".

I went back to my desk, signed the D/O and had it stamped before handing it back to him. From the corner of my eye, I could see that that his eyes were darting around. I quickly gave him back his copies and ushered him out the door!

Then only could I breathe a sigh of relief!

The Olympic Torch Relay

Today was our country's turn to host the Olympic torch relay; a part of the flame's journey through 23 cities in five continents, arriving in Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games in August. A 130-day, 85,000 mile journey from Olympia, Greece to China.

The relay was to kick off from Dataran Merdeka at 2.15 pm. The torch would then be passed to the torchbearers, making its way through the streets of Kuala Lumpur, passing several landmarks before ending at the KLCC about 6 pm. This is only the second time Malaysians will get to witness the historic event up close. She last hosted a leg of the torch relay in 1964 when Japan became the first Asian country to host the Olympics.

As Papa Bkworm's office is in the city centre, he managed to record a short video of the run. Since it took 44 years for the torch relay to be hosted here in Malaysia after the first time in 1964, I doubt I will live to see it happen a third time. I'll just have to make do with this instead......

A Most Fitting Illustration

It's Sunday today.

Friday and Saturday whizzed by so fast, I barely knew what happened.

What happened, ah?? *blur*

And tomorrow.....let's not talk about tomorrow, please?

I think this penguin and his friend demonstrated my sentiments perfectly ........

Daffodils

One of my all time favourites..........

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed - and gazed - but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Poem by William Wordsworth

**************

One wish in my heart is birthed within,
The bliss of the poet, will I share,
In a field of dancing golden daffodils,
A solitude, blissful; with not a care.

Dancing with these golden daffodils,
Their heads blowing with the wind,
I shall soar higher, higher and higher,
In my mind's eye; to places I've never been.

So now you may just understand,
How much this poem speaks to me,
More than some lines about golden daffodils,
But that my imagination shall set me free.

- Bkworm -

Can't sleep without you.....

There are two reasons that can render me sleepless at night. One is having too much to think and the other, not having my other 'love' on my bed - my bolster!

Yes, I am a middle aged woman and I still need my bolster. My bolster is affectionately referred to as 'lap cheong' (meaning sausage because it's long and straight in shape) in our family. I have had this 'lap cheong' with me for about five years now. It's no longer as 'solid' as before and in fact, pretty much out of shape but who cares - I still need my bolster as much as I did from the time I was born!



I usually sleep on my side and with my arms around the bolster, I feel comforted and relaxed. I guess that's how babies must feel when they have a bolster between their legs and their arms wrapped around one, eh? I am so used to sleeping with a bolster that whenever I have to sleep in a hotel, I always need an extra pillow as a subsitute for a bolster, just so that I can fall asleep!

A few days ago, my colleague was telling me that her sister who was returning to Australia after a holiday here, had to pack a bolster home because it's not something that is sold over there. And she, like me, is one of those who cannot sleep without a bolster at night. Her old one at home has to be replaced and hence, she's flying a new one back with her.

Does anyone else have this same need for a bolster just like us?

A short post camp report

The little munchkin has come home. From boot camp!

We picked her up from school on Sunday afternoon. As the group of youngsters slowly trickled out of the school compound, we, like the rest of the parents who were waiting eagerly outside, began looking out for our daughter. I thought I spotted her coming out of the side gate, so I got out of the car and began walking towards her. As the girl turned and walked towards me, I hesitated.

“Eh, I think I got the wrong girl.”

Fancy not recognizing my own daughter!

But she continued walking towards me. When she was about a foot away, she handed me her bag. I recognized that bag!

It was Little Bkworm. Tired and sweaty. She looked as if she hasn’t slept for days, her usually rounded face has lost some of its’ chubbiness and she was a lot more tanned that I last saw her, just three days ago. Which explained why I wasn’t quite sure at the beginning!

“Mum, don’t mind the smell. I haven’t bathed for three days!”

On the way home, we heard the gist of her three day camp experience; the games, the instructions, the daily exercise regime and the tough BUT fun times that she had. Once we got home, she took a long shower and then fell asleep right until the next morning where another school day awaited her.

I looked in on her several times during the night. As I sat on the side of her bed, I felt a little ‘sam toong’ (heart ache) to see my ‘baby’ so exhausted and yet incredibly proud of her that she had survived her first camp.

The beginning of more things to come.

Oh, by the way, can anyone tell me how to wash a sleeping bag?

The Butterfly And The Cocoon

Ok, I am guilty. I spied on Little Bkworm at her camp yesterday night. Her father and I drove by her school after dinner but we couldn't see a thing. It was pitch dark and all we could see were the outline of some tents erected around the field. Maybe we were expecting a group of youngsters sitting around a campfire and singing songs!

As we drove away, the truth suddenly hit me. Our children need us in their lives. They depend on us to take care of them and cuddle them when they are young. But once they reach adolescence, they break away. Not that they don't need us anymore but that 'need' has evolved. They need their own space as they grapple with being young adults. They need to experiment with different feelings and emotions; learning to deal with each facet of life as a teenager in the best way that they know how. And behind all these, they still need us to support them; no longer like holding their hands to cross the road or physically feeding them food. But rather to let them know that no matter what happens, we will still love them and be there for them. To guide them when they are unsure of what to do and not to judge them when they fall.

It's harsh reality especially when it didn't seem too long ago when she can't sleep without a goodnight kiss and hug from us. When you love your kid, you want to protect them from all of life's hardships and hurts. You wish you can take that blow instead of it hitting your kid's fragile heart. You want to keep them safe from all of the world's wickedness and selfishness. But you know you can't because they can't grow without the frictions of life.

I love the story below....

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it had and it could go no further.

Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. And we could never fly. (author unknown)

In the middle of the night, I was woken up by the sounds of heavy rain outside. My thoughts immediately went to Little Bkworm, sleeping in her tent out in the open field. Will she get wet? Or will she be cold? Is she sleeping well? Many questions went through my mind. I prayed and asked God to watch over her even in the rains and I went back to sleep.

Surely God who made that beautiful butterfly will know how to take care of her too.