Dianne Odell

I was flipping thru' the pages in today's BB and came across this article entitled "Woman who spent life in iron lung dies".

Yep, this woman named Dianne Odell lived 58 of her 61 years in an iron lung. Mind you, its not those artificial lungs made of iron embedded into the body. Its a reportedly 750 pound iron machine covering her from neck to legs, as shown in the pic:


I was AWED when I searched and read articles about her. What a strong lady she is.
Imagine living in such a way on your back for 51 years.

WOW.. Not only that, she never lets this way of living stop her from having the education she wanted and also to pursue her dream of writing a book.

How hard is it for her to write a book?
- Her hands are in the machine, so she can't write, which means the only form is through voice recognition software
- She can only talk when her lung exhales.
- In the 1980s and 1990s, voice recognition computers are still relatively inefficient. To enter "CAT", she had to say "“Charlie-Alpha-Tango.”
- and so on..

The following are links I found informative on Dianne Odell, do read through:
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3 (Do watch the clip on the top right hand corner too. Shows Dianne talking)
Link 4

Sadly, she passed away on Tuesday due to a power outage (as the iron lung machine depends on electricity). Co-incidentally, the home generator also failed on that fateful day.

Nevertheless, with what she has gone through and how she influenced others with her beaming character, she is more than a hero to me.

What we can learn here is that we should not let our setbacks or weaknesses gloom our spirits and let it stop you from achieving your dreams and ambitions. If she can go through it all, why not us?

Rest in peace, Dianne Odell

the scary encounter

See.. A number of you have asked me about my encounter with the he-she. hahaha.. So here goes:

It occured around 2 years back. As usual every Thursday, we would gather at Harun Gym (the one at Bandar) to play ball. We would start around 7 pm and finish at around 9+ pm. As you know, the only free parking spots in Bandar are those by-the-building-side-parkings, so in order to save a little, I'd usually circle a few rounds in search of a free spot before going up to the not-free parking lot above the bus station.

Hah.. On this fateful Thursday, I found an empty spot that evening. It was about 2 buildings away, heh.. but I don't mind walking far lah.. Can be a minor warm-up before playing too. So why not?

At 9++ pm, playing time over. Time to head back. Packed, said farewell to the dudes, rode the elevator to the bottom. Then oopz,, I realised my car is 2 blocks away. Walao! Tired already leh..

Hmm.. 2 ways:
1. Longer route. By the road, got streetlights some more.
2. Shorter route. The closest route would be to walk through the dark lorong between buildings.

I took the second route. Wah.. great choice!



Into the darkness..
Walk walk walk.. Hmm.. After a few strides, I looked up.

"Wow", I said to myself. Mcm ada figure walking in this lorong too.



Walking towards my direction kua. I was wearing contacts, thus can't see clearly. Looks like lady eh. High heels, sleeveless shirt some more. What the heck is she doing here ? Should be really dangerous leh, lady.

I looked back to the ground ahead, and something popped in my head. "Eh, the frame of the chabo a lil' weird leh.. Her shoulders seems broad leh.. " So I raised my head up to look in that direction again.
"Oh F**k!", not a girl ah! Walao!

Shyt! I quickly avoided direct eye contact, scared the he-she would think that I'm interested. Choi!

Looked up quickly again! Wah! Really F**k! I realised now that the he-she is heading straight to my direction ah! On-course collision!

I shifted my direction a lil' bit. Wa heck, he-she also shift. Shit!

At this moment, I knew it was inevitable.

I picked up my walking speed. I was really afraid lah.. That he-she was of a bigger frame than me! Me and that he-she in a dark lorong. Distance out of lorong : More than half of lorong left. Who knows what the heck the he-she would do to me! Ahh!

Few more steps, the he-she really closed down. My heart was racing super fast. I just looked forward at the ground and paced forward.

Then the moment, the he-she was right in front of me.

Out from the he-she mouth "Hi, I LOVE YOU" and that gali look.



In my heart, "What the f**K!". I tried to act as calm as possible, and gave the "F**k off" facial expression to the he-she and walk past the he-she and continued at a "Im-busy-dude" pace. I knew that appearing scared or intimidated, would prompt the he-she to disturb me further.

So that was what I did, hoping that he-she would not follow me to my car.

Walk, walk, walk.. Still I dare not turn.

Tried to detect whether there were footsteps from behind.
Hmm.. don't think so.

Still I did not have the courage to look back until I was out of the lorong. Phew.. that he-she was nowhere in sight.

But not sure too lah.. To be safe.. Quick to the car!

Once in the car, haha.. the first thing I did was to lock all my doors..



Start engine, sped off..

That was one of my most scariest moments in my life. I really don't know what to do if that he-she really followed me that night. It was Bandar at night, all the shops close sudah. Me alone. Friends already jalan. Dark lorong where you couldn't see anything clearly. Lucky me.

Moral of the story: Never walk in dark lorongs alone.

LOL.. The end!

PS: Just in case, lorong = alley in English

tagged..

Anybody can solve this persistent stupid problem?

Problem: Cannot download or upload stuff in Firefox
My ridiculously troublesome solution: Re-install Firefox, whenever you want to download/upload stuff! It works.. but really troublesome lah! Anyone faced this problem before? HELP!

Note to all ex-SASians: Check food-hungry's latest post! hahaha.. They even have buttermilk chicken in the canteen nowadays! AHH!

Btw, kena tagged by Mrs Foo.. Bo pien, gotta complete it, in d fear Mr Foo might chop me with his Java skills.. Hahahaha.. So here goes..

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Instructions: Remove 1 question from below, and add in your personal question, make it a total of 20 questions, then tag 8 people in your list, list them out at the end of this post. Notify them in their chat box that he/she has been tagged.

1. At what age do you wish to marry?
Whoa.. I'd wanna be able to be run around with my kids, thus not too old eh.. I'd want my kids to have the best childhood experience too, so gotta earn lots of money first, so not too young too eh.. OI bern! You gotta get a girl first to even think! Ok ok..Next next..

2. Where will you go if someone sponsors you a tour ticket?
Nah.. I'll ask for name change on the tickets and pass it to my parents or either of them instead. I love Brunei bah!

3. What's your favorite thing to do?
U know what guys love to do.. duh~ Haha.. Using the Internet lah.. What was on ur mind?

4. Do you think money can buy happiness?
Don't think so. Just as one of my previous posts said, experiences give you more happiness instead.

5. If you can have 1 dream to come true, what would it be?
Playing in the NBA? LOL

6. Do you believe you can survive without money?
LOL.. stupid question

7. What are you afraid to lose the most?
As Geok said, "Loved ones". Agreed!

8. What is your current mood?
Hmm.. neutral I guess.. Not too happy nor too sad nor whatever.

9. If you meet someone that you love, would you confess to him/her?
Hmm.. yeah when the time is right. Easier said than done la of course.

10. List out 3 good points of the person who tagged you?
Geok - Intelligent, Friendly, Cheerful

11. What are the requirements that you wish from the other half?
Just like Hebe! But realistically, I dun even dare to wish. It should be planned by the Almighty above already. I'll tell you the day I meet my "WOW" lady.

12. What type of person do you dislike the most?
Emm.. Mainly ppl who have a habit of lying. Ohh.. Arrogant ppl. Eww

13. What is your ambition?
Hmm.. I hope to make a difference in whatever I do.

14. If you can teleport once, where would you go?
Whoa cool.. emm.. If the teleport thingy will bring me back, I'd go to one to a bank's(some very far far bank , so they won't track me down!) vault and get as much money as I want! hahaha.. WAIT.. If the teleport is one-way only, hmm.. I'd wanna go to a resort place... ahh.. How nice? Spend my sem break there :)

15. What do you think is the most important thing in your life?
Family and friends!

16. If you are given a chance to forget one memory, what would that be?
Getting approached by the pondan.. gali and sibeh scary ah!

17. If you have a chance, which part of your character would you like to change?
Hmm.. I'd like to be less paiseh-ish dude and get less sarcastic ( Note: applies to some ppl only.. HAHAHA)

18. What music have you been listening to recently?
Lots.. most of em is typical Chinese pop. Jason Mraz is an exception thou'.

19. What will you be doing 10 years from now?
Makan nasi katok.. Should be hungry at this time hahah.. don't think will change 10 yrs from now.

20. If one day you couldn't do the things that you are used to doing now anymore, how would you feel?
If there is no choice, there is nothing you could do. I'd look forward to properly adapt in that sort of life.

To be tagged: Aida, C.Huat, CK, Shy Ni, Pei Yuen, Sara, Zaimah, Leong

autism

Hulo!

Anyone heard of the "Learning Ladders Society"? yeap yeap.. on papers ada juga, on rano's site too.. Its another society caring for autism.. Yeap.. its another.. not the only. I wonder how many of you knew this fact.

There is also another society for autism, i.e. "Society for the Management of Autism Related issues - Training, Education and Resources" aka 'SMARTER'. There was this Charity Evening which featured our local artists organised by them + the IM Of UBD.. Ring any bells?? Still no?. Haha.. doesn't matter. Guess, now you should! Ahh, but wait wait what's autism btw?

Off i went on my lil' research.. google 'autism'

Here's what I found.

an adorable baby (source:www.lifedynamix.com)

What is autism?

According to Wikipedia, "Autism is a brain development disorder that impairs social interaction and communication, and causes restricted and repetitive behavior, all starting before a child is three years old."



Autism Symptoms (source: library.thinkquest.org)


Anyways, it's good to hear that Brunei do pay attention on autism.

So what could you or me do to help em??

Typical responses include: "I'm not rich ler.. Allowance alum kluar! .. I rather spend on Excapade! .. and so on..."

-->'Nada Cash Wah' solution
Nah.. u don't need to be rich to help lar. SMARTER came up with this shop whereby people can donate their old items to. Money from items sold would be to aid SMARTER, thus the autism patients.As easy as that. Don't go throwing away ur old stuff yah! Those stuff could help others..

Important INFO:
SMARTER shop is at Wisma Jaya building (ground floor) right opposite of HSBC in Bandar.

-->'Hehe.. actually ada sikit cash lah' solution
If you've got cash at hand or prefer to aid in the form of cash, I guess there is a way to aid them too. It seems that you could be a member of the "Learning Ladders" society, 'Support member' to be more exact, for the mere fee of $50 according to this page.

I also came across another interesting local blog related to autism too. Its about Raiyan, a autism child and his journey in life. I haven't finished reading all of the posts there, but do have a read.. there is definitely a lot to learn from it.

At this moment, that is all I know about autism and autism in Brunei.

Thus, happy reading ppl.. :)

Demise of the 'King'

Behold:














Yes.. it's d trashing(by more than half! oops..) of the 'King' in a game of Scrab. No no.. Im not a pro player(I often get trashed by pros too!) nor an arrogant one, haha.. but this one's a special case thus pardon me, this requires a dedicated post. Heck, not everyone can have the honour or the opportunity to trash a 'King'!

So 'King', what's next?? Winning Eleven??? Anytime mate!

Till then.. :)

hungry hungry!

Its around midight now, and as usual my 'not-so-meaty' stomach is growling.. "grrrpp grpppp". As usual when that happens, a normal person would start to think about food.. then this food popped up.. fried beehoon!
nah.. not your typical fried beehoon ah.. where you gotta add lots of chilli sauce to make it yummy, or those beehoon dishes in which the beehon is super dry and texture a lil' rough.. I was thinking about the 'Coconut Grove BeeHoon'.[It's non-halal btw!~] I guess its called that way. Ugghh.. unfortunately I can't upload the pics to my PC :( I'll post em up once I get those PC problems solved.
















A typical beehoon dish
in case you some of you dunno what's beehoon! hahaha


So what's different?
- The beehoon used ain't the those packed ones which you find on shelves in supermarkets. My mom so calls it 'fresh beehoon'. Heard that it is only available at Hua Ho stores only.
- Smells super good
- You don't add chilli sauce to this dish, cause it'll end up tasting worse. It already tastes good without chilli sauce
- Ohh, price is more expensive. A normal dish with egg, taugeh, and a number of thinly sliced char siew(which also tastes good, not too much fat which is YUCK!) costs $3.50 ah!
- You can't find it in other places in Brunei? This is the first restaurant I heard that serves fresh beehoon. Do tell me if there are other places selling it!


So which restaurant and where?

Here's is a noobish map. It's called Coconut Grove. This restaurant is not that big. There are around emm.. 7 tables i guess. Usually packed during those usual makan-times. Ambience is kopitiam style but aircon's available.



Some recommendable dishes there are:

KB KuayTeow.
(They actually got popular for this dish). The KuayTeow ain't that oily, and its actual Kuay Teow from KB! There is a slight difference in its taste. You can find out.

Buttermilk Chicken!!
I'm a buttermilk chicken crazy person. Unbelievable leh when taking into consideration my body frame. Hmm.. this dish here should be 4 out of 5 stars lah. Ohh.. Remember to tell the waitress “Not too much chili padi ah!”, if you are not a handal chili eater. I end up like I just came out of a light shower during my first try of this dish. The sauce given is also sikit. Close to nothing. The portion given, to be honest, not enough for me. But the taste is good! Comparable to other better buttermilk chicken veterans like Nyonya's.

Crispy Mee.
Yeap! It's one of my favourites too! “Wah lao eh.. The stuff he eats is super oily la.. Boh koh leng, still thin!” Hahaha.. The crispy mee served here also 4 out of 5 stars. Not too salty. No gali carrots or corns <-- uggh I hate those stuff.

Ohh btw, Im don't get money from em for all this postings. I just wanna share with you ppl one of the many good places for makan!

Till then!

scent of freedom

2 more days to freedom!!! May God bless my last paper!!!