My faithful friends - April and Sha

April and Sha, both came into our life on a brilliant October about 7 years ago. April and Sha are Jack Russels, the cutest puppies on the planet. They belong to my brother in law. He told my wife that he temporary needed a place to house April and Sha while he went for a vacation. He never took them back. It was ok for me as April and Sha soon became good companions for my children and the whole family.

Both are very playful and cheeky. April is much more playful. I throw her a ball and she brings it back. April will chase lizards too. Both bark when strangers pass by the house, yet they are friendly with children and friends. April likes me to rub her belly and scratch her back. She is a furry little angel and a monster guard dog all in one.

Grace and Aaron were fond of them. They kept the children company and busy while I worked. When my children went to school, April and Sha kept my aged mother occupied. Otherwise many aged become lonely when their children and grandchildren are not home. In fact my mother treated April and Sha like her 'kids' too. She talked to them. They seemed to talk back to her by barking.

I usually go home very late in the night. Everyone is asleep. No matter how late, April and Sha never fail to welcome me at the gate, wagging their tails cheerfully. April and Sha are my friends.

They are always faithful.

I am going to have a meeting with Johnson tomorrow to update on the listing of the company. I will share with you about it on another day.

Enjoy Nature

Today is Easter Sunday, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was crucified and now risen from the grave. For Christians, it is a victorious day as Jesus has conquered death and those that believe in Him and accept Jesus as Savior will have eternal life.

At 8.45 am, I picked up Stephen, Alicia and John to go to church. They are staying at the Sanctuary service apartment. It costs almost S$500 per day. They will be staying for 10 days and then head off to Jakarta for the Global Internet Summit. My church is only 10 min from where they are staying.

I am glad that they enjoyed their time in Singapore. It could be the food. More so, I think it is the friends they have around here. One time, someone asked me which is my favorite country since I travel so frequently. It really caused me to think. My favorite country need not be the most beautiful or the most dynamic place. It is the place where I have the most friends.

A few days ago, I brought Stephen and John to walk up the Bukit Timah Hill. Bukit Timah Hill at 164 meters is the highest land point in Singapore. The shortest trekking route to the summit follows the forest reserve which is just over 2 km and follows a paved road. We had a great time and it was fun.

The best part of this walk is that we are able to talk and share and get to know each other better.

We spend so much time working and making money that many of us don’t know how to appreciate nature and have fun.

Take time to get away and enjoy nature.

Don’t get fooled today

Do you realize that today is April fool’s Day? So be on guard, lest you be taken in by an April Fools’ joke. Haha, it would be wise to remember that not everyone has a sense of humor. I must confess that I have played harmless jokes on my friends, college and family on this day. After being serious for more than 300 plus days a year, it is nice to have a day off for jokes. You should be prepared to be fooled on April 1 and not take it to heart.

This morning, I played one joke on Veronica. She was taken in for a few minutes before she realized that it might be an April Fools’ joke. Others were not so fortunate.

The big one was played in front of 200 participants in the seminar we held at the Crown Plaza Riverside Hotel today. I went up to the stage and spoke with a serious tone. “Today is a very unfortunate day. One of you here thinks that you are a smart Alec. During the break, you went to the staff room and tried to be fresh with one of our female staff. You tried to get onto her and tried to kiss her... Even though she told you that she has absolutely no interest, you still persisted on. During the struggle, she took a sharp pencil and struck you and injured your palm. We know who you are. We have informed the police. After this announcement. I'd like to see you behind.” The whole room was in dead silence. Then I took out my hand from my pocket and it was bandaged in red ink. They all started to laugh.

We played a joke on Phoebe. First, I asked Shirlynn to text her and pretend to be Ben, a good looking Chinese guy from Australia whom Phoebe just met. We tricked her to believe that Ben was trying to date her. From the way she responsed, we could feel her heart pounding. She almost freaked out. Kekeke, she will be more careful next year.

We played a joke on Yang Po too. As she is still recovering from her illness, we only planned a mild joke. Hope she laughed at the joke and recovers sooner.

We played a joke on June Yuen. Shirlynn texted June and told her that the seminar was badly organized and that Jessie has broke down, cried and now cannot be found. We were all worried for her. We just managed to stop June as she was booking her air ticket to fly to Kuching to help.

The seminar ended at about 7 pm and we went for dinner behind the hotel. Along the way, we bumped into Kelvin and Michael from Hong Kong. We went back to the same place that Simon took us last night. The seafood is very good there. The only thing lacking is a good dessert. After the dinner, Fabian suggested we go to the Starbuck's nearby.

As we were waiting for the coffee, Douglas whispered in my ear that one of the speakers, Sam has requested that he does not want another speaker, Francis to be in the room when he speaks tomorrow. The reason is that, he does not want Francis to copy his speech. It is a serious matter and can be a potential time bomb if we do not address the issue immediately. I suggested to Douglas that we should call both Sam and Francis to sit together and iron out the differences. Douglas said he will meet them and handle it. We went back to our room. I was worried.

It was 11.50 pm when my phone rang. Alice, Sam’s lovely wife called. “Richard, Douglas and Sam met and Sam was very upset. He has gone to Francis’s room. I am afraid. He might punch him”. My heart dropped to my toe. Sam is a big rough American. Francis will be no match for him. “Where is Douglas?” I asked. The last thing I wanted is to have 2 professional men pounding on one another. “He is going after Sam” Alice replied. “What do you think is the best thing to do?” I asked, at a loss for words. “I don’t know. I thought I'd just let you know”, Alice replied. “Is there anything that Francis did today that upset Sam?” I asked, trying to think hard about my next move. I wanted to go stop the fight but I don’t know in which room Francis is staying. He is on the 17 floor. I am sure there will be a commotion and it will be easy to spot.

“What is the day today?” Alice added. “1 April?, ahhhhhhhhhhhhh .. Alice you fooled me”. I could hear roaring laugher in the background. Only then, I realized that the last joke of the day was played on me.

It is now 11.58pm. 2 minutes to midnite. I don’t have time to get back at them. Alice/Sam/Douglas, I will remember you next year.

PS: I am trying to upload photos of Phoebe, YangPo, Veronica, Ben, Douglas, Jessie and Shirlynn but for some reason I encountered an error. Maybe I will upload later.

Avoiding Traffic Jams in Jakarta

Andy said "Boss, you have to be ready at 6.30am .. don't get up too early please". That is a big surprise to me.

I have to take an early flight from Jakarta, Indonesia to Kuala Lumpur (KL) and then take another flight to Kuching in East Malaysia.

Ooooohh no, I have to get up at 5 am and be ready to go at 5.30am. My Jakarta - KL flight is at 7. 30 am. The journey to the airport is an hour. I have missed this flight on at least one occaion before because of the unpredictable traffic jams. It is not that the road is crowded with cars, rather it is the condition of the road or a fallen tree or flood or accident. The traffic is just unpredictable here in Jakarta. After 10 years doing business in Jakarta, I am all quite used to it.

"ahh, 6.30am is too late, it's got to be 5.30 am" I replied firmly, because I don't want to be late again. He smiled. "Don't worry, we have prepared a helicoptor for you." You will be in the airport on time. Haha, that is a pleasant surprise for me. My friend Tung told me last month that he was getting a helicopter but I did not know that he was serious about it. I don't think anyone in Singapore would want to own a helicopter because there is no need to have one. But in Jakarta, it will be useful to beat the traffic.

I have an extra hour of sleep. At 6.30 am, we went up to the roof of the hotel. There is a helipad there. The ride to the airport is very pleasant. We landed inside the international airport. There is a car waiting to bring me straight to the gate and board the plane. No custom check, no immigration hassle. It is nice when you can afford all this. If not, then have friends who can afford it.

I have to be in 3 more cities before I head back to Singapore. I have to be in Kuching, Sibu and Kota Kindaburu. All these cities are in East Malaysia. East Malaysia is rich in natural resources and the have the oldest primary forest in the world.

My thought goes to my daugther Grace. She just started work on Monday. I was thinking of sending her to her first day of work ... BUT I was not in town, Life is full of all the "But". She is a sensible and wonderful lady. Very pretty too, looks like me .. haha.

Grace has a strong character (another word for stubborn.) She once sat on the dining table holding a book to read when she was about 13 or 14. I reprimanded her for sitting on the table. She replied "Dad, why can't I sit on the table?" "The dining table is for us to have our meal, not for sitting on." I replied. " Why not, sitting on the table is closer to the lamp?" I remembered we had a small battle of words then. At dinner time, I asked her to sit on the table to have her meal. She cried and ran to her room. This is Grace, "strong character." After she finished her university, she went to be a missionary volunteer as an English teacher in a small town in Malaysia for a year before she went back to finish her master's degree. She found a job in the Singapore foreign affairs.

My computer is running out of battery .. To be continue later...