dead
I Wish I were A Little Braver…
Remember what happened four days ago?
Life is really unpredictable.
Four days ago, it was still alive and trapped among my forested kah moh but now, it 翘辫子 already.
I wonder why all kar chuaks have to flip over everytime they die?
The Wrath of Mother Nature
Photos shown above are taken from here.
Photo credits from Reuters
Mother Nature is very sick and she is sending out the signals already.
Must we wait till we’ve lost everything before we start to realize the seriousness of this matter?
The two places I dread going to…
Sin Ming and Balestier, that is…
These places reminded me of death, especially Sin Ming.
Just look at the number of funeral palours and the columbarium at Tze Dor Am Temple. It’s a place of grief, where the living and the dead are separated. It is also where the dead are cremated into ashes.
It’s always with a heavy heart that I dragged myself there.
We were there today, at Tze Dor Am Temple, to pray to my Grandparents and small uncle who died in a traffic accident when his motorbike flipped over. He was young, only in his early twenties when he died. I remembered I was only in primary two at that time.
The gate to Tze Dor Am
The ceramic lion standing guard outside the main hall.
After paying our respects to the various Buddhas at the main hall, we proceeded to the other side where we prayed to our ancestors. The place was thronging with people and the smoke from the incense stung my eyes till they teared.
The sun was scorching hot and the tables that were in the shade were all taken. We had no other options except to made do with one that was out in the open under the sun. We set up the offerings we’ve prepared, and invited my Grandparents and small uncle to come out to eat alfresco-styled.
In contrast to the vegetarian dishes which we’ve prepared, our neighbors had a spread of chicken rice, spare ribs and whatever delicacies you can think of. It’s interesting to see what other people are burning to their loved ones. Other than the normal clothes, cars, beach-side bungalows, money, dim-sum, gold bar and what-nots, I realized that the latest Spring/Summer collection down there now is LV. I’ve seen LV wallets, LV handbags and even LV luggage bags.
After a while, we went to the basement where the urns were closely placed on shelves that reached high into the ceiling. The lights are dim and the air just smells so bad I couldn’t stay down there for long!
I don’t like Balestier either.
Like a routine each year, after paying our respects at Tze Dor Am Temple, we would proceed to 大悲院 at Balestier to pray to my 契爷 who is actually my dad’s other brother who died during childbirth. Many years after he died, my Grandma ‘saw’ him at the living room with a girl he’d met down there and they wanted to tie the knot. My Grandma went to the medium and they managed to track down the girl’s family thus, a Yin marriage was arranged.
The medium told my Grandma something about them without having a heir and just at that time, my mum was pregnant with me, thus, I became “the chosen one” to be their 契仔so that there will be someone to offer them joss-sticks .
I don’t know whether to believe in this as it happened way before I was even born. I only knew that from the day I could talk and walk, I had to come to this temple to pray to my 契爷and 契妈 during every Tomb-Sweeping Festival.
This antique bookshelf from 大悲院watched me grew up literally.
They had a new Four-Faced Buddha erected there in the courtyard. It wasn’t here the previous year when I came.
Thank goodness, we’ve already dug everyone out of Lim Chu Kang Cemetery in time and placed them in Columbariums. If not, we would be caught without out ICs in the search for Mas Selamat.
How about you?
Is there somewhere which you dread to go?
Play and feed a hungry person
According to the United Nations, about 25,000 people die each day from hunger or hunger-related causes, most of them children.
Now we can help to feed the hungry simply by going to www.freerice.com and play the vocabulary game. We earned 20 grains of rice for every question which we’ve gotten correct and the sponsors at the bottom of the screen will pay for that.
We get to improve our vocabularly and yet able to help someone else at the same time so, why not? We feed their tummy, while we feed our brains.
I have played the game and donated 5000 grains of rice. I’m not sure how far 5000 grains of rice can go but what I’m sure is no amount is too little. Afterall, the sea is made up of many drops of water.
As the saying goes, 
Many a mickle makes a muckle.
(积少成多)
Let’s help a child to sleep with a full tummy today.
a mothers’ grief
Needless to say, everything went flat and splattered everywhere and he was just one U-turn away from home. Everything came so suddenly and this guy was at the prime of his life. He was just 20 years old and life was just beginning for him but one freaking accident was all it took to claim everything from him – his family, his friends, his future, his life…
My friend’s sister aspired to be an Astrologist, but there wasn’t any local Uni here offering the course so off she went to the States to pursue her dream to study about the stars and the planets.On that fateful day, the boyfriend was driving her back to the hostel but somehow, their vehicle crashed into a truck. The boyfriend escaped with minor injuries but my friend’s sister wasn’t so lucky. Her skull was caved in and she died instantly on the spot.
The boyfriend felt so remorseful that he committed suicide. His friends had found him lying in a pool of blood when they broke into his apartment. He had slit his wrist.
I guess life would never be the same for their family now, especially during her birthdays and death anniversary. They would post her obituary in the newspapers without fail during her death anniversary and they would hold a memorial service for her.
Life is so unpredictable and fragile so treasure your loved ones around you. You never know when fate might decide to play a joke on you and took your loved one away from you.
The Dead Cockroach 