Happy Labour Day

Hi Everyone,

It's the 1st May tomorrow! Here's wishing you a Happy Labour Day tomorrow. Selamat Hari Pekerja. Please have good rest, fun and enjoy yourselves for three days. Have a great weekend. For me, I will continue to be very busy the next two weeks. Very busy until 15th May before I go overseas again. Watch out for updates on my blog. Ciao.

That's all,

Rogerkoo

Swine Flu Alert!

Hi Everyone,

 

The swine flu has been reported in Mexico with 81 people died of it². The strain is the first found in humans and pigs. A few cases have been reported in US thatinclude New York and two in Texas. Besides the US, the flu has been reported in New Zealand and the Middle East. With these in mind, we need to be careful of it. We need to make sure our hands are washed clean and make sure there is minimal face contact with another person.  Be careful of what we eat also. We can avoid eating pork and instead, eat more chicken and other sources of meat such as fish. Another measure is be hygenic. These precautionary steps will be able to prevent you from contracting the swine flu.

 

Symptoms of the swine flu include fever and severe pneumonia. Under a World Health Organisation (WHO) guideline, the Department of Disease Control in Malaysia has activated an operations room to monitor the swine flu situation in Malaysia. There will also be some screening at KLIA for Malaysians or anyone who has visited Mexico and US after 17th April¹. The flu has the potential to become a pandemic disease.

 

More updates may be written on this.

 

That's all,

 

Rogerkoo

 

¹The Sun

²The Star

Stress - Is It Good or Bad???

Hi Everyone,

Is Stress good or bad? What do you think of this question? Is this entirely bad or is this entirely good? What if we have a balanced level of stress? 

Try to think of stress in a good way. We will face stress when we are work especially during very tight deadlines. Our assignment or tasks need to be completed at this certain date. Sometimes, at this time, we can even have other projects to be handled and done as well. Well, if we do not have any stress at all, we will feel restless or find nothing much to do. Having no stress is no good too. It means we live easy lifes. Nothing to worry about. This is not true in the world that we live in. Everyday, we will face some kind of stress or pressure during certain period. We are not perfect. We make mistakes all the time even experienced people can do it. Of course, experienced people make less but still they can make mistakes. These mistakes can have a small or big impact on the project or assignment depending on the problems or issues that it may cost.

Having a too easy life is not good too. When the bad situation comes, we will not be prepared for it. Let's say we don't have much to do for quite some time and then suddenly a lot of things need to be done, we will feel the pressure of completing all of them. If we faced them before, we know we can handle it well. We know that even though there are a lot of tasks, we can finish them. We can plan well to complete all the tasks without much pressure or diffculty. The things that we do are more accurate and precise. We know what we are suppose to do and after a while, it is done. It's all finished. Yay!!. I have reached a milestone here.

We need to achieve a balanced level of stress. Not too stressed out and not too easy. We need to have a certain amount of stress levels but we also need to control it. Therefore, we need to take it easy after a day's work. We need to calm down ourselves. As a calm person, I do feel the pressure at work sometimes but I am able to take it and control it. Being too stressed out is not good. It leads you to hypertension and high blood pressure. You may collapse one day too. Our lifespan will be shortened. 

Here are some things that we can do to have a balanced or minimised stress levels. These are some of it which I found useful:

1. Mindset of everything that I do or say, it is for God's glory. Think of it as a way to glorify God instead of an obligation
2. Pray to God regarding it. God can reveal certain things to you when you do that. 
3. Sleep and rest well
4. Listening to music (Classical, easy listening, favourite music on Ipod or MP3 player etc)
5. Reading books (I find it relaxing but of course I read at home)
6. Watching the television at home
7. Enjoy your work (You need to enjoy doing the work)
8. Stretch or walk around the office after sitting for some time (Going to toilet, do some stretching exercise or just stretch out your hands)
9. Having a light snack (Healthy snacks, biscuits etc). Sometimes we need some food to be refreshed
10. Think positively (Never give up, ask if you don't know)
11. Complete the task one at a time instead of doing everything at once. You can get confused.
12. Exercising or play sports or light recreational activities (Can help to release it)

These are some of the methods that I used. It works. Please feel free to comment on this. Who knows, maybe you have a better way to control stress, ya?

That's all for now,

Rogerkoo

Updates From Me This Week

Hi Everyone,

The books I ordered and paid through MPH Online has been delivered on Wednesday. I bought Against Medical Advice by James Patterson and I'm Not Sick, Just a Bit Unwell: Life with Neurofibromatosis.

There the books are. These are great books for reading. Both are true stories by the way. Yvonne Foong's book proceeds is for her surgeries. I didn't know that she is a Christian too until I've read the acknowledgements section in her book. Both are inspiring books. A little different from my usual mystery / detective / legal books that I read.

Yesterday was the Twenties Group and Girls Group social night at Su Anne's house at Damansara Indah Resort Homes. There was a lot of food and drinks there including KFC, Domino's Pizza, beancurds, rice, fried rice, sangria, soft drinks, water, salads, mashed potatoes, coleslaws, noodles, apple crumble, merinque and cakes. However, the cakes that I brought was not eaten because there were a lot served there. It's a time of fellowship and get to know each other better. We also updated each other about what we have been doing for the past few months / weeks since we met again as a combined group yesterday.

We also had a games session after desserts. We played two games which include a round of Charades to finish it off.

The first game was to get to know interesting facts about us which was known to anyone. A few of us were chosen. We are told to write interesting events that everyone did not know about. Pauline was the game master for the first game yesterday. Then, we put it into a box where Pauline then picked a few random papers being thrown into it. She then selected 3 people to sit down on 3 chairs in front of everyone. Next, Pauline then reads out to everyone about it. The objective and aim of this game are to guess who among the three sitting in front actually performed or did the thing being read out by Pauline. It's very fun to know what some of us actually did when we were younger. Others will start asking questions and there were some funny answers coming from everyone. The persons selected who did not do the things read by Pauline also need to make up a story as it that he or she has done it before.

Thanks to Su Anne and her family for opening their house for all of us yesterday night. Also thanks to Kelvin who fetched me back home yesterday after that. Thank you very much to all who attended too. We had a great fellowship together.

Thumbs Up to LHDN E-Filing System

Hi Everyone,

I registered as a tax payer on Sunday through the E-Daftar system. Personal details just need to be filled in and a copy of the IC needs to be uploaded or sent through the e-mail. The LHDN website confirmation page then shows that the tax file number will be available 3 days after the registering. And it's true, I have my tax file number on Wednesday. It's according to their word. 

Then, to be eligible for Income Tax E-Filing, I'll need to send an e-mail to them to register for a pin for E-Filing. I did that on Wednesday night. An automated e-mail was sent out that night to inform me that the officers are processing the application. On Thursday night, I got the E-Filing pin already. It was quick. 

The payment of income tax can be paid online as well as at the counter located at offices throughout Malaysia. Online mode of payments include Maybank2U, CIMB Clicks and other online banking systems as well as through its FPX system. It's very convenient. I could not pay  it online but that may be due to that I just registered. I called in to enquire about it and the officer explained to me alternative ways to pay the income tax politely. She was good.

The deadline is 30th April 2009. All these are done efficiently. Kudos to Lembaga Hasil Dalan Negari Malaysia (LHDN) or the Inland Revenue Board. The form in the system is easy to be filled in too.  They have done a good job here.

Some Videos of the Seventies??

Hi,

When I listened to Light & Easy Radio station a few years ago, I came across these two songs from Barry Manilow, I Can't Smile Without You and I Write the Songs. I found some videos of these two songs on Youtube. This is the first part of a few posts that I am going to write today. Another nice and easy listening song is Sailing by Rod Stewart. It was one of the hits in the nineties.

I Can't Smile Without You

I Write The Songs

Sailing

Updates from Rogerkoo

Yo, What's up, Everybody? Is everyone in the pink of health? I am fine here and in the pink of health. 

It's been long since I have updated this blog. I was in overseas for the past few weeks.

Tears To Tiara¹, adapted from the video game on PS3 and PC and Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood² (the most anticipated anime of the 2009) animes are now shown on Animax. I have watched the first few episodes and excited to follow these animes. These are two of the best animes that I have seen. I also like La Corda Doro Prima Passo and Nodame Cantabile too, both talking about classical music.

I've watched the previous CSI episode where Gil Grissom (William Petersen) told his team he is leaving CSI. What's the reason behind his decision? Is it because of Sara? It seems Catherine (Marg Helgenberger) knows about it. Lawrence Fishburne will join the CSI team later. Grissom has a case last week where the killer has killed a lot of people. The killer was part of a criminal research programme at a university where Lawrence Fishburne is the professor there. At the end of the episode, he told them to find a body at a site somewhere and they found the bones of another person too. Grissom can't leave CSI yet! He'll need to solve this first together with his team members. Find out this Wednesday.

I went to Ancol - Taman Impian at Ancol last week with my friends. We went to Sea World and Gelanggang Samudra. Have a look at the pictures that I took at Picasa Web - Ancol - Taman Impian. Had fun there. Came back around 5 and cooked dinner for some of my friends later. Had a good meal.

On Saturday, I've bought James Patterson's Against Medical Advice and Yvonne Foong: I'm Not Sick, Just a Bit Unwell: Life with Neurofibromatosis. If you have not noticed, my blog linked to her blog. Yvonne is suffering from Neurofibromatosis Type 2, a genetic disorder that makes tumours grow in her brain, spine and along peripheral nerves at 16³. which left here to live in silence. It talks about how she manage to cope with it and won numerous awards including Most Outstanding Youth of the Year 2005 and Her World Young Women Achiever of the Year 2008⁴

Against Medical Advice talks about Cory Friedman, who woke up one day with the uncontrollable urge to shake his head. He has gone through medications for 15 years that had side effects on him. It is a true story. It talks about he manage to fight for his life and survive them with the support of his family and teachers and medical professionals.⁵

The next few good books that I am looking forward to buy this year are The Associate written by John Grisham and James Patterson's Cross Country. I was planning to buy The Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Patterson but found that it is under the teen category so I decided not to buy. Is it meant for both adults and teens though? Hehe. Maybe should have bought it. Haha.

Will update again later. 

¹ Wikipedia: Tears to Tiara, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tears_to_Tiara

²Full Metal Alchemist Official Website, http://www.fullmetalalchemist.com/

³ MPH Online, http://www.mphonline.com/i/charity.jpg ⁴ The Star Online, http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/4/16/nation/3700470&sec=nation ⁵ James Patterson: The Offical Website, Against Medical Advice, http://www.jamespatterson.com/books_againstMedicalAdvice.html

Rogerkoo

Movies / Music - April 2009

Hi, We will see several new movies coming this month. Wolverine, a spin off from X-Men will be released next week. I would like to watch this movie. It talks about Wolverine's past which include his love and enemy, Victor Creed. Wolverine, portrayed by Hugh Jackman has been a popular character in the X-Men series. His skills are good. Do expect some violence in the movie though, I think from what I read in IMDB. Fast and the Furious 4 has been relased too. Vin Diesel is back with the 4th installment of the Fast and the Furious movies. He is back with more action on car racing. Shinjuku Incident, a new movie starring Jackie Chan and Daniel Wu has been released too. I saw the interview with both the actors on Channel News Asia last week. This time, we will not see the funny or hilarious side of Jackie Chan. He is playing a very serious character this time. In Malaysia, the film released will be the Cantonese version. I would like to watch this movie too. It is about foreign migrant communities in Tokyo who live shadowy lives. For more information you can refer to the website of Shinjuku Incident who will be part of a list of websites that I will list out in this blog. My Favourite Music in April 2009 At the Cross - Hillsongs Better In Time - Leona Lewis Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis Everlasting God Good Night - Maroon 5 How Great is Our God - Chris Tomlin I Hate This Part - Pussycat Dolls Love Story - Taylor Swift Lucky - Jason Mraz and Colbie Calliat Sing Sing Sing - Chris Tomlin The Promise - Il Divo's latest album Tong Hua - Guang Liang Uptown Girl - Billy Joel / Westlife Yesterday - Leona Lewis You're Hot and You're Cold - Katy Perry You Never Let Go - Matt Reidman Other pop / easy listening songs List of websites for today's entry Fast and Furious 4 - IMDB Fast and Furious 4 Offical Website Fast and Furious - Rotten Tomatoes Shinjuku Incident - IMDB Shinjuku Incident Official Website Wolverine - IMDB Wolverine Official Website Wolverine - Rotten Tomatoes

The Biggest Loser

Hi Everyone, I watched The Biggest Loser on the Hallmark Channel yesterday. It is a reality tv competition where the contestants are determined to lose weight and win US$250,000. I can see that they were pushed to their limits during the show. From the show, we can learn that they will do their best to lose weights even if it is very difficult. Jillian and Bob, the personal trainers in the show also developed exercise programs for them in the show as well. They also encourage the contestants to do their best in the exercises so that they can lose weight. Each week , there are challenges for them to complete in teams of 2. The team that won the challenge will receive a great reward from the organisers of the show. Every week, there will be a weigh in for the contestants in which the team of two who lost the least weight has the prospect of being eliminated from the competition. At certain stage of the competition, they are given the opportunities to eat or to resist the temptation of eating. I watched two episodes of the show. There was a contestant, Pete who were the 4th person to be eliminated in the 2005 season. Despite being eliminated, he still continued with his weight loss and exercise program at home with his wife. In the show, he has lost a total of 87 pounds. At the end, he lost over 130 pounds to be a fit person now. It showed how much will power that he has to lose weight even after he had been eliminated from the competiton. For myself, I had lost weight successfully. I was a little overweight in 2007 but managed to lose weight until my optimum level last year. I have been able to maintain this weight now. There are several ways to lose weight. From the book, Healthy For Live written by Dr. Ray Strand, he has several ways or methods for us to lose weight including choosing healthy food and have regular exercises each week (5 times a week). In the general mindset of healthy people now, these methods are about the same. Some of these include:

• Choose lean meats or lean cuts of meats (skinless drumsticks, chicken breast)
• The healthy Omega 3 & 6 fats found in salmon, sardines and tuna
• Choose low fat options in dairy products such as skimmed milk and skim cheese
• Moderate eating of red meats (beef, lamb, pork) etc
• Eat sweets, candies, chips sparingly
• Have more fruits and vegetables each day (8-12 servings)
• Eat in moderation
• Eat more small meals
• Choose whole foods (fruits, vegetables, meat, bran, wheat) rather than processed foods (sausages, hams, bacons)
• Choose healthier cereals (muesli, bran, wheat products) rather than sweet cereals
• Choose wholemeal bread (grains, wholemeal) rather than white bread
• Exercise at least 5 times per week - It can be light exercises such as walking or jogging for 30 minutes per day, just sweat it out
• Eat less rice (gradually less each time) or choose brown rice over white rice

Even though I can't achieve it, I at least exercise twice per week during the weekends. It's an effort.

That's all, Rogerkoo