Cleffairy's Blog, page 187

The good guy, the bad guy

When you're a parent, you'll come to realize how important it is to play the bad guy and the good guy when you are disciplining your children. I suppose a lot of parents take this approach too. Some mum plays the good guy while the dad plays the bad guy and vice versa whenever a child did something naughty and needs to be reprimanded.

As for my family, I play the bad guy most of the time. I do the scolding, the nagging, the reprimanding and the punishing whenever my son did something naughty while my husband pretend to be the good guy and make the boy apologize and admits his wrongdoing so that I won't be angrier than I already was.

My husband is rarely the bad guy unless the boy did something really, really naughty and needs to be punished. When such thing happened and he got pissed off at the boy, I'll play the good guy instead. I think this approach of parenting is quite common in a lot of household?

It's the easiest way to find balance whenever you need to discipline a child. The child may label you differently, but at the end, it is the result that matters, no? And it doesn't matter what the child thinks of you when you play the bad people as the child would soon discovered that it's merely parenting tricks when he or she became parents themselves.

Anyway, I find it amusing that 'the good guy, the bad guy' parenting approach can not only be applied to our parenting skill, but in many other places too.

Recently I discovered that such a thing exists everywhere, even on Facebook groups where people who have their own nasty agenda team up with a bunch of people and play 'the good guys and the bad guys' in order to get what they want and confuse the public in the process.

Certain people will play the good guy to garner support from others while the acquintance will play the bad guy and antagonize everything so that the one who is playing the good guy will look really good in public and therefore, earn tremendous support and popularity in the process. It's so pathetic that people can't always see that sometimes, good guys, and bad guys are just two different sides of a same coin.

Interesting approach in campaigning for certain agenda, but I suppose sooner or later, many could see trough the tactic, because at the end, the one who gained the benefit is both the good guys, and the bad guys. The only difference is just that one side get good publicity, while another is a bad publicity. I don't know what people think about this in general, but as they say, bad publicity is a publicity too.

 

Cleffairy: It's never right to hijack any social networking sites or groups in order to harvest popularity and reap political benefit from it.

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Penang Guesthouses

Life is really, really mundane lately. It's just a repetition and I find such thing really exhausting. It's the same thing every day, and I'm feeling quite jaded. Hard to go on and think positive when you don't actually have something to look forward to. Frankly speaking, I feel that 2012 is going to be a mediocre year to me. Nothing seems to go right, and things are just…slow, excruciating slow.

I was waiting for my son to finish his class the other day I when I saw this at the back of a taxi; a website ad for short-term room rental with lowest price guaranteed. Wow! It's just the thing that I need if I were to go for a short vacation.

The taxi must have been Godsent. God must be reminding me to take a break for awhile to recharge my exhausted mind, body and soul. And so, as soon as I reached home that day, I turned on the pc to browse on the site for possible accommodations for my upcoming getaway.

I have a few location in mind for my upcoming getaway, but I finally settled for Penang as I really love the place. I've been wanting to go back there again after my visit last year. I couldn't get enough of relaxing by the beach while stuffing my face with the yummylicious food in Penang. I was so pleased when I managed to find some reasonably priced Penang guesthouses for rent in this website.

The website was practically easy to use. It's as simple as A, B, C and have a clean outlook. The template is easy on the eyes and they provided at least 100,000 short-term accommodation listings not only in Malaysia, but in Singapore, Indonesia and Philippines. All you need to do is just perform a search in the search box and you'll find shortlisted accommodation/rooms of your preference within seconds. Simple, isn't it?

This site is absolutely perfect for travelers who wants a quality accommodation without having to burn a huge hole in their pockets. The best part of all? It's free to use. And it's not only for those who wanted to find accommodation, but for those who wants to rent out their rooms too. You can post up whatever room you want to rent over there for free. All you need to do is register and login, and you're good to go.

Interested in finding a short term rental for your short getaway? A student and need a place to stay for a few semester? Or need to rent out those rooms that have been empty for years? Hook up with ibilik. They won't disappoint you, I can vouch for that.

Cleffairy: I need a break! I need a break!

 

 

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Humour month?

The month of April is in fact, the time set aside to celebrate a good chuckle, a guffaw or a hearty laugh as part of a faith-filled life. It's Holy Humor Month!

The Bible is clear that God believes humor should be on the agenda as a healthy habit. Proverbs 17:22 NKJ "A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones."

The word "laugh" or "laughter" is mentioned in the Bible approximately 200 times. Much of that laughter falls into some categories that do not feed our hearts like medicine. Consider if you will:

The laugh of unbelief. Sarah, who laughs at the idea of having a child in her 90's. (Gen 18:11-12, 15)
The laughter of a fool. God compares the laughter of a fool to the thorns afire beneath a pot – he is so foolish he laughs and doesn't even see his end coming. (Ecc 7:6)
The laughter of derision. Often this is related to God's amusement at the foolishness of man in spiritual things. (Ps 2:1-4, Prov 1:24-26)

But the fourth type of laughter is a healthy expression and brings to our lives richness, like medicine. He has given us many reasons to laugh! Here are a few good examples of why God's people can have a good laugh:

Lack of fear. "She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future." (Prov 31:25 NLT)
Happiness and connection. "Laugh with your happy friends when they're happy; share tears when they're down." (Rom 12:15 MSG)
Joy. "God will let you laugh again; you'll raise the roof with shouts of joy."  (Job 8:21 MSG)
Relief. "Good people will watch and worship. They'll laugh in relief." (Ps 52:6 MSG)
God is acting on our behalf. "When the righteous see God in action they'll laugh, they'll sing, they'll laugh and sing for joy." (Psalm 68:3 MSG)
Good fortune. "We laughed, we sang, we couldn't believe our good fortune. We were the talk of the nations—'God was wonderful to them!' " (Ps 126:2 MSG)
It is a gift to God. "Bring a gift of laughter, sing yourselves into his presence." (Ps 100:2 MSG)

There is a time for laughter, according to the Ecclesiastes 3:4 "A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance."

In other words, while life here on this planet is no joke, there are times when laughter is appropriate, healthy and pleasing to God.

So tune up those vocal chords and let loose a giggle or guffaw, a chortle or chuckle, a snicker, a snort or a shout. Let it fly and exclaim to the world the JOY of the Lord!

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Gentle birthing

Two weeks ago, I went to Central Market to meet my author friend, Zara. It was really a pleasure to finally meet her after knowing her all these years. When we just got to know each other, she was still a student and I have yet to publish my novels in the U.S.

It's really nice to meet someone who is at the same wavelength with you. We talked about our writings and stuff, and for once, I don't feel as if I am weird afterall.

We parted ways for after awhile and my husband and I were left to our own device in Annexe Gallery, Central Market. There are many interesting activities going on in the gallery. There were crafts and artworks on sale and loads of talks you can attend.

Initially I wanted to join the global green awareness talk, but something else caught my eyes.

It's 'gentle birth talk' by gentle birth support group activists.

My husband was flustered that I chose to stay and listen to all the horror of gory of childbirth, but he accompanied me nevertheless and we learned quite a few things about childbirth.

This group obviously encourages natural birth.

My husband and I stayed for awhile and listened to their talks, and were were shown alot of things.

Among them is natural cervical dialation stage by stage.

And then we were shown this video of a woman, completely naked,giving birth in a pool of warm water assisted by only her husband. I was really shocked to see that. I mean, I may write erotic scene in my novels, but never in my life I thought I would see something so sensual with a bunch of people in public. Trust me, the vid of the woman giving birth assisted by only her husband was really sensual. She moaned and groaned as she breathe through her contraction and her sigh of relief when the baby was finally born. I know my husband was practically blushing, but I am not ashamed to admit that giving birth in the water is really fascinating.

Fascinating enough for me to do the same? Yes, I might consider. After all, I have always been fond of water. It is thereupeutic and soothing. And it is medically proven that a water birth gives less stress to both mother and baby in comparison to a normal vaginal birth. I know some hospitals provided this alternative to parents who wants it too, so why not? It's drug free and less stress to mum and baby.

And the fact that there are no episiotomy and terrible stitches are involved in the whole process made it more tempting than a hospital birth. I've been there, and I hated that the most when I gave birth to my son. Damn the doc, the episiotomy was actually more painful than the actual childbirth itself, and I swear that the anaesthetic did not work for one bit!

Anyway, many interested couples who were intrigue by gentle birth were there too.

It was a really wonderful and eye opening experience, and I was really glad that my husband accompanied me to this talk despite the fact that he is a rather squeamish person. I really appreciate that.

Cleffairy: I am very proud of my husband. He is man enough to see all these. Men, are you man enough to see all these childbirth related things?

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Cool Things about Facebook

Everyone's favorite social network recently got a facelift. The new Facebook includes several new features, including the Timeline structure. While users can still currently use the old wall, Timeline is quickly becoming the norm. Here's what you need to know about the revised Facebook:

The Timeline – Overall, Timeline has proven to be a lot more pleasing to users than Facebook's last big rollout, the News Feed. There are likely a few reasons for this greater acceptance. While the Timeline makes it a bit easier to peer into the lives of your friends, it seems social network users are more comfortable with opening up online these days. The Timeline itself is a cool feature which was has worked fairly seamlessly since it arrived. From a business angle, Facebook's constant evolution makes sense; on the Internet, excitement is practically a prerequisite of success.

What's cool about Timeline? It presents information in a much more visually stimulating way. Instead of a single column of recent wall posts, there are two columns of information. In these columns, similar events are aggregated and others are highlighted. This makes it easier for you to curate your profile to reflect where you've been and what you're into. It changes the profile from a pure communication tool into a more comprehensive online journal.
Social Apps – New applications have also been added that are designed to leverage the social nature of Facebook (rather than games or quizzes which you complete by yourself). For example, Netflix and the music streaming service Spotify have recently added Facebook apps. These allow you to see what your friends are listening to and watching and can help you discover new media or other things which are interesting to you. From an Internet marketing standpoint, this is genius, as it allows users to incorporate brands into their online lives. If you're interested in the nuts and bolts of Internet marketing, consider getting a marketing degree online.
Life Events and Place Tags – Part of the transition from the wall to Timeline has been the creation of life events and place tags. Life events are a way to add momentous occasions to your profile, such as moving, traveling or getting married. You can tag friends or loved ones in your life events and the event will also show up on their profile. Place tags have been around for a while, but they are now integrated into Timeline. Along with your photo albums and "Likes," users can click on a map which shows all the place tags you have added to your profile.

Sources

Facebook (2012)

Yahoo News (2011)

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The Thieves

"The Thieves," the film boasting of an A-list cast featuring Lee Jung-Jae, Jeon Ji Hyun, Kim Soo-Hyun, Angelica Lee, Simon Yam, Derek Tsang, Kim Yun Seok, Kim Hye-Soo, Kim Hae-Suk and Oh Dal-Su is set to hit Malaysian cinemas third quarter of 2012. The film which participated in the recent Hong Kong Film Mart is generating great buzz and anticipation.

Korea's answer to Ocean's Eleven, the heist film is the fourth feature film from director Choi Dong-hoon who helmed big hits such as Tazza: The High Rollers and Big Swindle. Shot in Macau, Hong Kong, and Korea, the film centres on a group of criminals with different skills and agendas who conspire to steal a grand diamond called, "The Tears of the Sun."

Dazzling ensemble cast, fast paced, stylish and entertaining, The Thieves is not to be missed.

Synopsis:In order to let things cool down from their latest heist, Popeye (Lee Jung-Jae) and his group of thieves go to Macao on a job. But the mastermind behind this job is none other than Popeye's old partner Macao Park (Kim Yun-Seok), who escaped with 68kg of gold several years ago on their last job together. Macao Park brought Chinese thieves as well but little did they know what Macao Park planned for each one of them. But his plan takes an unexpected turn when Popeye brings Pepsi (Kim Hye-Soo), an old flame of Macao Park, to settle the old score. The thieves' target is a $20 million diamond known as 'Tear of the Sun', kept safely away in a casino, brought there to be sold by a notorious Chinese fence. While working together to steal this fabled diamond, they all have their own agenda to keep the diamond for themselves. But who will succeed and live to see another day?

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Just another dangling stick

Passionate. A friend described me as a passionate person yesterday,and he was not wrong to describe me as such, because I am a passionate person, albeit on a more eccentric side. Most of the things that I have done are driven by passion.

Not many could take me as I am and more often than not, I'm always misunderstood. Many would accuse me for being malicious whenever I strongly express my opinion as they are not man enough to open their eyes and accept the fact that not all women are submissive in nature and would be contented with being trashed and bullied all the time.

Perhaps some men are used to be around meek and docile women who are afraid to speak up, and therefore is shocked and intimidated whenever they accidentally get themselves in an argument with me. Sorry…I am not the sort of woman who can agree with men who strongly believe that they are superior than others and thinks so highly of themselves. Such a thing disgust me and I most definitely have no qualms about pointing that out blatantly to their face openly in public.

I have always say to men in general; protect women as if they are your daughter, love them as if they are your other half and respect them as if they are your mother. But if they can't take that advice and continuosly be a chauvinist pig that they are, I shall pass them as being plainly obnoxious and what they will get from me is not the attention they they desrperately crave, but cold indifference that will humiliate them openly, as they don't worth a pittance and is not worthy of my time.

Having a stick on between of your legs does not make you a man. It just means that you have a dangling stick in between your legs. Amusing how some owners of these 'dangling sticks' thinks they are high and mighty because of these sticks dangling in between their legs.

Accepting defeat with grace and having the courage to admit you are wrong instead of continuosly trying to prove yourself right regardless of the situation however, makes you a man regardless of your gender.

Cleffairy:  Are you a real man or just a person with a dangling stick?

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Beauty for Ashes

'Beauty for Ashes'  by Dorothy Love is quite a leisurable an inspirational read. It reminds me that to have something better in life, sometimes, we need to leave what we already have behind in order to pursue for something better. We got to be brave, and be willing to leave our comfort zone for that. And sometimes, to get want we want, we need to turn deaf ears towards the scrutinizing society who more often than not, will condemn you for doing something out of ordinary.

The story is quite slow for me, but it's an okay read. Highly recommended for people who wants an inspirational fiction. This book will remind us all that having faith in God's plan can't really be a bad thing as it always turns out better at the end of the day.

I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars. I received an ARC of this book from Thomas Nelson Publisher via Booksneeze. I was not required to write a positive review for this book.

Book description:

She's a beautiful young widow. He's a Southern gentleman with a thirst for adventure. Both need a place to call home.

After losing her husband in the Civil War, Carrie Daly is scared she will never have the family she longs for. Eligible bachelors are scarce in Hickory Ridge, Tennessee, but Carrie Daly has found love. Not the weak-in-the-knees kind, but something practical. Still, she isn't quite ready to set a wedding date with Nate Chastain.

Griff Rutledge is a former member of Charleston society, but has been estranged from his family for years. He's determined to remain unattached, never settling in one place for too long. But when asked to train a Thoroughbred for an upcoming race in Hickory Ridge, he decides to stay awhile.

Despite objections from the townsfolk, and her fear that true happiness has eluded her, Carrie is drawn to Griff's kindness and charm. It will take a leap of faith for them to open their hearts and claim God's promise to trade beauty for ashes.

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Are you listening?

"Are you listening to me?" Has someone ever asked you that question? Or maybe that thought pierced your heart and mind, as you felt the sting of someone else ignoring or rejecting you?

Consider these four ways to improve your listening skills.



Resolve to be quick to listen. Many times, people who come to us for help, just need for us to listen. James 1:19 offers this advice, "Understand this … You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry" (NLT).   
 Decide to be available. Jesus gives us an example of a wise counselor who made Himself available to listen. "The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and taught" (Matt. 6:30).  
 Desire a discerning heart. Not only does Jesus listen, He discerned the needs of others. When His disciples came to Him after their ministry tour, Jesus observes their need for solitude and rest: "Let's go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile" (ibid.).   
 Choose to be quiet. Jesus also taught His disciples the importance of being quiet. In Matthew 11:15, Jesus asks his disciples, "Are you listening to me? Really listening? (MSG)  


 
At times our failure to listen before responding can provoke a negative, emotional response from our loved ones or friends, who may need our help. In fact, Proverbs 18:13 warns us, "Answering before listening is both stupid and rude" (MSG).

What can we offer others with our response, after we listen to their needs?

Grace, not criticism or judgment. Romans 2:4 reminds us, "Don't you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can't you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?" (NLT)


Companionship. We must encourage others to be dependent upon Jesus, not co-dependent upon us. Jesus promised His followers, "I'll be with you … day after day after day, right up to the end of this age" (Matt. 28:20 MSG).


So, the next time someone comes to you for help, I hope you ask yourself this question first: "Are you listening … Really listening?" (Matt. 11:15)

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Petronas F1 Malaysia Grand Prix 2012 Result

And…… the winning team for the Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix 2012 in Sepang International Circuit is Ferrari.

Fernando Alonso of Ferrari team finishes first.

S. Perez of Sauber Ferrari finishes second while L. Hamilton of McLaren Mercedes finishes third.

Mercedes Malaysia AMG racers, Micheal Shumacher and Nico Rosberg finishes 10th and 13th respectively.

Whew… that was one hell of a race considering the terrible, unpredictable weather. I thought the race wouldn have been cancelled. But all is well and they get to resume the race after stopping at 9th lap.

Cleffairy: Congratulations to the winning teams. Good job, gentlemen. Keep it up. See ya boys in the next race in Shanghai International circuit.

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