浮生六劫

浮生六劫

   

 During my primary school days, I had to sleep early so that I could wake up early at 530am. I did not manage to watch the night time TV shows, but I was able to hear the songs that was being played in the living room. One of the song that I had heard was this one above. I did not watch the show at all but maybe took a glance or two when I had to go toilet.  

I found the song very nice during my adulthood, especially so after I got to learn about the lyrics of the song.  It was such a meaningful song both the theme song (above) and the subtheme song as shown below.  

The song was a all time favourite for me.  I love the song so much that I had it for my ringtone.  Knowing just the title of the song seems to be so incomplete.  I wanted to know what is the meaning of the title and what show is it actually.  For so many years passed, finally one day I saw that someone had upload the show on YouTube.  About two weeks ago I started to watch the drama series.  Yesterday I manage to finish the last episode.  

Very grateful to ziwei kuang for uploading the drama.  But there were some episodes missing and more towards the end.  So I missed out on how Che YuTing died and also how Leslie Cheung and Chan Pang killed each other.  The ending was so exciting that I watched continuously episode after episode, missing my sleep.  The starting was rather boring and I watched like one day one or two episodes.  

 戏剧人生

   

 I searched for the English translation of  浮生六劫 and it means Six Tribulations of Floating Life or  Floating Life Six Calamities.  The English title for this drama is Gone With the Wind.  There are altogether 76 episodes.  The ending was very sad.  For example, watching Che YuTing locking himself with chains tying to the pillar of the house (to safeguard his house, refusing to sell his house, claiming that he own the house and he did not sell it).  However this did not stop the people from chasing him out of the house.  In the lower picture below, he was seen sitting outside the gate of his house, drenched with rain falling on him.  Much more of his pathetic scenes at the end if you watch the show.  

                                                          Pathetic scenes of Che YuTing

Playlist of Gone With The Wind, 浮生六劫 Episode 1-76

 

 I like the show so much that I had made a video on 戏剧人生/ dramatic life.  

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Taco and Mochi

 

 We finally saw the mother cat and her two kittens. Ah Wai uncle said that it was first time the mother cat come to look for people.  We knew that was the power of St Anthony!

   

 Clara and Isaac named the kittens. They decided that the ginger cat be called Taco and the tabby cat be called Mochi. We had name the unisex names to the kittens because we did not know the sex of the kittens.  

We went home on Saturday with no kittens, but we were happy we had progress -- got to know the mother cat and the kittens.  We would want to come back on Sunday to bring home the kitten.  It was arranged that we would go to the company on Sunday 9.30am.  

However, on Sunday, early in the morning, Ah Wai uncle called.  He got covid virus.  He was not able to pick mum up for work.  So my mother did not want to go work on that day.  When I broke the news to the children, Isaac was sad.  He wanted to go back to the company.  So my mum agreed to go.  And we took bus there.  However, it rained when we were taking bus 255 this time.  We had to wait for the bus to get lighter at the bus stop.

We dashed into the company when the rain was lighter.  We quickly went straight to see whether Zhi Hao got managed to capture the two kittens for us a not.  He did not manage to see the kittens.  He said he only see the mother cat in the morning.  When we had reached there, we saw the mother cat.  We brought her food this time, proper cat food.  She ate a lot.  

Soon the kittens came out.  They too was eating the food.  The two kittens appeared, sharing their food on the palette.  We quickly told Zhi Hao to help us.  Zhi Hao quickly came to help us catch the kitten.  

He captured Taco first.  I got hold of him and transfer him to the carrier.  About 5 minutes later, he caught Mochi too.  However, when trying to put him inside the carrier, he escaped.  

After that, we always looked for opportunities to capture Mochi, but in vain.  They were more cautious now and on that day, we left the place with Taco only.  

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Two Kittens

 

                                            Photograph showing the mother cat with 2 kittens

I had an appointment with Project Luni on Sunday to view 2 kittens.  My mother knew about it and told me that I can have the two kittens at Singapore Cartons instead.  So on Saturday, when children have no school, we decided to take a bus to Singapore Cartons.  We took the train to Joo Koon and from there we proceed to the bus interchange to take number 255.  We finally arrived at 36, Gul Crescent.  Ah Wai uncle, wearing in green, was at the gate waving at us so that we knew when to alight the bus.  

After alighting the bus, Ah Wai uncle led us the way into the factory.  There, we began to ask where were the cat and kittens.  My mother told me that the mother cat appeared in the morning.  We arrived at about 1pm.  And at that time, we could not see the cat and the kittens at all.  We walked around the factory, searching for traces of the kittens.  

This was perhaps the third time I came to the factory.  The last time I came to the factory was perhaps in the year 2010.  When I reached the place where my mother was working, I see that it was a little different from 2010.  Ah Wai uncle also had Oscar ready in the container to show us.  We ate our lunch there before we continue to search for the cat and kittens again later.  

We had never seen the mother cat and the kittens before.  We were anxious to meet them for we did not know the size of the kittens.  Mother helped us to ask Zhi Hao.  He said he only saw the mother cat and was not able to catch the kittens for us too.  When another lady walked here, she asked her about the kittens and no one had seen them either.

We walked and walked several times round the company.  Isaac and Clara got mosquitoes bite on their legs.  I put oil for them and then continue the search again.  We were wondering, "Are we able to see them today and bring them home?"  As were were walking at the front view of the company, I told the children, "Let's pray to St Anthony to ask him for help.  Afterall he is the patron saint of Lost and Found."  But Clara said that we did not lost them.  But somehow we cannot locate them and want to find them.  So I asked Clara to search the internet for a prayer to Saint Anthony.  She found one and we started praying the prayer to Saint Anthony.

Then we walked back and sat down at my mother's workplace.  We were tired and looking at our phones.  It was about 10 to 15minutes after we prayed.  I heard a 'meow' sound.  I looked up and looked to my left.  There was a cat!!!!!  It meow again at me.  I was so surprised that the cat come looking for me and it 'talked' to me!  I quickly told the children and we followed the mother cat.  

My mother asked me to give the food to the mother cat.  So I put the food on the floor, while the children followed the mother cat.  She wanted to eat the food but was scared of us.  We stayed away at some distance so that the cat would not be scared of us.  Soon the mother cat came to smell the food and she brought back chicken, intending to give to the kittens.  

After sometime, we saw the kittens!!!  Our prayer was heard!  I told the children that it was so hard to search for the mother cat and kittens because the company was so big.  But when mother cat came to us, it was so easy.  This was all because of the prayer that we had said.  

The kittens were so cute and active -- one ginger and one tabby.  We had a satisfying time at Singapore Cartons that day.  The children fed the cat and kittens so as to gain the trust of the cats.  We did not manage to bring home any kittens on this day, but still we were happy that our prayer was heard and we got to see and fed the cats.  

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To be Happy

                                                      Photograph of Me carrying Isaac

I named him Isaac because God gave a new life to me and the name "Isaac" means laughter, happy. Just like God had given Isaac to Abraham and his wife at old age, God had given me another new life at my older age too.  As I had not learned much about my faith, now that he is attending catechism class, sometimes I am learning from him also -- I had always been learning from my children.  

Received a message from the catechist and I thought it was so good to share over here:

A homily from our pope that's worth a read: 

 *You can have flaws, be anxious, and even be angry, but do not forget that your life is the greatest enterprise in the world. Only you can stop it from going bust. 

Many appreciate you, admire you and love you. 

Remember that to be happy is not to have a sky without a storm, a road without accidents, work without fatigue, relationships without disappointments. 

To be happy is to find strength in forgiveness, hope in battles, security in the stage of fear, love in discord. It is not only to enjoy the smile, but also to reflect on the sadness. It is not only to celebrate the successes, but to learn lessons from the failures. It is not only to feel happy with the applause, but to be happy in anonymity. Being happy is not a fatality of destiny, but an achievement for those who can travel within themselves. 

To be happy is to stop feeling like a victim and become your destiny's author. It is to cross deserts, yet to be able to find an oasis in the depths of our soul. It is to thank God for every morning, for the miracle of life. Being happy is not being afraid of your own feelings. It's to be able to talk about you. It is having the courage to hear a "no". It is confidence in the face of criticism, even when unjustified. It is to kiss your children, pamper your parents, to live poetic moments with friends, even when they hurt us. 

To be happy is to let live the creature that lives in each of us, free, joyful and simple. It is to have maturity to be able to say: "I made mistakes". It is to have the courage to say "I am sorry". It is to have the sensitivity to say, "I need you". It is to have the ability to say "I love you". 

May your life become a garden of opportunities for happiness... That in spring may it be a lover of joy. In winter a lover of wisdom. And when you make a mistake, start all over again. For only then will you be in love with life. 

You will find that to be happy is not to have a perfect life. But use the tears to irrigate tolerance. Use your losses to train patience. Use your mistakes to sculptor serenity. Use pain to plaster pleasure. Use obstacles to open windows of intelligence. 

Never give up.... Never give up on people who love you. Never give up on happiness, for life is an incredible show.* 

(Pope Francis).

I was just writing about me -- mentioning about "...the purpose of life is to be happy...", and I received this message... what a coincidence...

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