Issue # 22

Prayers for Singles

A wonderful women gave me a tiny booklet entitled Prayers for Singles.  At first I thought it would be filled with prayers asking for someone else to fill the supposed void in our (the single person's) life.  Had that been the case, I would not be sharing this with you.  Instead, what I read was that the author, Father William Rabior, was not "lacking understanding of what single people experience.  As a priest, I too, am single."  That was enough to get me to turn to the next page, and then to the next.

I am going to share the entire first prayer verbatim - it is entitled Lord, Bless Us Singles:

    Lord Jesus, we are such a diverse group, we singles.  We come from all walks of life both by choice and by chance.  Some of us have never married; some are divorced, separated, or widowed.  We live alone; we live with people dependent upon us for their care. 
     We are career people with exciting jobs, people  with very ordinary jobs, unemployed.  Our educational levels and our interests are as varied as we are.  And yet, we all have one thing in common: we are alone - alone with our responsibilities in times of decision making, in crisis situations, in special times.
     In a world of "twos" we are "ones".
     It's so easy to feel like a half and not a whole.  It's so easy to feel left out and over-looked.
     Sometimes, Lord, it seems that even our religion hardly bothers or acknowledge or affirm us.
     Yet, in our singleness there lies a strength which should not be overlooked.  In our lack of "two-ness" can come a sense of "one-ness" from our union with you.  We can focus on you, Lord, because our life makes you so accessible.  You understand us and our needs so very well since you, too, were a single person here on earth.
     Lord Jesus, I ask your blessing now not just on myself but on all single people everywhere.  Most of them are unknown to me, but they are my brothers and sisters.  We share a common bond.
     May we learn to focus upon the good we can do.  May we come to realize a fullness of life - a sense of well-being, self-love, and inner peace.
     Thank you, Lord, for being aware of me just as I am- a single person.  And thank you so much for the great love you have for me. Amen.

Issue #21

So What is Wrong with Biofuels?

13 April 2013

 

Yesterday, I saw a sign at a bank.  It had a picture of an ear of corn and read, “Soon corn will be as good an investment as cotton” or something in that vein.  Next to that, on the same sign, was a picture of the wing and jet engine of an airplane. The text stated, “One day we will all fly organically”.  I realized that the sign was making reference to biofuels and I was aware that there was controversy around this renewable replacement for fossil fuels because it is using land that should be growing food.

 

I know that cash crops such as cotton, tobacco, rubber, and sisal have been a reality since at least colonial times and maybe longer.  I remember studying the impact on third world economies of growing things that people could not eat, so that the resulting produce could be sold to developed countries.  I wondered how are biofuels different from other cash crops and why are they causing this controversy.  So at dinner I brought up the topic; this is what I learned.

 

There are too many people.  The problem is one of overpopulation.  “The world’s population is now more than 7 billion and continues to grow by 82 million people per year.” http://www.populationmedia.org/issues/population/?gclid=CLCrhNL5yLYCFUuG6wodZRwAMg . What had seemed to me to be a brilliant solution, use renewable organic material as fuel, is actually short-sighted.  It requires land which is not renewable and is quickly becoming a scarce commodity. A better solution is required. 

 

In 2006, The Children of Men, a futuristic film, explored the idea of a society where the population had stopped growing.  The film begins 18 years after the last child on Earth was born.  Schools and playgrounds are abandoned.  There is generally a lack of hope.  Without future generations, it would seem, arts and sciences are futile.  For whom are we creating? 

If human beings do not find a way to curb the population explosion, Mother Earth will.  Through disease, famine, drought, and natural disasters, she will shake us off, like fleas off a dog’s back.

Issue #20

24 March 2013

Last month we completed a 30-Day Challenge at Curves and I was asked, along with others of the participants, to write something inspirational. I have been extremely remiss in writing the AFB but I hope you, my esteemed readers, will accept this humble offering.

Age is Not a Number; it’s an Attitude

This year Madonna and I will be 55 years old.  She isn’t showing any signs of slowing down and neither am I.  Madonna has a team of people to help her look that good and be that fit.  I do too – the Curves team!

By having fun challenges like the 30-Day Challenge, Curves keeps things interesting.  My goal this year was to get back to where I was last February.  At the end of the challenge I had lost a ½ kilo and 5.5 centimetres.  My percentage of body fat is, finally, back to being under 30.  This is all great news and very encouraging.

I was changing after my workout when I remembered that when we were little kids, my younger sister commented that she wished we had parents who played with us. Our parents were too old and too tired to play active, children’s games.  They were about 54 and 52.  They were old because they believed they were old and the society we live in supported that belief.

I am grateful to the Curves team for supporting me in my goals to stay young and active.

 

 

Issue #19

Happy Holidays and all the Best in 2013!
Bob Armstrong, the owner of the Curves gym where I work out, asked some of the ladies to write something inspirational as a 'gift' to the other members. My story is a 'Christmas' story of sorts so I decided to share it with you, my readers.

          ______              How Curves Saved Sasha’s Life                                      

My name is Andrea Brandle and I started working out at Curves Marine Parade in September 2010. At that time, I weighed 98 kilos and was so out of shape that I would get short of breath walking up the stairs to our 3^rd floor apartment. Luckily for me, Bob was offering a special promotion. If I worked out 18 times in the first 6 weeks, the registration fee would be waived. This got me in the habit of going to Curves 3 times a week.

In late November 2010 my cousin’s acquaintance brought his tiny, frail, old cat to stay with us while he went back to England for the holidays. Her name was Sasha. On her first morning in our apartment she fell or jumped out of the window and was on the bracket that holds the air conditioner. My cousin isn’t very tall and couldn’t reach her so she woke me up. I am tall but the only way that I could reach Sasha was by leaning very far out of the window and stretching my arms down as far as I could. Once I grabbed hold of her I had to use my abdominal muscles to bring us both up and into the window because I couldn’t us my hands; they were both firmly holding Sasha. I think I must have pulled a muscle because I was in pain for a few weeks afterwards but I realized that if I had not been going to Curves regularly, I would not have been physically able to rescue her.

I do not feel that I have had to overcome any major obstacles on my path to fitness. I have learned that if I don’t attend regularly (3 times a week), I gain weight but I enjoy going to Curves so it is not a hardship. My advice to all the members is to think about exercise, a healthy diet, drinking plenty of water, and getting enough sleep as part of the good care that you deserve. And remember to smile and dance like nobody is watching!

Issue #18

An Apology and a Eulogy
27 Oct 2012

 I must apologize to my devoted readers. I do not know what possessed me not to write since April.

Today I went on-line to search for an old friend only to discover that he died eight years ago. I am aghast. So I have returned to tell you about this special man. His name was Gernot Lachner but to all who loved him he was Geri. I met him when I was a bartender in Botswana and he was a guide who frequented my bar at the Okavango River Lodge.

In the early days of my acquaintance with Geri, he offered me a tip. Tipping is not common in Botswana, and I don't know if it is in South Africa. He pulled from his pockets all of his loose change. Among the coins were a couple of washers, those metal rings that are used as part of a bolt. I told him I wanted them so that I could make them into earrings which I did.

Another time, after returning from guiding a group of tourists into the Delta, he brought me back a bracelet braided from the tail hairs of a water buffalo. I looked forward to his visits to the lodge because I had come to think of him as a good friend. When he went to Johannesburg, where his family lived, he called me and asked what I wanted him to bring back for me. He knew as well as anyone who lived in Maun that there were things that were difficult to obtain. I asked for music.

When I returned to Canada, with a broken heart, he would call me when he was drunk. It was the autumn of 1989 and the internet was not available to everyone but Geri had started to communicate with the world via bulletin boards and chat rooms . He would catstigate me for not being more technologically up-to-date. He would also offer to marry me.

My friend Rob got me 'on-line' by setting up an email account for me and he communicated with Geri but somehow we lost track of him. I have thought about him often but never managed to reconnect. I miss him.  http://www.jenniferjo.com/gernot_lachner.htm

Issue #17

From the Ridiculous to the Divine
14 April 2012

 A couple of weekends ago I went downtown to Funan DigitaLife Mall, billed as "Asia's leading IT shopping mall", for the first time. I had to pick something up at John 3:16 Photo Supplies. Yes, that is the actual name of the shop but more about that later. The store was crammed with people so I decided to go have a cup of coffee and wait for the crowd to subside. I ended up in Cawaii Koohii Maid Cafe. For those of my readers who do not know Japanese, cawaii means cute and koohii is coffee. The waitstaff are all young women dressed in little french maid costumes. Photography is not allowed but it is possible to pay to have a picture taken with the 'maids'. I have attached a photo from their website.

When I finished my coffee, I went back to John 3:16 Photo Supplies. It was still packed with people but there was an available chair against the wall next to someone else who looked like she was waiting. For those of my readers unfamiliar with the New Testament of the Bible, chapter 3, verse 16 of the Gospel of John is, according to Wikipedia "one of the most widely quoted verses from the Christian Bible and has been called the most famous Bible verse." Mixing business with religion has not hurt this enterprise one bit. In fact, the photography shop across the aisle from John 3:16 was empty. When I commented to Samuel Gan that they must be doing something right, he just smiled and said "Praise the lord!" www.john316photo.com

Issue #16

Chinese New Year 2012

18 February 2012

 

If I had a car, I would get a bumper sticker which read, "My readers are the best!" One third of the people to whom I send my newsletter responded as I requested in The AFB - Issue #15 and the vast majority of them wrote very supportive comments. Thank you, muchas gracias, arrigato gosaimasu!

This issue is about interesting cultural activities that I attended last Saturday and the Saturday before. On February 4th, Monica and I went to Sam's house and after dinner we went across the street to the small park. A stage had been erected and the performers were preparing in the area behind the stage. Sam pointed out to me that the structure was made in the the traditional way with bamboo lashed together. An aluminum step ladder was lashed to the front of the stage and throughout the opera stagehands would walk out on stage and climb down the ladder. This activity did not disturb the actors; according to Sam it is part of the show. The performance was an opera performed in Hokkien. Like many spoken languages in Singapore, Hokkien is influenced by other languages and it has borrowed many words from Malay and English including the name for this type of performance. Wayang, according to The Coxford Singlish Dictionary, was "originally a Malay word meaning 'theatre performance', it now means an act of pretence."

"Eh, we all saw you take his wallet. Don't come and wayang, okay?"http://www.talkingcock.com/html/lexec.php?op=LexLink&lexicon=lexicon&keyword=WAYANG

On February 11th we went to a Lunar New Year celebration at Kampong Ubi Community Centre. Now an industrial estate within our neighbourhood, Kampong (village in Malay) Ubi (tapioca in Malay) used to be a rural area. Tickets for the dinner were $2 SGD (that is not a typo) and included lots of yummy food from the different cultures that live in our area. We also got gifts of hats, pens and cup covers and I won a $10 voucher from the FairPrice supermarket. The highlight of the evening was the museum. Items that were used in the kampong homes were displayed and there were old photographs which captured images of life in the 'good old days'.

Last night was Sam's birthday party and one of his guests asked me when he was going to get his autographed copy of Memoirs of a Cat Named Dog. Steve has been waiting patiently for a year. I told him he was at the top of the list as soon as it is published. That was when he suggested that I should get the names of all of the people who want to buy my book to assist in convincing an agent to represent me. Monica suggested that I should offer a sample to the people on the list. Please write to me if you would like a sample of Memoirs of a Cat Named Dog and you will buy a copy when it is published.

Issue #15

A Second Holiday Season in Singapore
15 January 2012

One of my readers asked me to write about how I spent the festive season this year. This was my second Christmas in Singapore and I noticed some things that I hadn't noticed last year. For example, the wait staff in all of the restaurants were wearing reindeer antler hairbands or Santa hats. Also, roasted turkeys with "all the trimmings" were available from most restaurants to cater Christmas dinner.

I spent Christmas Eve with my new friends starting with lunch and shopping with Venita in the afternoon of December 24th and then joining Jennifer and Rukesh for more food, drinking and merriment later in the evening. The 'drinking and merriment' went on until dawn. Christmas dinner was eaten again this year at Santa's house and as before, there was plenty of food, wine and good company. We were even treated to Christmas carols played on violins by two charming, young sisters.

New Year's Eve was celebrated at Tai Mai Shu in Chinatown. This small pub is a little bit like the hostess bars in Japan. The girls who work there are from the Phillipines and although they were working they were also celebrating. There was singing, dancing, food, and yes, you guessed it - drinking! And that was the last alcohol that I consumed. I resolved to eschew alcohol in 2012 and it has been 15 days and counting. (ed.note - I managed to last 6 weeks and caved under peer pressure)

In the interest of determining how many readers the AFB can claim, I am asking you to hit the reply button and return this to me. Although I really appreciate the feedback I receive, it is not necessary to write anything unless you really want to. I am trying to determine how many of the newsletters I send actually reach their intended recipients. I suspect that some end up in people's junk mail. Thanks for your help with this. (ed. note - there is no reply button on this blog but feel free to comment)

Issue #14

Seasons Greetings and All the Best in 2012

23 December 2011

     As the new year is only a few days away I though it was time that I wrote about William 'Billy' Duncan. He was born on the 15th of June, 1949 in Scotland and by the time I met him on the 31st of December 2010 in Penang, Malaysia, he was living, albiet with no fixed address, in Kuantan, Malaysia. I thought, when I met him, that he lived in Penang and would later learn that he was so fond of Penang that he wanted to buy a house there. I wrote in my journal,"I don't remember any of their names but I hope they will contact me because it would be so fine to have friends in Penang."
Well, Billy did contact me. He called a couple of weeks later to say he would be in Singapore and would I like to meet up for drinks. Actually, I am denying his comic genius. What he said was,"Is this Miss Brandle? Would you like a gin Martini?" That line isn't as funny without the back story - so here it is.
     It was New Year's Eve 2010 and I was drinking a martini at Farquart's Bar at the Eastern and Oriental Hotel in Penang when Billy and his cohorts arrived. That was the only drink I paid for, and rest assured, I had many, many more! Later Billy would recount how he had never met a woman who could drink so much and was worried that if I died as a result of consuming such an awful lot of alcohol, he would be responsible. (I think I just heard my Canadian friends sniggering.) Photographs will attest that I was already pissed when we left the E & O. We continued on to other of Billy's favourite haunts. It was thanks to Billy that my New Year's Eve was such a blast!

     When he came to Singapore, he wanted me to go to lunch with Margaret Say, the Regional Director of the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council. He assured me that this dynamo was someone I should network with. I was unable to go to lunch the next day with him, Margaret, Simon and Jimmy. I never saw Billy with his eyes open again. A few weeks after his visit to Singapore I received an invitation to a dinner being sponsored by the USAPEEC. I smiled knowing that Billy must surely be behind it.

     I don't think that I have mentioned yet that Billy was a bit of a technophobe and he was proud that he couldn't be 'googled'. He wouldn't use Facebook or Twitter, wouldn't email or text but he would use the telephone and, as I found out, the fax machine (unless he got someone else to send his handwritten note by fax to me). In between the evening in Singapore, which by the way did not cost me a penny, and the arrival of the invitation by post, I received a fax. I had sent my non-techie friend a good, old-fashioned thank you note. I wrote it on hand-stencilled note paper that Bev Worthington had given me for Christmas long ago. Billy had been all over Asia so in my note to him I asked his opinion regarding different destinations such as Langkawi, Malaysia; Bali, Indonesia and Phuket, Thailand. He responded to my query by fax. Included on his fax was contact information for Armo; part friend, part guardian angel.

     I promptly prepared a response and faxed it back. And I waited. I didn't realize that the office fax had not successfully sent a fax since we had moved to the new office four months earlier. We thought we had resolved the fax problem when we discovered a month after moving that we hadn't received a single fax - not even the usual spate of junk faxes selling services to businesses. Apparently, we had only resolved the incoming part of the problem. After waiting and then waiting some more, I checked the machine and then tried several more times to send it again. Finally, I scanned it and sent it to Armo's email asking him to give it to Billy.

     I sent one of the cat cards my sister Pat gave me for Christmas one year to thank him for arranging the invitation and to tell him that I looked forward to seeing him again. I began formulating a plan whereby I would buy a stunning ensemble to wear to Carmen & Ramon's wedding and give it a 'dress rehearsal' at the USAPEEC dinner. I looked good! I stood gulping red wine, sucking in my tummy and trying not to sweat. I faced the entrance trusting that Billy would come striding in at any moment. Instead, a very tiny woman walked briskly toward me and speaking just as briskly asked, "Are you Billy's friend?" "He is in hospital in critical condition." "I don't know what happened, you should call Jimmy." She gave me her card and I gave her mine and then she was gone to be MC etc. on stage because she was hosting this event.

     I stood there absolutely stunned. I drank a couple more glasses of wine (here in Singapore a glass of house wine costs between 8 and 15 dollars so if it is free it would be foolish not to have a few) thinking that Simon would appear and clear up the mystery; fill in the gaps, as it were. When he didn't show, I decided to call him. He was just back from the Phillipines or New Zealand and had not heard a thing. I asked him to call Jimmy and let me know the details.

     By the time I reached home, Simon had forwarded a text from Jimmy written in uppercase, it read "IN ICU NOW. HE GOT LUNG INFECTION. HAVING RESPIRATORY DIFFICULTY. HE ALSO GOT MULTIPLE BRAIN ABSSESS (sic). HE IS IN COMA CONDITION RIGHT NOW. TKS JIMMY" In a state of confusion, I replied as though I was replying to Jimmy in Kuantan but, in fact, was sending to Simon in Singapore. I wrote, "Jimmy, tell him I want him to be well. Tell him that I want to dance with him. If you tell him, he will get better but you must believe!" The next day I wrote emails to Simon, to Margaret, to Armo, even to the generic sales@primafood address. Someone had to have more information!!

     Gradually it dawned on me that I must go to Kuantan to tell Billy in person what I had told Jimmy to tell him. I knew from having done some research that Firefly (Malaysian Airlines local/commuter airline) has direct flights from Singapore to Kuantan. I also knew that they offer air and hotel packages. The one catch was that you must book at least one week in advance. I found out on Tuesday night that Billy was in hospital. I did not know until Wednesday afternoon in which hospital or even in which city. If I had been willing to wait until the following Wednesday I could have bought a package on-line but I wanted to go for the weekend. I checked on Zuji, the on-line budget site, and other airlines went but it would cost more than $600 SGD for the flight. I am not a cheapskate, a skinflint or a tightwad but honestly, I am not affluent enought to spend that much money to jet off for a weekend!

     On Thursday I called the telephone number provided on Firefly's website and booked a flight - they were not able to get me a room. Those of my readers who have known me since I started travelling will tell you that the 'old' Andrea would not have hesitated to arrive in a place without accomodation arranged in advance. But I am not young and I have learned that I like to know that I can spend my first few hours in a new place getting oriented rather than trying to find a bed for the night. I let Armo, who I had never met and who had no reason to care one bit about my comings and goings, know my flight itinerary. I then proceeded to try and find accomodation near the hospital.

The flight was on a prop plane and it has been a very, long time since I flew that way. We were delayed leaving Chiangi but the one hour flight was uneventful. Peanuts and a juice box were provided free of charge. When we arrived in Kuantan the heavens opened and a deluge poured down. Armo was waiting for me. He called the proprietor of the homestay I had arranged on-line and pronounced it unsuitable. Apparently, it was very far from the hospital. He brought me to the Greenleaf, a moderately priced hotel near the hospital.

     It was from Armo that I learned the details of Billy's illness and hospitalization. He was a good friend to Billy and as I know very well, a good and true friend is like a guardian angel. Firefly only flies from Singapore to Kuantan and back on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, so I took the Friday off work to make this weekend trip, which means that Armo was interrupting his work to fetch a stranger from the airport and find her accomodation. Due to my late arrival, I was unable to visit Billy until later in the day on Friday. Armo came back to the hotel to bring me to the hospital and show me the procedure. I have no doubt that I would have managed somehow to figure all this out on my own but I am also quite certain it would have been much more difficult.

     I have never seen a person in a coma before, films not withstanding, and it was a bit of a shock to see this robust, vigorous man laid out flat with tubes and wires everywhere. But I had a mission and I was not to be dissuaded. So I held Billy's hand and I rubbed Billy's feet and I stroked Billy's brow. I talked and sang (they should consider piping music into ICU). I joked with the nursing staff telling Billy how pretty they were and telling them how much he liked pretty women. When people, both Muslim and Christian, told me they would pray for Billy, I thanked them because I know the power of prayer.

     There are no morning visiting hours in the ICU at Kuantan General Hospital so I wasn't going to be able to see Billy on Sunday morning. I kissed his forehead Saturday evening and told him that I would come and visit him when I returned from Spain. I told him that I wanted him to be awake when I visited again. The following Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. Billy decided to 'shake off this mortal coil' and left behind his pain and troubles.