Lurf is a MARVELLOUS motivator

Strongest Dad in the World
[From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly]

I try to be a good father. Work nights to pay for their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots. But compared with Dick Hoyt, I stink. Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars-- all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.

This love story began in Winchester, Massachusetts., 43 years ago, when Rick was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old, "Put him in an institution.'' But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was anything to help the boy communicate. "No way,'' Dick says he was told. "There' s nothing going on in his brain.'' "Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain.

Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to communicate.

First words?
"Go Bruins!''

And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, "Dad, I want to do that.''

Yeah, right.
How was Dick, a self-described "porker'' who never ran more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he tried.

"Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. "I was sore for two weeks.'' That day changed Rick's life. "Dad,'' he typed, "when we were running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!'' And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon. "No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor.

For a few years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then they found a way to get into the race officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, "Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?'' How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick tried. Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii. Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? "No way,'' he says. Dick does it purely for "the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best time'? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.

"No question about it,'' Rick types. "My dad is the Father of the Century.''

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries was 95% clogged. "If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' one doctor told him, "you probably would've died 15 years ago.'' So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass., always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day. That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.

"The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, "is that my dad sits in the chair and I push him once.''

Click here to watch the video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4B-r8KJhlE

Greater Is He

Who am I that You washed my feet?
The Prince of Heaven's blood shed for me

Who am I that You called my name?
Nailed my sin to a cross
Unfailing grace

Greater is He who's in me
Greater are You than all the earth
My closest friend, my saviour
So much more than I deserve

Let my life bring You honour
Let my words bring You praise
Your great love is all I want Lord

My Refuge, my Shelter
My Healer and Rest
Almighty Redeemer
Salvation and Strength

page-a-day wisdom

I like this.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage."
~Anais Nin~

And this.

"Realizing that my life has turned out so much better than it would have if I had been able to control it when I wanted to has been one of the greatest insights of my life."
~Anne~

May our hearts be as

Strong as Gideon's,
Soft as King David's, and
Resilient as Ruth's

when we go through threshing times.

'Cos it takes all in us to decide to go through what we need to, but when we are shaken and going through the fire, we can look forward to emerging as a diamond.

Have a great March, you all! :)

Taipei really looks like a city of cabs hor....














To do justice to Amy, this is a much nicer pic of me and her...














And this is the trenchcoat she helped me pay for, then turned around and said it's my berfdae gift in advance...ooh I like it so! :)


















Somemore can take out the top to become this!

my fortnight in picture form...

I like how this shot came out! Doesn't Father Nic look happy with all those wings and potato skins? I'm asking you, HOW not to put on weight in Taiwan?! Sigh.














While Kai and Nic were chugging it ...














... I couldn't resist a shot with Amy.














Me and the handsome boy! Even tho he refused to smile at the camera, he's still cute cos we caught him mid-manja. :)














The cactus the zone guys gave for V-day FLOWERED! How pretty. :)














Me and Na with Eh-driel's and Xueling's little boy-Asher.
I still can't believe Eh-driel's a DAD!!
Gosh, that makes him a grown-up... Hahaha. :P














My cell group (plus Wee Tat's forehead, seemingly) celebrating Pris and Krystal's berfdaes at our special room in Fish & Co. :P

self-amusing

I found this hilarious.

I was at Vivocity checking out PageOne with Carol.
Shirl has this notebook from PageOne that is designed to look like a Chinese secret kung fu manual, and it says "武林秘集" (Manual of Martial Arts Secrets).
So I went hunting for it, whilst Carol wandered off.
I picked up a book, and ... true to shachew fashion, I fumbled.
It dropped to the floor, but not before crashing against the bookshelf and other books, resulting in a bing-bong-piang din.
I went "Oops!" and badly wanted to giggle ... but PageOne was soooo quiet!
Then I looked up and caught Carol's eye ... and we couldn't help but start laughing.
In her words, "When I heard the crash, i tot: Oh man, I think that's Sharon again...."

Talk about a reputation. :P

Then, guess what, I went to accidentally BLOCK Jae from my MSN list!
And I kept wondering why there was a "no entry" sign on his icon...
And every time I MSN-ed him, it wouldn't go through.
It doesn't explain on Adium, you see.
It was only when I used my colleague's MSN program that MSN tot to tell me oh-so-politely that I have blocked his person and would I like to unblock him?
Duh.

Don't take life too seriously.
Ha. :)

dong dong qiang

My dad and I spent half a day cooking all these...















(Okei, he's the real chef, I just follow orders and do menial tasks like make gravy, wrap ngoh hiang, peel quail eggs, julienne carrots etc.)

But anyway, the story is....we spent half a day cooking all these, and then after we had taken 2 mouthfuls, we kinda lost our appetite! Even my mum was like "Should we move on to dessert?" !!! After only about 3 mouthfuls!

Naturally, my bro turned Ah Beng and went "You'd better stop taking pictures and come finish the food, I tell you..."
And you can see my dad frantically trying to wolf down his rice in the background.


















I don't get it...What is it about cooking that makes you lose your appetite?!
I mean, if I am the one cooking, I can understand why my family would lose their appetite...
From time to time, I do produce some brilliant dishes, but most of the time, they end up kinda different from what they are supposed to look like.
When I was still in Melbourne, I tried cooking Mango Wrapped in Chicken, and when Michael popped by, he took one look, sniffed a little and asked me why I was cooking Fish Stuffed with Banana...

Okei, so I'm not a great cook...but going back to my reunion dinner...
We were all baffled because my dad actually cooks quite well, and the food was yummy!
We figured it was because we were all too tired...and so then, we came to a unanimous decision...

NEXT YEAR WE'LL ORDER KFC DELIVERY FOR OUR REUNION DINNER.

Letter to an unknown person

Dear __________,

Thanks for the flowers.
It was really flattering to come into the office and see a lovely bouquet sitting on my table.



















I must say, it created quite a stir in my department and resulted in a major surge of creativity amongst my colleagues.
MSN was bombarded with what KK thought to be a virus.
Here's a shot of my screen at the apex of all the action.
















I realised that telling you this could very well ensure that you never reveal your identity, but just tot I'd share that the bouquet led to a whole day of fun for me and my department.

So, thanks. :)

Cheers,
Sharon

_______________________________________________________________

On the other hand, thanks to A.T. for the other pretty bouquet.




















Actually, it's more like thanks for being so sweet to your sis, cos if not, I wouldn't have tan dio by association. Hahaha....
But it was really sweet of u to remember me while buying flowers for her.
And even though she bought me the CD, I know u spread the word.
So, thanks again for that, and for being such a pirate on my behalf. :P

_________________________________________________________________

It's always great to end off V-day with good friends. :)

calendar wisdom

My bro bought me a page-a-day calendar in Canada, titled "Women Who Do Too Much," which I found hilarious...
I do too much?!

Anyway, yesterday's entry said "Do not protect yourself by a fence, but rather by your friends."-Czech proverb.
How true and how nice.
Everyone likes to feel protected, but surely not by fortresses we build around ourselves.

Today's entry is "Failure is just the process we have to give our inner beings a way to tell us that we have reached a place of awareness and strength, where we are ready to move to a new level of our growth and our development."

Which ties in with what Yah Lan was sharing at zone prayer meeting, "Everything's supposed to fall apart, if you want to go to another level."

Woo hoo!
A bit late considering it's already the second month of the year, but here's to a year of breakthroughs, everyone!
Cheers! :)

murphy's law?

My mum took leave for today and booked me in advance to go shopping with her.
I am her shopping catalyst, 'cos somehow I ignite the fire and manage to find good buys no matter where we are.

But today was bizarre!
She was not feeling too well, so she nuah-ed the first half of the day, whilst I took the opportunity to do some work.
By the time we reached Vivocity, it was about 5pm.
We had an early dinner so we would work it off shopping....then we set off purposefully to find mum some New Year clothes.

But the strange thing is, by 8pm, we were zonked out!!
After 2 hrs of shopping.
This is not normal -- I am a shopaholic.
I can shop for HOURS on an adrenaline rush, alone or with someone else.
But I was completely wiped out and my shoulders were aching, and my eyelids were down to my chin.
I nearly fell asleep standing in line at the taxi stand.

And guess what, part of the tiredness was because both of us were frustrated that there was nothing much for Mum to buy.
Bored in Vivocity!!
Isn't it supposed to be like twice the size of Ngee Ann City?!

Of course, stuff caught MY eye everywhere we went, but because today's shopping trip was for her...I kept restraining myself.
No wonder I am tired.
And yet, in the end, I succumbed and got myself ANOTHER chinese new year outfit (dress and shoes), and mum got ONE MISERABLE TOP.

Which reminds me of something I said very recently...

When you don't have money to splash around, or you are trying to save up and NOT buy anything, you'll spot something that you like around every corner you turn.
When you have money and you badly want to spend it, or when you really need to shop and buy something, chances are you will not find anything you really like.