I HOPE YOU SING: IT'S NOW OR NEVER

'It’s Now or Never': This is one of my favorite songs sung by Elvis Presley. When I bought the SP (Single Play) record way back to my schooling days in Clifford School, Kuala Lipis, Pahang, Malaysia, my old buddy Tan Jing Ming used to request me playing this song over and over again in my late father’s shop (Bakauwali Tailor) after we were back from school. Well, I don’t have Elvis Presley’s voice but I did sing this song quite often during karaoke sessions with my ex-colleagues after ‘A Hard Day’s Night’. And I enjoyed singing this song together with Pak Ferry.

In plantation management, at times we have to make decision on the spot as we need to solve problems on site. Just like this Elvis’ song, we got to make decision ‘It’s Now or Never' as we have always been reminded, ‘A decision made is better than no decision made’. Since we are in top management, we cannot be indecisive at all. We have to make a wise decision at the right time. And the right time is NOW because ‘Tomorrow will be too late'.

Append below is Elvis Presley lyrics ‘It’s Now or Never’. Relax and sing along, my friends.

It's now or never, come hold me tight

Kiss me my darling, be mine tonight

Tomorrow will be too late,

It's now or never, my love won't wait.

When I first saw you, with your smile so tender

My heart was captured, my soul surrendered

I'd spend a lifetime, waiting for the right time

Now that your near, the time is here at last.

It's now or never, come hold me tight

Kiss me my darling, be mine tonight

Tomorrow will be too late,

It's now or never, my love won't wait.

Just like a willow, we would cry an ocean

If we lost true love, and sweet devotion

Your lips excite me, let your arms invite me

For who knows when, we'll meet again this way

It's now or never, come hold me tight

Kiss me my darling, be mine tonight

Tomorrow will be too late,

It's now or never, my love won't wait.

It's now or never, my love won't wait

It's now or never, my love won't wait

It's now or never, my love won't wait.

Click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtFN6YQOhj0 to watch and listen to Elvis Presley singing 'It's Now or Never’ on YouTube.

THE FABULOUS BLUE DIAMONDS

When I asked some of my Indonesian colleagues (below age of 50) in Medan about the Blue Diamonds, they did not know who they were. When I showed them the Blue Diamonds singing ‘Ramona’ on the You Tube, they were surprised that the Blue Diamonds were Indonesian brothers. Oh Yes. Born in Jakarta, Indonesia, Ruud de Wolff (born May 12 1941) and Riem de Wolff (born April 15, 1953) and their parents migrated to Holland in 1949. Over there their singing talents were discovered by Phillips, the Dutch recording company.

I am sure my old buddy, Tan Jing Ming, remembers that I did buy a LP record of the Blue Diamonds and we never felt tired of listening to their songs such as ‘Ramona’, ‘Little Ship”, ‘Stairway To Heaven’, ‘Down By The Riverside’, Cathy’s Clown’, ‘Till I Kissed You’, ‘All Of Me’, ‘Oh Carol’, and others in the album. Thanks to You Tube, we are now able to watch and listen to them over and over again. Listening to the Blue Diamonds every now and then brings back sweet memories of my childhood days in the early 60’s in Kuala Lipis, Pahang, Malaysia.

Called the ‘Dutch Everly Brothers’, the Blue Diamonds covered many Everly Brothers songs, but they had a unique style of their own and their vocal harmony was among the best for male vocal duets. Besides their singing talents, these two brothers were also accomplished guitarists. They became really famous in 1960 with an up tempo version of a musical song 'Ramona,' a song originally written for the 1928 movie 'Ramona.' Hence, they established their name not only in Netherlands but all over the rest of the world. They were also highly popular in South-east Asia and the Far East because of their part Asian descent. In the 60’s, they toured all over Europe, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and many other countries.

The fabulous Blue Diamonds had no more hits after 1971 but they performed until 2000. Their last performance was November, 2000. In December 2000, Ruud died at the age of 59. After his elder brother’s death, Riem wanted to stop performing. Later realizing what 40 years of Blue Diamonds meant for many people and fans, Riem changed his mind and became a solo artist. And together with his son Steffen he founded The New Diamonds.

During that time, I had also bought a EP record of Anneka Gnoloh, another Indonesian singer who and her family had resettled in Holland in 1949. Surely Jing Ming also remembers the song “Boeroeng Kaka” sung by her. Now we can listen to her as well on You Tube.

Click on and watch the Blue Diamonds singing ‘Ramona” on the You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElHHM9QGOMs.

Click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEi4577ByjY and listen to Anneka Gronloh singing ‘Boeroeng Kaka’ (Burung Kaka Tua).

10 WORKING TIPS IN 2009

Something2Share:

1) Do not get into trouble

Always look before you leap. Think first before you speak or do something that may get yourself into unnecessary troubles.

2) Aim for greater heights

There is always a purpose in life. Don’t be just good. Try to be better. Aim for the best. If you wish to be successful in life, aim for greater heights. See you at the top.

3) Stay focused on your job

Do not divert your attention. Stay focused and be concentrated in what you are doing. It’s best to solve problems one at a time so as to get the job done.

4) Exercise to maintain good health

Spend sometime everyday to exercise in order to keep your body in motion. That’s the basic requirement to keep fit and stay healthy.

5) Practice team work

Even a general can’t win a war without soldiers. Always work as a team. A good leader will not claim credit because it’s team effort that makes it.

6) Rely on your trusted partner to watch your back, take your time trusting others

The working relationship is based on trust. Of course, you must have honesty and integrity in you in order to be trusted.

7) Save for rainy days

Save at least 10% of your monthly salary. If you have not saved enough, you may not survive in any financial crisis.

8) Rest and relax

Don’t become a workaholic. Work smart. To manage stress, you must have time to rest and relax.

9) Always smile when your boss is around.

That’s the basic work ethics. Why feel worried and show sad face to your boss when he is around? Put on your smiling face and your boss will surely feel good about it.

10) Nothing is impossible

When you watch the movie “Mission Impossible”, do not be surprised that the mission becomes possible at the end of the show. If you think it’s possible, it’s possible! Nothing is impossible, right?

HOW TO LIVE A HEALTHY LIFE

Append below are good tips from a forward email on how to live a healthy life.

Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
5. Make time to practice meditation, yoga, and prayer.
6. Play more games.
7. Read more books than you did in 2008.
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:
11. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don't over do. Keep your limits.
14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake.
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Society:
25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything.
28. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:
32. Do the right thing!
33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. GOD heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come.
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Last but not the least:
40. Please Forward this to everyone you care about

Something2Share:

Remember “HEALTH is WEALTH.” Only remain healthy that you can enjoy your wealth because “WELLNESS is HAPPINESS.” If you fall sick in any one day in 365 days of the year, you’ll feel miserable on that day. Therefore, eat right and change to a new healthy life style. Throw away any bad hobbies and habits that will have ill effect on your health.

Always be POSITIVE, and then you are able to face the CHANGE. Be satisfied with what you already have. Accept what is yours is yours! It is more blessed to GIVE than to RECEIVE. So is to FORGIVE than to HATE. Speak good words to encourage, to motivate and to praise another person rather than using words that hurt and condemn others.

Spend quality time with your family whenever you can. Always remind yourself that the very fact that you’re working so hard everyday is not for yourself but for your family. In fact, we used to joke among ourselves,” Our children are our bosses!”

Don’t be SELFISH! Always share good things with friends and others. Pass the useful information around because you care. CARING is SHARING!

Always give thank with a grateful heart when you wake up in the mornings since “Everyday is a blessing from GOD.” Be HAPPY and keep SMILING. Have a nice day.

CLIFF RICHARD AND THE SHADOWS - BRITISH LEGEND

When Cliff Richard and The Shadows came to Malaysia in 1961, I and Tan Jing Ming took a bus to Kuala Lumpur to watch their first live performance show at the Stadium Merdeka. The bus ride from Kuala Lipis via Kuala Kubu to KL took us more than 3 hours. I was then a Form 2 student of Clifford School, Kuala Lipis, and Jing Ming was one year my senior. Besides Elvis Presley, both of us were also the faithful fans of Cliff Richard and The Shadows.

I remember that the stadium was packed with a capacity crowd on that night and we could only watch the live concert from a far corner. Wow! We were sooooooo thrilled and terribly excited watching Cliff Richards singing our favourite songs such as Move it, Travellin’ Light, Living Doll, Please Don’t Tease etc and The Shallows playing Apache, Kon-Tiki etc in persons on stage. That’s the greatest experience once in a life time for us, the 2 young ones from a small town in Pahang!

For those too young to have admired the fame of Cliff Richard, he is recognized as an accomplished singer internationally with a genuine feel for the music. Also he is once hailed as the 'British Elvis' and still happy with his Bachelor Boy image, he remains as British’s biggest evergreen star of British pop. Nonetheless, Cliff Richard is gifted with a golden voice and, today at age 68, he still retains his boyish good looks. He is, in fact, a well-known English singer, songwriter, actor and also an entrepreneur. He once said, “When I use music on stage, the prime directive is to entertain the public, so it is different.”

Cliff Richard was born in Lucknow, British India on October 14, 1940 as Harry Rodger Webb (his real name), in Lucknow, British India. In 1947, his family moved to Britain. He was the first British rock star to be so honoured and knighted by the Queen on October 25, 1995, thus became Sir Cliff Richard.

Sir Cliff made his name performing with his backup band The Shadows and dominated the British popular music scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The Shadows continued to appear and record with Cliff Richard and wrote many of his hits. They enjoyed success with hits such as Move It, Summer Holiday and The Young Ones but split in 1968. Since then Cliff Richard had built up his solo career but later reunited with The Shadows for a string of concerts in 1978, 1984 and 1990. In fact, The Shadows also appeared with Cliff Richard in both the films that I had watched in my younger days, i.e. The Young Ones and Summer Holiday. In actual fact, Sir Cliff remains the only UK artist ever to have a single in the Top 10 in six consecutive decades. No wonder he once said, “I'm always hoping that the longer I can perform I can win some more people over and my career continues to go on.”

In 1966, Cliff Richard became a "born-again" Christian. He declared, “We need to be adopted by God through Jesus - that was what happened to me, and that's what changed my life so that now, I can see that my career can be part of a calling.” He continued to say, “When I became a Christian my confidence grew.” And he also proudly testified, “It is important to have a circle of Christian friends, which I do have.”

Cliff Richard, being a fan of Elvis Presley, had admitted, “Elvis was my idol from the beginning and even today when I’m alone I’ll often put on the King Creole album. He’s produced the most exciting pop music sounds of all time”. But Cliff Richard’s biggest regret was not taking the opportunity to meet Elvis Presley when he had the chance because he felt that Elvis was too fat at that time. He thought he would get another chance in future when Elvis became thinner. That’s what Cliff Richard had to say about it, “The big regret is when I had the chance to meet him in America, I chose not to because he was grotesquely overweight. I’d rather have the magnificent Elvis that everybody knows and loves. If we wait long enough, he does movies and he goes on these fantastic diets, then we can have a picture of me with my idol looking like my idol. Now I really regret it. I’d rather have met him overweight than never.”

Cliff Richard once made a statement, “I'm very grateful because my fans are very loyal.” Here is good news to all his loyal fans. Cliff Richard and The Shadows (Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch and Brian Bennett) have planned to reunite for an arena tour in autumn 2009 (September/October) to celebrate their 50th anniversary, namely the Golden Anniversary concert tour of the UK.

“It is almost certainly going to be the last time we will all perform together. We just wanted to get together and just do one last goodbye for all the fans,” said Sir Cliff Richard.

Click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNufA_ZUQOo to watch and listen to Cliff Richard sing 'The Young Ones' on YouTube.

ELVIS PRESLEY: THE LEGEND

Tan Jing Ming, my old buddy in Kuala Lipis, my hometown, sent me a sms yesterday:” How about an Elvis article after the good one on Bob Hope?” Well, both of us were faithful fans of Elvis Presley since our schooling days in Clifford School. As for me, I even used Elvis Loh as my nick name to look for pen pals in the popular “Movies News” magazine. Those were our young golden days!

For those too young to have experienced Elvis Presley in his prime, he is remembered by his fans as "The King of Rock 'n' Roll” or “The King.” But Elvis once said,” I am not the King. Jesus Christ is the King. I'm just an entertainer.” He was a born again Christian who loved to sing gospel music.

Elvis Presley, born on January 8, 1935, was an American singer, actor and musician. His life was a classic American success story. “I want to entertain people. That's my whole life. To my last breath,” that’s what Elvis said.

Elvis was so alive in live performances. No wonder he once spoke out, “A live concert to me is exciting because of all the electricity that is generated in the crowd and on stage. It's my favorite part of the business - live concerts.” He was just good because: “Some people tap their feet, some people snap their fingers, and some people sway back and forth. I just sorta do 'em all together, I guess.” Yet Elvis respected his mother: “I wiggle my shoulders, I shake my legs, I walk up and down the stage, I hop around on one foot. But I never bump and grind. Why? That's vulgar! I'd never do anything vulgar before an audience. My mother would never allow it.”

Visiting Elvis Presley's Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, was indeed an opportunity for us once in a lifetime. I was there with my wife and our two children (Sue Jen and James Wen Min). After attending Sue Jen’s graduation day in University of Arkansas at Little Rock, our eldest daughter’s boy friend (Joshua Goh Chon Siew, now her husband) drove us there on December 21, 2002.

Graceland was opened to fans and tourists in 1982. It seemed that the spirit and taste of Elvis Presley infused every part of Graceland. We had to buy tickets (about USD 25.00 per adult) to enter the mansion where we could see and view Elvis' living room, music room, his parents' bedroom, the dining room, kitchen, TV room, pool room, and jungle den in the main house. Elvis’ racquetball court and original business office behind Graceland Mansion were also opened to tourists.

During the Graceland tour our greatest excitement was viewing the extensive collection of Elvis Presley's leather and lamé stage costumes and Elvis’ trophy building, which housed his collection of gold records and awards. Career mementos, jewelry, photographs, and other Elvis memorabilia were also on exhibit. The tour ended when we came out to the Meditation Garden, where Elvis and members of his family were buried.

Elvis died at age of 42 on August 16, 1977 at his home Graceland in Memphis. His tombstone gave his name as "Elvis Aaron Presley", whereas he was in fact named "Elvis Aron Presley". Although this fueled conspiracy theories that he had faked his death, it was generally believed he changed his middle name so it would be the same as the Biblical Aaron.

Elvis is a legend. The sun never sets on a legend. For the past 32 years after Elvis’ death, the “The King of Rock 'n' Roll” lives on for millions of fans of all ages!

Click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpzV_0l5ILI to watch and listen to Elvis Presley singing 'Jailhouse Rock' on YouTube.

DENGUE FEVER & PAPAYA LEAF JUICE

I wish to share the following information regarding Dengue Fever & Papaya Leaf Juice that I have gathered from the internet and a forwarded email.

Dengue fever is caused by a virus that is being transmitted through the bites of infective female Aedes mosquitoes. This virus is not contagious and cannot be spread directly from person to person. There must be a person-to-mosquito-to-another-person pathway. However, presently there is no specific medicine or antibiotic to treat dengue caused by the virus.

It seems that dengue strikes people with low levels of immunity. The body contains two types of blood cells: red and white. White blood cells help to fight off illnesses. Dengue fever decreases the amount of white blood cells, thus exposing the patient to illness.

Some of the symptoms of dengue fever are: very high fever, nausea, headache, rash and dangerously low blood platelets count.

Dengue starts with chills, headache, pain upon moving the eyes, and low backache. Painful aching in the legs and joints occurs during the first hours of illness. The temperature rises quickly as high as 104° F (40° C), with relative low heart rate (bradycardia) and low blood pressure (hypotension). The eyes become reddened. A flushing or pale pink rash comes over the face and then disappears. The glands (lymph nodes) in the neck and groin are often swollen.

Fever and other signs of dengue last for 2 - 4 days, followed by rapid drop in temperature (defervescence) with profuse sweating. This precedes a period with normal temperature and a sense of well-being that lasts about a day. A second rapid rise in temperature follows. A characteristic rash appears along with the fever and spreads from the extremities to cover the entire body except the face. The palms and soles may be bright red and swollen.

Appropriate medical care frequently saves the lives of patients with the more serious dengue hemorrhagic fever. There is no specific treatment for classic dengue fever, and most people recover within 2 weeks. To help with recovery, health care experts recommend:

1) Getting plenty of bed rest.

2) Drinking lots of fluids for adequate hydration.

3) Taking medicine to reduce fever/severe headache and joint/muscle pain but Aspirin and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs should be avoided as these drugs may worsen the bleeding tendency associated with some of these infections.

4) A platelet transfusion is indicated in rare cases if the platelets level drops significantly (below 20,000) or if there are significant bleeding.

The emails speculating the goodness of papaya leaf juice for curing dengue fever suggested to take 2 tablespoon papaya leaf juice per serving once a day, prepared from using 4 pieces papaya leaf (without stem or sap) after cleaning, pound and squeeze with filter cloth. Someone suggested to juice the leaves using a gear juicer or blend the leaves using a food processor/blender, and then put them in a filter cloth to squeeze out the juice. Do not boil or cook or rinse with hot water, otherwise it will loose its strength. Its taste is horribly bitter and may have to swallow it as if drinking 王老吉 'Won Low Kat'.

Although there may be no scientific proof of this recommendation, but papaya leaf is known to contain very high amounts of vitamins A, C, E, K, B Complex and especially high in B17 (laetrile, which is used for the treatment of cancer). Moreover, papaya leaf juice is believed to increase the number of white blood cells in the body

We have also come across online postings about the use of papaya leaf juice helping dengue patients to increase the platelets count dramatically and later overcome the fever.

“Two of my friends were admitted to the hospital last year and we helped out by making for them, fresh juice from papaya leaves. After taking the papaya leaf juice, their blood platelets count increased rapidly and they were out of the hospital within days. One of them reported their platelets count at a dangerous level of only 8 (normal count is 150 and above). One week after she was discharged, her platelets count shot up to above 300.”

Such discussions on internet or circulation through emails may not be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. However, there is no harm of taking papaya leaf juice after a dengue patient has seen a doctor, and has been advised to have adequate rest and drink lot of water and fluids, whether hospitalized or not.

It's great if such natural cure could help to ease the sufferings of dengue patients. Who knows this might make naturopathy a little more popular as currently it seems that there is no cure for the dreaded dengue reaching epidemic proportions.

But one thing is sure; the only way to prevent dengue virus transmission is to combat the disease-carrying Aedes mosquitoes, by eradicating all possible breeding sites.