How did you spend Earth Hour?

Earth Hour came & past….How did you spend it?



For me, was at a mall & saw that many businesses did not bother with their lights or airconditioning. Fortunately I was patronising McDonalds which saw the "light at the end of the tunnel" (pun intended) & gamely switched off the lights in some parts of their place. It didn't cause the place to be less functional…in fact, it gave a nice glow to the place without the glarring white light that you usually see at Mcs. That caused me to think "Why don't Mcs consider have a schedule for dimmed lights at certain areas of their restaurants everyday?" It'll save them some money & give the Earth a breather since they contribute to the use of resources (with their individually packed food wrappers) right? The place actually looks quite inviting with dimmed lights. After all, people don't need floodlights to eat a burger or ice cream or fries anyway….

Next stop for me was Starbucks which took the Earth hour to another level by switching off ALL its lights within its premises. This resulted in a quite hilarous outcome as people were likely thinking if they were open for business at all! :) But their heart is in the right place & that's what counts…so I ordered a tall iced "Green Tea Soy Latte" to support their cause. The server was so cute as they gave both kiddos neon bracelets. (BTW if you haven't tried this "Green Tea Soy Latte", you should definitely try it - it's sumptous!)

Went back home & did an extended Earth Hour with the kids by having a lights-out:) We spent the hour before sleeping playing nice music - shining our torchlights & waving neon bracelets in the darkness for ambience.

Started by telling them stories that this is likely how their grandparents spent their childhood - in darkness with a candle to shine their night. My boy didn't take to the darkness very well initially but eventually warmed round to the idea when he saw that darkness need not be feared but can be quite fun too! In the end, both enjoyed Earth hour & now I have to do it again next Sat! :)

If you are more a picture person, click to http://www.flickr.com/groups/earthhourlive/pool/ for cool pics!

Think things differently...time to count our blessings....

Got this from a friend - it's quite a nice reminder in such times (the original email has pics so if you want it, email me yah?):

"A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said "I am blind. please help." There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?"

The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way. 'Today is a beautiful day and I cannot see it.' "

Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?

Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Moral of the Story: Be thankful for what you have. Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively. Invite others towards good with wisdom.

Live life with no excuse and love with no regrets. When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile. Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear. Keep the faith and drop the fear.

Great men say, "Life has to be an incessant process of repair and reconstruction, of discarding evil and developing goodness…. In the journey of life, if you want to travel without fear, you must have the ticket of a good conscience."

Underwater World Overnight Stay (21-22 Mar) & pulau semakau trip (2 weeks ago)

Was down at underwater world for an overnight stay with kids last night & I must say that it was quite an experience....

was registered for an exciting stay with local automobile association for 70 a piece - dropped won at 6 before gathering at the UWW seminar room for a marine talk on types of sea animals that one can find there like sea star, sea angels, jellyfish, sharks, dugong etc before we got down to serious business of dinner & a tour of the 80+ meter tunnel. 

kids were pretty excited as they usually only get to see UWW during the day & not after closing time...they were basically knocking themselves out going round & round the tunnel during the free & easy time & getting themselves wet at the touch pool 

after some time allocated for supper & wash up, the 50 odd campers were brought down again to the tunnel for selection of sleeping area at the tunnel. we were at the shark area on the carpeted area. 

lights out at 1130 ish - whole new experience.... lying down on the hard carpeted floor was a torture for the ol' body & carpeting caused a sneezing frenzy for hub & boy. Doesn't help when the floorboard resounds with every step & you have kids running up & down the tunnel area. 

Finally settled down for a "nap" as before I knew it, lights up at 730 am this morning. Had a quick wash before having breakfast. We headed down to Dolphin Lagoon for a show & a rub-down of one of the pink dolphins. It was a nice fitting ending to a very different sleep-over. 

Definitely pooped after this but then again, an experience that money can't buy....just like the earlier trip that I took for my girl to Pulau Semakau (more info here) 2 weeks ago. It was definitely an eye-opener to see another side of urban Singapore where one can find diverse coral life & animal life. The inter-tidal walk started from 12 & only ended around 5-ish. Nat's quite ok with the heat...quite good considering she's so used to air-conditioning (like most kids in singapore). She's now asking when she can go there again (same thing as UWW sleepover) & I am thinking, "wait till my body recovers!"