Disappointments

There are many things in life which will cause disappointments, and of these disappointments, there are major and minor ones.. Just to share a few with you, and I am sure you would have encountered some of them:

1. Friends not willing to share if they are attached anot.
2. Friends who are busy enough to ignore you when you want to chat with them.
3. People around you who do not take friendly advice, when you hope that they turn over a new leaf.
4. People around you keep making the same mistakes and getting into bigger troubles each time you give them a chance.
5. You do something with all your heart and soul, but your efforts do not pay off, and you get unrecognized for.
6. When you hear a piece of good news, then it suddenly becomes just another mistaken piece of news.
7. When you like someone, but that someone doesn't like you.
8. When you trust a friend so much that you are willing to do much to help him, but in the end, finds out that you are just another fool who have mistrusted him.
9. When your closest people, or family do not believe in what you say and/or doubts you.
10. When you want to buy something that you like, but you find that you do not have enough to do so.
11. When you really want to help someone, but they say they do not need your help.
12. When you really want to help someone, you do not have the means or money to do so.

Well the list can go on forever about the 1001 things that make us disappointed. But these are just some of those that I have experienced the past few months.. The bigger ones are when students do not heed your advice and carry on their mistakes, like smoking, and taking things in their hands. But you have to continue believing at times, cos someone once said this:" It is not about how many times they fall, but everytime they fall, they will learn something, and will grow faster.." BUT, how many times must they fall, in order to grow up? Not as many times as I did, I hope. Good luck for those who still have remaining papers..

Random

I went for a KTV session with my Sec School Friends yesterday to celebrate one of their birthday. It has been quite a while since I last sang, and I really enjoyed myself during the session. Classics, new songs, were some of those being sung, how I miss my Secondary school days.. Now I can only reminicise about the old days.. These friends of mine for more than 13 years, have seen me through some of my lowest points in life, and also able to share our joys and pains.. And this is what I call true friends, those who will not abandon you even when you were in trouble..I see people making friends and destroying them the next day, but well, I guess this is part and parcel of life, where you have to accept each other's differences before you can really find your true friends..

Where friends come to mind, I seem to have made a lot of real friends but many still pass by as acquaintances. Some have grown to become close friends, but some have grown far apart and become acquaintances.. This is life, when you grow older, you tend to realize that people grow far apart..There are many whom I would like to maintain as friends, but I can't force them if they would like to maintain their distances, cos I believe that friendship needs time to cultivate..

That aside, many of my friends are getting married, and that further contributes to having fewer friends since they will be building their little families.. But I hope the tradition of celebrating each other's birthday will continue to last..

Lately I have been really busy, for my Cambodia trip, for end of year marking, and many other stuff.. but I told myself that a break is coming.. I need a break.. really.. And I found out that there are really many people smoking lately, especially students.. Many know smoking is bad, but at their age, they can't really withstand the lure of their friends and more importantly, the lack of care and concern from their parents. Parents do not know they actually do play a part in the child's upbringing, and the reason why we have so many children who needs help are because of bad parenting.. That being said, I hope that students do not engage in smoking especially smoking illegal cigarettes, which contain much more harmful substances that kill you faster..

Reasons for not smoking:

1. Waste Money! 1 pack $10, 1 day 1 pack, 1 year $3650, and the sum goes on.
2. Harmful for the body! Now below are some statistics and Q n A from Health promotion Board. I will highlight those which I think are really useful advice in RED.
3. DON'T MAKE ME VISIT YOUR GRAVE TO KNOW THAT YOU DIED OF SMOKING!
4. You can live a much more fulfilling life much longer than me!

Statistics

Tobacco use kills 5.4 million people a year worldwide - an average of one person every six seconds - and accounts for one in 10 adult deaths worldwide. It kills up to half of all users. Most of tobacco’s damage to health does not become evident until years or even decades after the onset of use. So, while tobacco use is rising globally, the epidemic of tobacco-related disease and death has yet to reach its peak.

In Singapore:

• About 7 Singaporeans die prematurely from smoking-related diseases each day.
• Smoking-related diseases, including cancer, heart disease, stroke and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) - also known as Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (COLD)- , are the nation's top killers.
• The social cost of smoking in 1997 ranged from S$673 to S$839 million. The social cost of smoking in Singapore includes the direct costs (payments for hospitalisation and healthcare due to smoking), morbidity costs (lost production due to smoking related illnesses) and mortality costs (lost production from people who died early due to smoking).

Smoking is the largest cause of preventable death in the world. Don’t let yourself or your family become the next victim.

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Your Questions on Smoking, Tobacco Use and Health

Is there a safe way to smoke cigarettes?

No. All cigarettes can damage the human body. Any smoking is dangerous. The cigarette is the only legal product whose advertised and intended use - smoking - is known to harm the body and cause cancer.

Some people think that switching from high-tar and high-nicotine cigarettes to those with low tar and nicotine makes smoking safer, but this is not true. When people switch to brands with lower tar and nicotine, they often end up smoking more cigarettes, or more of each cigarette, to get the same nicotine dose as before.

Smokers have been led to believe that "light" cigarettes have lower health risk and are a good option to quitting. A low-tar cigarette can be just as harmful as a high-tar cigarette because a person often takes deeper puffs, puffs more often, or smokes them to a shorter butt length.

Are menthol cigarettes safer than those without menthol?

Menthol only adds to the flavour of the cigarettes. It does not make the cigarettes any less dangerous.

In fact, menthol cigarettes may even be more dangerous. The added menthol produces a cooling sensation in the throat when the smoke is inhaled. It also decreases the cough reflex and covers the dry feeling in the throat that smokers often have. People who smoke menthol cigarettes can inhale deeper and hold the smoke in longer.

Is cigarette smoking really addictive?

Yes. The nicotine in cigarette smoke causes an addiction to smoking. Nicotine is an addictive drug just like heroin and cocaine.

What are the normal reactions after you quit?

• Difficulty in concentration or dizziness because your brain needs to get used to having more oxygen
• Cough and running nose as your lungs get rid of all the dirt and germs that had accumulated inside while you were smoking
• Strong craving for cigarettes while your body gets rid of the nicotine
• Tingling sensations in your arms and legs as your blood circulation returns to normal

  Not everyone will get these withdrawal symptoms but don’t lose heart if you do. They will disappear in one or two weeks and they are actually signs that you are getting better.

Am I at risk if I puff the cigarette without inhaling the smoke?

Yes.

• Many chemicals in the cigarette smoke (including nicotine) can be absorbed through the mouth, nose and skin.
• The smoke that you blow out stays in the surrounding air. When you take your next breath, it goes straight into your lungs, without you realising it.

What does nicotine do?

In large doses, nicotine is a poison and can kill by stopping a person's breathing muscles.

Smokers usually become dependent on nicotine and suffer physical and emotional (psychological) withdrawal symptoms when they stop smoking. These symptoms include irritability, nervousness, headaches and trouble sleeping. The true marker for addiction, though, is that people still smoke even though they know smoking is bad for them -- affecting their lives, their health and their families and friends in unhealthy ways.

Who is most likely to become addicted?

Anyone who starts smoking is at risk of becoming addicted to nicotine. Studies show that cigarette smoking is most likely to become a habit during the teenage years. The younger a person is when he or she begins to smoke, the more likely he or she is to become addicted to nicotine.

Why do smokers have "smoker's cough”?

Cigarette smoke contains chemicals that irritate the air passages and lungs. When a smoker inhales these substances, the body tries to protect itself by making mucus and coughing. The early morning smoker's cough happens for many reasons. Normally, tiny hair-like formations (called cilia) beat outward and sweep harmful material out of the lungs. Cigarette smoke slows the sweeping action, so some of the poisons in the smoke stay in the lungs, and mucus stays in the airways. While a smoker sleeps, some cilia recover and begin working again. After waking up, the smoker coughs because the lungs are trying to clear away the irritants and mucus built up the day before. The cilia will completely stop working after they have been exposed to smoke for a long time. When this happens, the smoker's lungs are even more exposed and prone to infection and irritation.

The same noxious chemicals that cause the simple smoker's cough can lead to far more serious conditions such as bronchitis, emphysema, pneumonia and lung cancer.

Why do I cough more after I've quit smoking?

Your lungs start to function properly again and are working to clear tar, dead cells and extra mucus accumulated from the cigarettes.

My husband was only 30 years old when he suffered from a stroke. The doctor said that smoking is the main cause of his stroke. How can smoking actually cause stroke?

Smoking causes a build-up of fatty deposits in the blood vessels, resulting in narrowing and blockage of the vessels. If the blood supply in these vessels leading to the brain is blocked, the surrounding brain cells will die, resulting in a stroke.

I've heard that smoking causes a fatty build-up in the blood vessels. But how is this so when fat is not an ingredient in cigarette smoke?

The moment you light a cigarette, thousands of poisonous chemicals in the cigarette smoke enter your body and are absorbed into the bloodstream. Some of these chemicals make your blood vessel walls sticky, damaging them, and causing them to collect the tiny fatty deposits that float in the bloodstream. The more you smoke, the more the fatty deposits build up.

How does smoking cause a heart attack? Is it similar to how smoking causes stroke?

Yes. Similar adverse effects take place when the blood vessels leading to our heart are blocked by fatty deposits. This cuts off the blood supply to our heart muscles, killing the tissue. As a result, a heart attack occurs.

How many cigarettes do I need to smoke to get lung cancer?

Lung cancer can begin from cell damage caused by smoking just ONE cigarette.

Research has found that one of the cancer-causing substances in cigarette smoke (benzopyrene) directly attacks and damages the p53 gene which blocks cancer and prevents cancer cells from growing. When cancer threatens a lung cell with a damaged p53 gene, a deadly tumour starts to grow.

Can quitting really help a lifelong smoker?

Yes. It is never too late to quit smoking. The sooner you quit, the more you can reduce your chances of getting cancer and other diseases. Within minutes of smoking the last cigarette, your body begins to restore itself.

Suppose I smoke for a while and then quit?

Smoking begins to cause damage right away and is highly addictive. Some studies have found nicotine to be as addictive as heroin or cocaine.

Do filters reduce the dangers of cigarette smoking?

Cigarette filters may trap part of the tar and nicotine, but they do not remove any poisons from the cigarette smoke.

PLS STOP SMOKING and Hurting yourself.. It hurts me too..

Touching Clips from Youtube

It has really been a very long time since I last posted.. Have been down with diarrhoea and headaches these few days.. Really don't know what I have been eating.. haha.. Well, Shi teng introduced me to this little chimpanzee called Pan Kun, and I think many of you probably would have heard or seen what this mighty little champ can do.. People often describe chimpanzees as the closest kind of animals resembling human beings.. Indeed, they can do many things that we can, and much more that we can't.. Though they can't speak our language, yet, when they forge bonds with you, you can be sure they will never forget the ties between both parties.. Here is a link, you can take a look and discover what they can do.. Anyway, pan-kun is endangered, so he is currently kept out from the family with whom it has grown up with, and kept in a zoo.. What the govt did may be right, but in the long term, it is definitely going to upset the chimp..

At least I know that Pan-kun is a loyal friend or one who stands by your side when you are in trouble.. So, why are students always fighting with each other, over jealousy, minor affairs, and over competition in studies? Maybe it is a growing up process that one must go through to understand the true meaning of friendship; Maybe the word "friendship" has to undergo the rough seas, before it can ship off friends who are really true to each other.. Maybe after betrayals, fights, quarrels, or even calamities, before we know who will be the ones who will stand by us, when we are really in difficulties.. I have known many friends in life...Many whom I will proudly claim to be friends, and those whom I would only claim as acquaintances..

Who then are your true friends? Are you one who treats people with your heart too? If you are, good for you, cos you are already halfway to finding your true friends, because I believe in reciprocity. Do you? Watch the video and you will understand.

Pan - Kun : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cBwE6_VqXg&feature=fvw