Happy Birthday for me

What a relief! 2008 is buried and I hope its ghost will not haunt us (too) much.
My birthday was great. During the day I had my yearly “retreat”, bringing the much needed relaxation and meditation. Could hardly have been better.
In the evening the family went to Morel’s Restaurant (liang ma qiao lu), a very obvious and wise choice. Renaat Morel took good care of us, Sun and Valerie immediately opted for the “Belgian mussels” (imported from Japan – actually better than the Dutch one), I took the “small” special menu, emptied a bottle of champagne and we all went home STUFFED as Thanksgiving turkeys.


After watching HBO Spiderman Nr. ? (forgot, too much excitement), for the countdown to 24:00 we switched to the hilarious New Year’s Eve show on CCTV9, hilarious because of its silliness. The public seemed to be on a heavy dose of Valium. How can people wave like a slow-motion metronome with expressionless faces, listening to a great live performance of “Volare, Cantare”? It wasn’t better with the Chinese performers (the “Tibet” songs were probably done by fake Tibetans from Anhui), the audience seemed like counting the seconds they could go home.
In Beijing, you just invent fun. I had my last (?) cigar, emptied another Scotch bottle and we all went happy to bed.
Happy 2009!

A special Rat year coming to an end

The end of the year is always special for me, remembering loved ones who left us, leaving behind a void. I don’t mention them, they are in my heart.
The last days of December are a time to meet friends, to slow down. To think about the past year that has been – in this case – one marked by real challenges. Tomorrow, 31st, is “the” day to reflect on many issues. A day when often decisions are made but kept quiet. And it will be a real special date in my life. For those who know, they’ll understand.
So, this will be the last entry of the year. No work tomorrow.
Instead of serious thinking, just humor, thanks to some friends who share their funny jokes and stories.
Happy 2009 to all the readers. Hope to see you later again.

China grows new tree

Developed in tropical Hainan, after intense research and genetic engineering, Chinese specialists unveiled a new tree species.


This tree is called “meinushu”. It means women tree.
To protect against counterfeiters from Henan Province, the exact location is being kept secret.
A male version has proved to be more difficult to grow. But I am not waiting for it.

A man’s life

God created the donkey and said to him: “You will be a donkey. You will work untiringly from sunrise to sunset carrying burdens on your back. You will eat grass, you will have no intelligence and you will live 50 years.”
The donkey answered: “I will be a donkey, but to live 50 years is much. Give me only 20 years”. God granted his wish.
God created the dog and said to him: “You will guard the house of man. You will be his best Friend. You will eat the scraps that he gives you and you will live 30 years. You will be a dog.”
The dog answered: “Sir, to live 30 years is too much, give me only 15 years.” God granted his wish.
God created the monkey and said to him: “You will be a monkey. You will swing from branch to branch doing tricks. You will be amusing and you will live 20 years.”
The monkey answered: “To live 20 years is too much, give me only 10 years.” God granted his wish.
Finally God created man… and said to him: “You will be man, the only rational creature on the face of the earth. You will use your intelligence to become master over all the animals. You will dominate the world and you will live 20 years.”
Man responded: “Sir, I will be a man but to live only 20 years is very little, give me the 30 years that the donkey refused, the 15 years that the dog did not want and the 10 years the monkey refused.” God granted man’s wish.
And since then, man lives 20 years as a man, marries and spends 30 years like a donkey, working and carrying all the burdens on his back.
Then when his children are grown, he lives 15 years like a dog taking care of the house and eating whatever is given to him, so that when he is old, he can retire and live 10 years like a monkey, going from house to house and from one son or daughter to another doing tricks to amuse his grandchildren.
That’s Life.

Anti-recession medicine

The lonely brain cell
Once upon a time there was a female brain cell which, by mistake, happened to end up in a man’s head.
braincell
She looked around inside the head nervously because it was all empty and unusually quiet.
” Hello?” she cried, but no answer.
“Is there anyone else in here?” she cried a little louder, but still no answer.
Now the female brain cell started to feel very alone and scared and so she yelled at the top of her voice,
“HELLO, IS THERE ANYONE HERE?”
Then she heard a faint voice from far, far away…
downhere
“We’re down here.”
The Soldier and the Nun
A soldier came to a fork in the road and saw a nun standing there.
Out of breath he asked, ‘Please Sister, may I hide under your skirts for a few minutes. I’ll explain WHY later.’
The nun agreed.
A moment later two Military Police came running along and asked, ‘Sister, have you seen a soldier running by here?’
The nun replied, ‘He went that way.’
After the MP’s disappeared, the soldier crawled out from under her skirt and said, ‘I can’t thank you enough Sister, but you see — I don’t want to go to Iraq ….’
The nun said, ‘I think I can fully understand your fear.’
The soldier added, ‘I hope you don’t think me rude or impertinent, but you have a great pair of legs!’
The nun replied, ‘If you had looked a little higher, you would have seen a great pair of balls… I don’t want to go to Iraq either.’
New old mother
With all the new technology regarding fertility, an 88-year-old woman was able to give birth to a baby recently.
When she was discharged from the hospital and went home, various relatives came to visit. ‘May we see the new baby?’one of them asked.
‘Not yet,’ said the mother. ‘I’ll make coffee and we can visit for a while first.’
Another half hour passed before another relative asked, ‘May we see the new baby now?’
‘No, not yet,’ said the mother.
A while later and again the guests asked, ‘May we see the baby now?’
‘No, not yet,’ replied the mother.
Growing impatient, they asked, ‘Well, when can we see the baby?’
‘When it cries!’ she told them.
‘When it cries?’ they gasped. ‘Why do we have to wait until it cries?’
‘Because, I forgot where I put it.’
The Nun Decorators
The head nun tells the two new nuns that they have to paint their room without getting any paint on their clothes.
The one nun says to the other, ‘Hey, let’s take all our clothes off, fold them up, and lock the door.’
So they do this, and begin painting their room.
Soon they hear a knock at the door. They ask, ‘Who is it?’
‘Blind man!’
The nuns look at each other, then one nun says, ‘He’s blind, he can’t see. What could it hurt.’ They let him in.
The man walks in, does a double take, and says, ‘Where do you want me to hang the blinds?’