Dear Jesus... This is My Christmas List

Dear Jesus

Time flies. It feels like yesterday we celebrated Your last 'birthday'. Now, Christmas day is just around the corner. To me, it is still and will always be the most joyful time of the year: the glistening trees, sleigh bells, the Santa, cards, gifts, songs, ....

Here I am down on my knees talking to You in whisper and giving You my Christmas list. No, no... I am not asking for a present. I am grown-up now, although a new car would do. Ahahaha.... (*kidding*)

I am sure You are busy sorting out people's wishes these days. Frankly, I don't expect you to prioritize mine either, because I am not worthy. I humbly understand very well I had made You disappointed in me in many occassions this year. I had not been Your good disciple like You always wanted me to be. I had often been a lost sheep who often made his shepherd cry. I had had far too many hollows and emptiness in my soul.

Oh Jesus, would You forgive me for all the wrongdoings I have done? I am certain You remember everyone of them. If not, I am willing to spend hours and hours listing them down.

Allow me to pray for my loved ones: my family. I beg for our 'true happiness', because a true happiness can only come from You. Touch us on every little step we make. Let us grant Your peace to every person we meet today. Fulfil us with Your soul food. More importantly, I thank You for having chosen me to be part of their lives. I am privileged!

I pray for those whom I consider as friends or for those who consider me as their friend. New, old, good or best friends. Everyone. I thank You for allowing me to share parts of my life with them. Please continue working on me through them.

I pray for the people I never met, yet they are not as lucky as we are (who know who they are). People in wars. People in hungers. People in rages. People in illness. People in refuges.... Only You who would understand their despairs, oh Jesus. Leave them not alone. Let them know that I will keep them in my prayer every single day, especially on this special day.

Another year, another adventure. If it was not for You, Jesus, I would not have gone this far. Thank You again for allowing me to celebrate Your birthday again with my loved ones.

I love You, Jesus.

Novel
Your disciple

Morning Therapy

I was checking the Schlumberger Hub today and extremely happy to find out that one of my photos had been selected as one of the 3 best shots of the week beating 124 other submitted photos! Cihuy.... Finally!

Although, this is an internal 'competition' without any prize given away, but still the feeling is quite overwhelming. This is the first time my amateur photoshot is recognized publicly.

I named the photo "Morning Therapy" simply because the atmosphere was so calm that I felt it could 'heal' people who suffered from the restless world around them. Some kind of natural therapy.

The photo was taken during our weekend stay in Chedi, Muscat (Oman) back in Oct 2004. Dita and I intentionally woke up quite early and easily became the first two guests who arrived at the swimming pool and the calm beach. Whilst we were enjoying the tranquility, I took the opportunity to take the shot with our 5MP Sony DSC-T1 digital camera. Nothing is really fancy about our little camera. The photo was a beauty by its nature. No touch-ups or alikes. Simply a reflection of the original colors. But I have to admit that the morning lights are always the best friend for amateur photographers like me.

In fact, when I submitted that photo, I did not put my expectation too high. I personally thought that this week's competition is tougher than the last week's, i.e. there are a lot more amazing photos submitted by SLB employees this week. I had submitted several photos in the previous weeks with no success. Hence, this time I chose the title and described the photo with very little thinking.

I guess this time the unexpected has become a reality. I am just hoping this is not the last one to have been selected.

A Life in a Night for a Proper Being (By: Ayesha Mutiara (10 y.o.))*

Sluuuuuuurp. Sluuuuuuuurp. Who doesn’t love milk? Especially if it is for a midnight snack. I was staring at my bowl with gleaming eyes, looking at the milk as if the bowl of milk was the best piece of art any one can ever do. I kept on licking at the bowl, little bit by little bit, trying to not to waste the milk, because those humans would never ever give me the right amount I deserve. I am a Siamese cat. I am proper. They should be thankful they have me.

Tap! Tap! Tap! I was on my daily walk around the house, as I usually do when it is night. I was waiting for one of those twin owners of mine to come and feel and admire my very soft and shiny fur. Hey! It’s not my fault I’m pretty and precious. Since Tyler (my owner) was doing his homework, I went to Erin (my other owner) to give her a chance to feel my fur before I would go prowling around the alleyways of New York City.

New York City has the perfect mood, which matches me like a puzzle piece. It’s fast, it’s bright and it’s busy. The only problem is that it rains a lot here and when the cars pass by really fast then they splash water on me and get me soaked and the water is absolute filth. How embarrassing it would be if I were the only Siamese cat that looked uncivilized in New York.

Any way Erin was watching “Lady and the Tramp” and it was the scene where the baby’s babysitter brought out her two Siamese cats, which were every mean to Lady. They were singing a song about themselves, which actually has a pretty catchy tune. Although they are my species, they selfish. Unlike me, don’t you agree? You don’t see me taking every thing for myself, unless the object is milk of course. Well, Erin’s mother told her to go to sleep, so I guess I would just go on my stroll now.

“AAAAAAHHHHHH!!! That’s my tail, thank you very much!”

Humm, people these days don’t appreciate real beauty. It’s unfair! For a short creature like me, a busy sidewalk is like a Dodge ball game. With all the shoes stepping right in front of you on the last minute. I would soon be as flexible as a gymnast dodging all these feet.

When I turned to the last corner, I happened to meet Gruel, which rhymes with drool, which he happens to do a lot. If he lived in my apartment, since he was a pup and no one cleaned his drool, my house would have a 1-inch thick layer of drool. And sometimes he drools while his head is swinging like a pendulum. So, There would be slime all over the wall. If his drool was brown, then the marks of drool would look like tree trunks with a lot of branches.

“ Oh, whom do we have here?” he mumbled.

“George Bush is who it is. Dum-dumb it’s me Lola the Siamese!” I shouted sarcastically. As if it was the simplest question in the world.

He gave me a look that was like a warning that he was going to make me his next dinner on his menu! So I ran, and ran and ran until I tripped over a rock and got a cut on my paw and blood was dribbling down my claws until they’re little drops of red. So I turned to the left and shook off Gruel of my trail. Then I ran into the back of he leg of an officer. He looked at me, stroked under my ear and carried me into his car.

In the car he checked my neck to see my collar and drove me back to my apartment. And when he rang the doorbell, my mother owner immediately opened the door and thanked the officer for bringing me back. But when she was about to pick me up, she saw my cut leg. And went to get a band-aid. She caressed me like I was a newborn baby.

Finally, I get the perfect treatment that I, the perfect and civilized Lola the Siamese cat deserves. And since I’m getting pampered and everything, I guess that it wouldn’t be a bad time to ask for milk!

_______________
This short story appears courtesy of Ayesha Mutiara a.k.a. Kakak (10 y.o.) Thanks, Kakak!
* Ayesha is a bright student of ASD (American School of Dubai), a daughter of my two best friends - Wingky & Oya, the big sister of Zirdy, a talented sketcher, a meticulous storyteller (and a fast talker :-)) and more importantly, a talented swimmer. She has won many regional swimming championships in Dubai/UAE. At her age, she has already impressed many people with her many achievements academically and non-academically. With this article, she proves not only can she do the verbal storytelling, but also she can nicely compose a short story like above. I hope to see more of this in the near future and am glad to publish it for the first time in my own blog as a work of my special guest author. Keep writing, ya Kak!