Dear mom:-)

Some wants to talk but gets no chance to meet.

Some gets a chance to meet but doesn’t want to talk.

“Darling, can you help me with this?”

“Can’t you just wait until I finished chatting with my friends?”

“I need your help now, daughter.”

“Mom! Can’t you just wait huh? I’m so upset now!”

I am positive that this conversation is so familiar for most mother and children. To be honest, for most teenagers, whatever happened, parents often come last. Most of teenagers choose to give attention to their friends and lovers before family. And if it’s happened to be comparing, happiness usually ties with friends or lovers as most teenagers chose to call for friends once good things happened. On the other hand, sadness usually ties with parents as the family is the first thing that comes up when sadness appears. Am I right?

But do you know? Many people haven’t talked to their parents for a while. Some wants to talk but gets no chance to meet. In contrast, some gets a chance to meet but doesn’t want to talk.

I was a teenager and I used to act childish as I chose my friends before family. But now, no matter how people say that I am still a teenage, I strongly disagreed with that because for me, family always comes first. I am not saying this to show that I am a good daughter. I just wanted to warn everyone that you can not turn back to the past. There is no second chance to fix what you have already done, especially with your own parents.

I did have both good and bad times with my mom before she left to the beautiful heaven. When I was young, I often fought with her and was against whatever she thinks is right. I did not even care whether she would have to shed her tears because of me. I always regret what I did badly to her such as my rude behavior or at least, I should not have scolded her.

Since I was a little girl, I always love to sing. I hoped one day I would become a singer. The person whom always supported me was my mom. She encouraged me to go to singing school and also supported in whatever I would like to do.

Whenever I got a chance to be involved in a singing competition, my mom never told me that I must win. She told me to do the best I can and not to worry about the result. However, I never win. I cried so hard after I knew the result as my expectation was to win in order to get a chance to be singer. “Don’t worry my dear, you can do it better,” my mom always said. ”You are the best singer of mine.” I just realized now that those words were the best strength I have never had and I will not be able to get it from anyone if it’s not my mommy.

Two years ago, I got a chance to be a singer of GMM Grammy Company. The first thing that came up on my mind was my mom. I always missed her when I was on stage. I wished that she is watching me from somewhere and hopefully, she would be proud of me.

I wish I could stay with her longer. I wish I could hug and kiss her like any other kids did. Every time I see my friends and siblings hug their mom, I feel sad. I feel envious actually.

For most people, staying altogether the whole family seemed like a regular lifetime, but for me, it does no longer exist. It is too painful living in reality. I no longer have her. I do wish that I could turn back to the past. I would hug her tightly and tell her how much I miss her. I would try my best to be a better daughter.

This Songkran festival was the thirteenth anniversary for her disappearance. Although it has been thirteen years, all memories are still with me. I wanted to have a chance once again to remember her gentle voice, her soft scent, and her sweet smile. The only thing that seems to be possible for me is to imagine.

Few days ago, I went to the Retirement house for a donation. The first thing I felt is that how cruel children leave their own parents. It is confusing and also, I felt envious. It is unfair! Those children have their beloved parents beside them but they decided to leave them there. I really had no idea why they did that.

However, the officer told me that ninety percent of those old people were left at the hospital by their own children and were sent to the retirement house by the polices. I can feel that those people miss their children a lot. This place may full of same age friends but it still lack of love and care from family.

I talked to one old man whom I called him grandpa. He asked me a favor to tell his son that he miss him and also worried about him a lot. I asked him when the last time his son visits was, he said he can not remember. Even I had never known him before, I felt sad with him. That was too poor to be true.

I think that this is the great example of a person who gets a chance to meet but doesn’t want to talk. And I definitely am the great example of a person who wants to talk but gets no chance to meet, anymore.

Mommy, can you hear me? I am doing fine here and I do miss you a lot! I wanted to say thank you so much making me as I am now. I always appreciate you love and I promise that I will always be a good person as you wanted me to be.

I don’t know whether my mom could hear me or not, I’m just trying to say it out loud. For anyone who can make sure that your mother listen to what you are trying to tell, please say it right here and right now. Who knows? When your last chance comes?

Be prepared for Swine flu!

Panic as swine flu death toll hits 103
By: BangkokPost.com and AFP
Published: 27/04/2009 at 04:19 PM

The rising death toll from the Mexican swine flu epidemic sent a wave of panic around the world on Monday with the United States declaring a public health emergency and other nation ns ordering border clampdowns.
In Thailand, airport health officials began using thermal screening equipment to monitor passengers arriving from the southern United States and Mexico for flu-like symptoms including fever.
China and Thailand joined Russia in banning meat imports from Mexico and the five US states where 20 swine flu cases have been confirmed.
Thai health officials joined other governments in warning against unnecessary travel to Mexico.
Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said the number of confirmed and suspected swine flu deaths had hit 149. In the capital, Mexico City, residents donned blue face masks and stocked up on food and water in anticipation of a long lock-down.
The Mexican health minister said the victims were aged between 20 and 50.
US and European officials on Monday advised citizens against most travel to Mexico as a swine flu virus that began there spread to the United States and beyond.
With 40 cases now reported in the US, President Barack Obama urged calm, saying there was reason for concern but not yet "a cause for alarm."
Cases of swine flu have been confirmed in the US, Canada and Spain. Scotland confirmed two cases on Monday evening.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon called for calm but governments around the world ordered emergency measures to contain suspected cases and stock markets blamed the flu for a new share battering.
The European Union began organising an emergency meeting of health ministers, and governments put strict security around flights from Mexico, taking any suspected cases into quarantine.
The World Health Organisation has warned that swine flu -- apparently born out of a mix of human and avian flu viruses that infected pigs -- could become a pandemic and called for all nations to "intensify surveillance".
The number of suspected cases in Mexico has reached 1,614, up from 1,324, the health minister said on national television.
President Calderon urged people to join efforts to contain the virus. He said Mexicans had to "move fast, but to maintain calm and cooperate with the authorities."
Mexico City was deserted after its 20 million residents were ordered to avoid crowds, and a football game at the 105,000-seat Aztec stadium was played with no fans on Sunday.
The only confirmed cases outside Mexico are the 20 in the United States and six in Canada.
Richard Besser, acting head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said there were eight confirmed cases in New York City, seven in California, two in Texas, two in Kansas and one in Ohio.
An official said the US government intends to release a quarter of the national stockpile of 50 million doses of the Tamiflu and Relenza anti-viral drugs.
The Defense Department, she added, had procured seven million treatment courses of Tamiflu.
After China, Thailand and Russia banned some US pork imports, US officials insisted it was virtually impossible to catch swine flu from eating meat as long as it is properly cooked.
Authorities across the Asia-Pacific region, which has in recent years been at the forefront of the SARS and bird flu epidemics, stepped up checks at airports and urged the public to be on guard for symptoms.
Ten New Zealand students who recently traveled to Mexico are "likely" to have contracted swine fever, Health Minister Tony Ryall said -- the first suspected cases in the region of more than three billion people.
Two people admitted to an Australian hospital with flu symptoms after returning from Mexico finally tested negative for deadly swine flu.
In Malaysia, Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai said even travelers arriving from the United States were being screened. Thai authorities installed thermal scanners at Bangkok airport to monitor passengers.
Spain screened all passengers arriving off flights from Mexico and tested eight suspected swine flu cases. Two patients in Scotland were also under observation after their return from Mexico.
However, four suspicious cases in France were given the all-clear.
Nine people in Colombia and one in Brazil were placed under observation after they arrived from Mexico with flu symptoms.
In the Middle East, a 26-year-old Israeli was hospitalized in Netanya on returning from Mexico.
Swiss pharmaceutical group Roche said it was ready to send out more stocks of Tamiflu, which it manufactures, but stock markets around the world took fright over the outbreak.
Airline stocks in particular plunged on worries that governments could impose travel restrictions.
"Swine flu is ripping through the markets creating uncertainty in its wake," said Manoj Ladwa, senior trader at financial spread-betting firm ETX Capital in London.
Health officials in Hong Kong, which was at the forefront of the Sars epidemic in 2003 and has since been on alert for bird flu, said they would detain anyone with symptoms of swine flu after arriving from an infected area.
China warned international travelers to be alert for any signs of infection and banned all pork imports from Mexico and parts of the United States, despite health officials saying the current outbreak was being spread by human-to-human contact.
The most common measure being put in place was the use of thermal scanners, which have been a common feature in many Asian airports since the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) epidemic six years ago.
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said the country was well prepared to deal with any new flu outbreak thanks to a plan drawn up during the 2003 bird flu scare, with stocks of anti-flu medication in place.
Japan said it would fast-track efforts to find a vaccine, while one company pulled back the families of staff based in Mexico, travel agencies scrapped package tours and drug stores reported a brisk trade in face masks.
Hong Kong announced some of the toughest measures to ward against an outbreak, warning that passengers arriving from affected areas and showing flu-like symptoms would be quarantined.
"We will take that patient to the hospital and let him stay there and have a test and until the test result is negative, we won't allow him to get out of the hospital," said Thomas Tsang, from the city's centre for health protection.
Airlines were broadcasting messages on selected inbound flights advising passengers to report symptoms such as sudden fever.
In Vietnam, where 56 people have died from bird flu since 2003, airport screening was focused on passengers arriving from North America, the Thanh Nien newspaper reported.
"The city must take immediate measures to prevent and cope with the dangerous disease," Nguyen Van Chau, the director of Ho Chi Minh City's health department, was quoted as saying.
Thailand, which recorded 17 fatal human cases of bird flu between 2004 and the last outbreak in August 2006, began screening passengers arriving at its main international airport in Bangkok.
Australian Health Minister Nicola Roxon said that all planes arriving from the Americas would be required to report on the health status of passengers before receiving permission to land and that anyone with flu-like symptoms would be quarantined.
Despite the World Health organisation warning at the weekend that the virus had the potential to cause a pandemic, Taiwan Health Minister Yeh Chin-chuan urged the public to remain calm.
"There is no need to panic over the outbreak at the moment. The present situation is like a tropical storm emerging on the other side of the Pacific which poses no immediate threat to people here," he said.
Philippine authorities announced that they were screening passengers arriving from Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York and urged people to avoid hugging and kissing at public gatherings. All air passengers arriving in Thailand from infected areas will be monitored by thermal scanners for signs of a fever, Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai said on Monday.
Mr Witthaya said health cards detailing the outbreak of swine flu will be distributed to both departing and arriving passengers.
The World Health Organisation declared the outbreak of influenza in Mexico and the US a “public health emergency of international concern” on Sunday.
Swine flu is a type of influenza virus usually found in pigs. The most common version is H1N1, and the current virus causing concern is a new variation of an H1N1 virus.
Swine flu does not typically pass to humans directly, but such transmission can occur. The current swine flu virus is concerning to health experts because it has shown the ability to pass from human to human.
Veterinarian Rungroj Thanawongnuvej, of Chulalongkorn University, said the deadly strain of the virus causing the infections had not been detected in Thailand.
The bird flu virus affects all systems of human body, but the swine virus affects only the respiratory system.
The symptoms include fever, runny nose, coughing, sore throat, vomiting and diarrhea, he said.Cooked pork will not transmit the virus to consumer, he said.
Thai pig raisers issued a statement insisting that Thai pork was safe to eat.

Should swine flu get a new name?
By: BANGKOK POST and AGENCIES
Published: 30/04/2009 at 12:00 AM
What to call the new strain of flu raising alarm around the world has taken on political, economic and diplomatic overtones.
Pork producers question whether the term "swine flu" is appropriate, given that pigs so far do not seem to be falling ill.
Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai said using the word "swine" would lead to consumers avoiding pork. Some people in Thailand have started referring to the disease as "Mexican flu".
The US is reviewing whether to change the name, complaining that a slew of countries were misguidedly banning pork imports from North America.
"This is not a food-borne crisis," US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. "It's important to not refer to swine flu. It's important to convey the message that consuming pork will not cause this illness. We're concerned about safety, but also about the impact on the economy."
The Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said the virus was not swine flu.
"The virus has not been isolated in animals to date. Therefore, it is not justified to name this disease swine flu," the OIE said.
The virus "includes in its characteristics swine, avian and human virus components", the OIE said, and urged that it be called "North American influenza", after its geographic origin.

Swine flu vaccine can be made soon: WHO
Published on May 2, 2009
The World Health Organisation said on Friday it has "no doubt" that a successful vaccine against the swine flu virus could be made in a "short period of time."
"We have no doubt that making a successful vaccine is possible in a relatively short period of time," WHO Director of the Initiative for Vaccine Research Marie-Paule Kieny said, adding that it may take four to six months.

Swine-flu prevention raised to 'maximum'
By THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AGENCIESPublished on May 3, 2009
Thailand yesterday raised its swine-flu preventive measures to "maximum", with all visitors entering the country subjected to thermal scanners and even dignitaries not exempt.
Deputy Public Health Minister Manit Nopamornbodee said the Public Health Ministry had stepped up surveillance after the first cases of the virus were confirmed in Hong Kong and South Korea on Friday.
He said the six thermal scanners at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport would check every passenger coming through the regional travel hub round the clock.
"After the outbreak [in Asia], we think it's better to do more rather than less. From now on everyone who enters Thailand, no matter how senior they are, will have to pass through a scanner," Manit said, "even a minister or the prime minister himself."
The scanners were turned on 181,713 arriving passengers in the past five days, and 31 were found with high body temperature, but most were later cleared.
Bureau of Epidemiology chief Dr Pasakorn Akarasewi reported that two Thai women in their 40s remained under close surveillance although the initial flu-test results were negative.
Deputy permanent secretary for public health Paijit Warachit said that tomorrow one more ambulance would be sent to the airport so that two would be available.
The Government Pharmaceutical Organisation has been instructed to buy ingredients for oseltamivir to produce two million tablets of the influenza drug. Four million masks are ready for public distribution, and all hospitals nationwide are to set up swine-flu screening centres as was done for bird flu, Paijit added.
Permanent Secretary for Public Health Prat Boonyawongwirot said all passengers from countries at risk would be asked to fill in a questionnaire. All who pass the scanners will get a "health-awarenss card" to watch for flu-like symptoms throughout their first fortnight in Thailand. The ministry has printed one million cards.
Manit said Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya had expressed concern about swine flu and advised the ministry to act with unusual rigour.
Deputy PM Sanan Kachornpra-sart, who chairs a national committee on the "2009 flu", had a meeting at 10.30am yesterday with senior officials including Manit at the Public Health Ministry's swine-flu control centre.
Urging intensive and continuous control, Sanan called for appropriate measures for 14 Thais who are to fly back from Mexico today.
Those who pass thermal scanning and physical examination will be followed by a medical team for a week, he said, and those with high body temperature will be put under close surveillance in hospital.
Sanan said he would contact the Mexican Embassy to arrange for the transportation to Mexico of 20,000-30,000 oseltamivir tablets, which would be initially sufficient for 19,000 patients. He said he would ask the Cabinet when it met on Tuesday to purchase 10 infrared thermo-scanners, which cost Bt1.5 million each, to be installed at borders.
Meanwhile, PM Abhisit Vejjajiva, who is to chair a meeting of health ministers from the 10-member Asean plus Japan, China and South Korea on swine flu on Friday in Bangkok, said the government was closely watching the situation and taking measures to prevent an outbreak.
In related news, Labour Minister Phaithoon Kaeothong said there was no plan to evacuate Thai workers in countries where swine flu had been found. The ministry has put on hold travel abroad by Thai workers until the disease has been contained, he added.

My reaction
1.The austereness of Swine flu can be compared to a large wave that has strong and fast impact to the people all around the world
2.Even the swine flu has not been detected in Thailand yet, it’s good to see that the government tried to make it save first such as suggesting not to travel to those affected area and launching the instruction to scan all passengers who went from the infected areas whether they have received the H1N1 virus or not.
3.However, Barak Obama, the US president agreed to concern about the Swine flu epidemic but he didn’t agreed that the situation is needed to be alarmed. In his point of view, the situation isn’t that worse. However, I don’t think like him. I personally concern that this pandemic could be as worrying as Sars and bird flu few years before.
4.The virus is not spreading only in Mexico but also in the closed areas such as the US, Canada, Spain, and Scotland. Recently, its spreading already reached Asian countries like Hong Kong and South Korea. That makes lots of people including me worried a lot more since those countries are close to Thailand.
5.Swine flu appears as a mix of human and avian flu viruses that infected pigs. In this present time, this flu is needed to have a close watch as it affected to the people very easily just like the seasonal flu.
6.Even consuming pork doesn’t affect the Swine flu, there is some people avoid eating them because they’re misunderstood and are frightened that pork may contain the virus. However, Thailand and China have already banned pork imported from the US and I really don’t know why. I agreed that Swine flu’s name should be changed to Mexico flu so the pork sellers would not be harm by its epidemic.
7.The Asia- Pacific region which has authority when the bird flu and Sars were spreading, is now taking control over Swine flu. It’s a good thing because they have lots of experiences to deal with such kind of plagues so they could help and fix the situation on time.
8.The brief situation in each country like New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Spain, France, Columbia, Brazil and the Middle East country. Most of the countries all around the world are getting ready for the Swine flu prevention.
9.Taiwan health minister still stay calm. Is that mean that the situation in Asian countries aren’t yet to be worried like in America and Europe? I don’t think so, even the Swine flu has not reached Thailand yet, I am concerning that if we let it reach here some day, it would be hard to get rid of it since the Swine flu is the contagious disease.
10.The reasons why swine flu is concerning to health experts is because it’s able to pass from human to human.
11.The difference between Swine flu and Bird flu which was the epidemic disease in 2006 is that, Bird flu is not affected from human to human but Swine flu does. That’s the reason why Swine flu is more dangerous in my point of view.
12.Public health minister of Thailand wants to rename the Swine flu because consuming pork doesn’t cause the infection .He worried that people may misunderstood and avoid pork consuming. Definitely, pork is safe to eat. This situation is much more than about people’s safety to be concerned but also about the economic running. What will happen if no one eats pork? All sellers would be mad I think.
13.The vaccine for Swine flu prevention is still under making process.
14.The spreading of the Swine flu is a lot faster than anyone expected. Even there’s no case of virus already found in Thailand, the government gets ready for the prevention and already raises the flu preventive measures to the maximum.
15.Thai Government has announced that everyone who enters Thailand must pass through scanner for a safety check.
16.In Thailand, government is ready to produce tablets of the influenza drugs and also four million masks for protecting the Swine flu. I am quite surprised to see lots of prevention from Thai government.


My conclusion
Even there’s the vaccine launched to prevent Swine flu, it’s not yet confirmed that it is effective. Also, it takes quite a long time to finish all procedures producing vaccine. It could be up to four to six months. I also have heard news saying that, in this coming winter, the Swine flu epidemic will be more concerning. The reason is because in the winter, people in the cold country are likely to stay altogether as a crowd since the weather will be so cool. That is why the spreading of virus would be a lot easier. Moreover, before the Swine flu appears, hundred of people died from the influenza on winter. It means that there’re only three to four months left until winter begins.