WE have lost another member of our family. She was small, absolutely adorable, greedy and furry. Her name was Mambo, our Toy Poodle for 17 years.

Sadly, his name won't ring a bell because he died fighting for another country's freedom.

That's especially true if they have to bear the burden of paying for their parents' maintenance.

HURRAY to our girls! By winning the women's doubles title at the Arctic Open in Finland on Sunday, Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah redeemed much needed pride for Malaysia, showing that our homegrown talents can win spectacularly in international tournaments.

IT has been exactly four months since I had my knee surgery. Readers may recall that I had written about my experience in deciding to undergo a meniscus root repair operation in this ­column.

I JUST scared myself. I re-watched The Terminator, that 1984 science fiction movie by James Cameron, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as the cybernetic assassin who was sent from the future to kill Sarah Connor, played by Linda Hamilton.

WE were spared. Sadly, not so for Afghanistan. The several mini earthquakes that occurred last week in Johor were nothing compared to what happened in Afghanistan on Sunday.

I HAD not planned to give a eulogy at my mother's wake. I was dealing with my grief and the stress of making all the funeral arrangements. And I felt I had already said enough about her in this column over the years, culminating in my previous article titled, "Freed finally from dementia's cruel grip".

After years of suffering, my mother's passing came peacefully.

The US ambassador to Malaysia nominee said he wants to learn, so we can certainly teach him a thing or two.

IT'S exactly six weeks since my surgery on my left knee. And today I am supposed to be able to take off my hinged brace and begin my recovery to walking normally again.

Yes, we want tourists to come but can we avoid the pitfalls that other nations are facing?