Cartoon

Hotel Fire Heroes

College Students Come to Rescue in Fire

In the chaos of a late-night fire, three students on spring break risked their lives to save others.

It would be dawn in less than an hour. For a week straight, Daniel Moreno, Brian Stanley, and 23 other juniors and seniors from Westfield State College in Massachusetts had relaxed on white-sand beaches and club-hopped around Acapulco, Mexico. On their last night, Moreno and Stanley, who'd been friends and workout buddies for years, partied until after 4 a.m. Now, back in the room they shared at Best Western Playa Suites, they figured it was time to turn in.

But as Stanley's head hit the pillow, he heard glass shattering and bolted upright. From the balcony of their fourth-floor room, Moreno and Stanley saw black smoke pouring from the hotel's adjoining tower. "We watched one window blow out, and then another, and heard people shouting," says Stanley, 21. Students were throwing ropes made from twisted bedsheets off their balconies, and a couple of them were trying to climb down.

Moreno, also 21, ran out into the corridor and began pounding on doors and shouting, "Westfield!" and "Fire!"

"Some people thought we were joking," says Stanley, a criminal-justice major who is a volunteer firefighter in his hometown of Thomaston, Connecticut. "But after they saw the smoke, they didn't think it was funny anymore."

Almost all the hotel's 502 rooms were filled with college students from across the United States. "People were yelling, 'What the hell is going on?' and trying to get out," says Ryan Senecal, a 21-year-old junior who had a room on the second floor. "It was pure chaos." Because of the hour, the students were on their own; only a minimal staff was on duty. The smoke was attributed to a fire in a laundry chute, say authorities. And while a spokesperson for the hotel -- which suffered smoke damage and was closed for several days -- asserts that the fire alarm system had passed inspection just two weeks earlier, several students have insisted it was not working that night. "I pulled an alarm and nothing happened," says Drew Nalewanski, 22, a business management major.

As the smoke thickened, Moreno raced upstairs to where other Westfield students were rooming. "I thought of all their parents back home," he says. "It motivated me."

Meanwhile, Stanley was downstairs helping people get through the smoke-filled lobby. There he joined forces with Nalewanski, who comes from four generations of firefighters. Just back from his own night out, Nalewanski had come across the first group of students to get out, who were milling around outside the hotel's entrance. Many were wearing only shorts and T-shirts and were clutching their passports.

"Let's go," Nalewanski said. He and Stanley wet their shirts in the lobby bathroom and wrapped them around their mouths and noses so they could breathe. Then they charged up the stairs. In the meantime, Moreno had made it up to the eighth floor before turning back. "Kids had no idea what was going on," he says. "I was screaming at the top of my lungs. I made sure I hit every door."

Nalewanski and Stanley found Moreno on the fourth floor, vomiting and struggling to breathe. After making sure he could get back down on his own, they continued upstairs, down the corridors on every floor, slamming their fists on every door.

Protected by their makeshift masks, the two fought their way to the top, then turned around and began their descent. By then, says Stanley, "there wasn't any air. My throat and lungs just burned."

In the end, while a few students were treated for smoke inhalation, no one was seriously hurt. Even more incredible, all the Westfield students made it back to Massachusetts later that same day.

The trio have become local heroes. But Stanley didn't crow to his friends. "I told a couple of them. Then I started getting calls from other people, asking, 'Why didn't you tell me?'" he says. "But I didn't think it was that big a deal."

Westfield president Evan Dobelle disagrees. "I have a great deal of pride in these young men and how they were able to react in such an emergency," he says.

How much danger were they in? "My roommate thought I was stuck inside," says Nalewanski. "They all thought we were dead."

Trying to describe how he found his courage that morning, Moreno says, "You run on adrenaline, and your instincts tell you it's the right thing to do. There were hundreds of people in the hotel. It was our obligation to help them."

You Can Do It! ^^

Amway.
Amway..
Amway...
Lolz!
Three times of 21%
My parents get to go up and get pin ^^
here is how it looks like

Take 1!
King & Queen coming up!!! ^^
Ta!!!Daaa!!!
Guess my mum was nervous with all the cameras
Lol..she is not even smiling..!
Besides pin, they got flowers too =P
The inside...

Another 21% for Nov and Dec this year..

My parents get to go on a free vacation to China

PaPa MaMa U CAN DO IT!!! >.< *pray*

GAMBATTEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

I Am Alive-true story

For the first time, an insider tells the harrowing story of surviving 72 days in the Andes.
By Nando Parrado, with Vince Rause, from "Miracle In the Andes"

On October 13, 1972, a plane carrying young Nando Parrado and his Uruguayan rugby teammates crashed in the Andes mountain range. It's amazing that anyone survived at all, with temperatures well below zero and given their precarious location. But many of them did, with some badly injured. In this excerpt from his book -- featured in the June 2006 issue of Reader's Digest -- Parrado, for the first time, explains how grave his condition was and what he and his fellow teammates had to endure in order to survive.

I lay unconscious, my face covered in blood and black bruises, my head swollen to the size of a basketball. Though my surviving teammates took my pulse and were surprised my heart was still beating, my condition seemed so grave that they gave up on me.

The Fairchild's battered fuselage had come to rest at about 12,000 feet on a snow-packed glacier flowing down the eastern slope of a massive, ice-crusted mountain. Thirteen passengers died. That left 32 of us still alive, some badly wounded. Teammate Arturo had two broken legs; Enrique's stomach was impaled by a six-inch steel tube. Others had head injuries. Uninjured survivors became workers, helping to free trapped passengers.

The cold snow burned my throat as I swallowed, but my body was so parched I gobbled it in lumps and begged for more. I heard soft moans and cries of pain around me. Full of questions as my head cleared, I motioned Gustavo closer. "Where is my mother?" I asked. "Where is Susy?"

His face betrayed no emotion. "Get some rest. You're very weak." I lay shivering on the plane's floor, listening for my sister's voice and glancing about for my mother, even as my head throbbed. When I reached up to touch the crown of my head, I felt rough ridges of broken bone beneath congealed blood and a spongy sense of give. My stomach heaved: It was shattered pieces of my skull against the surface of my brain.

When Gustavo came by again with more snow, I grabbed his sleeve. "Where are they, Gustavo? Please." He looked into my eyes and must have seen I was ready. "Nando, you must be strong. Your mother is dead." Then he added gently, pointing to the rear of the airplane, "Your sister is over there. She's hurt very badly."

Panic and grief exploded in my heart, but a lucid, detached voice said, Do not cry. Tears waste

salt. You'll need salt to survive. I was astounded. Not cry for my mother, for the greatest loss of my life? I'm stranded, I'm freezing, my sister may be dying, my skull is in pieces. I should not cry? I heard the voice again: Do not cry.

"There is more," Gustavo said. "Panchito is dead. Guido too." Sobs gathered in my throat, but before I could surrender, the voice spoke once more: They are gone. Look forward. Think clearly. You will survive.

Now had an urgent desire to reach my sister. I rolled onto my stomach and started dragging myself on my elbows. When my strength gave out and my head slumped to the floor, someone lifted me. And there, lying on her back, was Susy. Traces of blood were on her brow; her face had been washed. My friends helped me lie down beside her, and as I wrapped my arms around her, I whispered, "I'm here, Susy. It's Nando."

She turned and looked at me with her caramel-colored eyes, but her gaze was so unfocused I couldn't be sure she knew it was me. I wrapped myself around her to protect her from the cold and lay with her for hours. In the chaos of that broken plane, stranded in the Andes, there was nothing else I could do. I thought of my father's old advice to me: "Be strong, Nando. Be smart. Make your own luck. Take care of the people you love."

I told Susy, "Don't worry. They will find us. They will bring us home."

In those early days, all of us believed that rescue was our only chance of survival. We had to believe it. As the afternoon wore on, the frigid air took on an even sharper edge. The others found sleeping places in the fuselage and braced for misery. Soon the darkness was absolute, and the cold closed in on us like the jaws of a vise. I suffered through the night, breath by frozen breath. When I felt I couldn't stand it any longer, I drew Susy closer. The thought that I was comforting her kept me sane.

Five days later, on our eighth day in the mountain, I was lying with my arm around my sister when I saw the worried look fade from her face. Her breathing grew shallow; then it stopped.

"Oh God, Susy. Please, no!" I cried.

My chest heaved with sobs. But I did not cry. Tears waste salt. I made a silent vow to my father, who I knew was waiting for me. I will struggle. I will come home. I promise you, I will not die here!

Twenty-seven survivors now remained of the original 45 aboard. For drinking water, we melted snow; to keep ourselves as warm as possible, we slept side by side at night, breathing each other's breath.

One morning around this time, after Marcelo, the captain of our rugby team, decisively led us to pool the little food we had -- a few chocolate bars, some nuts and crackers, dried fruit, small jars of jam and a few bottles of liquor -- I found myself standing outside the fuselage. I was looking down at the single chocolate-covered peanut in my palm.

The shattered fragments of my skull had been knitting themselves together; somehow, I was healing. Yet nothing was ordinary. The mountains were forcing me to change; my mind was growing colder and simpler. Our supplies had been exhausted. This peanut was the last bit of food I would be given, and I was determined to make it last. That day, I slowly sucked the chocolate off the peanut and then saved it in the pocket of my slacks.

The next day I separated the peanut halves, slipping one half back into my pocket and placing the other half in my mouth. I sucked gently on the peanut for hours, allowing myself only a nibble now and then. I did the same the day after that. When I'd finally nibbled the peanut down to nothing, there was no food left to eat at all.

At 12,000 feet or higher, the body's caloric needs are astronomical. A climber scaling any of the mountains around the crash site would have required as many as 10,000 calories a day to maintain his current body weight. We weren't climbing, but still, our caloric requirements were much higher than usual. Even before our rations had run out, we'd never consumed more than a few hundred calories a day. Now, our intake was down to zero. Where once we'd been sturdy and vigorous young men, many of us in peak physical shape, I saw my friends growing thin and drawn.

In desperation, we tried eating strips of leather torn from our luggage. We ripped open seat cushions hoping for straw, but found only upholstery foam. I kept coming to the same conclusion: Until we were rescued, there was nothing here but aluminum, plastic, ice and rock. Sometimes I would rise and shout in frustration, "There's nothing in this f - - - - - - plane to eat!"

But of course there was food on the mountain. It was as near as the bodies of the dead lying outside the fuselage under a thin layer of frost. It puzzles me that despite my compulsive drive to find anything edible, I ignored for so long the obvious presence of the only edible objects within a hundred miles. Some lines, I suppose, the mind is slow to cross.

It was late afternoon when my gaze fell on the leg wound of a boy near me. I could not stop looking at it. Then I met the gaze of some others who had also been staring. In shame, we read each other's thoughts and glanced away. But something had happened. I'd recognized human flesh as food.

I knew those bodies represented our only hope of survival, but I was so horrified that I kept my feelings quiet. Finally I couldn't stay silent any longer. One night in the darkness, I confided in Carlitos, who was lying beside me in the dark. "Are you awake?" I whispered to him.

"Yes," he muttered. "Who can sleep in this freezer?"

"Are you hungry?"

Carlitos cursed. "What do you think? I haven't eaten in days."

"We're going to starve here," I said.

"I don't think the rescuers will find us in time. But I will not die here. I will make it home."

"Nando, you are too weak."

"I'm weak because I haven't eaten."

"But what can you do? There's no food here."

"There is food," I answered. "You know what I mean."

Carlitos shifted in the darkness, but said nothing.

"I will cut meat from the pilot," I whispered. "He's the one who put us here; maybe he will help us get out."

Carlitos cursed again.

"Our friends don't need their bodies anymore," I said.

*****************************************************************

Showing Up For Life

The way we walk into a room says a lot about the way we live our lives. When we walk into a room curious about what's happening, willing to engage, and perceiving ourselves as an active participant with something to offer, then we have really shown up to the party. When we walk into a room with our eyes down, or nervously smiling, we are holding ourselves back for one reason or another. We may be hurting inside and in need of healing, or we may lack the confidence required to really be present in the room. Still, just noticing that we're not really showing up, and having a vision of what it will look and feel like when we do, can give us the inspiration we need to recover ourselves.

Even if we are suffering, we can show up to that experience ready to fully engage in it and learn what it has to offer. When we show up for our life, we are actively participating in being a happy person, achieving our goals, and generally living the life our soul really wants. If we need healing, we begin the process of seeking out those who can help us heal. If we need experience, we find the places and opportunities that can give us the experience we need in order to do the work we want to do in the world. Whatever we need, we look for it, and when we find it, we engage in the process of letting ourselves have it. When we do this kind of work, we become lively, confident, and passionate individuals.

There is almost nothing better in the world than the feeling of showing up for our own lives. When we can do this, we become people that are more alive and who have the ability to make things happen in our lives and the lives of the people around us. We walk through the world with the knowledge that we have a lot to offer and the desire to share it.

copyright :: --Author Unknown

Nine Wisdom Steps From Spiritual Traditions

Each of the first eight [wisdom steps] introduces you to a different spiritual tradition -- Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Native American spirituality, Taoism, and New Thought -- and offers an easy-to-do wisdom practice from which you can benefit. The ninth [wisdom step] departs from this format by focusing on all traditions and their views about service as a spiritual practice. [...] These suggested actions contain how-to directions that will assist you in applying the wisdom practices in your own life. [...]

1. Create a home altar. Establish a reminder in your home that you are linked to a larger spiritual presence that adds richness and wisdom to your life.

2. Meditate and find peace. Learn the skill of turning within and practice the art of stillness that brings peace of mind and bodily health, and leads you to uncover your authentic self.

3. Surrender to prayer. Cultivate the art of directing reverent words of request, praise, and thanksgiving to a higher power as an alternative to worry and fear.

4. Forgive yourself and others. Improve the quality of everyday living by dissolving the negativity of past resentments and opening your heart to more love.

5. Make time for the Sabbath. By designating one day per week as a respite from work, you can deepen your connection with God, become more aware of the blessings in your life, and create more intimacy with family and friends.

6. Let nature be your teacher. Connect to and learn from nature, and establish an awareness that you are part of the grand matrix of life.

7. Go with the flow. Become at one with the universal flow of life, and spend less time and energy resisting its movement.

8. Catch God’s vision of your life. Practice the art of visioning, which links you to inner and universal wisdom, allowing you to discover your true life purpose.

9. Offer yourself in service to others. Assist others in your family, community, and the world, and reap the satisfaction of selfless service.


copyright by :: --Sage Bennet, From "Wisdom Walk"

Story for today

The man who went to Heaven
A man died and because he had been a good person, he went to Heaven, where Saint Peter greeted him at the door.
Welcome! he said. You can enter Heaven right away, but, because you lived such a good life, you can also go and check out Hell first, if you like.
The man was rather curious and said - well, why not - and he went down all the stairs to reach the door of Hell, which opened before him.
Behind the door, he saw many people sitting around tables with delicious food! But they were all very sad, and suffering, because instead of hands they had long knives and forks as arm extensions and they did not manage to put any of this great food in their mouths.
The man went back up to Heaven and said to Saint Peter: Wow, am I glad that I can go to Heaven. That is really some punishment.
Welcome to Heaven, Saint Peter said, as he let the man in.
What did he see there?
He saw many people sitting around tables with delicious food, just like in Hell!And just like in Hell, they also had these long fork and knive extensions on their arms!
But in Heaven, the people weren't crying or cursing, because they were sticking the food in each other's mouths! "Try this", they laughed. "And this!", and they had lots of fun in the process.

Lesson: Happiness comes from making other people happy. Don't be selfish but care for other people, and you will be taken care of as well.

w-h-y?

Best Wishes

First of all,

wish all the STPMers GOOD LUCK!

especially...

My sister :)

DO YOUR VERY BEST!

Never feel panic ;)

Had A Bad Day

Whats first?
..Me..
I had nothing to do..
Its actually..
I cant do anything!
Why?
Sister =.=
Having STPM
So cant watch tv..
Cant listen to my songs..
Cant even do ANYTHING!

B-O-R-I-N-G-!-!-!

Secondly..
I plan to be in my parents room~
Aircond room ~.~
So nice..enjoying myself..
Reading story book
All of the sudden!!!
My nose starts to bleed for no reason..

Like RunningWater..

Tissues full of blood!!!

...MY BLOOD...

Thirdly..

My sister was complaining she is cold..
Wearing socks since morning..

Maybe..Maybe! Fever =____=

Hope its not..
Not only fever! Flu too..
And she blame ME!!!
Its her fault..
her immune system is..VeryWeak!
Not my fault!!!Haha!

Tomorrow is her BIG day..

Hope she GET WELL SOON!

and WISH HER BEST OF LUCK!

At night,electricity suddenly went off!

And she complain her legs and hands are all numb..

What happen?

Why sooo many things happen in one day?

*****************************************************************************

A few days ago..
Accident..
My brother and a taxi driver..
Thats my brother's car..
Its not my brother's fault~
Thank God ^^
my brother is safe ..
Just that he said his leg was abit pain..
Have to limp...
Hope he GET WELL SOON!
*pray to God*
Hope everything will be better tomorrow~

SendThisToYourLoveOnces..

Continuation

Cant see?

Click it to see bigger image..

ps :: Look at the reason she wrote..
This is the surat kebenaran YoongHui use to bring my camera xD

Got surat k!?? =P dont catch us.. ^^

She take my camera the whole day =.=
to take Nadia and her pictures...Lol!
Having problems with your TV3 channel at home?
Come to SMKCBM to watch Tv3

Evelyn Lim,Sherilyn and..missing someone O.o

Datin Lim Li En!

A shy girl who always says she is genderless =.=

Just dont understand why she doesnt want to admit that she is a girl!

MSM and me~

Me and TengYee

Teng Yee and MSM

YoongHui and TengYee

[Take1]Dont know which position to stand..Lol!

[Take2]In the end,she just grab me and..

*click*click*

Capt Jac and YoongHui

[Take 1]

[Take 2]

[Take 3]

[Take 4]

[Take5]

Nadia and me

Ahhh!!! She is killing me!!! =P

Somebody help me~~~ T_T

A family of..

Baby and mummy

Suba and me ;)

Me and Vino____ahem ahem!

Saw a hand beside Suba? Dv!

Trying to tickle her..Haha!

But nice photo ;) i like it =P

Me and Dv..without home T_T

Thanks to Jac!Now we have roof!!! ^^

Me and the HeadPrefect 2009

Look at the naughty future head prefect =.=

YoongHui and JunYi

JunYi and Me

Wish all of you HappyHolidays!!! And enjoy yourself ;) Take carez..

See you in year 2009!