Clowning Around

With insufficient rest but a happy heart after helping out at Peter & Elaine's wedding the night before, I prepared myself for a long day ahead - Parents Day at church, followed by church camp briefing, then immediately off to United Voice (UV) for a picnic at the Taman Tun Park with the UV members.

 

Parents Day at church saw Uncle Button as the special guest speaker... bringing with him a message and plenty  of smiles and laughter to go round! I'll let the pictures give you a glimpse of the day...

Uncle Button doing his thing...

 

Uncle Button and his victims volunteers...

 

What I got from Uncle Button - the leftover of a teddy bear (the body, erm... *pop*)

~ eh, when I got it, the body popped already, kay... I'm not sadistic... No one wanted, so I "adopted" it lor ~

 

After the camp briefing, I joined the SAN convoy to United Voice and then to Taman Tun Park, where we had an enjoyable time with the UV members. It was really a very new experience for some of us, interacting with people with learning disabilities, autism, Down Syndrome, dyslexia, etc. However, at the end of the day, it was a refreshing experience to be among people who were open, friendly, without malice or pretence... Indeed a break from wondering what's on the other side of the coin, hehe!

Jee Jin getting some love before we left... lolz!

 

Introduction session and off we go!!

 

A walk around the lake... Tortoise - yes, ducks - no... *winks*

 

A simple game and lots of food!!

 

More and more people jumping into the foot torture reflexology bandwagon...

 

SAY CHEESE!!! (Group picture!)

 

 

Aunty Annie wanted a picture with the "thinner version of Donny" before we left...

Reflections of Chinese New Year 2008 [Part 1]

Yes, I'm back... finally!!! Been super busy and occupied, so the blog has been super abandoned too, sighz...

Anyway, I got to drive back to Penang this year... We left really early in the morning and we made it to Penang in one piece, woohoo!! =) Stopped over at Tapah for a short while for a caffiene boost before continuing on to Penang...

Before heading up to Butterworth, we stopped by Tua Kor's new house, where she was all smiles to see us... Even tried to get the dog to smile, hehe!!

As usual, if we get back to Penang before Chinese New Year, the food hunting ritual shall commence, and commence it did!!! The must-have favourites: (From L-R) Ais Kacang; extra "attap chee" for the ais kacang; Laksa; Tar Mee; Hokkien Char...

The spread and variety of food at reunion dinner this year... (Yum yum!!)
And the yummilicious Ian was everyone's favourite "dessert"... Such a cute kid!!

Christmas 2007

What a day!! Between waking up in the morning and putting my head down to sleep, I was barely home! I’m feeling the results of that today, haha! Thank God, it’s the end of the year and many are on leave – so the workload is also much slower. My brains can take its time to wake up while the rest of my body runs on autopilot. *winks*

Christmas 2007… in as few words as I possibly can summarize it:

Christmas Musical (The Christmas Shoes) during Christmas Service at church. Finally after weeks and weeks of practices, it was THE day… Ok lar, we had a performance on Sunday night at Putra Heights Community Centre – but comparatively, this audience is at least 10 times larger!! So… “survived” that. Was part of the choir and played one of the cast (which required a solo performance that to me, didn’t go that great).

Then, rushed home to go over to my cousin’s condo for Christmas lunch. Check out the food (or what’s left of it when we arrived, hehe)!

- On the table: Roast chicken with stuffing and gravy; Roast pork; Seafood spaghetti; Fried meehoon; Potato salad; Fresh veggie salad with honey mustard dressing; Chocolate cake; Cheese cake; White wine; Red wine; Plain water (on request) –

Of the four kiddos that were there, one was grumpy cos he didn’t get to go swimming at my cousin’s condo pool and another was cranky and moody cos he was just discharged from the hospital like the day before or something. Was in hospital due to pneumonia, I heard… He’s only like erm… 4 years old?? Poor thing.

- The kids with their prezzies… As usual, kiddos get all the “good stuff”?? –

Finally got home at around 5pm. Rested and took a shower. Left home about 6.30pm and headed over to aunt’s place for dinner.

7 adults. Pork rib (leftover; only 3 pieces – dad, sis and myself were the privileged few). Roast lamb. Roast chicken drumsticks. Fresh veggie salad with thousand island dressing. Riesling. Chocolate cake with ice cream. Rose syrup with lime (my aunt makes the best one I’ve tasted!!)

Cousin came back later after dinner to add to the numbers. The rest of the night was attempts at magic tricks (Us trying to follow in dad’s "David Blaine's street magic" footsteps), cracking jokes here and there – in short, a very jolly time indeed! Left at about 11 something.

Got home. Cleaned up. Watched some comedy on YouTube with the family. Sleep.

Today, woke up to the sound of my handphone’s alarm clock and the realization that I have to go to work.

Noob. Stupid. Idiot. Me.

** Warning & Disclaimer : Flustered & Highly Flammable/Combustible **

Been so wrapped up trying to get so many things done, pleasing as many people as possible, within as little time as possible. Been so stressed and distracted being overly occupied that I am making stupid, noob mistakes - mistakes that maybe even a noob wouldn't usually make... haihz... So frustrated! (What to do when the person you're most frustrated with is yourself?!)

Recently, I've been trying to apply for credit cards from a couple of banks. So, a call "from the bank" should be quite common and expected, right? However, it began to get a bit fishy when the caller who claimed to be from the bank is asking for information - "confirmation of information" to be exact... Being very distracted and unattentive, I've already entertained a few calls and dutifully provided the information requested for without even thinking twice... (I trust people too easily... haihz)

I really hope the calls were genuinely from the bank... So busy and frustrated already - don't want to have to deal with possible frauds, etc... haihz...

Help!!

Inhale... Exhale... Repeat.

What a day... an exceptionally long, tiring day... time really flew by and the workday ended very exhaustingly... thank God for the strength to endure it and now, it's over...

Today turned out to be the last day to close-off the submissions for the meeting, which will be held tomorrow. I had started the day off thinking, "I'd wrap up everything today so that I will be able to attend the talk/seminar/meeting (I'm not even that sure what exactly it is, lolz!) that my boss wanted me to sit in tomorrow morning - after all, the submission will close tomorrow". So much for that. Surprisingly, I wasn't the only one who thought the submissions would only close tomorrow - so did my immediate boss!! Well, we were both thoroughly surprised and hence, I had to rush work like crazy today... We finally "negotiated" with Fifi (thanks, girl!) to close the submissions by 3pm so that we could put as many applications through to be tabled at tomorrow's meeting.

Praise God, I managed to get quite a lot of work done - also thanks to all my MSN buddies who heeded the message to "strictly DND until after 3pm" *grinz*! I also managed to get the GL for my parents' visit to the doctor tomorrow. =)

So, a very busy day indeed... Didn't even realize it was time for lunch until the punchclock "sang" and after lunch time flew again till it was time to go home... A really, really busy day, where at any slight chance of a break required a gentle self-reminder to "inhale... exhale... repeat." *winks*

Two Weeks Later... [The Prelude]

Been out of the office for two weeks... well, most of the two weeks... Which explains my Houdini act from MSN as well as the blog... I know some have been looking out and found no new updates - thanks for dropping by anyways or noticing that I was offline for so long yah; your support/care means a lot to me... =)

Well, the past two weeks have been crazy... Two weeks ago, I was in Malacca from Monday to Wednesday (for work lah... not play, lolz!) Then was supposed to be out of office for at least half a day on Thursday, but at 9am, I was 'grounded' and scolded unnecessarily by one of the bosses (the head of the secretariate team for the seminar we're conducting the coming Monday - Wednesday) - he 'commented' that I didn't know how to plan my time and my work and 'accused' me of being "calculative regarding work" (whatever that's supposed to mean... haihz), then told me to reschedule the appointment and stay in the office to clear up the seminar-related work! I've already been working full time on the seminar-related stuff for the past couple of weeks full time and almost everything was already in place... But, what to do... boss mah... stay in office lor... So Thursday and Friday was 'grounded' in office to work on the final bits of preparatory work... There were changes every now and then, even up till the last day, aiyo... Even stayed back on Friday for an extra hour overtime (no OT pay la, for those who were wondering... lolz!) even though I actually wanted to rush back home so that I could make it on time to meet up with some friends for dinner before going to the Leader's Conference at church that evening.

Leader's Conference was Friday night and the whole of Saturday (started at 8.30am for breakfast and ended at around 4pm). Sunday was it's usual 9.15am - 3pm at church for Creative Arts class (teaching) - Sunday Service - Christmas Musical practice! Then it was a quick visit to Jack and Lyanne who were celebrating their son, Darrell's full moon, followed by dinner with my family and a visit to my aunt's.

Slept fairly early on Sunday as I had to be at Sheraton Subang at 6.30am to prepare for the seminar registration, which was supposed to start at 8am... Good thing we were there already... There was a participant who came at 7am!! So, Monday to Wednesday was running around and working at Sheraton Subang for the seminar. Made it to pop in to visit Andy (get well soon, golf diva! We're all praying for you...) at SJMC on Tuesday during lunch hour. Thursday was Deepavali, which was a public holiday. Went for an overnight retreat with some cell group members, which meant I had to take a day off from work on Friday - this also means an entire week out of the office. Saturday was spent going out with friends and then Sunday's activities again.

Thankfully I had a nap before dinner, so I'm hoping tomorrow I will be able to walk into office and not crawl in, lolz! Phew, what a busy time... Will have to settle reports and claims and prepare for an upcoming meeting (and the minute-taking for the meeting) and start working on the paperwork that's been put aside for weeks due to the seminar-related work I was busy with... Whoa, I gotta stop thinking about what's waiting for me at the office, or else I won't be able to sleep, lolz! Well, all glory to God for sustaining me throughout the past two weeks... The retreat, although tiring, was great fun and a good break away from the craziness of the office! =)

October celebrations...

It's only two weeks into the month, yet there were celebrations for some special people... October babies!! =)

So, once again... Blessed Birthday to you...

Fifi

Ps. Tim

Ps. Will

... God bless! =)

P.S.: It's amazing how realistic blowing off candles that weren't even lit in the first place could be, hehe! *winks*

Raya season...

It's the Raya season. Firstly, to all Muslims - Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri... Maaf Zahir Batin!

Raya season = really quiet in the office (except for the music from my colleague's computer). Working in government sector mah. The entire department is on leave today, except for a Sabahan, a Chinese houseman and myself.

Raya season also means that the number of calls and walk-ins are fewer, so it's a good time to catch up on pending work. Not much for me since I usually clear off my work as soon as possible, hehe. So, I've managed to do a bit of blog maintenance - if you've noticed, there are now labels assigned to all my posts. =)

Hari Raya Aidilfitri this year means a long weekend for all Malaysians, as the first and second day of Raya was on Saturday and Sunday, giving us an additional day off on Monday. What did you do during your long weekend, eh? The highlight of my long weekend had to be the boardgames marathon... hours and hours of gaming at Kenrick's house (thanks Kenrick for providing the venue and the games - have to thank Elena for lending you those games too!) The games started at around 3pm on Sunday with four people - Eric, Kenrick, Sandra and myself. Within a couple of hours the numbers have increased to seven, with the addition of Shi Wei, Mark and Ps. Tim. We finally had dinner at 8-something due to a duel to the end (Renegade vs. Sheriff) in the game of Bang - Sheriff (me) won against the Renegade (Eric)!!! Woots!!

The rest of the evening/night was like Survivor, haha... "Outplay, Outwit, Outlast"

"Outplay" - to be the winner of the game
"Outwit" - especially in Bang!
"Outlast" - to be the last one awake?

Ps. Tim was the first one to leave at about 2AM (Monday) and braved a drive all the way to Cheras... Shi Wei left not long after. The remaining five played Carcassonne after a break for a quick bite. Finally, Eric, Sandra and myself left at 7.30AM (Monday), by which time Mark had already fallen asleep! We were rather amused at the fact that nothing we did would wake him - nudging him and smacking him with pillow included! (I wonder if a tornado or an earthquake will wake him... Mark, what say you?)

~ Featured games ~
1. Carcassonne


2. Bang




3. Settlers of Catan


... 3 games. 5-7 players. 14 hours of fun ...

... 24 hours without sleep, but hey, let's do it again sometime - next public holiday : Deepavali! ...