My Journey

2011 - First Timers

2012-01-22T20:52:00.023+08:00

2011 came and gone too soon. Many "first time" events occured in 2011. Whether these 'first time' events were tough or smooth flowing, a bad or a good event - truly these have given me a new sight of life!

1stly 2011 CNY was awesome with a toddler in our family. For some time, CNY was getting to be a chore to get through. Now with a toddler at home, we could feel the atmosphere was totally different. Visitings became more fun as the focus would be on the baby and her cuteness.

Still in the 1st quarter, we were slapped with an unpleasant surprise in my organisation with the new implementation of corporate ranking. Their advice was to forget the old and embrace the new. This didn't went well to many and lots of question went unanswered even till today. No matter what we are called, end day we still have a job to do to earn a living. From this, I realize that age of a person is just a number. I always thought that the older we get, maturity comes automatically and we therefore expects those who are elder than us, would be able to embrace challenges with greater maturity. This incident has changed my perception of maturity. Anyhow, we bite the bullet and things moved one.

But not for too long, again we were slapped with an unexpected change. Some perceived this change was a disaster in waiting. To some, this has been expected! Again, we have a job to do, and whether this change is expected or not - we have to embrace and take it as a positive one.

Out of a sudden, I was already boarding the plane and headed towards Perth with 2 of my close friend and her family. There were 6 of us including 2 kids. The kids were excited to board the plane. I have visited Perth numerous times. Each time, I was alone to meet up with my sis and her family. This time, I brought a bunch! I have never drove in Perth without my sis until this trip. I have not seen and experienced Perth the way I did in this trip. Yup, this was also one of my most high spending trip in Perth but it was all worth it. The only regret was time was short. Truly, it is not about the location but the people who makes the trip - different!

Since April 2011, I have started to beef up my stamina to take on Mt Kinabalu challenge in June. We had purposely ran up and down of Bt Caves stairs, picked up the habit of hiking Bkt Gasing, Ah Pak San and intensified my gym. That day came very fast. 4 of us were first timer to KK. None of us could share what to expect. The guide picked us up and he discouraged us to take the longer route since we were first timers.

Well, perhaps we were too gung-ho so we bo chup the guide and just die die took the longer route! The night before the hike, 4 of us had an early dinner at the foothill and slept @ 9pm+ cause there were no entertainment at all! We were so excited the next morning. Our bags to be carried up were like luggages instead of a camp bag! We paid over RM100 for our bags to be carried by the potter. They charged RM10 per kg. So, you can imagine how heavy our bags.

8 kms to reach the mid point where we will be spending a nite. We started at 9am. Each km, we stopped to rest. Chocolate was like marijuna at that time. It makes you happy and gives you strength to move on! By 3pm, we have reached a point where our sweats started to freeze. The flora and the surroundings were absolutely gorgeous. It was like 'heaven'...We took deep deep breath as the air was so refreshing! The last 2kms were quite unbearable as the route get steeper and also uneven with many big rocks to overcome. Finally, we reached the mid point at 6pm. The surroundings were unbelievable. We were so amazed. At that point, it was getting cold. Our dinner which consisted of rice and a few simple dishes, were a though a 9 course dinner. We whacked 'kow kow'. We did not realize we were so hungry as 9-6pm, we only had chocolates, banana, apple and sandwiches.

When we reached our dorm, we quickly had a icy cold bath and slept at 8pm! We set alarm to wake @ 12am. Due to thin air, I had headache. Took a pill and went back to sleep. By 2am, we set off for the peak! It was super dark. We only depend on our headlights where visibility was only 2m. Along the hike, we have to climb with ropes, crawled and embraced the strong wind and rain. The temperature dropped tremendously but because we were actively climbing, the cold was bearable. The 3 went off quickly. Left me with the guide. The journey was very tough. Dark, cold, raining and vision was 1-2m away. After hiking for 2-3 hours in the dark, I can even count my steps. Every 10 steps, I have to take deep breaths. After 30 - 40 steps, I will have to lie down on the ground to rest for 2-3mins before continuing. You can't rest too long as you will freeze and your muscle will be very reluctant to move! 1km away, the peak is visible. It took another 1 hour+ to reach. I thank God for the guide for being such an encouragement and helped me to make it to the peak.

At 530am, I was 4o95m above sea level. I made it! It was awesome. The feeling was undescribable. His creation is just superb. There is no way, you can get that kinda feeling I had at the peak. The hardwork and breathless hike worth it all. In less than 15mins, we made our way down. The climbing down was worst than going up. From 530am, we decended and reached mid point at 1030am. After a quick breakfast, we continue to head back to foothill. The experience of coming down was daunting! I reached foothill about 6pm where my 3 counter parts have reached an hour before me! Well, apart from the great experience I also gained sun burned on my neck..so bad that the skin turned black! Also we were rewarded with 2 certs for having to conquer the peak and took the longer route. AWESOME!

2011, I took the opportunity to cuti cuti Malaysia with mom and friends. We headed to Penang for a few days for makan makan fun. Then also drove to Melaka and tried all sorts. The few months were just purely putting on weights! I am happy that I am able to bring mom for these trips. I couldn't remember when was the last time mom goes for local trips.

While I was driving from Penang to KL, a conversation reminded me that I have an unfinish task which I have put aside for 5 years! With much thought and consideration, I took up the courage and face my last paper for CIMA. After so many years I did not study, my confidence level is low. Each week, whenever I started to revise, I would asked myself, why am I torturing myself ?! But by His grace and it is only with His grace, the endurance pays off. I made it! The joy was unspeakable as finally I have completed what I have started more than a decade ago. When I looked back, I believe God had somehow send His 'messenger' to remind me that He has not forgotten my prayer ie to complete my professional degree. For this, I am blessed that He has not forgotten my prayer and I am thankful for the 'messenger'!

Before the year ended, a bunch of us went to BKK. Again God answered our prayer. Our trip was booked before the flood. The timing was perfect. Not just that the flood subsided, the weather was superb making the trip so fun and memorable! We shop till pokai! What great fun.

In 2011, FOF has found a new place and things are moving fast. From being just a chairman of the service, I have started to share. I viewed this task as heavy and a test to me on how much I really know God after so many years of walking with Him. Every month when it comes to my turn, I would be very jittery. It is like taking exams every month. You need to revise. Need to run through over and over again. Need to pray hard so that the message is God's message and not human. And as you share, you need to be focus and not out of the topic while dozens of eyes looking at you. Each time when I ended, I am so relieved that I have completed what He has entrusted me to do. I do know that I just got to take on and be obedient to His calling no matter how daunting this task can be! Again, only with His grace, therefore I am able.

Not forgetting, this year is also the year where we celebrated Ah Leong's birthday and tung together with Ah Leong's family. I am so touched that Daniel's wife has invited my family and myself. It is truly beyond joy to have family gather together and celebrate special occassions. I do pray more to come. Both families means the world to me and I am thankful for them.

Well, 2011 was a year with so many experiences which I believe I can carry these to 2012 and rest of my life. That does not mean, I have learned everything tho. More to come and not by my might nor my power but by His spirit, nothing is impossible!

A filial Son; A respectful Brother; A faithful Husband & A No nonsense Father

2011-02-05T13:06:00.006+08:00

As I stepped into the office in a sunny morning of July ‘06, I received a call from brother. “Please call the ambulance now!”, he exclaimed. After I hang up the phone with UH for an ambulance service, I received a second call from my brother. “Don’t need the ambulance. We need to arrange for funeral”, he said with a deep low voice.

My Pa ‘slept away quietly’ after battling with cancer for 9 months. To be franked, all of us felt relief to see him off. It had been painstaking episodes for him throughout the battle. Anyway, death is inevitable for all of us. It was his wish to return ‘home’ peacefully and quietly and by the grace of God, He answered his prayer.

5 years have passed. Time flies. Every CNY, many of my relatives would talk about him. Not that we, his children and wife do not talk about him. We thought of him every now and then just that the thoughts are in our hearts.

My Pa, was known to be strict and followed by the rule person. He had never parked outside a parking lot. He did not speed in PLUS. He paid all his bills and kept all the receipts from 70s till today (if he still alive). He was not an optimism person. Thus, he did his best not to break any rule or offend anyone.

Pa was an average income earner. He started out with Telekom and retired from the same company. As he was not able to ‘take care’ of his parents in terms of financial support, he made sure they were ‘well kept’. I remembered Pa, ensured every week there will be 3 times visiting the old folks ever since we shifted out. Every visit, he cleaned the room including them as well.

Well, the old folks were not able to control their bowels in their last few years of their life. Despite the smell and the disgusting scene (cause shit were smeared all around), Pa would clean up every thing whenever he was there. Those days, we do not have the luxury of hiring a maid. He did it every time without much complain. Once there was a ‘not so good’ comment when Pa cleaned Ma Ma ‘thoroughly’ after she had messed up. Pa said “Where do I come from without my mother?!”

Pa also reminded us that we, the young ones, should never defy the old folks’ instruction and respect is a MUST no matter what! For this, I learned well! One morning, when we were still staying with Ye Ye and Ma Ma, I refused to wake up to go to kindergarten when Ye Ye told me to do so. I lazed for another 15 minutes and yet I did not miss the bus. By night, the news got into my Pa’s ears. He grabbed me by my bunch of hairs. Shook me well and yelled “I am as a son and yet I have to listen to my father; what makes you small brat to ignore your Ye Ye’s instruction?!!! Make sure this is your last warning…”. At 6 years old, this incident really thought me well on the importance of respecting the elders.

We never dared to talk negatively about our grandparents nor any of our uncles or aunties. Cause the cost will be ‘gravely’ high…

Besides Ye Ye and Ma Ma, my Pa also gained high respect for all his siblings and their spouses. Whatever the conflicts (every family surely have some miscommunications/ conflicts at some time in our lives), Pa made sure we visit all uncles’ home during CNY. As he once said, “It doesn’t matter whether others will reciprocate but we must do our part…” Again, he told us that all our cousins like our siblings for they are our closest family members for all of them are Wongs.

I still remember that at times some of my cousins or even their partners would come to my house or asked my Pa out for a drink to seek some advice from him. For this, I gather to know that Pa was respected and that they knew he was no nonsense man with good family values.

As a husband, my father was faithful and loved my mom very much. At one time, mom was very sick. He went through the period closely with her and encouraged her all the way. When he had to work, he would wake me up and instructed me to be with mom closely until he returns. He may not be a romantic type, but he never short changed mom in giving his love. Instead of showering mom with gifts, he did more in helping to clean the house and took good care of his children when mom was at work. Even during weekends, he spent hours in cleaning the floors. He ironed clothes. He washed the dishes. He ensured the house has no leakage nor any faults and sparkling cleaning and in order!

As a dad, we grew up almost like in a NS camp. Everyone in my big family knew his is a strict father. He learned well from his second brother’s i.e my Pak Pak’s style of bringing up the children. Since Pa’s education was until Form 5, he was considered as the most educated among his siblings. With this, his expectation on his children to excel in our studies was high. I would say that his children are slow learner. Pa spent 2-3 hours each day to guide my brother in his studies except Sunday. He will sit down with my brother and read together. He did this until my brother reached Form 1.

Funny part was, Pa had no patient to sit down and taught me the way he taught my brother. Why? Well, every time when I failed to pronounce certain words, my tears will flow uncontrollably and that ‘irritates’ my Pa...Well, he did not let me go easily though. He will go through all my books, ensured that I had maths and spelling to do during my school break, running through my report cards and etc.

My brother and I would confide with our mom more since Pa always correct our grammar whenever we converse. Even with our mother tongue, he could still correct us some times. It can be pressurize to converse with Pa. When I was away doing my tertiary in UK, Pa would still correct my grammar and spelling over ICQ and emails! I remember pleading him that ICQ and emails, we use simple English ie r u ok? Eaten alrd?...He replied “There is no such thing..it must be - ‘Have you eaten?’ Use proper English so that you don’t get use to this garbage language”…

The best time I really had a conversation with him was when I was in UK. I missed those days as we were then ‘friends’.

It took me some time to write about Pa. It is always the case that when your loved ones are close-by, we never fully appreciate until they are gone. As I was away from home during the 1st 5 years of my life, I was not ‘close’ to my parents. I grew up with a perception that Pa was only interested in having his children to excel in their studies. The rest were irrelevant. Having a strict schedules from primary till secondary, made me ‘despise’ Pa’s style of being a parent. I have forgotten the way he hugged me when I was a toddler. I have forgotten that he carried me to cross the road when I was 8 years old. I have forgotten he woke up middle of the night to ease my pain when my ear had a growth and how he had took me from one doctor to another just to find cure. I have forgotten how he had finds ways to help me in my transfer of school and from science stream to arts.

It may seem strange. When I returned home from UK, I had a dream. I was rushing up a staircase in a mountain area. I got news that Pak Pak had woken up from his coma. When I reached his bedside, he was reading Chinese newspaper with his reading glasses. It was so real. My heart beat very fast and I had my biggest smile in my life having to feel Pak Pak alive. He then put down his papers, looked at me and said “You have spent a lot of your Pa’s money in UK hor…do you know I have never seen my brother so happy that when he smile, all you can see is his set of teeth when he attended your graduation?!” I woke up that morning and re-look into the graduation photos which were taken some weeks – realize that I have made the old man proud!

When he was diagnosed with cancer, I was the only one beside him. I was the one whom injected him with morphine. Before his last days, I was the one who confronted him to be positive. I was the one who arranged a priest to say the last prayer for him. I prepared most of the arrangement for his funeral. I was the one who confirmed his Christian name on his tombstone together I picked a verse from the bible to be inscribed. All of these I only know that I can do it because Pa had taught me well from his examples of being a filial son to his parents, a respected uncle, a faithful husband and a no nonsense dad.

Today, I am who I am because Pa had never allowed me to go astray. I know he is proud of his children. For this I am sure. Now that we are blessed with a new family member, my niece - I always thought of Pa. How he would have love her and keep her look clean and tidy all the time.. But I know, he is "well keep" in heaven...Happy Father's Day, Pa, Happy Father's Day, Pak Pak and Happy Father's Day, Lord!

2010

2010-12-27T15:35:00.008+08:00

2010 is a year where I gained many experiences and full of activities.

1st month of 2010, it was already the start of a challenging year with changes in my work environment. I didn't understand why the good ones were taken away and left all the 'below the water' to myself. What have I done wrong? Frankly, I was not ready to let go the success and to start all over again. Left with no choice, I moved on with a grudge.

Months passed. God never fails to remember what was disturbing me. When I looked back e past few months and the progress of my portfolios, they amazed me. A brother then shared with me that perhaps, this arrangement was purposely made as such for me. I must recognised and focus on the +ve side ie to instill re-building skills. Don't hold on to what I have lost, but what I can gain. I begun to understand.

In that 1st quarter, not only did God open my eyes on re-building skills, I also learned the power of prayer especially from my family members. I have the tendency of being shy to ask my own mom to pray for me. Probably, I was not comfortable in telling her what I wanted or my problems. Something prompted my heart. My mom has been praying for others. Why do I need to choose who to pray for me but rather to trust and be glad that I have my mom to pray for me ie her daughter?! And I finally did asked mom to pray. God never fails. He heard and He provided! Halleluja...

If you have read my blog earlier, I was even called to court. Once again, I learned patient and God will know what's best for us and when will be the perfect timing! I am so glad 2010 has brought a sweet end to this case.

I made many travels in 2010. All journeys made whether they were for my work or for leisure, I thanked God for them. I was able to learn, to share, to capture the sweet memories, to experience etc. These will be the treasures in my heart which I will be carrying throughout my lifetime.

As for my spiritual walk, 2010 is a year which I have to stop being a 'baby'. I grew up and did away the 'milk' to take on 'solid food'. To share His goodness is wonderful. To witness the 'seed' which I have been sowing to become a 'sprout', is breath-taking! Aside from this, I was assigned a new task in my church. A task which I never thought I could. Lo and behold in 2010, He said "It's time". I took up the task and I must confess that when God claimed that you are ready, He will be with you and ensure you will not run dry! After a few tries, I thought of giving up the task and eventho I knew God has been equipping me. I did not think I was ready and was not comfortable. To challenge God it rather a stupid move. For some dads, when a child is ready to give up, either dad will agree or dad will scold the child for being weak or dad will try his best to convince the child. For our Father in Heaven, He made every tries to be better and better and made sure I am being informed - until there is no way for me to say, "I am not ready!" He is an awesome God that many times, you can never able to predict His move.

For 2010, it is or going to be 'was' a year that it is hard to forget. I will carry all the good memories, good experiences, lessons learned to cross over to 2011. I shall leave behind the 'chains and anchors' that hold me down. Thank you, Lord for 2010...2011, here I come!

Knowing, Believing, Trusting & Faith

2010-12-02T23:42:00.007+08:00

A few months ago, I started to chair my church service. Being behind the pulpit makes me shiver eventhough I have done these for some times.

Preparation is easy. To find a topic for sharing, to speak and to pray in front of every member, I find it most difficult. No matter how much I have prepared and written on my paper on that day, my voice could be heard shaking. To encourage me, my cousin always gave me a pat on my back at the end of the session. Still, it didn't help much.

I was away for 2 weeks in October. While boarding the 16 hours flight, I thought to myself, it was time to quit. I had also been thinking hard what to say to the elders so that they won't have any rooms to hold me back from quiting. Adamant with my decision, all I was waiting was timing.

When I returned, immediately the next weekend I headed to PD with mom for church camp. I was super relief to find out that I was not involved in any of the sessions. Phew...and yahoo!!! The camp was great until the last session before we depart for KL. We were asked to share on our camp experience. When mom gave her testimony, I got a shock!She has an aspiration for me and openly shared with everyone...something I would not dare to dream...

What she said, bothered me a lot until I lost track of my plan when to break the news to the elders. Soon I got my notification to chair another church service. 4 words appeared in my mind - Know, Believe, Trust & Faith. Seems that they have almost similar meaning.

What to share on these 4 words? What do they actually mean? I googled them. To cut things short, know is with a fact, believe is something you convince yourself with/without a fact, trust is something stronger than believing - it helps you to have an easier life (when you trust someone, you would not spend time to check on him/her) and lastly faith - is something which is unseen and yet you believe. Usually when you trust someone, you have the faith in him/her.

Simply this statement came into my mind, you know there is an existence of God, you may or may not believe in Him. Even when you know and believe there is a God, you may not trust Him and/or have faith that He listens to you or answers your prayer. Thus these 4 words have their own meanings.

One night unsually I logged on to FB early of the night. I saw my cousin in Perth was online (also unsual). We chat. Finally, I shared with her that I decided to quit chairing service. She asked why. Simply I told her I am unfit as I am not a savvy person in bible plus my 'public speaking' sucks! Also I do not spend as much time as others in church activities and my involvement is negligible. She continued to probe me especially why does my voice shakes when I am behind the pulpit. I explained "It is because I am such a young fella sharing God's words to those who are so senior and some are intellectuals in theology, some are on fire for God...made me feel so small... :( "

She said "Stop". She then said "Didn't you know that God often use those who thinks they are insignificant to do His works? Read the bible"..."You knew that. Why aren't you believing that He is using you to speak to those who are in need to hear. Have trust and faith in Him that you will be able to handle this well. Stop thinking of quiting. Start believing"

Often we know what to say how to say. However, we also often think that what we say only applies to others and not for ourselves. What my cousin said is true for all of us. God never looked down on us eventhough we have our own shortfalls. He never wanted us to feel small either. When we do, we are belittling His creation.

Whatever we are going through now, whether it is a tough experience, a bad experience, a cross road - it has been arranged. It is up to us to decide whether we would want to believe that we can get through it and have the trust & faith in Him!Now, I need to practise more... :)

Bruno Mars - Just The Way You Are Mp3 Download Free

2010-11-21T16:24:00.000+08:00

Bruno Mars - Just The Way You Are Mp3 Download Free

When God did not answer prayer...

2010-09-12T22:32:00.011+08:00

A lot people including myself (until recently) expects God to answer our every prayer and when He doesn't..it's going to be a 'SAD story'...

Recently, I have learned otherwise. I have learned that when God doesn't answer our prayer, it was not because we were not praying hard enough. My colleague forwarded an email and part of it read as

"Prayer is not a "spare wheel" that you pull out when in trouble, but it is a "steering wheel" that directs the right path throughout. Have you ever wonder why the rear mirror is small while the windshield is huge? Because the past is not as important as the future. All things in life are temporary. If going well, enjoy it, they will not last forever. If going wrong, don't worry, they can't last long either.

When God solves your problems, you have faith in His abilities; when God doesn't solve your problems, He has faith in your abilities! When you pray for others, God listens to you and blesses them, and sometimes, when you are safe and happy, remember that someone has prayed for you. WORRYING does not take away the troubles, it takes away today's PEACE"

This email came in time and enhance my spiritual knowledge especially the part where it reads as "When God doesn't answer your prayer, He has faith in your abilities". It has become clearer to me that not all prayers are answered and why.

I have been in the financial industry for almost 10 years now. I take delight in my work because I am able to assist others in owning their property. Although target was part of the KPI but importantly I must be accountable for my employer and the customers. As we know, money is rather a sensitive issue for most of us. In 08 which I have also shared in my blog that I received a rude shock right after my birthday. I received news that I will be summoned to court as the spouse of my customer took a legal action against us.

I read the summon over and over again. My name was repeatedly stated. I was angry because the statement given to the court was almost untrue! Apart from being angry, I was confused, sad and scared. I tried my best to recall the incident which took place 5-6 years ago. A lawyer was hired to represent us. We met and discuss the matter with our own legal assistants. To add salt into the wound, our own legal assistants did not have faith to win this case when I admitted that I did not translate the information on the insurance form entirely to the customer in cantonese. I was also disappointed in myself for failing to translate the entire form or at least refer the customer to a colleague who is fluent in chinese. This has then resulted a big mess and now I am wanted in court!

I kept recalling and think hard whether was there anything else I left out to safe me from this. But none. Then I asked "WHY ME?!" I didn't do any harm to anyone, I never dare to 'cheat' neither do I greed to get business. Why must this incident happened on me against hundreds of others who are also in the similar responsibility. Do everyone translate the entire form from english to chinese except me?! My heart was heavy and sad. I asked Lord to give me strength to overcome this challenge.

My heart was lifted a little when the lawyer commented "Look, I will try to negotiate for out of court settlement...and May Cy, you should not be to hard on yourself. Things like this do happen. I will do my best for you." I did not share this with many and especially not with my family. From that day onwards, I prayed that the case would be settled out of court and everyone will be happy with the outcome!

No news seems to be good news. Perhaps it has been setlled quietly. Then came a call 2 years later which was about a month plus ago. "Hi, May Cy, this is XX, from YY the law firm. Do you remember me?" Deep in my heart, I would like to reply, "No, I don't". Anyway, he told me to prepare to attend court in the next 3 weeks. I will be called as witness. I asked whether is there anyway or anything I can do to skip the court and compensate for my "mistake".

He replied, "Your mistake? What mistake? In my legal findings, I found not fault from you and that is why I want to fight this case." No fault from me? I certainly want the widow to be compensated, I replied. He assured that it will be a fair trial. A few hours later, I received another call from our own legal assistant. She commented that the lawyer must be very gungho to "fight" the case since chances are slim. My hope dashed again. In addition, she added on that she could not accompany me to court eventhough bosses would want someone else to be there. She asked me how? In my heart again, I was thinking that she must be joking! Since I get no morale support from her, her presence would not help at all. I just commented, "I will go myself. Do you think I have a choice?" Before our conversation ended, she said "OK a, you kow tim a?" Sigh...

3 weeks to go. I repeatedly pray for a miracle that the case would be settled out of court. 1 week to go, the lawyer called. Advised me to stay calm and we worked out our Q&A to be use in court. Amazingly this lawyer (is like an angel altho he is a heavy smoker) kept checking with me "May Cy, would you be comfortable if you give these answers to my questions?" I replied, "As long as it is the truth as I can remember, I am comfortable. Those items which I cannot recall, I do not want to say them in court because I am unsure. " XX commented, "Fair enough. But you should not feel guilty in anyway because you are not".

The day before the court proceeding, I am still hopeful for a miracle...but by 830am next morning I was sitting at the bench awaiting for the judge arrival. There were only 3 witnesses t be called. The 1st was the widow. What we watch in the movie on how the lawyers "drill" the witness are true. I heard my name repeatedly being blamed in the court by the widow and the prosecution lawyer. I thought to myself - I was being infamous that day for the wrong reason! I got nervous. My lawyer came to me during a break and told me to focus on the judge when I stand on the witness stand. Constantly he checked on me to ensure that I was ok.

The 1st witness took about 2 hours to finish her session. During the short break I sms my colleagues to pray for me. I need to stay calm and speak the truth - that will be my 2 main goals. When my turn came, I felt no trembling at all. I was full of confident...so full that at certain times, I question back those lawyers who wanted to "drill" me. Even the judge looked amazed when I corrected the prosecution lawyer's statement. My turn ended in less than 30 mins. I asked permission to leave. My lawyer commented, "Are you sure you do not want to stay till it ends?" I requested him to update myself when there is judgement made. I refused to stay and left. When I got into my car,I started trembling and thought how did I managed to be so calm and so full of energy until I could correct others. Was it not God who intervened?! I do not have other answer besides that His presence was with me.

After 2 weeks, I saw his name blinking in my handphone. I picked up. "May Cy, this is XX. I have great news! We have won!" I replied, "What? We won? means? the widow how?" "No worries, she will be compensated by 3rd party. It wasn't your responsibility to translate anything and the court finds NO FAULT with you"

HALLELUJAH! PRAISE BE TO GOD! AMEN! My tears well up and I could not thanked the Lord enough for such a great outcome and for the lawyer who believed in me and helped me through this...Now, lets' rewind a little. If my prayer to have outside court settlment, my name would not be 'cleared' at all...God did not answer that prayer of mine. Hallelujah! He put me through this challenge for 2-3 years and ensured that I come out of it victoriously! And He also remembered the widow...hallelujah...

This was really a test in my life to open my eyes and my heart that when He did not seem to answer, there is a strong reason behind...and He would never put us through a challenge that we would not be able to undertake cause He knows our abilities and He trust in our abilities. Ultimately, the world can be against you and it would not be a matter because when God is with you, you have the world! Keep on trusting Him and you won't go wrong....

2010-09-12T14:42:00.003+08:00

On 27th June 09, I wrote in my blog about my days in Sheffield Hallam University and I ended with “shall continue soon…”. I have totally forgotten about it!

It was just a couple of days ago, I shared with my roommie that I have booked my ticket to London next month…we started to share our memories when we were in UK 12 years ago! She asked, “Would you go back to our hostel to have a look?” I would really love too…hopefully I can make it!

Anyway, we went on and tried to recall our housemates name…I failed terribly but my roommie’s memory is fantastic! Thanks for reminding me…cheers

To continue where I left since my roommie has been kind enough to refresh my memory, I ended with the usual days we have classes and the time we usually get back to our hostel. Yup, our daily meals were simple.

Breakfast would normally just a cup of hot chocolate or coffee for me. Then we would walk for about 20mins to attend our classes. By lunch, we either have our packed from home sandwich which consist 2 pieces of bread with a slice of thin ham (as thin as a paper size) and a few pieces of iceberg cabbage or a bar of snickers (if we were too lazy to make sandwich). A few occasion, we got tired of sandwich and chocolate bars. We would then spend GBP2.50 for fish and chips. One pack was good enough for 2 of us. Let me share a joke. One afternoon we went to the market to stock up our food. We were hungry and went to pack fish and chips. On the menu, there were a few types of fish for selection. We look through and noticed there was a type which was cheaper than usual. It was called roe and chips. Both of us did not know what the heck was roe. It turned out to be one huge deep fried fish eggs and chips! “Good things don’t come cheap, cheap things usually are not good!”

For dinner, since both of us were deprived from having many ingredients, we keep to 2-3 simple dishes. Usual recipes include chicken with orange sauce, fried iceberg cabbage and ketchup beans. You must be asking why always iceberg cabbage…well, one iceberg cabbage cost 35pence and it can lasts us one week. Other vegetables were quite costly though. Sometimes we did have broccoli and tomatoes. O, I just remembered. We also cooked tuna spaghetti…our own recipe discovered in hostel.

A few times, we had other uni-mates who dropped by our kitchen and made us some good dishes like bak kut teh, soup, roast chicken wings etc. Guess what, those who made good and complex dishes were guys! Gals just wanna keep things simple… :) drinking milk was also part of our diet while fruits were mainly nectarines and peaches. Of all the food that we have, maggi mee was our favourite especially tomyam and curry flavour! I recalled that we called home to ask our parents to courier food stuff over. Maggi mee was a must! Now to think of it, it was rather naïve of us since we were only there for 3 months + and we can’t seem to live without maggi mee. Mind you, we did concern about our hair loss after consuming many packs of maggi mee.. :(

For a couple of weeks, we had an Italian student in our hostel. His name is Enzo. He was studying English @ Sheffield Hallam. His food was even more simple then ours! I noticed that his usual meal was macaroni with green peas most of the time. Before he left, we had a makan party. We cooked some Malaysian dishes while Enzo made a few Italian dishes. I learned how to make cabonara spaghetti and mozzarella cheese with tomatoes and basil leave from Enzo. He is a friendly and funny guy…:) while we were saying our goodbyes, being gwailo he grabbed my roomie and gave her a tight hug and kissed her on the cheek. That kiss surprised my roomie and gave a light scream! He got a shock and apologized immediately. When it came to my turn, he politely asked “Can I hug and kiss you?” hahahahaha….

I also learned how to bake. My roommie’s birthday was a round the corner but to buy a piece cake was rather expensive for a student and it was not enough to go around. While shopping for our weekly groceries, I saw a pack of ready made mixed flour for a cake. Why not?! I bought the ready mixed flour, a chocolate bar and a few strawberries. On that day, I brought all the equipments and stuff to my other uni-mates’ hostel. After an hour of mixing, stirring and baking…wa-la, the cake was done. Then I melted the chocolate bar and spread over the cake. Next was to decorate it with strawberries. I am very poor when it comes to decoration. I just don’t have the clue. I did my best with my imagination and of course the cake did not look like those from the shop! Tasted ok though…hahahaha..from then, many of my other uni-mates also baked cake for birthday and for fun!

At one time, I was so bored with our meals and I thought of making burgers my own. I bought a packed of minced beef. I chose the cheapest pack. I put some pepper, soya sauce, salt and mixed well with the meat. Mould the meat into 6 burger shape and slammed them into the oven. Then I got my other uni-mates and roommie to try them out. “Ting” and I took them out from the oven. The whole tray was filled with cooked minced beef! Gosh…my roomie gave up after a few bites and so did I. Lo and behold my other uni-mate finished it off! I told him to stop eating because it looked bad and tasted so-so. Anyway, I was glad he finished it and not gone to waste…

So, there were many trials and errors in the kitchen. I do not think the gwailo students were as adventurous like us when it comes to food. You should have seen the guys’ kitchen! They got all the types of herbs and ingredients as though they were opening an eatery at the hostel! Later I found out that they often had supper ie roast chicken wings (chicken wings are dirt cheap in UK) with a couple of beers. I only managed to join them once or twice. But not all guys were like them. My ground floor housemate, a guy, would only have rice with sausages for his main meal! He had this like almost everyday. Salute!

Eating out was a no-no for us. Mostly we packed fish and chips. Well, we did have lunch at the pub for one time and it cost us GBP2.50 for a meal. And lastly before we came home from UK, we had a big party where we invited our lecturers to join us. Everyone made a dish and it was a great evening as we took our food in the open during the end of summer in UK…:)

Here I am sharing mostly on our usual meals and some food happenings while I was in UK. Especially for Asian, food is the link to create a better relationship. If you noticed, most festive seasons are related to food and on the eve of the festivals, all family members are encouraged to be home to dine together. I love and am blessed to say “Live to Eat” is motto!

Love cannot be subsituted

2010-06-26T11:42:00.006+08:00

I have wanted to write since a couple of weeks ago. However I knew I wasn’t ready to talk about it. Somehow, I knew the time will come when I am ready-just like it always does.

When I was a young kid and was staying with Pak Pak, I was blessed with many pets. For a start, when my parents sent me after my full month to Pak Pak’s house, he bought a baby turtle (sui yu). I was told he bought it for me. Till date, I don’t know why a sui yi? Anyway, I had never been able to pet the sui yi nor any one, except Pak Pak because it bites your finger off! I heard once a neighbour’s kid puts his hand in the cage and ‘chomp’ ..the finger was gone! I have a feeling that this is just a myth told to prevent me from being funny with the sui yi…Well, you know that often the adults will create a lot of scary stories to teach the young ones…Like one stupid story I heard was, if you lazy to spill out the fruit seeds, the next day you will find a tree on your head! 

Besides the sui yi, Pak Pak also had a lot of fishes (again there was a fish which bite everyone except its owner), tortoise, chicken (more of for our dinner than a pet tho), birds and a dog or at times dogs. I remember the first dog was bitch and black in colour, called Dolly. It was as big as me (I was 3-4 yrs old then) and taller than me when she stands up. I even had a photograph with her. She was loved by Pak Pak…

When I returned home and shifted to Kelana Jaya, I always pleaded with my parents to have a dog. My parents refused. To resort to our ‘itch’ for a pet, my brother and I then often catch some stray cats to play with and feed them, only when my parents were at work. Some days early in the morning my mom would be screaming away to chase away these cats (cause these cats knew that this house provides them food). After such episode, next scream will be targeting at my brother and me. Sigh…

Finally a breakthrough came. My neighbour’s bitch gave birth to a number of puppies. My parents agreed to adopt one of the puppies. My brother and I were so excited and we chose the eldest pup. It was dark brown male with a short tail. My brother gets to name the pup. His name was Ricky. I was 12 years old. Everyday when I returned from school, he was my first priority. Ricky had become more like a family member than a pet to us. My parents loved him like a son while I loved him like a little brother. No matter where we go, when we return, first thing was to look for out him and hug him. 20 hours a day, Ricky would be in the house rather than outside.

12 years passed quickly and Ricky reached its old age. Mom was offered another puppy. My parents decided to take another pup since Ricky was ‘retiring’ from its duty to safe guard our home. Kiwi was named by me because of his fur colour. Kiwi was born in a fruit orchard. During his pup’s years, he loved papaya, honeydew, or any fruits which is sweet except banana. Every morning when mom cuts fruits to prepare for her stall, kiwi gets a piece! 

Our family loved Kiwi as much as Ricky and we taught Kiwi all the tricks we did for Ricky. Perhaps, Ricky helped a little by being a role model for Kiwi, Kiwi learned fast!hahahaha…Kiwi was more mischievous than Ricky. I had a lot of scars on my hands resulting from his playful bites. Kiwi loved to play catch. His eyes can tell you that he is ready for you to catch him – if you can…and when you are ready to give up (you can never outrun a four legged), he will pretend to slow down and drop down for you to ‘catch’ him!  what a dog…he knew how to please people…

One more character of Kiwi was whenever he managed to escape out of the house, he would run for his life. The problem was he didn’t know how dangerous a moving vehicle is even until his last day of his life. Thus, we would be chasing after him and our hearts pounded like crazy whenever he crossed the roads! At times, I just closed my eyes and prayed I won’t hear any crashed…Gosh! Thanked God – Kiwi always successfully avoided accidents. Later, we found that the more we chase after him, the more confident he got and will go further and further. He knew we were right behind him. He also knew that when he is caught and once he reached home, he needs to dash to find cover because it would be canning time! Every time after a good whacking, we will open the gate – he wouldn’t dare to make a move…

But the whacking and pain were only a short memory for him. The next time when the gate was open, he will be back to his old habit again. Sigh…we were so fed up and we just cannot bare to see him crosses the road, we stopped chasing. Amazingly Kiwi did not venture too far when he didn’t see any of us behind him. He returned home after a few pee nearby. This time we shut the gate. He was frantically barking to be allowed in. After a few minutes, we opened the gate and kena whacked kow kow…if I recall correctly, after that incident Kiwi never dared to repeat his old habit..hehehe..we won finally!

Ricky was diagnosed with cancer 6 months after Kiwi was brought home. The Vet advised us to put him to sleep. I remember the last morning Ricky was with us. I went to work with a heavy heart after saying my last goodbye to Ricky. Later that day, my dad took him to the Vet and buried him at my cousin’s fruit orchard. My dad was very upset for one week. For the rest of the family, we felt sad but the pain was gone easily because Kiwi was with us. But not for my dad, and I could understand why he was so bitter about the loss for so long.

About a month ago, Kiwi lost a lot of weight and wasn’t eating well. We took him to the vet and were told he had a kidney failure. We were advised to admit him immediately to do away the toxin which was accumulating in his body. The vet mentioned that kidney failure is a norm for old dogs. With special diets and dialysis, Kiwi should be ok.

Not like Ricky, Kiwi had never spent a nite out side my house before. We did not have a choice and admitted him. Little did we know, that was his last day with us. The next morning we were informed that Kiwi did not survive. ..I was heartbroken because I was shocked by the news…I could not accept the fact for many days. I could not even mention that he was gone. This time, I truly understand how my dad felt when we lost Ricky.

Kiwi had been with us for 10 years. We were amazingly touched when we felt that he was grieving with us when my dad passed away in 2006. When my brother got married, Kiwi insisted to have a photo with my brother and his wife during tea ceremony…how? Kiwi just refused to barge in the center of my living room where the couple was serving tea! Once a photo was taken, he slowly walked away…he was not jus a dog but again a family member!

Every morning when I wake up, I feel some thing is not complete. It has been 22 years we have a dog. Many occasions, my friends asked me to adopt another pup. This time, I am reluctant. I am still missing Kiwi.

I was thinking what title I should put when I decided to write. Suddenly, “Love cannot be substituted” pop up. Well, I am not just referring to my love for my pets but rather for all those whom I am fond of. In 30 years of my life, I have lost quite a number of my family members. When I looked back, nothing so far was able to replace them in my life. Each of them has a special place in my heart. Even some day when I am in love or being married, the love I have for my loved ones is irreplaceable.

If I am just a human being who is created in His image has this concept in my life, our Father in heaven’s love is even much greater. He has even given His Son’s life for us in the name of Love. This proves His love for us is irreplaceable. Even right now, Jesus is with Him with all the angels, His love for us is still the same yesterday, today and forever. Nothing can change His love for us.

I am blessed to be loved by Him. I am blessed to have my family members who loved me. I am blessed to have friends. I am blessed to have Ricky and Kiwi to love. They have all contributed in my life and they have a special place in my heart forever. Remember, He loves us dearly...

When you least expected..

2010-04-17T20:54:00.013+08:00

You know, our God often works in a most mysterious way..especially when you least expected, you will be surprised!

Never say never. When I was younger, I remember many occasions had thought me well - not to be 'extreme' nor be stubborn with my decision/statement/choice.

I 'vowed' not to be a SALES personnel. I took up accounting degree and ensure that I would be the someone who will work backroom. I do not like (still do not) sales personnel to tail me when I do my shopping until I need them... Behold, I build my career via sales and now I am coaching many others to do the same. I do not think I can settle with a backroom job, at least for now. In addition, I tailed others when they were 'shopping'....hmmm...mmmm

During my primary years, as usual we always have our own group of friends and we also have a few people that we dislike very much...O, come one, let's be real.. We got our gang and others got their own gang and we would be comparing with each other..whether for beauty, for stickers, for autograph book, for guys, for whatever. Once again, in the least expectation, I am now befriending my primary school 'enemy' for the last 14 years. I was her bridesmaid even! I confessed to her that I 'hated' her very much then...didn't know for what reason, just simply didn't like her face...hahaha..seriously, I cannot explained why and how I started playing with her but our friendship happened so naturally and it has been stronger over the years...

When I was a baby Christian, my perception of a pastor was that he/she should be a 'perfect' person while a church is a sanctuary, where the saints are jolly and holy people. Back then, I cannot understand why some speakers stressing that we, Christian should not be hypocrites and I also noted the Bible warn the same. Christians are happy people. They pray for everyone even they don't know you. Pastor is always be the best person for anyone. What do they mean by hypocrites..

A few years later, I was exposed to the truth. Things turned ugly. The 'saints' blamed the Pastor for various accusations during a service in the church! I was shocked to see how angry and the words that the people hurled against the pastor. I was also very concern on those guests who walked in or being invited to hear the word of God. What would be in their mind? Christians = hypocrites...The ugly scene went on for an hour before we prayed and departed. Can you believe it? We prayed!

As soon as I walked out of the place where I was 'born again', my tears flowed uncontrollably. My 'perfect sanctuary breaking into pieces.' How could this happened? Why must I be there at that time to hear all those ugly things? I usually don't attend midweek service but this time when I took the effort, all hell break loose. Soon enough, the church split. I prayed that the real truth to be exposed and to reunite the church.

It didn't happen. Along the way, I begin to understand the message. Christians are not perfect people. Pastors are not angels. Church is just a building. Jesus is perfect. Christianity = MY personal relationship with God, nothing to do with other human being. When our brother/sister or even pastor/bishop/elder makes mistake, we need to pray for his/her repentance not for revenge. Everyone makes mistake, therefore we need Jesus, whom God sent to die for us, sinners.

Leaving a church is not equivalent leaving our relationship with God. God has a plan for everyone. He knows where, when, how, why and what for us.

The only sanctuary we have where there will be no more tears, disease, sickness, etc is HEAVEN. When we, Christian, comes together, it is not about how many pax to determine how holy is the gathering or what type of building we must have, then only God will be with us. It's all about our hearts. God touches those who are faithful - I have seen mighty man cry when he is touched. It's Amazing Love that God is filling into our hearts to 'melt' us.

The more we think we are smart or we are so determined that our decision is unchallenge or we start to depend on our own or another human being or we start to be materialistic ie chasing after money and fogetting the Provider, holding on to our treasures tightly, chasing after fame etc - God will turn things around when you least expected it...

In short, God is God. You cannot outsmart His Majesty. We need Him. He wants us for Himself . He wants us to talk to Him. He wants us to depend on Him because He is our Father. He wants us to have faith that ALL THINGS IS POSSIBLE when He says "It is done, my child!"

Let's allow Him to guide us...

Problems

2010-03-14T01:30:00.003+08:00

I have learned a valuable lesson today. When one shares about Christianity, it is not that being one makes our life easier nor will have lesser problems. Indeed by choosing to be one, it adds on more problems... Problems occur in our life. Even our Lord went thorugh many of them when He came 2000 over years ago.

A brother at church shared that problems:-
1. occur to direct us
2. occur to protect us
3. occur to make us stronger
4. occur to change us and to give us another chance

To direct us - the day when I started my first job, I had high hopes and dreams of what I can do and what I can become because it was a new set up company. I worked with a person whom I regarded as my big brother. From scratch, we eventually managed to build a solid foundation but things did not turn out the way I thought...I walked away with a painful heart not because I quit but because I have lost the friendship as well..

Today, I looked back..I thanked God that He has directed me away because for the last 9 years, I have learned even much more n have helped many to build their dream house...I have met many valuable individuals and some have even became my soulmates..I am not angry with 'big brother' n I hope he is well...

To protect us - i, myself have yet to experience on this factor...but i would not doubt that some times there are challenges that may have delayed us and evetually have protected us from some mishap

To make us stronger - by 12 years of age, i went through the deaths of my grandma and both granpas. it hurts. it did not stop..10 years later, my uncle whom was my pillar of life, left in a sudden..my world crashed..7 years later, when the doctor broke the news that my father had 4th stage of cancer (i was alone in the hospital),i was stronger..i was calm, able to be strong for my dad & mom, made many decisions that i never knew that i would have to..I looked back, somehow i feel it is His plan...both my uncle's family and my own are closer than we ever been..we pray for each other, we support each other, we loved one another, we are united in His name!

to change us and give us a 2nd chance - i don't like to study..i hated homeworks..my academic result from primary to Form 3 trials sucks..before SRP, my dad barred me from going anywhere during weekends including church..i pleaded just to allow me for an hour to attend church. my dad reluctantly agreed. my SRP result was ok..then i lacked in my studies again...every results was so-so..when STPM results were out, 99% of my mates got accepted into university except myself. I was embarrassed and I was left out...my chance in getting a degree is slim because I am from an average income family and could not afford twinning programmes..I ended in TAR college, i strived to obtain my CIMA...His plan was great..I was the 1st batch in TARC to be sent to Sheffield, UK for 'sandwich' degree and at that time my dad got his EPF and was able to support me...

Some times it doesn't make sense for the things that are happening around us...turn to God..He has all the answers..now, all we need is His grace..Amen!

Turning back the clock..No No No!

2010-02-16T00:53:00.006+08:00

As usual, CNY period are the days where we often gather with our family, relatives and friends. We would share those memories and the expriences that we went through for the past 364 days and believe it or not being Asian, we would try to outdo each other on whose life is worse.

Example, "Wa, you don't believe how much I have went through......" says one relative. The other would reply " No No no, if you have been in MY shoes, you would know that I had been to 'hell' and return..." or "My son a, he a, very forgetful....your son very goood..." while the other will reply "No, you don't know, your son consider filial, my one a..aiyo, I also don't bother much...."

Gosh, simply nothing better to say. Why can't we learn to share good news and fun times when we meet rather than conversation which are meaningless but pure gossips...I surely hope I would not be sucked into these kinda conversation...I HOPE...;p

Besides the above, we would also remember our loved ones who had passed on. Looking back, we shared and laughed about the habits and the way they had lived. I strongly agreed that in celebration like these, we should talk about our loved ones whom had passed. In this manner, the younger ones get to know a little and we remember that they, played a part in our lives.

Sometimes when I am alone and with the radio playing the oldies (not too long ago songs..ehem..:p) the memories of the past just flash through my mind. I received a comment from a friend. She is suprised how I could remember stuff back when I was 5 years old. Yup, I do. I remember how I like to suck my bottle even when I was 5...hehehehe....and also of cos some experiences during my primary, secondary, 6th form, college, uni days etc.

I guess the expriences we go through whether good or bad, they shape our lives and how we turn out today. At times, we did not have choice of certain situations that happened, we made mistakes, we laughed, we cried, we yelled, we learned, we prayed, we smiled, we loved, we fought, we chuckled etc...Whatever it is, we are growing up and moving from one stage of life to another.

If there is a wish to turn back the clock, NO would be my definate answer. Not that my life have been sucked. There were many many great times in the past. However, I am glad I have been through it all and I am more eager to look FORWARD and store up more memories, learn more about life, laugh even more and share loads to many others including to those I have yet to meet...I guess this is far more exciting than turning back!

With God, it doesn't matter how many more years but making the years be meaningful to ourselves and to others should be our goal. God has given the law of gravity. Anything that goes up, will come down and things that went down shall go up!Nothing in life is too difficult only if we trust in Him...Have a great year and moving on!!! :)

One error, it is enough...

2009-11-28T23:55:00.011+08:00

Some time in late 1800s, 2 best friends took a risk and left their comforting home in China to make a quick buck in SEA.

They used everything they had saved and with their family's blessing, off they went with high hopes. Life at the beginning was not as good as they thought. With their commitment to make a better living for their family in China, they did anything and everything. Very soon hardwork payoff. These 2 best friends had improved their status.

At that time, tin mining was the hype of the economy in Malaya. Once again, these 2 best friends gave everything they had worked for and bought a tin mine in Perak. They were exhilirated because they knew this time, they are going to make it big!

The day came when they need to register for the purchase but one of them were unable to make it for some reasons. One of them continued with the process while pending the other because he needed to return to China soonest. He gave his name to the malay clerk as Wong Ming Yew. He then left Malaya and promised to return soonest.

After several months settling his matters in China, Wong Ming Yew returned to Perak, Malaya and looked forward to build the tin mine business with his best friend. However, this hope had turned into his worst nightmare in his life. His best friend took on a new name as Ming Yew and owned the entire tin mine because the clerk made AN ERROR and registered Ming Yew as the only owner for the said purchased.

Ming Yew found no meaning to fight nor argue on what had been done. He went back to China as a broken man and never returned to Malaya...(to be continued)

Life and Death Should be celebrated...

2009-09-22T19:57:00.002+08:00

A week ago, we welcomed our newborn family member. She is our first new generation in our family. My family is overjoyed. My dad would have been exhilarated if he is here to share the news. This I am sure.

A few days as we were still excited over Azalea’s birth, we were shocked and saddened with the passed of our cousin. I still remember him when he attended my brother’s wedding early of the year. He was a nice chap and respected my parents. He never failed to visit them every CNY except this year and he also visited my dad when he was ill.

One thing about my generation of Wong, we have been thought well to respect our elders and no question about it. He would be the first to pass from my generation of Wong’s.

I attended the wake by myself because according to Chinese tradition, my family are in ‘celebration’ of life while funeral is the opposite and both occasions should not be ‘combined’ (“chung”). I find it very absurd and upset with such tradition.

The funeral was held at a parlor. I arrived late at about 10pm. My view was blocked by another funeral which was attended by a big crowd and I took a long merry-go-round to reach my cousin’s hall. My eldest cousin brother, Daniel and his family were there and the deceased’s family was busy conducting rituals and prayers.

I shared with Daniel that I was feeling uneasy when I walked a merry-go-round since it is surrounded by cemetery and it was a cool night after a heavy rainfall. Adding to it, the place was quiet and when I heard the chanting I know I was near but it also send shivers to my spine! He gave a smile.

We had some time to chat and we shared our memories. It has been 11 years since Pak Pak passed while my dad has been 3 years. I also shared with Daniel that I had a dream last night and saw my dad with Pak Pak. It was strange as in my dream I am conscious that they have passed. I had even joke with Pak Pak that I could see him like a small child playing hide and seek..”I can see yoouuuu…” Pak Pak gave me a big smile…

As we talked, we realized that we both could not or perhaps would not initiate a chat with our own father while we can chat all night long with our uncles’. Daniel talked to my dad like they were good friends while myself with Pak Pak. We both acknowledge that talking to our father took a lot and Daniel claimed that perhaps our expectations and our fathers’ were different. However when we chat with uncles’, it is rather care free…well, maybe. We had a great laugh knowingly we are not alone having such ‘problem’ after all. After an hour, we decided to leave.

As I walked the nearest route to my car, I bypassed the other funeral which blocked my sight earlier on. It was a Christian funeral. People were more joyous and having buffet! The environment was somehow different from the Chinese funeral. I felt warmer and the walk to my car was much ‘easier’.

I recall in one of the documentary on Chinese tradition funeral. It is said that it is good to have family members to cry as loud and as long as possible. Some family would hire a ‘cry-er’ to do the job. The louder the wailing the better the ‘performance’. I was quite taken a back. Imagine if our soul is able to watch – and you find a stranger wailing at our own funeral…Weird?!

I am not here to criticize other’s tradition. We all know that all lives end with death. It is inevitable. Perhaps if we understand death as being part of life, would it be made easier for us to face it then to make it as though it is a situation where it is seen to be ‘unfair’ or a ‘punishment’ or ‘it can only happen to the unfortunate’.

Can we imagine if there is no death? By today, our planet earth would be over-populated with beings. Perhaps there would be no room for birth…and maybe there will be no room for change…

I view death as another beginning of a new chapter. Being in heaven would be so much better than earth since God promised that there’ll be no more tears. With that promise, isn’t death should be celebrated?! For those who are still living, God promised that we shall meet again when the time comes. The dead shall rise and join with those who are on earth…

And do not get me wrong, we cry when there is death and there is no wrong in doing so but we should not 'indulge into the loss' and forget about being alive and those who are still alive... We shall missed them until we meet...And I am sure that my dad n Pak Pak would be pleased to know that we are still sharing good memories of them and remember them, no matter how many years has passed. Overall, I guess it is more important that we treasure our loved ones when they are alive…

A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to
leave the examination room and said,
"Doctor, I am afraid to die.

Tell me what lies on the other side."
Very quietly, the doctor said, "I don't know."
"You don't know? You, a Christian man,
do not know what is on the other side?"

The doctor was holding the handle of the door;
on the other side came a sound of scratching and whining,
and as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room
and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.
Turning to the patient, the doctor said,
"Did you notice my dog?
He's never been in this room before.
He didn't know what was inside.
He knew nothing except that his master was here,
and when the door opened, he sprang in without fear.
I know little of what is on the other side of death,
but I do know one thing...

I know my Master is there and that is enough."

A tribute to my cousin bro, Pak Pak, Dad, 3rd Pak, Kung Kung, Ye Ye, Ma Ma, 4th sis in law..rest in peace…

Blessings = shame?

2009-09-13T15:35:00.018+08:00

My own family is just an average family in terms of size and wealth. Those days we used to have enough and hardly had excess eventhough my grandfather was a well to do businessman. Our most luxurious meal then was Kentucky Fried Chicken. O, I remembered that once my father took us to The Ship to celebrate my mom's birthday. That was 'the once...'

Both my father and my pak pak had the same fate. Both sons were not favoured by my grandfather - for whatever the reasons were. Both did not get much attention nor help in any way. Moreso, my Pak Pak have 8 dependants compared to my family of 4. Both family's wealth was just enough to get by. No matter how hard they had to struggle in providing to their own family my grandfather did not bothered to lift a finger to help them. Despite that fact, both insisted that we, the grandchildren, must never be disrespectful to our grandfather. And both sons never 'ditched' their father in his old days and cleaned him when he was unable. I respect and salute them as filial sons and this I must learn.

Both men struggles did not go in vain. As far as I am concern, my cousins, my brother and myself have made it in our life and we should be able to make it till end if we stay content. We may not be multi millionaire (maybe some of my cousins are or perhaps in future we may be...hehehehe who knows) but we continue to have enough and now some of us can afford more.

Well, some times 'enough' does not have to be the measurement of wealth...Family unity and the tradition of having generations are more important for Chinese family. These values must be embedded to bring honour to our fathers.

At this moment, I may not be able to 'contribute' in terms of adding to the quantity to my family but I thank God that He has blessed me in other forms. With these blessings, I am able to bless my family. I am proud that I am able to afford many things and to share with my family. I am proud that I do not need to depend on others just to ensure my family is provided and also we are able to indulge into some luxurios items.

I do not think that we are being a show off nor being materialistic when we are able to afford luxury. However I should not covet neither be prideful. To me, I trust that by working hard and believing that God hears our prayer would bring blessings to us. And we should not be 'shameful' by these blessings neither should we find explanations to these blessings. Also we should not think it is by luck we have these blessings. We asked from God, we should then claimed them and glorify Him.

Besides, I also believe that at times, when we struggle and that we do not see the results now - it does not conclude that our struggles will go in vain. We may not receive the blessing directly for ourselves but surely there will be. I thank God that both my father and pak pak did not give up nor blame my grandfather. I would think the values that could have instilled in us would have been different should our fathers 'curse' our grandfather then.

I used to think that life were unfair for my father and pak pak because they did not have the chance to enjoy their 'fruits' of labour. They have gone too soon. It was very naive of me...What does the earth has that heaven does not?!

They had laboured for us, their children and we should treasure their struggles and set the same values for our children...never be ashamed of what we have or afford...they are ours when God says they belong to us...Amen!

2009-08-25T23:18:00.002+08:00

There are so many titles that come to my mind when I wanted to share on this piece…some are - 180 degrees change with His grace, Jesus says “With Me it is Possible”, Some times we need to go through storms to appreciate the Light, Nothing is Impossible, The Light after Dawn, etc…which one?

This time I would like to share with you some one who is dear to me and I have known this person for over decades of my life. I shall name this person ‘Shortie’. I am neither pastor nor a preacher but I remember well a tax collector who was mentioned in the bible whom was the least person on earth where the 12 disciples thought would be appreciated by Jesus. In the old days a tax collector were generally disgusted by the public for their snobbish attitude...But Jesus took notice of this tax collector on the tree (who was a short man and that he had to climb on a tree to look out for Jesus) and went to his house to dine. With that, the tax collector vowed to give all his ill gotten gains and change his life to follow Christ.

Now back to my Shortie. When I was very young, Shortie was beautiful and talented. She was a singer in a night club. Before Shortie started singing, her dad was super against the idea. However she pressed on and proved she was well demanded. Many men adored her singing and so am I. I recall some of her glistening stage dresses and a vague memory of her stage performance. I caught a glimpse while waiting for her one night together with my uncle.

Besides, I remember those days she would wake up by noon to practice every hour before she took the stage by night. Till to date I could hum some of those songs she practiced. Mostly were golden Shanghai oldies. Thus my friend was shocked when she heard me humming of an oldie song and wondered where I have learned it since I am considered a “Mandarin Idiot”…there was also a book where many paper cuttings about Shortie.

Being the youngest in Shortie’s household then, everyone loves me. I adored her and yet I was afraid of her. Well, she could loose her temper easily due to her hectic schedule and the pressure was enormous to stay on ‘top’. So when I annoyed her, I would get a very nasty stare but when I behaved, I get treats like bubble gums.

She was then attached to a man. Initially I found the man very man (if you know what I mean). But things took a downturn. Some how her career took a dip and the man, so called man became a bastard - I would put it this way.

Shortie had a hard fall. She had then took on several odd jobs and became fanatic on her religion. Each year Shortie would seek medium’s prediction on her future and if some unfavourable event was expected she would spend to ‘get rid’ of the spell. Along the way she met another decent man and became her husband. Life did not favour Shortie for many years. Any ‘routes’ she embarked which look promising at the beginning - turned into darkness within a short period. Money became a problem for the couple. They were in great debts and to the point of not answering phone calls. At times my heart ached to know her situation. So were her family and especially her parents. They blamed it on fate. But Shortie’s sister and I prayed that somehow, someday Jesus will show her the way…

We are blessed to see that day. Shortie turned up in church one day to my surprise. From then onwards, she never looked back to her idols and mediums to seek for fortune or to ‘get rid’ the unfortunate but to rely on Jesus. After several months, she was baptized and my heart rejoices with her that she found ‘The Way’. She is faithful and at one time, there was an opportunity to earn more but she had to work on Sunday. I prayed that she will trust God and return to church. She took the courage and chose to come back to church.

Things begin to change. She is not in fear anymore. She and her husband found a decent job and now she has savings. Most of all I can see and feel she has found peace in life. Today she is happily rejoicing and singing for the Lord on the stage!

At times it takes a lot to belief what took place two thousand years ago just via a book. We could have questioned ourselves what if the author of the Bible added or subtracted some information and made it exciting for us. How can we verify? One way – simply to trust it with faith. I am super blessed to witness many lives which have been changed and transformed when one chooses to believe in Him – including mine.

Some may ask that many Christians believe in Jesus when they were at their lowest (or when they faced life and death situation). I agree to some extend. We have been given a choice at all times. At some point in life, some one would have spoke to us on Christ or some how we would have been exposed to Christianity.

At the good times of our life, we are arrogant and do not need anyone neither God. We claim success and riches are by our own effort. Some may abide in God only with the intention to want more riches or to protect their wealth and good health to enjoy their wealth. Sometimes humans need some ‘spanking’ to learn Who is in control…For those who repent, the Father is ever merciful…Amen.

I would say that it is neither the fame nor riches that can bring us far but His peace and joy. He always know what we needed, it is us who are choosing the wrong things in our life. Trust Him or trust ourselves, the choice is ours!

I am still undecided on the title…but I guess it’s the contents that matter…

It wasn't my bravery but it was His peace given to me...

2009-08-09T22:17:00.018+08:00

I can't help it but to share my first night in Bangkok with my friends and colleagues when I returned last Tuesday. Infact, I was doubtful about others when they shared their experiences...

We checked into a hotel at the heart of Bangkok about noon. It was a suite with a living room and a bed room. As usual, I pressed the door bell before we entered the suite. The bell boy knocked twice when he rolled in the baggages together with us. I acknowledged his acts but did not put much thought about it.

The bell boy opened all the curtains and the sun shined into our suite. We then went off to do our shopping and only returned by night. The room was poorly lighted as the lights were a liitle deemed. The bedroom aircond was not cool at all. My colleague cum travel mate decided to shower first while I lied on the couch and watch TV. After she had done, she came asking why did I knocked her door knowingly that she was in the midst of showering. I denied it cause I did not even moved and inche from the couch! We put that incident aside without further comment.

While preparing for bed, we decided to open the bedroom door to allow the aircond from the living room to flow in and to block part of the desk mirror which was facing my bed. Another mirror from the bathroom was also facing my bed. I told my mate to closed the bathroom door when she had done her business to block the said mirror...I felt some what uncomfortable when I saw a reflection from part of the desk mirror...I told myself it was my imagination and went to bed.

It was hot so I cover half of my body with the blanket. By middle of the nite, I was covered from my chest to toe. Suddenly I realized that the blanket covered from my head to toe and I struggled to get out of it. I yelled to my mate to wake me up and prayed. At the same time, my conscience mind told me that I was half dreaming and no matter how I yell for my mate, she could not hear. Again in my mind, I can see that my mate was sleeping soundly. I stopped yelling and struggled hard to wake myself up. After a few minutes, I was awake. I looked around and my mate was sleeping. I thought I was too tired. But I was sweating by then. I turned to face my mate and fell asleep again.

This time I felt 2 fists punching my back and trying to push me off the bed. I felt frustrated and irritated. I prayed again and struggled to lie on my back to face upwards so that the punching can stop. After a few struggles, I managed to face upwards and awake.

I repeatedly told myself that I shall changed room tomorrow and prayed numerous times "In Jesus mighty name, set me. By the blood of Jesus Christ, set me free...Amen" until I fell asleep till morning.

By morning, my mate explained that she had headache in the middle of the nite and took panadol. She further explained that she seldom experience headache after falling asleep. I immediately told her to change room and told her my experiences.

We approached the lobby after breakfast and requested for a new suite. The receptionist asked why and my mate explained that a 'guest' slept with me and also knocked her door while she was bathing. The receptionist did not look shock neither any facial expression that tells us that she was suprise to hear such comment. She smiled and obediently handed us a new suite key. We were quite taken a back with her reaction.

We checked into a new suite and the feeling was some what different from the initial one. Gee...

I shared my experiences with my friends and colleagues when I returned to KL. The common questions were "Weren't you scared? Why didn't you wake up your mate or sleep on the same bed with her? why didn't you change room immediately then?"

Well, I did thought of changing room then or even to wake my mate. But I just don't have th heart to scare her when she was sleeping soundly. Moreso my heart was not beating as though I was fearful...I was just sweating and I thought to myself that I can 'survive' through it!

They said I was brave but I do not agree because I did nothing but prayed...It was His peace given to me..."When I felt secured, I said; "I will not be shaken" '(Psalm 30:6) AMEN!

If you asked whether I would dare to check in to the same suite again since I have strong faith in Christ...I won't! Not that I am lacking faith in Jesus, but we should not test our Lord by purposely asking for trouble, agree?

So, His presence give us authority and protection. Besides, today's sermon in chruch thought me to put away those folks tale practices ie pressing the bell or knocking on the hotel door before entering the room neither should I be placing one slipper up while the other down to keep away the 'guests'. These do not help but only Jesus do! Amen!!! Hope this testimony would strengthen your faith in Him...

2009-06-27T00:34:00.011+08:00

Can't help but to remember those days when i was studying in Sheffield. Some of the moments are still fresh in my mind. I can tell you that I made my way to UK was indeed a great blessing from God and how He had planned for me....simply perfect!

The day came when my parents were getting ready to send me to KLIA. It was a Saturday evening flight. Before departure, mom bought some kuihs for me and a few friends who came by to send me off. The time came when we entered the gate. There were about 30+ of us. Most of the girls teared when they departed except myself. Perhaps my parent thought how heartless was their daughter. But hey, the trip would only take us 3 months +, not 3 years!

90% of us were the first time boarding a plane. Thus, many of us were like orang kampung when our plane took off...many wows and ahs along the way...and eventually after 1/2 hour...people started snoring...sigh..and can you imagine that the plane ran out of postcards and poker cards because of us! Apart from that, my guess was that 30 blankets and small pillows missing when we arrived Manchester on an early Sunday morning...(because later I saw those blankets and pillows in every of our room - I was of one of them -guilty!) So, weren't we like orang kampung?!

The flight was about 17 hours and from Manchester to Sheffield, it need another hour or so...Though we were deprived of good sleep during the long journey, we were not tired at all..

Again many wows and ahs as we took the bus from Manchester to Sheffield. Those greens, blue sky and the mist took our breath away...Again those didn't last long and out of sudden you can hear some cantonese folk songs...gosh! we have just arrived and it seems like we have been there ages and started missing our kampungs! Jialat...My roomate and I disbelief the way others were behaving and shook our heads.

When we reached our hostel, the sun was already shining brightly above our heads. We were then assigned to our room. In our hostel, there are 6 rooms with 3 floors. Each floor, it has 2 rooms. My roomie and myself occupied the top floor. Immediately once we loaded our bagagge, someone knocked on my door and told myself and my roomie to bring along our school bag to shop for rice at Chinatown. We obeyed and were thinking why do we need a school bag? Later, we found out that in UK, you need to pay extra for plastic bags. As we walked to Chinatown, every house we passed by were tightly closed as though it was unoccupied. Not even a single soul was spotted - like we do have some washing cars, some doing gardening, chit chatting, children riding their bicycle etc on a Sunday morning...but here, none at all...How sad...

It took us more than 30 minutes to reach a Chinese grocery store. We store up some rice, some kicap, some noodles etc. Yes, they did not provide any plastic/paper bags for our stuff. We carefully placed those items into our school bags. The return was taxing as we had several kgs on our shoulders and had to walk for 30mins!

Next stop was McD which was located about 10mins away from our hostel. While most gwailos took their lunch outside the premise under the bright sun, we took our value meal inside...they must be thinking how weird we were - depriving ourselves from the bright sun! Later as we stayed longer, we began to appreciate the sun more...most of the time the weather was gloomy...

Wow, after finishing the fries I could only stomach a quarter of the burger. Their portion is larger than our usual medium value meal. I packed up my burger and hope to eat it later in the noon. Once we setlled down in our room, we were terribly exhausted and slept about 3pm. We woke up about 7pm plus...the sun was still shining brightly- it was summer time in UK. We continued our sleep and about 10pm plus (it was still bright), we heard some of our housemates were chatting in the kitchen. But then, we were still too tired to bother who were our housemates and continued to sleep. When we woke up again, it was already Monday morning at 4am (and it was already bright!)..we thought it's crazy to wake up at that hour and behold, we continued. Finally at 7am +, we decided it's enough! Err, remember my burger which I had a quarter? Amazingly, it was not stale and I finished it for lunch! Geng le...

After a quick tour to our Uni, we returned to our hostel by evening and met our housemates (finally) in the kitchen. They are Pakistani English and they were very proud of their Proton Saga! They were very friendly and took us around the city by night. Very lovely of them...But soon they left the hostel for their summer break.

The uni arranged an outing for us on the 3rd day since we arrived. They took us to the country side and we get to see loads of sheep..baaa...aaa...aaa...and the community is small and very quiet. We enjoyed ourselves very much.

After that, our classes were then on a full swing. Out of a week, we only have 3 days of classes. We would walked for about 20mins to our uni rather than taking the bus which cost 50 pence and we even packed lunch from home. After our lecture, we would be back to hostel by 5pm. Thus we have time to cook our dinner. Our meals were very simple and can be the same dishes some time.

I will need to break right here. Shall continue soon....

Miracles and timing...(Part 2)

2009-04-19T17:25:00.003+08:00

Gee…after writing such a long testimony how I had faced ‘death’, probably in this episode I should share something else…

Another miracle I had was - in my education. When I was in primary, I hated school and I hated writing. So most of the time, my exercise books were one page full while the next few pages were blank! Somehow I always have excuse. I made it through UPSR with marginal result. My dad was not too please.

I came to know Christ when I was in Form 1. Every Sunday without fail I will be out of the house for almost ½ day. Usually after church, Janet would take me ‘kai-kai’…Then came Form 3 when I needed to sit for SRP. My pre SRP test was in ultimate ‘disaster’ and my dad was super angry with me. He commanded me to stop attending church and use the time for revision. I protested but I promised to come home straight after service. We had a deal. My SRP results improved tremendously but still not up to my dad’s expectation.

I was angry. Then in form 4, half of my schoolmates and I was transferred to a new school nearer to my house. I hated the school and more so the new school did not offer the same combination of subjects which I preferred. It took me about 6 months to fight and return to my old school. I, was the only one who were eventually being sent back.

In my SPM, I turned a new leaf and worked harder as well as pray harder because I lost 6 months of studies in Form 4. This was the period I learned how to fast. Eventually my SPM, hmmm…let’s say better than SRP. This is the 1st turning point for me in my academic. Most of my friends from my SPM’s years went ahead with twinning programmes or A level. I, for one entered Sixth Form.

I was given a Science class which I hated! I fought for a year to be transferred to Arts. Practically I missed lower six. Thus STPM, I barely made it through. Thanked God I did not have E or F. Well, again all of my close friends made it to local universities. I was disappointed. I headed to TARC to take up CIMA.

With that I had another turning point. In TARC I met many more friends and still keep my existing high school pals. I stayed out in my college days and had one of the best times in my life! Along the way, I had a fear that I may not be able to obtain my professional degree and would end up with Adv Dip. A light came upon me and I must say it was a ‘perfect’ timing!

For the 1st time in TARC, an UK university agreed to offer degrees for Adv Dip students. A GOLDEN opportunity just dropped unto my lap…more so, my dad was due to withdraw from EPF. So, my dad was able to support me to obtain my degree in Sheffield.

Of course to qualify for the programme, we must be fluent in English and a threshold to meet in our final examination. I failed in one of my last 4 subjects on a very marginal point! I needed to re-sit. I had never been so pressured before. Again I remember how my prayers were answered during SPM. I fasted again. I was called for an interview together with another 20 students. We were perceived to be ‘marginal’ case.

The interview was supposedly to start at 9am. I was the last in line. The professor came late and only started at 10am. By 12pm, he was off for lunch appointment and only came back about 230pm. By the time my turn came, I was called to go in together with another boy. It was already 430pm. Damn tired after waiting for 8 hours plus. I can still recall the professor’s name – Brian. I was nervous. He asked us the purpose why we apply to enter Sheffield Uni. The boy gave his answer and I gave mine.

Brian nodded with agreement on our explanation. Brian turned to the boy and went through his results. One page after another and soon Brian found out that the boy failed to highlight that he failed and re-sat for one of the subjects. With that, Brian felt that the boy’s integrity is doubtful and told him that his application is not accepted. The boy was in shock and so was I. I gulped and the boy left the room.

I was almost in tears because I don’t know if I can take it when Brian found out that I failed in one of my subjects and show me the door too. That’s why the boy and I were the last 2 candidates to be interviewed – I thought. Brian looked at me, deep into my eyes. Perhaps he can sensed the fear in me as well as the disappointment which is soon to come…firstly, he apologized for having us to wait for him. I just smiled and told him I can wait even longer if I get to hear some good news. He smiled.

He commented on my results for my finals and I told him about my marginal failed subject. He acknowledged. He then told me that because I did well for other subjects, overall on average, the college had consider me as passed and he looked forward to have me in Sheffield the next few months!!!

HALLELUJAH…the relief in my heart and the joy I had was tremendous and I could not stop thanking God in my heart when I was still in the room with Brian. He again felt bad for having me to wait and commented that I had great patience…He remembered me well from that day onwards.

Well, you see. I always see myself as the ‘left one out’ in many of my passed experiences. Firstly in Form 4, I fought to be transferred from new school to my previous school by myself. When my friends went ahead to college after SPM, I was left alone to pursue Sixth Form. During my sixth form, I was one odd fellow whom fought for a year from Science to be transferred to Arts. Then again after STPM, I was left one out to pursue tertiary in TARC.

Now as I look back, I thank God for His brilliant planning for me. Every turning point looked challenging and I was forced to take on new changes. Every change I had was indeed blessings because I made many more friends and some whom have become my great pals. Also, God did not forget my grievances and gave me an opportunity to obtain my degree and best of all I get to obtain it from UK, which made my dad proud of my success…I have never seen him smile so wide since his wedding photos when he attended my graduation…Hallelujah, God, You are always listening…Thank you for Your mighty works on me…AMEN!I will always remember…

Miracles and timing...

2009-03-29T21:22:00.001+08:00

It has been a few weeks where I have the urge to share some testimonials in my blog…somehow it did not happen until now. Must have been the devil’s work to ensure that either I don’t remember or too busy with reading the juicy news about our politics…you know when it comes to our country there is no end to the power struggle…

This morning as usual I went to church. We have a visitor pastor and he is age 75 years. The moment he walked in, I told myself that it is going to be a dull sermon. Why? I don’t know. To be honest, it is a difficult task to stay awake in church after the Worship and Praise session. More so if the speaker has monotonous tune throughout. However today was an exception and it reminds what I have been wanted to do for a couple weeks before. Update my blog!!!

A few statements caught my attention. No. 1 - Power comes with pride and ends with destruction. No. 2 – We are called to testify. No 3. – Adhere to His voice rather than being stubborn and waits for His rotan. No. 4 – We live by faith and not by machines. No. 5 – When we are in trouble, call upon Him and not start dialing 999.

I shall begin with No. 1. We may be thinking that the word power – would only apply to politician or those high profiled businessmen or top management people. Well, not exactly. Even within our own family or our work place, we do come across with ‘power struggle’. Human being just loves attention. We love praises. We love to be adored. At times, we may ‘sacrifice’ our values just to garner people’s attention. The bible does remind us that at all times and in any situation, we need to be humble. It is difficult but it is necessary to keep our feet on the ground.

Surely, these days we have seen big and solid organizations which previously boast about their successes and the amount of wealth they gained have suddenly disappeared. Some even tried to be funny when given a second chance and they ended up with great embarrassment. Not just organizations, remember those war lords?! What about some leaders?!

I have also seen with my own eyes how an individual who had nothing during the younger days and later was blessed with good wealth and was ‘polished’ by many but ended up with nothing…nothing but pain…Nope, I was not referring to a politician or someone whom you know from the news…although I have nothing to gain nor loose from this individual, his/her ‘downfall’ does made me feel for him/her…and more importantly this keeps me alert to adhere to the Lord’s instruction – to be humble.

So, it does not matter how others (whether our leaders/ organization/ bosses/ colleagues/ relatives/ friends) boast about their success and demand our submission to them or even myself, how successful I am, one needs to be humble. Otherwise, the Lord brings out His rotan and no one will be spared from being disciplined! No, do not get me wrong. Successes and wealth are not sin. But the pride of man for being successful or having the $$$ will eventually lead him to no where…So, be it whoever wants to demand whatever, the Lord is never far away…

No. 2, as the pastor has commented and it is also written in the bible that we, Christians are called to testify. As I have named my blog, “My Journey’, I wish to share my experiences of both ups and downs. For your information, I had been near ‘death’ 3 times in my life till date. The 1st incident was I jumped into a swimming pool with depth surpasses my height and without knowing how to swim! At that time, I was only 4 yrs old…I panicked, drank lots of water and certainly my vision was blurred…and thank God, Marcos saw and swam to my rescue. You know, some would have given up or don’t even dare to be near the swimming pool ever - after such horrific experience…but hallelujah with God’s grace I told myself I must master my swimming. My dad then taught me how to swim and my Lord even sent a qualified coach to teach me some free lessons! Today I can swim even if the depth is thousands of meters surpass my height…

2nd incident was due to my childish, silly and mischievous play. Kids can be very creative…So, one night my dad was bathing while my brother and I were supposedly to be doing our homework. But for those 10 minutes we decided to play a game. As a kid at 10 years old, I always wanted to proof myself that I was a super kid! (Thanks to Superman movie!) My brother stupidly suggested a game to proof how tough was my neck and how long I can withhold my breath when he strangles me with a towel. The position was he pulls me by the neck with a towel and I should be going against his direction. The instruction was to shout “STOP” when I want to give up. And we started. Now that I recall, I do not think I exceeded 20 seconds and my surroundings went pitch black. I was not in pain neither did I had any feeling. Before I knew it, I fell down to my knees because my brother released the towel when he heard the bathroom door opened. My brother even scolded me for not yelling to stop when I ‘kong’ out. Whenever I rethink this incident, I praise God that my dad came out from the bathroom just at the right timing because how could one make a single sound when he/she is being strangled?! Hallelujah! I could have been on The Star’s headlines in 1986 for “A child died while dad was bathing”…

3rd experience was almost similar with 2nd. I was in my teens. Perhaps I was 13 or 14. I took my bicycle to the gas station and pumped air into the tyres. The gas station situated about 1.5km from my house. After pumping the air, I cycled out of the station and suddenly I found myself lying on the road a few meters away from my bicycle. I was surrounded by a group of kids. All I heard was “ada accident”…I saw the motorcyclist looking straight at me while my bike was lying at the road. He yelled “You tak nampak motor kah!”. Yup, he was darned right. I did not see a motorbike coming on my right when I exited the gas station. I did not say a word. I did a quick check on myself and found all my limbs were still intact! I picked up my bike and I saw the front tyre was crooked. Immediately I was in fear…afraid of dad’s scolding for the crooked tyre. I walked home while carrying the bike for 1.5km. As I walked, I began to think about the ‘accident’. Boy, once again I blacked out and behold when I woke up, it was as if nothing had happened! I was ‘carried’ by the angels while I flew off from my bicycle. And if I remember correctly, there were only a few scratches on my knees!!! Again no pain, no feeling…Now if it was not the Lord, I would be appearing on the headlines of The Star, “A teenage died/ hospitalized from a freak accident after pumping the bike’s tyres”…hallelujah! Errr…I did not tell my parents about this. I just mentioned to my dad that I could not brake in time and hit a stationed construction truck. So, that explained the crooked tyre!

After these 3 incidents and with some of the news I have heard/seen about how easily a child can be hurt due to silly accidents, I, myself could have encountered brain damage (at the least) since there were no oxygen in my brain for a couple of seconds or minutes. Or I could have had internal bleedings in my organs from being flown in the air for a few meters. But well, I still obtained my academic certificates, at this moment I am still contributing to the society, I am praising God and what else can I say except for the fact I am still here is because of His grace and mercy??!!! Amen…

(to be continued…)

"Chook Bo"

2009-03-10T01:26:00.008+08:00

A few weeks ago, our family was busy preparing for our brother’s wedding. While we were discussing about the upcoming wedding, my mom shared with us how those days she was married to my father. There were many traditions to observe and my grandparents were not lenient in giving leeway to make things easier. Well, I will tell you more in my next blog on those we call today “pat po” things (surely, if my grandparents were alive, they will ‘kill’ me for stating tradition as “pat po” things...)

Along the way, my mom found our Wong’s family book ie “chook bo’. She mentioned that this book records our family’s background especially the male decendants ie their names, date and time they were born, their spouse's name, their son's name, their burial ground and etc. Ye Ye wrote 5 of these books and had given to all his sons. I am amazed and so is my brother. Besides, it also has instruction on what middle name the male decendants should be naming their sons.

"Chook Bo"

You see for Chinese, our ancestors have predetermined their next few generations of male descendants’ middle name. In this way, we should know how big our family has grown and those with same surname are most likely from the same ancestors.

One of our fore fathers' names

Being Chinese illiterate, we asked my brother’s wife’s father to read. Although Uncle could only understand partially as some of the chinese characters are too deep for him, he too is amazed. He commented this book is full of details on Wong’s family - way back when they were still in China. This book is an antique and not many are still in existence. This comment made me feel proud of what Ye Ye had left us. (Hmmm, wonder were we from the famous kungfu master ie Wong Fei Houng 's decendants...hahahaha...who knows, right?!)

My brother then took it to one of his friend. Again, there are several characters which are too old for him to interpret. However the names written on it were as far as 20 over generations before my father’s time. Some pages even mention that our fore fathers were buried in Fu Chow, China. This means even if we are Cantonese, we may not be even from Guangdong at all.

This page belongs to my father's generation - last page of the book (24th generation)

Well, from the book we know that our father’s generation is named “Yuen/Yoon” whereas my brother’s generation is “Kok”. According to the book, the next in line should be “Tak/ Tuck”. Thus if my brother or my cousin brothers have any sons, they should be naming their son as "Wong Tak/Tuck ___".

The 1st page of the book

(on the right side, it has all the middle name for the male generations)

There are a few more names given for the future generations. How interesting and I somewhat feel that our ancestors were so brilliant that they could then foresee what they want in the future. Besides, it also takes a lot of discipline to ensure the message written by our ancestors are passed down as our family grows! I can’t imagine that this book has 20 over generations' history…and it’s belonging to our family!!!

I am really interested to know the entire book’s contents. It should tell us a lot. Wonder if anyone knows the olden days chinese characters...I am very grateful that Ye Ye had actually taken the time to write 5 of these. I must say what he has given to us is far more valuable than monetary things. History is what has shaped us to be today.

Just like how God has given us the Bible. As said, the Bible is the most demanded book in history and it is still holding the record till date. Not just that it contains the history of BC and AC, more importantly it has God’s instructions for us! I am proud to be called God’s child and to have His words with me. Amen...

I am also thankful to Ye Ye for spending time and effort to give us the family history to pass on to our children and so on...

Stand firm...

2009-03-09T13:25:00.016+08:00

It has been 6 months since we first heard about the financial crisis. Since then many things have changed...it has been tough and some say it will get tougher!

Many shared that this crisis is the first of its kind and it will be worse than 1930s - "great depression". Negative news flock our daily lives. Most of us who are earning income begin to fear of the future. Even the high profile people, businessmen and employers could not ascertain the right strategy to encounter the crisis. Will this problem be solved by giving out the billions of stimulus package? Is printing more money - the answer? Retrenchment? Creating projects? Or keep every dollar we have? Seriously, I would say, no one knows...

Everyday without fail, we come across seminars, talks, trainings, news and etc on how to embrace this crisis.

I think more importantly, we should review why this has happened - the root cause - GREED OF MANKIND.

In one of the sermon, I heard a statement - "There is no such thing as recession in the Kingdom of God". If we study the Bible, I would think the word "recession" is nowhere to be found. It is us who created recession which will then lead us into DEPRESSION. God has fore warned us not to have idols in our life. Money is a necessity in our life but it should be the ultimate.

If we re-look into many of the past dynasties whether in China or Europe or even back to BC, the downfall of a kingdom starts from the greed of a man. The history should have taught us valuable lessons. However we still fail to learn.

As said, the minorities always affect the majorities. This is the world...

But we should not fret! God is ever merciful and graceful to those who rely on Him. "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plan will succeed. " (Pro 16:3). Look at the verse again. There is a FULLSTOP. Simple and straightforward instruction. No jargons, no "IF" or "MAY" but the word "WILL" succeed!

Let's us take heed what has been told by Him and build our faith in Him. We shall then rise above the occassion for whatever the world is facing...Amen!

Year of Ox..MooOooOoo!

2009-01-29T14:31:00.007+08:00

Since dad has left us, we dare enough to break away from tradition and had not been 'slaughtering' on CNY eve. No matter how we persuaded, dad would never agree to have Reunion Dinner out of the house...sigh. Well, I guess he had his own opinion and everytime when we sat at the table, we soon forgotten about the hassle of preparing the dinner...

This eve, Amy came back to join us for Reunion Dinner at Ming Room. As I always say, it is never about the dishes we have on the table…it's the family members whom are enjoying the dinner with... I am glad that our family is growing...next year, we will be having 5!Amen...

1st day as usual, we begun our visiting to my beloved 2nd aunty. Every year going to Ah Leong's house, it's like going back to my hometown...yea, it's just about 20km away...but the old neighbourhood brings back a lot of my childhood memories...looking across Ah Leong's house reminds me of my childhood friends...the family has 5 kids. Eldest is Ah Ling who is 6 years older than me...followed by Ah Fun, Ah Fah, Ah Kuen and youngest Ah Mun. Their father is a durian seller and I get free durian everytime he has left overs...These bunch of friends were like my siblings and I don't feel good if I don't see them for a single day. I was told they would also look for me whenever I was at home with my parents...They were also the ones who gave me a bewildered experience of kena rotan from Ah Leong...hahaha...I wonder where are this bunch now...hope they are well...

Then we headed to Ah Sok's place. This year, we get to meet up with my 2 cousin brothers who returned from Suzhou and HKG. Great to see them... Besides, Kok Hoe also announced that he too will be marrying in Oct...Congrats, bro!

Next 3rd Ah Leong. Unfortunately, she was not in and we were greeted by Ah Fun sis. Wow, her boy has turned into a fine young man...time flies...and last of Wong's family would be my 4th aunty. It was also a pleasant surprise to have Ah Mei and her hubby returned from Aussie.

As usual, everytime I get my ang pow...it will sure come with a comment ..."So, when can I stop giving you a?" or "You know, waiting for your cup of tea makes my neck longer"...sigh...cold sweat...to receive ang pow nowadays is no longer as 'excited' as it use to be...hahaha...My friend sms myself and asked how many ang pows I have collected...I replied, these ang pows collected has "blood and sweat" in them...hahaha

This year, wonderfully all my cousins from abroad have returned home...how superb to begin the year of Ox with our family all home plus good news to be shared...We shall be looking forward to March and October to celebrate the marriage of my brother and Kok Hoe!

Gong Hei! Gong Hei!

CNY

2009-01-26T00:41:00.001+08:00

Time flies…those days when I was younger (not too long ago though :P) CNY was the best time of the year…1 month before this festival arrives, the young ones will be very excited because we get to have new clothes, new shoes, play firecrackers and most of all…the ang pows!!!

Those days my family and 7th uncle’s family stayed with my grandparents…so, when CNY was near my mom and 7th aunty would be busy cleaning and cooking while our dads were busy cleaning their cars and repairing any electrical items which were spoilt for some time…nobody would care until CNY and suddenly time seems too short for everyone. Well, what we the young ones do? Of course, we need to pretend helping our parents (let’s just say if we really did, they will have more to clean up…hahaha…) I remember, we looked forward to night…it’s firecracker time! We used to gather a few cans and fire them everywhere. Whoever managed to have the loudest blast would seem to be the winner!

On the 1st day, all the young ones would be dressed up like ‘super models’…even if our shoes were hurting our feet, we would never complain…as early as 8am, my Ye Ye’s house would turn into a busy ‘market’ as all the Wong’s would return home. Everyone had to queue to pour tea and wish Ye Ye and Ma Ma with the best wishes…then it would be from the eldest to the youngest…the whole house were filled with laughter and joy…all arguments and grudges which they had were forgotten on this day…the children were compared on their heights while some were busy showing of their new baju and ehem, jewellery…

Our family moved out eventually and these CNY routines only lasted for another year or so. Ma Ma was sent to an old folks home since she needed medical care 24 hrs…she left a couple of years thereafter and it was then Ye Ye’s turn to be sent to an old folks home…I never understand why but I never dare to ask…

Since then Ye Ye’s house had never been the same…CNY had changed…instead of gathering in a common place, we started to visit every of my dad’s siblings’ home. There were 4 of them…if each house we need about 2 hours, we would need 8 hours to complete…so, we have to start early. My dad would wake us up early because we have to eat before we start visiting…waking up early is already torturing – worst was asking me to eat rice that early…sigh…I hate eating rice when the sun is only starting to shine!

By the time we finished all 4 houses, my mom, bro and myself were practically ‘half-dead’ while my dad, half drunk. By night, dinner was simple comparing the night before when we had reunion dinner…and the dishes…well, there were the same – the only different is lesser portion…

Our 1st day doesn’t stop at dinner. We have to make our way to Ulu Kelang to visit my mom’s aunty. Usually we arrived at 930pm and everyone in Yee Poh’s house was already half ‘partying’ with mahjong and drinking…at that age, I was too young for mahjong and drinking…what we do? Well, either we sit by the side of the mahjong table and hand over drinks to the players or sit with dad and Yee Kong to hear them cursing at politicians in the country and in their office…both choices were great for me…else I won’t know how to play mahjong neither would I know that in any generation of mankind, politicians are mostly sucks – whether they are working for the country or those in our office!

2nd day, yet again my dad would wake us early to ‘hoi lin’…again is about having rice…sigh, who the heck created such culture!!! Later on that day, it’s my dad’s turn to receive his siblings and other relatives…although I was made into “Ah Sei” for the day…I was proud of my part time role as a ‘bar waitress’…hmmm, I guess the alcoholic gene is in me because I love to pour beer…and pour beer and pour beer and pour beer…seeing my relative and cousins in my home, I feel the special warmth where 364 days were missing…

Well, I am not sure about other family. Although it has been a routine for every CNY on whom we visit or who would be coming…and as the years gone by…some of my family members have ‘left’…we also have ‘additional’ members along the way - somehow the topic of conversation has never change…best is we never grow tired of the same questions neither are we annoyed in answering them…hahahaha

Now, my dad is no longer around to wake us early and we do not need to eat rice that early…again CNY has changed…

I guess as we grow, the feel and the way we celebrate CNY will somehow change…these days when CNY is near, we confess that we ‘lost’ the feel we used to have…I wonder whether this ‘feel’ will return when our life changes to another stage i.e. when we have children and that they are old enough to understand this festival…then would it be like when I was young and were in Ye Ye’s house…I wonder…

“Gong Hei Fatt Choy” “Chook Lei Lin Lin Yau Kam Yat, Sui Sui Yau Kam Chiu” “Chook Fook Lei Loong Ma Ching San, Po Po Kow Sing, Wang Choy Chow Sau” “Chook Lei Sam Seong Si Seng”

2008

2008-12-29T13:43:00.006+08:00

A few more days and we are entering into a brand new year…perhaps this will be my last blog for year 2008.

2008 passes-by tremendously fast and at times I felt worried because it seems like I am running after time…beginning of the year we have a restructuring in our division and I am posted to HQ. I thought I was ready to face any challenges and I also prepared myself for those things I thought I would have a handful! Well, it did not turn out the way I thought it was suppose to…and all the effort of ‘preparation’ never been put to use whereas many situations happened unpredictably. As the Chinese saying, “Let heaven predicts your next step rather than your own selves”…how true!

In this new position, I have a lot of exposure especially in people management. Certain times I wished I can return to be a junior officer to ‘escape’ from responsibility rather than where I am. My ex-boss used to say “A popular manager won’t make him/her a good manager”…I somewhat disagree with the statement. I think it should be…”A ‘yes’ manager won’t make him/her a good manager”…Well, the word “NO” is absolutely a very heavy word to utter though it’s just 2 alphabets compare to 3 in a ‘yes’…but most of the time there are not many options for us and we always hope that our teams would understand someday – somehow…to go through these challenging episodes I kept reminding myself, it’s all about work – nothing personal. I wonder if the other party would have the same thought…

Then a rude shock came right after my birthday. All these while I thought I am just trying my best to do whatever I can for everyone. Unfortunately, people have otherwise opinion on my action and now I am put to blame for their loss. It is disheartening and depressing. Sometimes I wondered whether I really had made an error and why not just accept the blame to stop the whole episode. However in one of the Sunday sermon, a verse in the bible helps. It says “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visit us” (1Peter 2:12).

2008 was not just about challenges and hard times. I had my best travel so far which I have been planning for a long time. I had great time with my friends and my family. I met up with some of my old friends and I also made new friends…I had the opportunity to taste fantastic food!

This Christmas brings a lot of good times…on the eve; my family had dinner at Euro Deli. On Christmas Day, we had great lunch with my best pals and their family…so many babies at one time in my house - brought a lot of joy! By night, we headed to Jaycy’s home where I looked forward to every year. Those days, Janet would be the host before she migrated to Perth and if I remember correctly, we never missed any of her invitations neither Jaycy’s. I particularly loved during the dinner is the chatting…although my job requires me to talk a lot but when I am at home with my family, I am more a listener…and I simply enjoy it! Not to forget boozing with my cousins is another fun part…hahahaha…I don’t know how to describe their expression but they definitely make me laugh…like when I was small how they made funny faces to tickle me! If I am given a choice, I preferred those gatherings we had when I was younger - when every family members are still around…ie Marcos, 4th sis-in-law, my father (all who are with the Lord now) and also my cousins Janet & her family in Perth and Allan…I miss them…

The next day, we had BBQ session with my team from JT together with 2 “special” guests. We were blessed with good and rich food. I believe everyone had a good time and Kiwi too…On Saturday, I made a journey to Seremban with boss and Ling to attend Karen’s wedding…and Sunday after church, we headed to an elderly aunty’s house. I am amazed with this aunty. She is going to be 79 next year and she invited 13 of us for Christmas lunch! She made fried mee, sui kao, vegetable, fried fish balls, chicken, pot pies, cheese cake, jello and drinks with the help of a maid…the best part was when she has prepared all the food for us, she entertained us and herself by singing karaoke!!! She operates the vcd and the hi-fi herself…she chose the cds and her favourite songs herself without any help or even a pair of spectacles…I think she enjoyed herself very much…I thanked God for her exemplary life…she lost her husband and her son…her daughters are in overseas and she stays alone with a maid. Yet she maintains a joyful life and less bother of how people may see her…Hallelujah! What a joy to know her…

No matter where or how the situations will turn out to be, I have to convince myself that I should not be looking backwards and only have to focus in moving forward. I trust that God will lead me through every hurdle and even if I fall I have Him to hold me and put my feet back on solid ground…and if someday I could be like my church aunty who is care-free and joyful despite so many adversities, it would be a blessing! I am going to work towards that…Have a Great and Blessed 2009!

Great dishes on Christmas Day

Highlight of the Day - Turkey

At Jaycy's house

Guess who's the real chef?

"yummm, I smell bone in here..."

Ribs and Wings..yummy

BBQ session

Thanksgiving

2008-12-08T15:04:00.009+08:00

Hmm…when comes Dec, we often look forward to Christmas and we never knew when is Thanksgiving!

The word “Thanksgiving” is powerful enough to remind us of God’s blessings given unto us and that we should be grateful in whatever circumstances we are facing.

It has been 20 years since I came to know Christ and each time I looked back on the day which I made the decision to accept Him, I have not regretted and in fact I don’t or wouldn’t know what I will do or would become without Him all these years. Simply with this statement, I should and always give thanks unto Him for being a true friend to me...and unconditionally…

It has been a terrible start of Dec…we always say, when thing get jinx, it will be jinx all the way…it is very disheartening to know that all the time we thought we are doing good things or helping someone would turned out be a total wrong! Not only that the people are not appreciative…they turned against you and blame you for doing things which are hurting them! Sounds familiar?

The last time I felt such heaviness in my heart was almost a decade ago. That time it only lasted 2 days and no physical pain noted. Perhaps I was 10 years younger then…This time it lasted almost a week and I really felt the pain in my heart…guess its due to lack of sleep and I have been thinking a lot! I was scared that I may collapse anytime; I tested my heart by going to gym and did the treadmill for an hour…I survived …hallelujah! I asked God to lead me as I sincerely don’t know what else to do and I was seriously over exhausted…and graciously He begun to move each of the jigsaw into its place…although the jigsaw puzzle is yet to be completed…but I felt so much lighter…I need to rely on Him as I know that these circumstances which I am facing may or may not turn out the way I wanted…”FAITH” is the word to describe how I am suppose to handle them…

I learned that we do not have control over many things in our life. The only thing we could control is our own self whether in terms of feelings or actions…and God never fails to give us a choice to choose…Funny thing is, most of the time we choose the wrong path…but at the end when we realize we are heading towards ‘disaster’ we finally look upon Him for direction! And He will graciously lead us despite of our shortcomings…I often wonder for those who are free thinker…to whom they will seek help from when there are times where they are beyond human intervention…I am blessed that I have Jesus!!! Amen…

2 days ago, we celebrated my mom’s birthday together with SAL’s mom. They both share the same date ie 9th Dec…they have been friends too since I knew SAL 5 yrs ago…during the lunch, we captured some shots and there were a photo of my mom and SAL’s mom and a photo of SAL and myself…when I looked at these 2 photos, I made a comment…”SAL, this is how we looked like now…in 20 yrs time, will we look like our moms?”. We laughed out loud until we teared a lil… Aunty Soo then commented, “You girls should give thanks to the Lord if you are as healthy as us in 20 yrs time” and she gave a laugh…How true!!!

Well, does anyone know when Thanksgiving Day is? I think I should pay more attention to this wonderful Day moving forward…

“You are my strength when I am weak; You are the treasure that I seek: You are my all in all; Seeking You as precious jewel; Lord to give up I’d be a fool; You are my all in all;”

It's November!

2008-11-22T17:51:00.005+08:00

It’s the time of the year when we used to be so broke continuously until we received our bonus in March or April the following year…only if we have bonus…sigh. Well, it’s not yet Christmas though...it’s November! Nope, we don’t celebrate early Christmas…we celebrate birthdays…

Yes, every November month, we have birthdays to celebrate! Starting with Yip on 7th…then myself on 13th, SAL on 21st and KSL on 27th…if you noticed our birthday are 7-8 days apart i.e. a week…A few years ago, we were still junior officers and with our income then, having dinner at Chilli’s or TGIF would be luxurious…

Well, we must confess that we girls were a little selfish (WMC, SAL and KSL)...for Yip’s birthday we will just settled with him a piece of cake and our wishes from the bottom of our heart…when it comes to ours…boy, we had the most fantastic dinners which can cause a big ‘hole’ to our wallet and pressies as well…we were in debts by end of Nov and we didn’t care as we know we can use our bonus to cover the ‘hole’ later…how spoilt we were?!

The first year when we found out that our birthday is a week apart, we celebrated 3 times…each week, we had different luxurious restaurant to spoil ourselves…phew! We realized soon that the ‘hole’ was too big for us…we then learned to combined our 3 celebrations into one mega celebration! Second year onward, we did just that…but the ‘hole’ in our wallet did not really shrink…we spent on other things...hahaha...

I remember well for one year, we had our celebration with Yew at the Hardrock Café Restaurant…we had great nite out…when we left the restaurant, it was pouring…to get to the carpark, we had to cross over the swimming pool area where there is no shelter…as we walked back to the carpark, myself and SAL brave the rain to reach our car and we were wet! But then we did not realize that KSL and Yew weren’t behind us…we waited for 15mins and no sight of them…finally they turned up and told us they explored an alternate route via the kitchen and they were almost being locked out….hahaha…after all their adventure, they were still wet like us!

The following day, we had made plans to visit Meleka and SAL’s hometown in Rembau…Because of the rain, SAL was down with a flu, KSL and myself were down with fever…yet, we still go ahead with the trip…Yew was the driver and he was fine…sigh…throughout the journey to Melaka, we slept…our first stop was A Famosa…the place didn’t excite us…probably because we were so sick and no mood…we took an ice cream despite that of our fever to cheer ourselves up but didn’t really work… :(

By nite, we had dinner at the Portugese’s settlement…had seafood and baked crab…could hardly taste the food…finally, we send KSL to her parent’s home and we moved on SAL’s home in Rembau…we slept in the hall together…I popped in a panadol, SAL popped in a flu pill and we went silent within 1-2 minutes…My guess was KSL popped in pills as well just like us too…suddenly, myself and SAL were awaken in the middle of the nite by Yew’s snoring…gosh, it was like a train charging down the track…we decided to abandon him in the hall and slept in the room…hahahaha…this is how we treated a friend!

Depsite we were so sick, we still 'die die' made the trip and at the end, we needed medication...this was how 'powderful' we were!

Why did I mention that we were broke from Nov till March?! Well, the spending spree wasn’t just to cater for our birthdays…Nov – Jan are the best months for weddings and those years most of our colleagues and friends were going thru ‘tow fa wan’ (cherry blossom years – “the in love period”) one after another was getting married like a ‘contagious disease’…then we have Christmas which we just can’t hold ourselves back from buying pressies for our loved ones and friends…then comes the CNY’s shopping spree and ang pows for our elders…so, those 4 months we practically digging and digging ‘hole’ to our wallet…sigh…

But no matter how bad our debts were…we had fun and we had the best time with each other…now that we can afford good dinners, many good nights out and fantastic pressies…we do not have the opportunity to do such ‘powderful’ things again…SAL is now happily married with a kid and one more on the way soon J …KSL is in Melbourne with her darling and Yew...hardly hear from him except recently he invited myself for his wedding…Myself? I am happy with where I am and also still very in touch with my good pals…as well as I found new friends…a beginning of a new chapter…

Well, I hear a lot from people that they want to save money for this and that…and up to the point whereby they keep away from outings or spoiling themselves once in a while…but when you miss the opportunity of having fun…you just missed it! In no way the money we managed to save can bring back the chance of having a great time with friends...things just keep on happening and we just don’t know where, when or what we will end up with…how much money do we think is enough? This question I guess many would not have an answer as it changes often than not…Probably the question should be how many chance I want to miss for having a good time which I deserve!

Happy birthday to Yip, SAL, KSL, Estee, Kim, YSC …Blessed Marriage to Yew, Jack, William...

At the Altar...

2008-11-03T00:17:00.005+08:00

Last Friday was a day where things just did not turn out to be the way which I thought they should be…

A “hope” which I have been fighting and made believe that it will be materialized soon would suddenly turned to be a dead end…bringing such news to a friend who trusted in me is simply terrible! I admit that I was not strong enough to tell her verbally and sent a sms instead…every words typed were like cuts to the heart …the pain while waiting for the reply was like an open wound…it came and although the bad news was well received, I was still shameful for this “defeat”! I was so sure that I will have it but…

While trying to accept this defeat, the young ones whom I have so much hope in them turned ‘ugly’ and naïve…a simple decision to make and they made it complicated…worst, none admitted their own immature thinking…I am thinking would my plans for them would be another bad choice after all…I was lost!!!

That day was not merciful…before I left office to attend a customer’s dinner, I was informed that my fellow southern “comrade’s” mother passed away after 2 months of suffering from stomach cancer…I sms to send my deepest condolences and my support for her and family…she thanked me and ended the sms with these words “I am heading to spore to get her…very sad”…my heart instantly broke…

At the dinner, though the whole team turned up…I hardly have the taste for the lobsters and oysters…tried so hard to control my drink…but each glass I gulped actually lessen the pain and took away my thoughts…4 glasses quickly became 5 then 6 then 7 and I lost count…after the final glass I started to tear and I could hardly opened my eyes…I was chauffeur to the toilet…then to my car and finally after all the commotion, I ended in my colleague’s house…throughout I vomited uncontrollably…I also heard a lot of voices..”Carry her…” “Why? We r here with you”…”don’t be a silly girl”…”It’s OK we r with you..”…”Let her rest..”…”take her home”…I was even more confused then but…One voice was clear…”Be strong for the Lord is with you”

I managed to get up and got home in the middle of the night…I had a busy and packed Saturday so that I won’t have time to think about Friday’s episodes…I woke up at 1030 and ran my errands, had tea with my best pal, went to hike TTDI’s forest reserved and finally to the Vienna Operetta Orchestra…I immediately ‘dropped dead’ when I reached home at 130am.

At church today, it was my turn to be in charged of the chorus board…as we sang, I was asking for healing…tears still streamed down as I was so heartbroken about the news which I had to break…then during the service, Pastor spoke “we often cry for our loss instead of our sin” …made me realized that I did not turn to Him when things got ugly but had opted for the drinks and even with that I am still not repenting for being drunk instead crying out to God about my defeat! How stupid I am?! I walked up to the altar, asked for forgiveness and prayed…Pastor prayed with me…

I know that - the Altar is the place to be and God is the answer…I am assured that there will be a new beginning in any and every of the situations which we think that they are ended…and I need to learn to be patient…He has promised! Amen...

“Turn to us Lord and touch us; Make us strong in Your might; Overcome our weakness, that we could stand up and fight…”

Tracking...

2008-10-27T12:33:00.014+08:00

Well, it has been a while since I update the blog. Firstly, I am so touched to receive the comments from my friends and my family on my blog on “A tribute to the man who cried for me...”. Thanks!

Oct is coming to an end. Today we are celebrating Deepavali and it is nice to have a break!

Last weekend, a group of us headed to Cameron Highlands for a night stay. The last time I have been there were about 2-3 years ago. Nothing much has changed. However one thing which is quite obvious was the temperature, it was not as low as before. Sigh…we humans are terrible...we opt for development over protecting the nature…

The whole trip was “Awesome” as Kennedy puts it...but I particularly enjoyed the jungle tracking most. We started the track at about 430pm on the day we arrived...we were enthusiastic about this and frankly, none of us have been through this track in Cameron before…so, we don’t know where or what is ahead of us neither where’s the end...we played by ear and just walked...hopefully to see an end…

I was amazed to have the girls like Lisa, Louisa & Tze Yin whom are those who prefer beauty over adventure were as sporting as us…also Kar Mun whom hurt her knees when she returned from Italy a couple of weeks ago...still hanging tough and followed us closely behind…I am also proud of Jeff and David for staying behind with Kar Mun although they can choose not to!

The track seems to be unexplored for some time and we didn’t see anyone joining us on the track...it was just the 12 of us as we walked down hill…it was thrilling! The track was slippery, muddy and challenging…we have to climb over or squeeze through the fallen trunks...we also came across some small water falls along the way...some of us slipped and fell along the way…half way through, it poured heavily and we still continued on…the rain then stopped…before we get dry, it poured again..(it was more than a decade since I enjoyed myself in the rain!) Great sceneries were spotted along the way…they were breathtaking views…Awesome God’s creations…

After an hour plus, 11 of us decided to turn back since we were unsure how far to go neither will there be an end! Kennedy was the odd one out and suggested that we take a cab when we reach foothill…a cab in Cameron?? Nah!!!

We managed to reach our base about 630pm..one word describes our feeling then...EXHAUSTED! The following day, most of our legs were aching…but none regretted the tracking! We can’t stopped sharing the feelings that we had when we were on the track...we laughed, we knew the experiences we had was worth the while though it was tough!!! We hope to do it again someday soon…

This track has further reminded me about one’s life…God never promised us that our life would be an easy path…remember when we were born, we cried out loud! Life is definitely an ‘adventure’ for us...none of us would know what is ahead neither the end…there will be times that we need to climb over challenges, squeeze through the ‘difficulties’, surprises, exhausted, slip and fall…pain for loss, enjoyment of successes, feeling of joy and love from the people surrounding us…All these will be part of us…

Aileen’s father was hospitalized a month ago from a fall...he was in coma. The 1st time I saw him in ICU, the sight was similar to 10 years ago when Marcos was lying in Assunta. We did not give up and trusted God for miracle. I told myself, it didn’t matter what had happened 10 years ago...he will be a testimony for his family...God is merciful, he woke up in a couple of days and after a month plus he is now at home, recovering! Hallelujah…praise God!

Mom’s second check-up was encouraging...her white blood cells count is improving and I believe the next check-up would be the last for God will completely heal her!!! Amen…Jaycy’s received good news from her doc that her growth on her breast is non cancerous!! Praise God...Amen…

Many said we are heading into “great depression” as our global economy is in turmoil…some of us are loosing quite a fair bit in our investments and we are already complaining and worrying so much…but come to think of it, we should look at those whom have lost their job because of this economic crisis...those whom have to cut their food intake to ensure they can survive through this challenging times…those whom are unable to handle this crisis pressure and take their own life…I must say that we at times should look at things in a wider perspective rather selfishly and blame everyone for our own self lost!

Life is definitely a challenging one…and I know that I must rely on God to get through it…no matter how tough or impossible or how painful it can be...He will ensure that I will be able to overcome and be strong! The path maybe winding, muddy, slippery, seems to have no end but the day when I am called home, I can say “I am exhausted but I have no regrets in this journey…”

A tribute to the man who cried for me...

2008-09-14T17:34:00.019+08:00

Oct 2008 will be a decade since Ah Pak went away to be with the Lord...how time has passed. However every memory of him is still fresh in my mind and I am not intending to loose them.

I was 'baby-sitted' by my father's elder brother and his wife when I was 1 month old. I came back to join my own family when I was age 6. In that 6 years, I thought my uncle and my aunty were my parents whereas my parents were my uncle and aunty. I fondly called my uncle, Pak Pak while my aunty as Ma Ma later changed to Ah Leong as my other aunties were advising me to be sensitive to my own mom...Later, my cousins gave Pak Pak an english name ie Marcos while Ah Leong as Imelda since Pak Pak has some similarity to Marcos, the Philipines PM then..

I remember that those days when i stayed with Marcos and Imelda everyday without failed I will be anxiously waiting for him to return from work. A glass of tea and an innocent look, hoping that for a ride on his kapchai..Some evenings worked, some didn't...hahaha..but I never gave up the same old act until I was too big to ride in front of it...

By night, "Incredible Hulk" would be in full action, disturbing him from reading the newspaper...at times, he got so irritated and pinned the lil "green thing" down for good...Thereafter a loud cry can be heard for justice to be done. Immediatley 3 angels (my cousins Judy/ Janet/ Jaycy) will come from nowhere for my rescue. Well, actually they were just trying to shut me up asap!!! When the 'angels' failed, Imelda would always managed to do the job..Marcos would then have his wicked laugh...I hated the laughter so "Incredible Hulk" jumped back on his chest and snatched his reading glasses! Before he could retaliate, Imelda gave out sterned warning to stop the episode..All he could say was "You spoilt lil brat..". There, I must have my last laugh...else, I won't give up!

And his cookings were simply irresistible. Not that Imelda's cooking is bad, she is an excellent cook. My mom and other aunties learned from her on those traditional cooking. Marcos's signature dishes includes young bamboo shoots with beef, braised beef, fish paste porridge or oats (my favourite), beef jerky, steamed egg with fish brain, sweet steamed egg, etc..Boy o boy, I cleaned up my plate everytime and often crossed border to attack his portion too..he he he...

Every weekend, he would planned all sorts to keep me entertained. Plans can be as far as going to Genting Highland just for the sake of cooling down or somewhere just to have a plate of hokkien mee (my favourtie then)...I don't know why but whenever I travelled in a car I fell asleep easily then..So, sometimes we made it to our destination while at times he just made a U turn without uttering a single word...

The last trip with the whole family was to PD. Marcos was not himself somehow. Every now and then, he insisted me to capture photos of him..for memory he said. I did not pay much attention. After supper, we gathered at the corridor with my other cousins ie Jaycy and Janet...as usual, we girls loved to hear him talk..mind you, out 10 words out of his mouth, 7 are foul langauge which we found that without them, it would not be him...He told us that he had lived his life and he would rather die straight if any mishap happens..his will is not to be a burden for his beloved wife and his family..His only worries would be Imelda on her rhuematism and Judy, his 3rd daughter...We immediately hushed him and changed the whole subject..

About 2 weeks after PD trip, Marcos took me to another trip with Imelda..it was just 3 of us..I was reluctant at first but hey, it has been a while that the 3 of us travelled...we headed to Kukup Island in a tour where the whole bus was full of old folks..I guessed I was the only young adult in the group..the tour guide must be wondering if I have signed up on the wrong trip! I hated the tour guide as she did not pass my share of breakfast thinking that young gal would be on diet...why waste?! Marcos noted that and gave half his share to me..I took it because I know if I didn't, he would be upset thinking I am on diet..O, he dislikes those who opt for diet to be thinned..He always said, "Sik tak hai fook" (Able to eat is a blessing!)

By night after dinner, the 2 of us were sitting at the dock enjoying the sea breeze. Imelda went to the room for an early rest.He told me many stories..from politics to family's history. I never grew tired in listening to him..but at times he went silent..and we just simply enjoyed each other's presence...

A horrific news came after 2 weeks from Kukup trip. Dad told me that Marcos was hospitalised when I came back from pasar malam. The dinner which I had before we went to hospital was the most difficult to swallow till date.Marcos hit a beam when he was fixing the roof that afternoon. His brain was bleeding and he was in coma. The sight of him lying in ICU with many tubes inserted is still fesh in my mind.

I prayed so hard for a miracle...after 7 days, he left. My whole world crashed but I was told not to tear whenever Imelda is in sight...she lost her man whom loved her for 50 years!During the funeral,I overheard my cousin was conversing with some uncle/aunty and pointed over to me "Yea, she is the one..you remember her..you know,my father loves her so much as though she was his own...everyone said she looked like him and he was so proud. He even hid in the toilet and cried when she went home at 6 yrs old..his eyes continued to be red for the next few days..this is how my father loved her.." He cried???!! I remember that day when my parents took me, I cried to the top of lungs, hanging to his legs but I can't recalled anyone came for my 'rescue'...

Disbelieving what I heard, Jaycy and Janet confirmed to me in several other occassions..even Imelda too...

A man whom had been through the toughest in his life and never once gave up...would tear for a small non blood related girl..I am so touched and I am lost for words for his love...While I was lost and angry that Marcos never had a real chance to enjoy his retirement age, God spoke .."My child, why are you so angry?? you prayed for a miracle and wanted with all your heart for him to have good life...wouldn't being with Me, he will have ALL things?" My heart agreed with God but my mouth just unable to say "Amen" because I am no longer near him...

Over the years, the Lord helped me to build myself and I began to re-look to those times when we spent time talking...I realize that the PD trip we made 1 month before he departed, he had given us the last message..ie Look after Imelda and Judy for me...he knew he was leaving...he damn knew it!!!

And I guess, I learned that in loving someone, it is not necessary to be near him/her...more importantly is I continue his wishes and be of someone whom he can be proud of...

I am so blessed that God has given me him and I am so blessed that he is with Him...AMEN!THANK YOU, Pak Pak..it doesn't matter how many years will passed, you will always be part of me...

Destination

2008-09-07T18:58:00.007+08:00

I was reading a book and a phrase caught my attention where it reads "..the destination is less important than the journey."

I beg to differ as my destination is as important as my journey. By knowing where I am heading, I then know how to path my way and more importantly I pray that my way would be in line with His 'prepared route' for me...

Last few weeks have been rocky...work is getting more pressurize..Everyday is do or "die". It did not matter what are the 'obstacles', just know that we need to deliver our target. Here we know where is our destination ie 600m is the mark. But the pathway is never clear..rocky, winding, contradicting and most of the time we found 'dead-ends'...I pray that something can be done before we end up like many others whom we once 'laughed at' for acting like a headless chicken. I used to be upset when I hear about a resignation from someone I am close to. Now, if the same happens, I would be happy for them...Many have asked that I do the same..at the moment, my mind and my heart could not agree with each other...I guess, being loyal has a price to pay but how much more can I afford to fork out???

Not just having to deal with the pressures at work, getting in and out of the hospital is like adding tonnes of weight on my shoulders. I praise God for His miracle healing on mom whom lost her memory temporary...but unfortunately she did not receive a clean bill of health when we returned for a second check-up. Her white blood cells count is abnormally high. Another check is needed.

As I was trying not to let the devil to control my mind, a SMS came during a meeting and my Ah Leong was rushed to UH for a suspected stroke. I was lost during the whole meeting and the memory of loosing both my Ah Pak and dad quickly dominated my thoughts. I prayed silently that history will not repeat and God has graciously heard my prayer...Ah Leong was diagnosed with low sugar level instead of stroke. Hallelujah! She recovered and discharged within 3 days...

Well, the above was not the only incidents..my bro broke his ankle badly during a futsal..here we go, it's UH again!!!sigh..going to UH's emergency ward was almost like frequent visits to a friend' house. This has to stop and it will in Jesus's name. I am believing in God to place His mighty hands on my family members and heal them...Amen..

Thorughout the challenging times, it made me realized that having Jesus in my heart is all I need to carry me through, nothing to fear, nothing to be confused...just walk wih Him faithfully...though the path maybe rocky, winding, contradicting, dark, no consistency... but it is the path that I have chosen and must take because I know damn sure that I am seeing "The Light" in front of me...MY DESTINATION!

In You I trust, amen...

A cave in Ipoh (aka "The Light")

What a Weekend!

2008-08-17T19:41:00.008+08:00

Wow, it has been a great weekend... and I hate that it is ending soon. Nevertheless we might have a public holiday if Lee Chong Wei wins the gold later! Come on Chong Wei, you can do it..all Msian supports you..we need a break! :)

On Saturday we celebrated Shin's bday at d'italliane restaurant, Jaya 33. The food was nothing fantastic compares to Nero Vivo, Jln Ceylon. However it was the occassion and the companions that made the lunch simply superb! Blessed Birthday, my dearest pal Shiny..

Ceasar Salad

Mushrooms

Our bday cake for Shin :)

bday girl with Pei Sze n me

An hour after lunch, Pei Sze smsed and suggested to meet up with some old schoolmates. Well, it has been a looooonnnngg time I have not seen my secondary school friends and was recently hooked up via facebook. And we did. 1st to turn up was my form 1 and form 2 sitting partner, Sharon. Wow, the last time we met was during Pei Sze's wedding. It was 6 yrs ago and we realized that we were then in our 20s..how time flies! I still remember the girls who sat behind us ie Hoo Lai Ching and Chew Mei Loo..wonder where are these girls?! Next who walked in was Yoke Mei and then came Swee Cheng. These were the infamous petite pretty girls...I used to envy YM as her god-mom never failed to bring her good food during recess while I had to settle with 50 cents mee sup... :( ...SC as she was and is still like SC...chatty n happy go lucky kinda gal!

We began to chat and many many names appeared in our conversation...brings back a lot of memories and wonders too...we were thinking where they are now ..it's so true that schooldays were the best days in our life - when we have a big bunch of friends (u can actually name 40-50 friends easily) and were so care-free...still remember that we used to gather around and have our very own karaoke whenever teacher was absent...those days New Kids On The Block were like Beatles in the 60s...Tommy Page, Belinda Carlise, Debbie Gibson, Rick Astley etc..when evening comes we would proudly ride our BMX and explored our neighbourhood like the Mat Rempits these days..hahahaha..

Swee Cheng,Sharon, Pei Sze, Yoke Mei

Sigh, it has been more than a decade gone since high school. This gathering is great and i surely hope for more reunions..:)

Healing...

2008-08-10T19:38:00.003+08:00

It was already near 1am when I returned home last nite and I saw my mom's room light was still on. I was suprised and felt guilty, thinking if she was waiting for me.

I went in the room and found her lying on the floor like a little girl burning midnite oil...I asked why she was still up and scribbling on the floor. She looked up and told me that Pastor requested her to give a testimony tomorrow morning- last minute preparation! I gave her a big smile...

2 Mondays ago, I was having a meeting and received mom's call. At that moment, I was irritated since the meeting was not going on well and the call was just untimely. Nevertheless I answered and mom was complaining about her headache. I told her to take a pill and lie down. She further asked what's today day? and wondered she has woken up since morning. I did not pay much attention and ended the call abruptly. Within 5 minutes, she called again and repeated the same conversation. The 3rd time she called with the same conversation, I knew something went wrong and my whole body started to shake and mind messed up. The same feeling I felt whenever I received calls from home when my dad was suffering from cancer 2 years ago.

By the time I reached home, brother has takee mom to see Dr Wong. They came home 10 minutes thereafter and noted that my brother was irritated while mom was still in the car. I approached her and her face was so pale. She again repeated the same conversation and this time she was unable to remember that she had earlier called me. My brother and myself decided to take her to another clinic since Dr Wong was closed. Throughout our journey to search for a clinic, our patience was really being tested since mom kept repeating her words.

I felt very lost and called Shin and PZ for advice. Same time, I need someone to pray for mom. So I sms Pastor and my cousins. The doctor has no idea what was wrong with mom apart from suffering migraine. BP and temparature were normal. Doc advised to admit mom to hospital. The thought of going to UH's emergency room was like "the devil pulling me back to hell" again...Crying out in my heart.."LORD! NO...PLEASE"

We headed home to take mom's documents and to feed her with medication since it would take some time for the docs in hospital to attend to her. Pastor and Jaycy came. Mom began to sob when she saw them. It reminded me during the time mom was suffering from depression. My heart hurts so much to see the same scenario but this time my dad is no longer around to hug and kiss her...Mom was totally lost and kept crying as though she was being 'kidnapped'...Jay's eyes were red and trying to hold back her tears..

Pastor was strong and reminded us that we need God and we pray...He guided mom to pray and praise God..each time after a prayer, mom will stop crying and compose..that will only last for 5-10 minutes...the saga began again...and we pray and pray..from 5-10 mintues..the time extended to 15 min then 20 mins....finally we managed to calm her and send her to bed...brother was witnessing the whole episode..

I could hardly sleep that night...my heart felt better when she woke up the next day without headache and able to recall some of the incident ..though was vague. I took her to the specialist and over the week she had done MRI and blood test... Also over the few days, she is her normal self again...

With the tests results, the Prof Tan diagnosed Transient Global Amnesia which can be caused by migraine...Mom is now on medication to control her migraine..The words from Prof "You need not to worry as nothing serious.." lifted my soul and I am so thankful for HIS HEALING..IT IS JESUS...I KNOW IT! AMEN...

The best was that my brother witnessed the confidence of our Pastor and his strong bond between himself and the church people...and how God healed our mom...I am waiting for the one day when my brother will be save...Yes, Amen!

"Tongue Haven pt 2"

2008-07-26T18:48:00.011+08:00

Chinatown

The first day in Melb was great..came the 2nd day and Jacsmyn needed to go home. So sad..We decided to let Jacs to choose her lunch before we sent her to airport. "Dim sum!", she said...fantastic choice.

We headed to Southgate for the most famous dim sum in Melb. Unfortunately, we were too early (it's already 11+am..early?!). Well, along the way we captured some great sights of Melb city. Lyn then took us to Chinatown for the alternate place for dim sum. The moment I stepped in the restaurant, it reminded me my childhood years when Ye Ye and Pak Pak took me to yum cha. The ambience is exactly like I was in of Kam Lun Tai restaurant when I was 4. The taste and size of the dim sums were also like those I ate then. Big in size and not as fanciful as those dim sum we have now in KL. I remember those years I was excited when I yum cha with Ye Ye and Pak Pak..cos these gentlemen would talked a lot and I took the opportunity to eat a lot... :)

After sending Jacs off, we headed for shopping! Boy o boy...managed to grab a short from Esprit and headed home cos Chef Keith was preparing dinner despite he came home early because of his bad flu. I felt 'guilty' to have a sick man cooking..but hey, when will I gonna have the opportunity again?! That nite I was told that oysters have its different taste depending where they come from. A tip from chef! Then we had Spanish seafood for entree. We enjoyed a botltle of white and another bottle of red wine during our 1 1/2 hrs dinner. As for dessert, I was privilege to try out a new fruit. Can't remember what's the name in english. But in chinese it is called "Golden Dragon Fruit".

Golden Dragon Fruit

Subsequent days in Melb, we mostly travelled to city and was in Dangdenons on Saturday. The memories I gained were mostly the wonderful food that I had...they ranges from appetisers to entree to desserts...yum yum..here are some of the food I had and they are all tasty... vietnamese beef noodles, wagyhu steak, more oysters, apple struidel, durian ice cream (can you believe it?), pancakes, cupcakes, tooth fish (this is way better than a cod), spanish donut, german hotdog and many more.

Osyter @ Bistro

Well on Friday, we were set to go for the best steak in Melb as per Chef Keith. Thus I was told to dress up!And the result was - I became a "mini" Lyn since I borrowed her blouse and overcoat for the nite..hehehehe..thanks, Lyn! We headed to Crown Hotel and ate at Rockpool. Wow, it's like I was being invited to Gordon Ramsey's restaurant...you can clearly see the chefs working on their orders just like how those we have seen in f Word..minus Gordon. I chose a bone marrow appetiser and shared a steak with Lyn. By then I was so satisfied and full...I told myself I had no more room for desserts and were affirmitive...but then when they served the desserts...what the heck!just find some space..surely they will go in..hahaha..Besides the food, Keith managed to meet the owner of the restaurant, Neil Perry and took a photo!

Kitchen @ Rockpool

Lyn n me

Bone Marrow

Steak

Dessert that I can't resist

Can you resist this?

How about this?

Sunday I found myself having dinner at Cafe Cavallino @ Lygon Street, which is a big fan of ferrari F1..every where you'll see red!The food is simple and tasty...on top of it, we had Lumbrusco. Thanks for introducing it, Keith..just love it. I enjoyed Lumbrusco so much that I even had Janet to buy one when I was in Perth. More so, when I reached home I went hunting for it and found it in Jusco for RM39/-.. :) Mom enjoyed it too..

After the dinner, we headed to a dessert shop called Brunetti which Lyn has been longing to take me..I never had coffee at nite for a long time since I am very sensitive to caffeine. But then again, why care since I am holidaying..cannot sleep then wake up later! Keith's suggested affogati and I had not regretted for having it...wonder if I can find it in KL...hmmm...

Spaghetti @ Cafe

Pizza @ Cafe

Desserts @ Brunetti

Last stop was to Movida, a Spanish restaurant in city before I left for Perth..yet again the food just melt in your mouth...everytime I thought of the tapas (esp the wagyhu beef) I start to drool...gosh, I am hungry! Thank you Father for the wonderful food You provided for me...Amen..Btw, Thanks Keith & Lyn!!! chow...

Waghyu which melts in your mouth

Why not?!

2008-07-07T18:44:00.011+08:00

It has been a hectic week. Plans which my boss have in his mind really bother me a lot. Throughout the week I have been thinking and thinking..I had even thought of alternatives eventhough his plans are yet to materialize...I don't know what to do or what to think..so tired..

Friday came and it was our annual dinner.. I decided to let go and enjoy myself..WHY NOT?! ..anyway, I bought a pair of boots from Aussie for this nite, I am gonna have fun!AND I DID...more to that, 2 colleagues of mine protected me from more drinks and police roadblocks...what can I asked for more to have these 'angels' with me despite me being so 'naughty'...Amen! I was laughing through out the nite, yelling yum seng all the way...and when we headed for home, my colleagues asked "MC, are you unhappy?"..I looked at her a while and shook my head a lil...and asked her to turn right at the front junction...soon forgotten her question..so drunk!

My boots

The next day was like a 'punishment' for my bad...looking at kiwi turning like a merry-go-round didn't made him look adorable in anyway! luckily mom went for lunch appointment (of which I was supposedly to attend as well..but then I think mom got the message when I didn't even wake up at 12pm)..the toilet was the only comfort place then...

By evening, WMC has awaken...took a quick bite and went off to Abi's birthday...time flies and Abi is now 2 years old...all had a great time and best was - no one knew how to cut the lovely kitty kat cake...well, somehow we just chop it into pieces..it's a damn rich chocolate cake...I was deliberating to eat or not...WHY NOT?!..it should lift my 'soul' a while...

Kitty Kat cake

Abi at 2

Sunday came and it was a dragging one..been thinking throughout the sermon whether I should just take a day off tomorrow and head for Pavillion!!!Pastor would have 'stoned me to death' if he knew what was going through my mind..somehow I made myself to the altar..prayed..and I took a day off today! "For the Lord takes care of the birds of the air and the lilies..He will care for His child.."

And yes, I headed to Pavillion...WHY NOT?! I have been longing for a rugged leather watch since 2 years ago..and I saw one today unintentionally...I said again, WHY NOT?! .."Dik, boleh saya pakai sekarang?" It's WMC's!

My 1st leather watch after more than a decade

"I walk by faith, each step I take.. I am gonna put my trust in Him.."

"Tongue Haven"

2008-07-06T17:23:00.013+08:00

12 Apostles

Geez..it has been a while I didn't update the blog. Laziness sets in..hahahaha..

Well, this time the title says it all when my next Aussie Journey has taken me to Melbourne! Simply fantastic..the food..the wine..the companionship.. = 'perfect holiday'

Lorne Pier

The first day's lunch was at a greek restaurant along our way to 12 Apostles. If we weren't rushing to capture the sights before sun set, the lunch would have been a more complete. It's a small restaurant with great view. We wanted to enjoy the ocean while having our lunch but were too cold..grr...rr...the seafood and pasta were great. Not to forget to mentioned was that 2 rainbows appeared just as when we finished our lunch. It was such a lovely sight but too lil time to enjoy...We missed the long chat..it wud have been so great to enjoy another cup of coffee, looking over the rainbow and catched up with some girly gossips.. :)

12 Apostles is now 11, I heard. Wonder if the next few years would the apostles become 10 then 9 till "There were 12 Apostles in Great Ocean Road"...looking at the way how we, human beings, exploiting our earth..no doubt there will be the day coming! More curious is.. which of the apostles have fallen..is it Judas?!

We were so blessed that when we returned from the Apostles, we had a Chef Keith waiting for us and his ingredients to prepare a splendid candle light dinner. More to that, I learned from Chef Keith how my favourite mushrooms soup being done with perfection. Then followed by Chef Keith's signature dish ie ceasar salad. It's the best ceasar salad I ever had so far. Never knew that salmon could be such a good complement to the salad instead of chicken. Thanks, Chef!

It's only the first day in Melb which I have just shared. More exciting experiences to share...hopefully my laziness will not set in again so soon...

Damn, it was a great one!

2008-06-14T19:53:00.017+08:00

"I tot I saw a Pussy Cat..I did! I Did!"

We thought by taking MAS airline would have 'soften' our discomfort of tarvelling to Gold Coast comparing to travel by Air Asia. As per the itinerary, our journey takes 10 hrs + to reach Brisbane (transit in Sydney) and another hour to reach Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast by bus. Well, I thought it would still be good since the estimated time to be in Vibe Hotel is before midnight (Aussie Time).

Little did we know that the bus had taken us to several surburbs along our way to Surfers Paradise to drop off passengers and hallelujah we reached Vibe Hotel at 2.30am (Aussie Time). The total of hours that our butts stuck on a seat would have gotten us to Europe somewhere...

Surfers Paradise Beach

All nites we have no problem in falling asleep even at times we knocked off as early as 10pm (KL time would be 8pm). The thrill and the number of hours we are on our feet surpasses 12 hours easily-everyday.

Superman Escapes-MovieWorld

All the while, we regretted that we forgot to bring along our shorts since the weather in GC is cooling during daylight. But then our mind quickly changed when we were hit by strong wind in the evening...the solution to keep us warm - hide behind the building pillars while waiting for the wind to pass on...come to think of it, both of us were like making some bollywoods shots while we headed back to our hotel in Surfers Paradise! What a scene...

Dolphins greeting us in SeaWorld

Some of the memories captured were extraordinary. I fed the wild dolphins and felt the sensation...indescribable. Those which are tamed in Seaworld - they are brilliant...and I praise God for His magnificient creation! I remember in my teens, there was a reality show whereby you are to send in your dream. If yours is picked, they will realize it..I think I did sent one...I wanted to swim with the dolphins and the killer whales...Guess, partly has came true...Amen! O, and those koalas are irresistable!!!

Koala ready for a photo shoot-anytime (Paradise Country Farm)

Sand tabogganing was one heck of a climb rather than slide! And all the roller coaster rides in Movie World made me realize how strong my heart and lungs still are...not bad for a quick and cheap check-up...Apart from that, I also worked out those biceps and strong legs to stabilize my body through the rough ferry ride from Tangalooma Island back to Brisbane..Besides, I experienced how a salted fish being made..how? Just ensure you are seated at the area which the icy cold ocean waves would splash unto you from head to toe every time the ferry hit the waves..and then slowly inch your ass to dry corner...stand still under the sun..wait for an hour..wa-la..salted fish!

Sand Tabogganing in Tangalooma Island

Tangalooma Island (or Aussie Bali?!)

Food...nothing much to shout about...But we did had a bad experience when we had our 1st lunch at SeaWorld.. We were hungry and was eager to try out our first fast food meal..When we sat down we were uneasy with hundreds (almost) lil pairs of eyes staring at our food..we decided to shift our food to a table inner..it was the worst decision..once we put down our food on the other table and turned around to grab our drink, our food was salvaged by a swarm of birds..From a lovley seagulls they became like the ugly vultures..You had no idea how happy like a kid we were when we had our 1st decent meal at the Paradise Country Farm....O!beer..yea, it's toohey all the way!

Our decent lunch at Paradise Country Farm-yum

When you are having so much fun..time past quicker than you realize..we were too concern about catching our Tigerairways and did not really enjoy the very last moment in GC. We ended up being in an empty airport for almost an hour before we saw some staff reporting for their duty...worse the flight was delayed an hour..

While waiting for the departure to Melbourne, I saw a group of family. The group comprises of grandad, grandma, 2 daddies, 2 mommies and 6-7 kids. All these while I have been thinking that gwailos are always by themselves even in their young age ...I could never imagine that they will have a holiday together..in such a big pack..I could feel the warmth in the family as the daddies took turns to entertain the kids with simple games while mommies, grandad and grandma watched and giving their support..it reminded me when my Wong family used to gather at my grandad house during CNY...Sigh, I missed those days when things were simple and straightforward...

Before we knew it, the captain announced our arrival in Tullamarine Airport..the temperature was 7 degrees..and Gosh, my winter jacket was in my checked-in luggage...O, Lord keep me warm I prayed..

My favourite cartoon legends - beep!beep!

Stressed Tests

2008-06-09T20:02:00.006+08:00

Preparation is always the hardest task. Informations gathered were flooding my mind...until to the point that I don't know which one should come first...Many things were planned and re-planned just to ensure that we get the best outcome. Best? What's best? How do we know 'the best'?

Soon enough I learned that we should have just allow things to fall into places and hey, after all it is a BREAK that we were taking...not a contest to maximise every dollar!!!

I had been proud about the trip and was looking forward to it since the 1st of Januray 2008. All items were checked and ticked on the eve. Out of a sudden, bad news hit me like a lightning...my trip partner, Jacsmyn was diagnosed with cornea infection and needed treatment.

I was in dilema as much as she was in...should I encoruaged her to go or to get treatment as the doc recommended...for a while I was like a headless chicken...what am I to do in Gold Coast for 6 days by myself???!!! A comment from a colleague made me even more frantic ..."You won't be enjoying it by yourself in Aussie, I can bet you that" she said. Adding to it, Aileen strongly discouraged Jacsmyn to go ahead with the trip that may caused her blindness...

Sigh...after all the planning and the anxiety to make this trip a great one could then be a dissappointed start, I thought.

My phone rang about 930pm...Jacsmyn confirmed that she will go ahead despite the infection and would make the trip short in Melbourne...a sign of relief or should it not be, in view of her condition...I just could not settle with my mind...

Well, you may plant the seed and water the ground..but it is only God who will make it grow...

In the next 24 hours, we found ourselves waiting for transit in Sydney Airport...

Making it a reality...

2008-06-09T18:49:00.006+08:00

A few nights before I left Perth, I recall at one of the usual after-church-service-lunch, how I envied a church member whom was about to go on 1 month leave. Later, I came to know that she was employed by HSBC.

Little did I realize that after more than a decade, I was taking the same length of leave and am attached to a bank as well.

Well I guess that the statement "You must be careful what you wish for.." may be some what true..but I would rather rephrase the statement... "God never forgets what you've prayed for..." It is all the matter of 'the perfect timing'...

This "Aussie Journey" which I have completed was more than just an ordinary holiday or a break which I was longing since 7 years ago...The excitement, the thrill, the laughter, the smile, the companionship, the first times, the memories and etc are all GOD's BLESSINGS of which I will take my time to share...and also a way for myself to thanked Him...

BTW, sometimes even pictures can tell a thousand words...

The Preface

2008-05-26T09:28:00.001+08:00

Here I am for the first time, writting abt my life journey in a blog! Gone were the days for dairies and journals..but I guess that's the way it goes and why people term our life as a journey cos as we "travel" we will experience new things, adopt new approach and add on more memories in our life...And I hope that this blog will 'live on' as long as the writer does!