Hello again...

Oh dear... I didn't realise that it's been so long since I last blogged. Hehe! Oops~! Guess my life hasn't been too dramatic lately. Haven't had too much to say... :þ~!

Anyway, i've finally received my digital camera which was brought in by my Mum as a gift from my Dad for graduation! Wah... So confident that i'll graduate oh? Hehe!! See see see...

OooOOo... So sexy! It doesn't take a very smart person to realise that I can't take a photo of my actual camera. Duh~ So obviously this photo has been stolen... no... borrowed off the web! Keke!! It's so sexy... it's the Canon Ixus 65!! MuaHaHaHaHa~!!

I'm still recovering from a cold... still having the sniffles... still having headaches... *SiGh* Which was partly why I couldn't join everyone to drink last night. Oh well... Just a few photos from last night's surprise duo party to celebrate Tzin Wei's 24th (?!) birthday and Ellen's farewell...





Great job to those that organised it and managed to transform Ronald's living area into a beautifully decorated dining area seating 14 of us at the long table and 4 on a separate table. Absolutely loved the dark and mysterious atmosphere... almost like Malam. Keke! The food was a delicious 4 course meal with Yang's "absolut KO" to add the kick... It really was... awesome~! Poker sessions started from the get-go... Singstar together with alcohol are a great combo! So entertaining... *fAiNt*! Haha!!

Don't really have much to say... Don't really feel like expressing my deepest thoughts here right now... It's Saturday... the last day of September... and there's exactly 24 days until exams begin. It's no guessing what I should be doing tonight... but will I? Hehe...

Take care people! Don't know when i'll blog again... maybe soon... maybe it'll be sometime... Who knows? ...

"Every second chance still begins with the first step."

Unknown - Hui Min's Sunday quote last week

"... Time takes pleasure in kicking our arses. For even the strongest of us, it seems to play tricks: slowing down, hovering, until it freezes, leaving us stuck in a moment unable to move in one direction or another... Time flies. Time waits for no man. Time heals all wounds. All any of us want, is more time. Time to stand up. Time to grow up. Time to let go. Time..."

Grey's Anatomy - Season 3, Episode 1

Yay!

As advised, I visited Bloo's blog (a.k.a. Kevin Ting) to find the following post which I admittedly stole from him. Keke! :P Have a read... it's an eye opener. :)


The Pencil Maker and You

The Pencil Maker spoke to the pencil saying, "There are five things you need to know before I send you out into the world. Always remember them and you will become the best pencil you can be."

"First: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in someone's hand."

"Second: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, but this is required if you are to become a better pencil."

"Third: You have the ability to correct any mistakes you might make."

"Fourth: The most important part of you will always be what's inside."

"Fifth: No matter what the condition, you must continue to write. You must always leave a clear, legible mark no matter how difficult the situation."

The pencil understood, promising to remember, and went into the box fully understanding its Maker's purpose.

Everyone is like a pencil. Created by the Maker for a purpose. Recalling the "Parable of the Pencil" will help us as we go through life.

First: We can do many great things, but only when we allow ourselves to be held in the Lord's hand will we do them best. In His hand we will become a living testimony of His grace and mercy. He is never heavy handed and we, like the reed, a person will never be broken when yielding to His gentle guidance.

Second: When we are going through this life's problems, we must remember that they are required if we are to leave our best mark. These painful sharpenings are all a part of God's plan for us to be the best that we were created to be.

Third: We have been created to correct any mistakes we might make. Oftentimes this requires forgiveness and restitution.

Fourth: The most important part of you will always be what's on the inside. Without a born again experience a person is an empty vessel, a pencil without a lead.

Fifth and Finally: With God in us and us in Him we are like a completed pencil ready to leave a mark in this world. Our life will be readable document that is a testimony to and of the power and love of God,the creator.

-- Parable of the Pencil

So we're all pencils now eh? Never thought of it in that way.

Anyway, off to pick up my Mum from the airport. That's right... She's finally HOME! :) It's been six months since I last saw her. It'll be great to have her home again... We never quite realise what we have until it's gone. Thought having the house to myself (and my brother) would be great... Hmmm... Nah... Too many responsibilities.

I feel like a whole burden has been lifted off my shoulders. You have no idea. I guess now i'll have more time for studies. It's time for me to be a 22 year old girl living at home again. Maybe i'll get to put on that smile that i've been longing so much to wear again. Thank God!

'Til next time... Smile... Cuz you never know who's falling in love with your smile. :)

An inspiring story...

Just as the title says. An inspring story. Stolen from Murni's blog. Hehe!! I found it meaningful. Hope you will too.


Don't Quit

One day I decided to quit...
I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality...
I wanted to quit my life.
I went to the woods to have one last talk with God.
"God", I said. "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?"

His answer surprised me...

"Look around", He said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?"

"Yes", I replied.

"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds,
I took very good care of them.
I gave them light. I gave them water.
The fern quickly grew from the earth.
Its brilliant green covered the floor.

Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed.
But I did not quit on the bamboo.

In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful.

And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed.
But I did not quit on the bamboo." He said.

"In the third year, there was still nothing from the bamboo seed.
But I would not quit. In the fourth year, again,
there was nothing from the bamboo seed.
I would not quit." He said.
"Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth.

Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant...
But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall.

It had spent the five years growing roots.
Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive.

I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle",
He said to me. "Did you know, my child, that all this time you have
been struggling, you have actually been growing roots?"

"I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you."
"Don't compare yourself to others." He said.

"The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern.
Yet, they both make the forest beautiful."

"Your time will come", God said to me. "You will rise high!"

"How high should I rise?" I asked.

"How high will the bamboo rise?" He asked in return.
"As high as it can?" I questioned.
"Yes." He said, "Give me glory by rising as high as you can."

I left the forest to bring back this story.


Never regret a day in your life.
Good days give you happiness;
Bad days give you experiences;
Both are essential to life.

Keep going....

Happiness keeps you Sweet,
Trials keep you Strong,
Sorrows keep you Human,
Failures keep you Humble,
Success keeps you Glowing!


I guess right now i'm growing extremely deep roots awaiting the day that I will rise to my full potential and to whatever it is that God has planned for me.

Just hope that God will strengthen me in this time of need, to keep me focused on the tasks that lie infront of me, that He will guide and lead me back to the correct path to carry out His will. May He continue to watch over all my friends and family, to keep them safe and out of harms way. Finally, may my faith in Him grow and strengthen in days to come. I pray, Lord, that you will hear my prayer...

Have a read...

Forwarded mail sent by a friend. Decided that it's significant enough for me to post it for you all to read. It's worth spending a few minutes reading it... More so, it'll be better if we all practised it... "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"... Don't miss out yeah? :)


The Human Relationship

A boy was born to a couple after eleven years of marriage. They were a loving couple and the boy was the gem of their eyes. When the boy was around two years old, one morning the husband saw a medicine bottle open. Hewas late for work so he asked his wife to cap the bottle and keep it in the cupboard. His wife, preoccupied in the kitchen, totally forgot the matter.

The boy saw the bottle and playfully went to the bottle fascinated by its colour and drank it all. It happened to be a poisonous medicine meant for adults in small dosages.

When the child collapsed the mother hurried him to the hospital. He died. The mother was stunned. She was terrified how she was going to face her husband.

When the distraught father came to the hospital and saw the dead child, he looked at his wife and uttered just five words.



QUESTIONS:

1. What were the five words?

2. What is the implication of this story?



ANSWER:

The husband just said "I am with you Darling".

The husband's totally unexpected reaction is a proactive behaviour.

The child is dead. He can never be brought back to life. There is no point in finding fault with the mother. Besides, if only he had taken time to keep the bottle away, this would not have happened. No one is to be blamed. She had also lost her only child. What she needed at that moment was consolation and sympathy from the husband. That is what he gave her.

If everyone can look at life with this kind of perspective, there would be much fewer problems in the world. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears. And you will find things are actually not as difficult as you think.



MORAL OF THE STORY

Sometimes we spend time in asking who is responsible or whom to blame, whether in a relationship, in a job or with the people we know. By this way we miss out some warmth in the human relationship.

It's just who we are...

After many conversations and continuous observations, I have finally come to a depressing conclusion. Though our principles and morals may run deep, they are still not strong enough to withstand what seems to be, the contemporary pressures and struggles that we all face. What used to be so certain has become so unpredictable that it questions the faith and trust that we extend to each other.

We ourselves create, control and often indulge in the games that so cleverly depict our lives. We are nothing but a character whose experiences affect our thoughts and emotions. Who we are and who we end up being alters day by day through our every move and every choice made. There are no guarantees. A slip... a fall... changes our destiny.

The burden will slowly eat away at our flesh. Our bodies will soon be infected by disease. All it does is buy us time. Eventually, it's like a snake... slithering through its territory until it finds its prey. It is then, that its venom is too toxic to endure.

Instead, we admit and we try to graciously fall but it is to our very own detriment. To our greatest regret, we have chosen a battle that is beyond our manpower.

It is our character that is flawed, despite our attempts to differentiate from the modern society. We have fallen... to our greatest defeat.

Malaysian Ball and Makan Malam Collection

Just to let all of you know that the Malaysian Ball and the Makan Malam photos have been posted on the photo section of my blog, which can be accessed here.

Also, a number of videos were taken, however, due to a specified maximum capacity allowed by "Youtube", I am unable to publish all the videos. (Sorry la! I dunno how... Grr!) OK... Enjoy the videos! :)


MALAYSIAN BALL 2006:


Chapter 1 - My Ego:

Tribal Dance - Feat. Petsoc, Jennifer & Hock:



Continuation...



Bersatu Video (Full version) - Created by Seng Cheong:




Chapter 2 - My Passion:

Joget Berhibur:



Continuation...




Chapter 3 - My Satisfaction:

Gypsy Rhapsody - Feat. Murni, Jennifer, Fiqa, Shima & Ing Chia:




Chapter 4 - My Pleasure:

No videos of the kurik kundi. Sorry!!


Chapter 5 - Finale:

Feat. The MCs for the night - Seng Cheong & Mark:



Once again... taken from a different angle:





MAKAN MALAM:

Hakka - Feat. RAM:

Fishing... Dinner... Uni reopening... *SiGh*

- Saturday 2nd September -

10:30pm - Fishing @ Lyttleton Harbour. As far as I can remember... 5 cars... 19 people (too many to name). We had blankets to keep us warm... a couple of chairs for comfort... tuna sandwiches, biscuits, and potato chips to fill our tummies... hot coffee/milo in a flask and coke for drinks... and to make the atmosphere a bit romantic, candles to provide us with light instead of a torch... (I think no one could find their torch. Hehe!!) All that was missing was... errr... yeah... the fish! *fAiNt*! So we decided to pack up at 2:00am with zero fish caught. Hehe!! I think we were too noisy... especially with 20 questions! OMG!!

Here are some photos from the night before we resorted to going over to Ronald's house to cook indomie for supper. Wah piang! It was suppose to be fish ler... :P The night ended at 4:00am.







- Sunday 3rd September -

6:00pm - Dinner for Dato Mustapa Mohamed (Minister of Higher Education) @ Canterbury Horticultural Centre. The event started at 6:30pm. Through the many speeches and performances (which were indeed entertaining), my stomach was growling away as I hadn't eaten anything the whole day except for the muesli bar we each had in the car on the way to the venue... otherwise... *fAiNt*! I mean seriously, faint... from starvation. *StoMaCh gRuMbLiNg*

We were however, kindly offered by Ah Tung (or perhaps we begged him) the peanuts from the VIP table to sustain us until 9:00pm when dinner was finally served. The event was concluded with a photo session of all those that attended... and in the Minister's eyes... Ah Tung (Decker Chang) will now be known as "double decker". Hehe!






I wanted to put up some videos on YouTube of the performances for the night... but it's taking so long... So maybe next time. Sorry guys but you'll live! :)


- Monday 4th September -

Uni reopened for the 4th term today - the most crucial time of the year for us students. So if we seem stressed, moody, bitchy, or whatever... please bear with us... cuz everyone knows that exams are a bitch!

One question though: Lecturers encourage students to use past year papers as a guide as to what will be in the exam... meaning that at Uni, we're not encouraged to learn the material that is taught.. we're just taught to study past year papers in order to pass. Which brings me to question: So when we start working... how much will we know?


- Tuesday 5th September -

It's almost 5:00am. I've got class at 9:00am. Full day for me today. Wondering whether to sleep or to stay awake for the rest of the night. Hmmm... I think I should sleep for the remaining 3 hours before I have to wake up... So... this is good night from me! :)

Random...

--- Rewind ---

It's a Thursday night in the "Dock" nearing midnight. After studying for a couple of hours, everyone gets playful and decides that poker is not an option tonight...and suddenly... *DiNg* *DiNg* Let's go to Sumner guys! So after everyone arrives at Dock, we set off at 1:00am on Friday morning to Sumner... Yeah... RANDOM!! It all started from the previous night...

--- Rewind More ---

Thursday early morning at around 5:00am: I was considering taking a drive to Sumner... Just suddenly felt down and wanted to get away. It was the only place I could think of. Anyway, SOMEONE (*aHeM* Ben Yong) asked me whether I had heard of Tzin Wei's experience there with the ghost. OMG! I didn't dare to leave my room for the rest of the night... So freaked out! Stupid Ben...

--- Fast Forward ---

8 people (including Ben Yong who's taking the photo), 2 cars on a slightly chilly "Spring" morning in Sumner walking from the rock to the clock tower and back... TRYING to scare each other by playing pranks... Did it work? Well... I must admit... SOME of them did... Hehe... Especially Ronald when he suddenly appeared from behind the wall charging at us... Too bad he couldn't see cuz his hood was covering his eyes! Hehe!!

The place which we all feared the most... the clock tower... *JeNg * *JeNg* Hehe... Someone was "chicken shit", kept holding onto the other person and didn't dare to look up...?? Dunno who... but I think he's the one whose feet stink lo... (If you still don't know who... refer to one of the previous blogs) Haha!!

Dunno why but I feel like putting up this photo and it's my right to do so. HMPH! This is us in Yang's car on the way back from our random trip... Yay... Sea breeze... When we arrive back we realise that quite a few of us are hungry so.........................

--- Fast Forward ---

5:00am... After cooking for around 1 hour... we finally eat home cooked Tom Yum Noodle Soup. Why did it take us so long to cook? Firstly, cuz we couldn't find the Tom Yum paste and had to take it from my house to Ronald's house... then, after adding in the chicken, fish and $28.00 (!!!) worth of prawns we bought from Countdown (thank God for 24 hour supermarkets!!), the soup finally boils and the eating begins. *BuRp*!

Does it end there? NooOoOoo... We decide to watch a movie: "Fearless" until most of us fall asleep which is when we decided it was time for us to go home... 6:00am!! Did all of us go home to sleep? NO!! Some decided to go play golf at 7:00am!! OMG! *PeNgSaN*! We're living life like it's the summer holidays... People!! We still have final exams to worry about!! :P

--- Fast Forward More ---

7:00pm on 1st September: Dinner at Ben Lai's house... What's on the menu?? Sarawak Laksa! Did I say dinner? More like lunch for me lo since I woke up at 4:00pm! Haha!! Eat... Play... Sleep... Eat... Play... Sleep... What a life... After we eat, what do we do? What we do best... POKER!! and... BLACK JACK!!

We even had an audience... a little ladybird who I was so consumed with until I got scolded! HMPH! Hehe... See it on the poker chips?? So tiny!! Haha... But I think the ladybird became disorientated cuz it kept going round the chip in circles... Hmmm... Poor thing... It was almost squashed by the chips being piled on top of each other... Don't worry... as far as I know... it's still alive living in Ben's pot plant in the dining room. Hehe!!

--- Fast Forward Until the Present ---

Here I am... at 6:42am blogging. Why? Cuz i'm planning not to sleep tonight. Why? So that I can reset my body clock to sleep at around midnight and wake up at 9:00am for classes. After all, Uni reopens on Monday! I predict a very very tiring Saturday for me... Volleyball anyone? *fAiNt*!