Life through my eyes...

Bringing in the new year - 2009!

2009-02-02T14:28:00.001+13:00

We were initially at the Casino on New Year's Eve but the nearer it drew to midnight, the more people that piled in. It actually felt claustrophobic around the poker machines so I decided to hang around the tables. An hour before the new year kicked in, Ching Yang, Eileen, Tuan & Ai Ling dropped in and then we walked down to Cathedral Square.

Having arrived there with possibly 15 minutes to spare before midnight, we indulged in photo taking!

~ Jin & I ~

... with Lewis ...

... with Kam & his girlfriend ...

... with Tuan & Ai Ling ...

- The guys -

- The girls -

Cathedral Square

Welcome '09!

From left to right: Ching Yang, Eileen, Ai Ling, Tuan, Jin & I

The following evening, we took a drive out to Sumner to see the Christmas Lights that Lewis & I found on our random drive to Sumner because I had to show Jin how magical-looking the place was. I just had to take photos of the place again. Hehe... Enjoy!

End of 2008...

2009-01-30T14:23:00.000+13:00

Following on from my previous post, i'll provide an update about events that happened outside of work! Yes, I still had a life outside of work... although it was rather minimal! :P

The end of 2008 was an extremely busy couple of months. Jin was working through his final project and then had his final exams so we kept pretty low key.

As usual, my blogging frequently revolves around my photo collection and on this occasion, i've decided to stick with tradition. Hah! Also, my memory seems to have gotten worse and I can't really remember so far back. :P

18th November:

We attended Kim Loong's birthday dinner at Asha. It was a fantastic dinner. Best thing about it is that it was a good break from having to cook every night! Hehe... There are only a couple of photos because the birthday boy has yet to send the rest to me. But yeah, it was delicious! The best dish was definitely the crayfish. *YuM-MeEeeeEee*!

7th December:

It had been years since the last time I attended a "Santa Parade", Jin too. So last year, we headed on down to Colombo Street to have a look. It's definitely an event for kids with floats featuring superheroes and cartoon characters. But what surprised me was how cultural floats were included, along with non-Christian religious floats. Surely there should be some sort of selection made as to what floats are included in a Santa Parade, no?

Anyway, my personal favourite was the McDonald's float. I swear, I wanted to eat McDs after that! Wahahaha! :)

18th December:

It was a Thursday night when Seng asked us to karaoke at Boys & Girls as he was flying to Malaysia the following day for the summer. Being a week day, we didn't really stay too long. But in such a short span of time, we had drunk quite a bit. As they say, a little too much, too fast.

Drinking Time! *GuLp* *GuLp* *GuLp*!

Tzin Wei concentrating really hard not too vomit...

Augustine... One after another...

Sing... "With feeling ah..."

- Close-ups -

Couple photos!

...With Seng...

20th December, 2008:

Celebrated Ching Yang's 29th birthday with dinner at his house, followed karaoke and then the bombing session! Crazy stuff~

Yam flavoured birthday cake

The birthday boy/man(?)

Guests...

~ Love birds ~

My dear & my very first flower (cleverly made from tissue!)

Jia Ming & his entourage on a mission

Target acquired:

Mission in motion:

Mission successful!

Those contemplating to further the mission:

25th December, 2008:

We had a small christmas celebration at Ching Yang's house with steamboat and BBQ. No pictures of the food though. Oops~ Just a few photos of the 2 crazy guys who karaoke-ed into the wee hours of the morning~

26th December, 2008:

I remember this day well. Went boxing day sale hunting from 10:00am! A tradition of mine although there wasn't too much to buy. Haha... Then, Jin and I attended a BBQ at Geoff & Selina's house. I didn't take any photos. Everyone pretty much lazed around, sitting under the sun and then of course, they started up a team poker tournament. I decided to keep out of it though. Figured that they were all far too experienced for me to play against.

27th December, 2008:

The next day, we all managed to crawl out of bed (some earlier than others) to meet at McDonald's for breakfast, before heading for either Hanmer Springs or Maruia Springs. The girls managed to sway the guys into driving to Maruia Springs seeing as all of us had never been there. I think we all now regret that decision. Haha!

What expected to be an extra hour, took us an extra 2 hours when the driver of the leading car (*CouGh* Tuan *CouGh*) missed the turning to enter the highway via Lewis Pass. By the time we agreed to turn back, we were way off course!

Needless to say, when we saw that Maruia Springs was located just by the highway, we were not impressed.

I had to take a photo of this sign. I seem to have accidentally deleted the photo of the close-up but if you were not a patron of the cafe/restaurant or pools, you were required to pay 20c to use the toilet. Hah! First time i've ever seen such a thing in NZ. Reminds you a bit of Malaysia huh? Only possibly cleaner... Although the toilets seemed to take forever to fill up before you could flush again. DoH~!

So we paid the $15.00 for the general admission into the pools - Rock Pools, Japanese Pools & Foot Spas.

We first headed down to the rock pools which are situated in open air where we were greeted with a lot of sandflies! (No photo available, sorry) It came as a shock to us that the pools had algae in it which we later found out was extremely good for the skin and that they were proud of it. Bleh! But the sandflies were extremely annoying, so we all scurried to the Japanese Pools only to find out that it was split into genders.

So the girls had a perfect plan to book a private pool (which usually only holds 2 people, or a maximum of 3) for an extra $10.00 per person and call the guys over. Only by the time we had arranged all that, the guys had showered and were ready to head home. So, we spent the 45 minutes in there, while the guys were up in the cafe waiting for us. *fAiNt*!

Upon rejoining the guys, we took a few group photos, before getting back in the car to head for home. Such a disappointment.

We liked the formation of the rocks. Hence the photos! Haha...

Jin and I decided to stop at the Mud House to check if the restaurant was open to dine for dinner and also, for Tuan to catch up with us. Unfortunately, it was closed. :( And, although we took a break to stretch our legs, and take a few photos, Tuan was still far behind! But look at my poser of a boyfriend! Haha...

We were all exhausted but extremely hungry as none of us had eaten lunch. So, we all headed over to Ching Yang's house for a korean BBQ dinner. Needless to say, we called it an early night.

30th December, 2008:

So I received a text, early in the morning by none other than, Mr Lewis Lam telling me that he would be arriving in Christchurch later that day. As I had missed him the last time he was up in Christchurch, I made a special effort to spend an evening with him.

We had a lovely dinner at Ichiban, which is apparently a new Japanese restaurant located on the corner of Lichfield St & Colombo St.

The sushi there is amazing - delicious and well presented but possibly a bit pricier than other Japanese restaurants. Well worth it though.

Then we decided to walk from the restaurant into the Cathedral Square where they were just setting up the stage and lighting for the New Year's Countdown for the following evening. Note: If we look retarded in the photos, it's because we're trying to pose like Santa up there.

Lewis requested for bubble tea so I decided to take him to Dream Garden. Unfortunately, they had just run out of pearls. DoH~! We still bought bubble tea, with jelly instead and then went to Avonhead Park to watch the beautiful setting sun.

Once the sun had gone down, we took a drive to Sumner.

There wasn't much to see there so we decided to head over to the Casino to meet up with Jin. Along the way, Lewis noticed that there was a house up on the hill with beautiful Christmas lighting. With our curiousity burning within, we had to find the house. And this is what we found:

Don't the first few photos remind you of Genting Highlands back in Malaysia? You just feel like you're in a dream land... Absolutely amazing. What's even more amazing is that it's free to view! Such generousity is hard to come by these days~

Unfortunately, because i've posted the photos up this late, i'm sure the decorations would have been taken down by now. But be sure to take a drive out there next year though. If I remember correctly, lights usually come on just after 9:00pm, and tuthisrn off at around 11:00pm. So look out for it! And, the decorations apparently differ every year so even if you've seen them, go again!

So on our way to the Casino, we saw this sculpture which I had heard was wreckage from 9/11. Lewis being typical Lewis, wanted to stop and take a look. He was fascinated by it. If I remember correctly, the plaque explained that the 3 columns had fallen off the 102nd floor of one of the twin towers and had been donated to the Christchurch City Council to acknowledge the hardwork and effort of firefighters.

We finally arrived at the Casino where Lewis and Jin had a quick chat. It was the first time Lewis had ever been in the Christchurch Casino. I couldn't believe it! He then decided to call it a night. It was so lovely catching up with him again. Some things never change. And I suppose, he's probably learned a lesson... There's a lot behind a smile~

Work...

2009-01-29T14:02:00.000+13:00

For almost 7 months, this was my work space...

...and this is me with the Executive Insight Student that came to visit our office:

Talks of shifting to the other side of the building had been going on for months (well before I joined the team), but to no avail. However, after an extremely stormy weekend which led to my boss's documents being drenched from the water that had seeped through the leaky windows, the shift finally happened!

It took several discussions but we finally shifted to the other side of the building where we would be greeted with piercing natural sunlight, beautiful views overlooking the Avon River and substantial personal space! So since September until now, this is my office space: (Now you can imagine where I e-mail you from or sometimes, blog from!)

However, in a few months time, we will be relocating again to what is currently known as "Club Tower" which is located just across the road from where we are currently situated. It's quite an exciting time with talks of shifting and actually watching the building as it is slowly being completed. At the same time, some of us (especially on my floor) are rather reserved. This is because most of us have individual offices at the moment but when we move, we will be shifting into an open-plan layout. Yikes!

When the move comes about, I would have shifted desks 3 times in less than 1 1/2 years of working with this firm. And of course, you can count on seeing a photo of my new desk when it happens! :)

I can't remember whether i've really blogged about my job. I won't go into too much detail but, i'm an auditor. *Cue: HoRRoR MuSiC*! Kidding! We're no where near as scary as what society portrays us to be! We are a team of 4 in Christchurch and all of us absolutely love coffee so it's no wonder that most of the time, we have our team meetings in a coffee shop! :P

The job definitely has its ups and downs. The beginning was very frustrating - learning the ropes, etc... Some client jobs are more complicated than others, which makes you so very appreciative of the less complicated ones. Then towards the Christmas break, it was party time!

We had our Christmas-Do which was held at Monavale on 28th November. The theme? "Flower Power", i.e. '70s!

@ Jin's House (before)

@ Monavale

The table decor...

The Atmostphere

Meet the people...

Team Audit:

Grads '08:

5th Floorians...

Then there's this guy who is definitely worth a mention! He's a pure kiwi, normally fair-skinned but on this occasion, he decided to coat his face with a layer of black shoe polish so that he could achieve this look.

Meet Steve:

And of course...

Jin & I:

@ Jin's House (after)

For the sake of completeness, I had better tell you the story behind the orchid. It has been tradition for the past couple of years to give out "Phoscars" at the Christmas-Do to the staff members who have made complete fools of themselves in the past year. To put it simply, it is also termed as "dick-of-the-year".

Because the theme was "Flower Power", winners were awarded artificial flowers and it was mandatory to pin these to themselves so that they could be recognised and made fun of for the entire evening.

Yes, one of the winners was me. *bLuSh*! Hence...

Why? Because our IT team tracks each employee's web usage then releases a half yearly report broken down into browsing time, data downloaded and e-mails sent. When the report is released, it is attached to an e-mail where the head of the IT division takes the piss out of the top 5 placements of each category. Interestingly enough, I was ranked second place for browsing time. Hehe! In my defence, I have to say that it's because I left my browser on as I worked! :P

Closer to Christmas (16th December), we had a Financial Planning/Audit/Tax & I.T. (a.k.a. FAT) Christmas Outing at the Fendalton Bowling Club, followed by a BBQ at Frank's house where we were joined by partners and kids. Not a lot of photos were taken. Surprisingly, I didn't do too badly! My team ended up winning amongst the 4. Yay! First, laser strike... Now, bowls! Woo hoo! :) (Not that we're competitive or anything... Haha!)

In the final week before the Christmas/New Year break (19th December) which was also my last day for the year, we had Secret Santa which was held on the 5th floor because us ladies had set up a beautiful Christmas tree in the reception area. What more, santa was played by none other than my boss! It was hilarious!

And that brings me to the end. Watch out for the next post! :)

Relatives in Town!

2008-11-23T22:17:00.002+13:00

A couple of weeks ago, four of my relatives were in town. They were only in Christchurch for 2 days and 1 night due to a forced itinerary change by Malaysian Airlines who decided to cut their visit to New Zealand by 2 days - supposed flight changes. Unheard of!

Anyway, Christchurch was their final stop in their tour around the South Island before heading up north to Rotorua and Auckland. My Uncle and Aunty then flew back to Malaysia while my cousin, Evelyn and her husband, Damian flew back down to Blenheim to be with the inlaws for a week and then flew back to London.

Unfortunately, the weather was absolutely horrible while they were in New Zealand so they had to cancel some of their plans but they were lucky enough to play with snow further down South - definitely my Uncle's highlight of the trip!

My brother and I went for dinner with them on the Wednesday night - I had to miss out on the Guy Fawke's fireworks at New Brighton Pier as my cousin and her husband had already booked a dinner for 8 of us (including 2 of their friends) on the Christchurch Tram.

We settled for the Rutherford Dinner Package which was $68.00 per person for a 4 course meal - didn't really feel like indulging in all the beverages or the cheeseboard.

Starter - Freshly baked breads with roasted chick peas, Mexican veggie dip and a pumpkin cream

Entree:
1. Oven baked mussels baked with a garlic and parmesan crust and drizzled with a chili and sesame dressing
2. Chicken and apricot vol au vent with a creamy paprika sauce
3. Roast tomato and capsicum soup topped with sour cream and crispy bacon

Main:
1. Racks of lamb coated in a garlic and thyme crust, on gratin potatoes, vegetable ratatouille finished with sage jus
2. Crispy filo parcel stuffed full of tasty mushrooms & Herbs on a pool of white wine cream sauce, served with a timbale of spinach and rice
3. Coq au vin chicken drumsticks cooked in red wine, with a vanilla scented potato mash
4. Fish of the day baked in white wine, chili and lemon, placed on a bed of egg noddles and a fresh tomato and basil salsa

Dessert:
1. Cheesecake marbled with dark and white chocolate on a pool of vanilla pod creme anglaise
2. Apple tart sliced apples encased in a crisp puff pastry case with a sweet caramel sauce

Personally, I wouldn't recommend this as a must-do during a stay in Christchurch. In fact, I think it was pretty much a waste of time - all you do is to keep going around and around on the tram tracks (I don't know how many times but even the attendants lost count!). The whole ride takes around 3 hours with a brief 5 - 10 minute stop in the middle (for which you'll be thankful for because you've been in such a cramped area, especially for those slightly bigger than the average male/female who have been too scared to move in case they were to knock over the table or cutlery onto the perfectly measured aisle for the skinny waiters). And the food! I don't know where to start but I like to compare it to the food you get on the aeroplane, only served on a plate. I didn't see it for myself, but I wouldn't be surprised if they brought it onto the tram pre-cooked and heated it up. *YuCk*! So yeah, I really didn't enjoy the whole experience. Can you tell? Thank goodness for the great company!

Christchurch Tram Dinner Wagon

Before hopping on!

Dinner

Entre - Mussels

Main - Lamb

Dessert - Cheesecake

The relies~

All 8 of us: (Note: The formation was not planned!)

By the time we got off the tram, it was just after 10:30pm. We dropped by at their hotel for a while, and then called it a night as they had booked us for breakfast the following morning at 7:30am at Copenhagen (my cousin's favourite bakery). I forgot to take photos during breakfast, also cuz I had to rush off to work. But the memories are definitely priceless!

Labour Weekend

2008-11-18T11:32:00.000+13:00

It had been 147 days, over 4 1/2 months since the last public holiday. Was it a long time coming? Hell yeah!

It's absolutely amazing how much difference an extra day to the weekend makes. It’s almost a weekly ritual that Sunday is when I moan and groan that I have work the following day. But during the Labour weekend, it was different. Good thing was that it came to Sunday and thank goodness it wasn’t the end of the weekend! Bad thing was that the Monday felt like a Saturday. So when I woke up on Tuesday morning, I definitely wished it was Sunday again! *SiGh*!

There isn’t too much to say about that weekend. I tried to get more sleep in order to recover from my cold. It seemed to have worked. I went to 2 drinking/BBQ parties during that weekend – Saturday evening and yesterday afternoon. Crazy people! They ended up wrestling on the grass. *fAiNt*! Check it out:

Don't know how it switched from basketball to wrestling but it all started with Simon and Jia Ming...

... Soon after, joined by Ah Tuan...

... Followed by Chin Yang & Jackie (who initially just wanted to pose for the camera) ...

... But ended up at the bottom of the pile!

... And so it continued...

It took three of them to attempt to bring Jackie to the ground who managed to get away but ran straight into the knot of the clothes hanger wire. *OuCh*! I don't know which would be worse.

And yet, that didn't stop them...

Jia Ming: "Can you smell what the rock is cooking?"

They soon got over the amusement of wrestling and endured in pouring beer all over each other - poor unwilling bodies were carried out from the house while some were attacked while innocently watching them do their thing...

Ah Tuan & Chin Yang...

And to think, that their combined age would be almost 200 years old. Need I say more?

P.S. Justin: This post is dedicated to you. I bet you're missing Christchurch right now! :P

The Gambler

2008-10-30T15:11:00.001+13:00

I'm writing this from work now just to say that I have a song stuck in my head. Don't know how it came about cuz it's definitely not on the list of mp3s in my phone. It just keeps playing and playing in my head...

Good song though. Definitely about poker. No other game fits its description.

The Gambler
Kenny Rogers

On a warm summers evenin' on a train bound for nowhere,
I met up with the gambler; we were both too tired to sleep.
So we took turns a starin' out the window at the darkness
'Til boredom overtook us, and he began to speak.

He said, son, i've made a life out of readin' people's faces,
And knowin' what their cards were by the way they held their eyes.
So if you don't mind my sayin', I can see you're out of aces.
For a taste of your whiskey i'll give you some advice.

So I handed him my bottle and he drank down my last swallow.
Then he bummed a cigarette and asked me for a light.
And the night got deathly quiet, and his face lost all expression.
Said, if you're gonna play the game, boy, ya gotta learn to play it right.

You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table.
There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.

Now ev'ry gambler knows that the secret to survivin'
Is knowin' what to throw away and knowing what to keep.
'Cause ev'ry hands a winner and ev'ry hands a loser,
And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.

So when he'd finished speakin', he turned back towards the window,
Crushed out his cigarette and faded off to sleep.
And somewhere in the darkness the gambler, he broke even.
But in his final words I found an ace that I could keep.

You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table.
There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.

You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table.
There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.

Visit to the Farm

2008-10-29T15:14:00.000+13:00

We decided to pay Kim Loong a visit in his lonely batch out on the farm. So after work on Friday, four of us - Tzin Wei, Liz, Jin & I packed into Jin's car. This is usually when I say, "then we were off" but on this occasion, there were considerable delays.

A shortened version of the story is as follows...

As we had decided to indulge in a korean bbq lunch the following day, and seeing as we were heading out to a farm where there would be no supplies, we went grocery shopping. Then being almost dinner time, we decided to have dinner at Asha before setting off. Poor Kim Loong was expecting us for dinner. Haha! Anyway, dinner lasted longer than expected - ordered too much food but it was goOOooOOd! Not so good on the wallets. Hehe... Following that, we went to buy fruits from Pak 'n Save and treated ourselves to ice creams. Keke... We then went back to Tzin Wei's house for him to scoop up Kim Loong's fish to transport out to the farm. It was then, that we began our journey. Time - 9:30pm. Haha...

Smoko @ Dunsandel waiting for Kim Loong

Liz & I

Jin & Tzin Wei

Liz, Tzin Wei, Jin & I

Jin & I

We finally arrived at Kim Loong's batch at around 10:00pm. After settling in, the guys decided to bring out their big boys toys. *fAiNt*!

The 3 Monkeys - Jin, Kim Loong & Tzin Wei

Masked psycho killer

Jin had an early night while the rest of us played chor-tai-ti, drank whiskey with coke and ate grain waves/shrimp flavoured chips. Not a good mix! *YuCk*! I decided to head to bed soon after too.

Woke up the following day to the moo-ing of the cows (or so I thought). At least I had the courtesy to give my friends the benefit of the doubt for trying to imitate animals! Refusing to get out of bed, Kim Loong then decided to barge in and jump on the bed! (And it's his own bloody bed too! Duh...) If that wasn't enough, we were then tortured with Tzin Wei's singing as he showered right next door. OMG! The walls being paper thin gave us no choice but to get up. D-ohhh!! <--- Homer style!

The weather was beautiful - hot, blazing sun with a north-easterly breeze. We couldn't have asked for a better day except that we needed to coat ourselves with sunblock. Drank coffee on the deck and watched as the guys played with their toys.

We decided to take a drive to the Rakaia River. On the way out, we stopped by to see the lambs. Cute aren't they? Yeah, I thought so too... Until I found out that they're going to be for Christmas roast! Poor babies...

To the River we went...

Rakaia River

Check out the scenery... Ain't it beautiful? The bridge that you see in the background is the Rakaia Bridge - the longest bridge in New Zealand that is 1,757m long, even longer than the Auckland Harbour Bridge. WoW! Try holding your breath while driving over the bridge next time! (Yes, we tried it ourselves but our driver decided to slow down. *eViL StaRe*!)

Finding stones to skim across the river

Conned Kim Loong into posing for a photo while the others splashed him... Stupid~

An almost successful attempt to push me in

Cry me a river~

Me & Liz...

The couples~

Kim Loong feeling left out. Wahahaha!

Kim Loong wanting to be photographed - See below for Jin's reaction~

Tzin Wei & Liz's Creation...

Trigger happy boys~

It was getting way too hot for our liking so we hopped back into the car in search for some life! Came across the famous Rakaia icon and had to stop to take photos! Haha... Stopped for ice cream at the Rakaia Cafe too! :)

Rakaia icon

Our stomachs were rumbling so we headed back to the farm to cook our feast. Forgot to take photos though and we were too knackered by the time we finished. I think we were all probably suffering from a minor heat stroke. So, nap time it was.

Woke up to quickly pack our belongings and take a few photos before heading back to Christchurch.

moOOOooOOooOo!!

Kim Loong's batch~

Us~

Stopped in some little town on the way back to lotto as well - thanks to Cheong's super long text for reminding us! Too bad we didn't win. :(

Photo of the trip:

Lesson: Don't pose like you're a bloody statue! HAHA!

Tung's Return

2008-10-16T18:31:00.000+13:00

It has almost been 2 weeks since Tung was back in Christchurch for his short visit - leaving everything he left for to return to everything he left behind. What a great 5 days it was indeed! For those few days, it felt like last year again. It was as if nothing had changed but everything had. The most significant being that most of us have since entered the work force. Yet, it was nice to have everyone come together again...

Wednesday 1st October

On the first night of his return, a few of us, namely Jin, Tung, Tzin Wei, Liz, Kim Loong & I went to Le Cafe for coffee. It was the usual - talking crap and hassling each other. It was just like old times. That's what we do best. And I could see that there would be a lot more coffee-ing to be done over the next few days.

Thursday 2nd October

We celebrated Tzin Wei's 26th birthday with dinner at Cookai Japanese Restaurant. We each ordered individual dishes, mine being the spicy prawns dish, and shared a bottle of riesling wine.

On top of that, we ordered what would become the dish of the night - "Virgin Voyage".

Which is made up of...

*YuM*! I'm personally not fond of "sashimi" but on this occasion, I gave it a go seeing as my philosophy is to always try something once. To be honest, it doesn't taste as bad as it sounds - "raw fish". Guess it's all in the mind. And if you're ever having a blocked nose, have some wasabi with that! Definitely does the trick! *fAiNt*!

... with the food!!

Just for Tzin Wei... :)

From left to right: Me, Jin, Kim Loong, Tzin Chung, Liz, Tzin Wei, Tung & Seng

After our big feed, we reconvened with coffee at Starbucks:

From left to right: Seng, Hock, Cin, Tzin Chung, Kim Loong, Jin, Me, Tung, Liz, Tzin Wei & Ronald

As usual, we made a stop at Timezone and played until they closed which was just after midnight. While the rest carried on karaoke-ing into the wee hours of the morning, I, unlike someone, wasn't on annual leave and had to work the following day.

Friday 3rd October

Went out for a late lunch with Jin, Tung, Tzin Wei & Kim Loong for chicken rice - my weekly ritual! *YuM*! After that, went to Tap Room for coffee. It was an absolutely beautiful day. I could actually feel the heat on my back! I couldn't stay there long though seeing as I had to return to work. :( Good thing that it was a Friday! TGIF!

That night, Jin and I finally went to watch "House Bunny" - yes, it was my choice! Bleh! Just in case some of you are planning on watching the movie, I won't spoil the storyline for you. All i'll say is that it's not filled with mind-boggling twists and it's definitely not an action-packed movie. In fact, it's quite a blonde movie but it's funny in it's own way. Hehe... And i'll admit that it's a really girlie movie. Haha!

After the movie, we went down to town to meet up with the rest at Boys & Girls for karaoke! It's been a long time since there were so many of us in the one room. For a moment, I just sat there and enjoyed the noisy buzz of everyone's chatter. I've really missed that. It was a great feeling to hear it again.

So what brought us all together that night? I suppose it was to celebrate Tzin Wei's birthday, together with welcoming Tung back to Christchurch, along with Freddie and Linda. I didn't take too many photos. Not sure why. Perhaps it's cuz I wasn't intoxicated enough to go around being absolutely crazy! Also, a few of us left at 1:30am because of the wedding the following day. So it ended up not being a huge night!

Tzin Wei with the birthday cake...

Everyone together again...

Back row: Chin Yang, Tuan, Jin, Freddie, Tzin Wei, Ben, Kim Loong, Cheong & Tung

Front row: Eileen, Ai Ling, Me, Linda, Seng, Cin & Hock

Saturday 4th October

So the main purpose for Tung's return was to attend his sister's wedding and this was the day! It was a lovely church wedding ceremony. Only thing was that I couldn't understand most of it unless I was concentrating extremely hard as the service was conducted in Mandarin. It was a beautiful ceremony, nonetheless - what I could make of it anyway.

Ring bearer & flower girls

Here comes the bride...

The bride & groom...

The newly weds!

Group photo!

From left to right: Linda, Kim Loong, Tzin Wei, Me, Freddie & Tung

Throwing of the bouquet

... and the winner is... AI LING!

Me & Jin... before he resumed his driver duties. Poor thing...

The wedding cake~

Altogether now...

From left to right: Tzin Wei, Kim Loong, Linda, Tung, Freddie, Tuan, Ai Ling, Chin Yang, Aileen, Jin & I

Me & the guys...

Outside the church

From left to right: Kim Loong, Tzin Wei, Linda, Tung, Freddie & I

Later that night, we also attended the dinner reception held at Happy Fine. We weren't sitting in the main dining area so all we did was pretty much eat, drink and be merry. I only had a couple glasses of wine which definitely didn't help the headache that I had been suffering from for the whole day. Couldn't say the same for Tzin Wei and Freddie though who by the end of the night, probably threw up everything they had eaten for dinner. The saying of the night: "Yesu ai ni!" *fAiNt*!

With Linda & Ai Ling...

... Freddie & Tung...

... Jin

We were all exhausted by the end of the night. The initial plan was for everyone to head down to Crowne Plaza for coffee. Tzin Wei and Freddie were far too drunk, so we ended up sending them home. Linda was too tired and went home to sleep. It ended up being just Jin, Tung & I who went down to meet up with Chin Yang, Aileen, Tuan & Ai Ling. By the time we arrived there, the bar was closing so it must have been around 12:30am. We called it a night around an hour later I think. Needless to say, when my head finally hit the pillow, I was in dream land!

Sunday 5th October

Practically spent the whole day at home in bed watching series and sleeping except when I went out to buy lunch with Tzin Wei & Ben. It was the first time I ate the hot dog at Wendy's. Probably wasn't the best first time experience - they added way too much sauce as in, every bite you took, the sauce would ooze out making it super messy and they didn't even offer to put cheese in. Talk about inconsistency for service!

Anyway, finally got out of bed to meet up with the rest for dinner at Chopsticks. Had an early dinner as Linda and Freddie had to head to the airport around 6:30pm. It was quite sad really - sort of a group break-up dinner.

Farewell ya'll

From left to right: Danny, Melissa, Aunty, Carissa, Ben, Freddie, Linda, Tung, Tzin Wei, Liz, Jin & I

Most of us couldn't make it to the airport to see Linda and Freddie off as we had volleyball that night. I suppose it's not too bad as they're just in Wellington. Freddie comes down every now and then anyway. Hehe... Just trying to make myself feel less guilty for not seeing them off! :P

After volleyball, went for supper at Ancestral so that Tung could meet up with Bernard and the rest of the engineering crew. I couldn't stay too long as I had work the next day.

Monday 6th October

Left work early to see Tung off at the airport. Silly guy didn't even bother to check what time his flight was - expected it to be at 5:30pm when it was actually 4:30pm. Good thing I checked! It's strange how on the Christchurch Airport website, it said 4:30pm but on the Pacific Blue website, it said 5:30pm. I wonder if it was due to daylights' savings that they hadn't changed it? Which is quite bad for passengers who don't check with the local airport! Now that I think about it, I don't think he would have minded if he had accidentally missed his flight. Hehe... Didn't take any photos at the airport which I regret now.

Well, that brings us to the aftermath of Tung's departure from Christchurch.

If you're reading this then here's a special message for you...

It didn't hit me 'til you walked through the gate, turned around and waved goodbye as we all stood there, watching you leave us behind all over again.

But like you said once before - "We shall meet again..." and indeed, we shall. :)

Take care!

The 84 Year-Old Bride

2008-10-01T16:15:00.001+13:00

Worth a read... :P Click on the picture to enlarge it. Enjoy!

Women multiply...

2008-09-17T15:45:00.000+12:00

This is me, giving you a head's up. Don't say you haven't been warned guys... :P

Quote for the day:

'Whatever you give a woman, she's going to multiply.
If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby.
If you give her a house, she'll give you a home.
If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal.
If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart.
She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her'.

So - if you give her crap, you will receive a bucket full of sh*t.

Love and appreciate all the women in your life.

Just Live It!

2008-09-13T16:47:00.000+12:00

I always believe that there's a lesson to be learned everyday. Sometimes it can be as subtle as a fleeting moment while at other times, it can be life-changing. Life is a constant learning curve. The more we embrace it, the faster we can grow, and the better our lives can be.

On my most recent trip to Auckland, the lesson was - "Just Live It!". Let go of the past. Set aside all fears. Don't be engrossed with expectations. Live by the moment.

Just a quote that seemed to appeal to me and perhaps it will inspire you too:

"... Looking back on what I said all those years ago, all the hopes and dreams I had, i've come to the conclusion that if having things turned out the way you wanted them to is a measure of a successful life, then some would say i'm a failure. The important thing is not to be bitter over life's disappointments. Learn to let go of the past. And recognise that everyday won't be sunny and when you find yourself lost in the darkness and despair, remember it's only in the black of night that you see the stars. And those stars will lead you back home. So don't be afraid to make mistakes, to stumble and fall because most of the time, the greatest reward comes from doing things that scare you the most. Maybe you don't get everything you wish for, maybe you'll get more than you ever could have imagined. Who knows where life will take you. The road is long and in the end, the journey is the destination."

One Tree Hill - Season 3, Episode 15

That aside, let me continue with a recollection of my trip to Auckland from 22nd - 24th August. I won't be as detailed as the post on my trip to Wellington as I believe it's fair to say that it was less eventful but more relaxing. The main purpose of the trip was probably to see Clark's new house after shifting up to Auckland a couple of weeks earlier. Unfortunately, the furniture hadn't arrived from Christchurch or China so we found ourselves sleeping on the floor. Decided to check into Skycity Hotel on Saturday night to get a better night's sleep. Luck was on our side when we were upgraded to an Executive Suite. Yay!

So anyway, here are some photos! Too lazy to write... Enjoy!

Friday...

Karaoke... with Sophia, Aveline and friends

Saturday...

Ice cream & Coffee...

Clark's house...

The hotel room...

Skycity

Sunday...

Coffee with Yean

Dinner

Today is a beautiful day...

2008-09-04T08:30:00.000+12:00

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: 'I am blind, please help.' There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognised his footsteps and asked, 'Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?'

The man said, 'I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way.'
What he had written was: 'Today is a beautiful day and I cannot see it.'

Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?

Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Moral of the Story: Be thankful for what you have. Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively.

Invite others towards good with wisdom. Live life with no excuse and love with no regrets. When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile. Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear. Keep the faith and drop the fear.

Great men say, 'Life has to be an incessant process of repair and reconstruction, of discarding evil and developing goodness.... In the journey of life, if you want to travel without fear, you must have the ticket of a good conscience.'

The most beautiful thing is to see a person smiling...
And even more beautiful is, knowing that you are the reason behind it!!!

Sophia's Belated Birthday Weekend

2008-08-20T22:23:00.018+12:00

After booking the flight tickets a couple of months in advance, I was finally off to windy Wellington! Reason? To celebrate Sophia's birthday (a month after the actual date. Oops? :P) It was the first time I flew with Pacific Blue and I was surprised - the planes are actually big! I expected to have to walk on the run-way, following the big blue painted feet and having to enter through the back of the plane but no, it was a proper terminal!

On arriving in Wellington, I met an ex-high school mate, Daniel, as we were passing through the terminal. Silly enough, he was heading back to Chrischurch for the weekend while I had just arrived. We had a brief catch up but then his plane was boarding so he had to shoot off. What a small world...

Seeing as I arrived quite late on Friday night, Sophia took me to a place called Pravda for dessert with her and Liam. He's a physiotherapist and we all know how much I love physios huh? Twist and turn you in awkward positions and then ask you to rate the pain from 1 - 10. Duh... Obviously, I took the opportunity to hassle him about his profession, (to which he defended extremely well). Hehe! This was me trying to be as sociable as possible after Sophia complained about me being so anti-social in recent years. Bleh! I don't think i've been that bad. Maybe just too lazy to put myself out there and meet new people. I love my comfort zone. Eesh~

Anyway, we decided to have a pretty early night so that we could have a good night's rest for a whole day of shopping the next day! Hehe... Honestly, it was really a girl's weekend. Haven't had one of those in... forever? Wahahaha! Never really been into a girl's weekend but I must admit, it was pretty fun!

So Saturday morning... We had brunch at Simply Paris on Cuba Street, then started our shopping from there around midday. Had a coffee break somewhere in the middle. Can't remember the name of the cafe though.

Ended up at Lambton Quay, 5 hours later where Ai Wei joined us for some retail therapy. Poor girl had to work half day on Saturday.

At that point, I gave up on the idea of walking back to the car - I was told it would be around a 15 minute walk. Hell no! I insisted on cabbing to the car!

Seeing as we were just around the corner from the TSB Arena where there was the South East Asian Food Fair, we decided to take a look. There was around a 30 - 45 minute queue just to get in through the door. So instead, we decided to have wine at Shed 5 which is where we ended up dining for dinner as well. The wine was delicious! But at $50.00 a bottle and Sophia needing to drive later, we decided to stop at one. It is probably the nicest tasting wine i've ever had (then again, i'm not really a wine drinker - goes straight to my head!)

By the time we finished dinner, there was no queue for the "South East Asian Food Festival", so we decided to take a look. But before doing so, the outside of the TSB Arena proved to be some picture perfect moments, along with the pretty girls of course! Stop laughing! :P

There wasn't too much food left at the "South East Asian Food Festival" (not that we needed any!). Just that, Sophia needed to buy some for the lazy boys. Funny enough, I bumped into Chee Khiong there. Strangely, I think the last time I saw him was during my road trip up to Auckland via Wellington.

After walking one round of the Arena, we hopped into a cab and headed to the car. Hehe. I had to take a picture of us in the taxi. I mean, how often does this happen? It's unheard of! :P

We went over to Ai Wei's apartment to have a peak and then dropped her off at a party. Went to drop off the food at the boys' apartment before heading back to Sophia's flat. The boys' scare me... To think that they are the future of the medical profession when they can barely handle a plate of food and a fork! *fAiNt*! Crazy...

We had planned to take a nice hot shower and then get ready to hit the town but instead, we both got lazy and ended up staying home. It was getting late anyway. Either that or, we've become boring working people now.

Woke up in time for dim sum brunch with the boys at Majestic. Forgot to take photos so none to show. It's funny how much you learn when you go to dim sum with ang mo boys because there's so much they don't know and when you try to explain it to them, you realise that you don't know as much either. So it becomes a learning experience and sometimes, we need those moments to make us realise and yearn to learn again. Maybe that was the lesson I was meant to learn from this trip.

Sophia and I went for a caffeine boost at Gotham Cafe which is somewhere in Lambton Quay. Recognise the name? The theme is BATMAN and with "The Dark Knight" just being released, i'm sure it was a big hit during the time of the premiere and thereafter. The choice of the cafe was because we wanted to pick up where we left off the previous day with regards to SHOPPING! Hehe...

We ended up taking too long to shop and had to rush to our body massage. Sophia had booked us in for an hour long body massage at East Day Spa a week or so beforehand. Since I found out, I had been working on desperately trying to get out of it but to no avail. Hehe! So yeah, it was the first body massage i've ever had and it felt so awkward! :P Because we were late, we only had a half hour massage. Haha... My way of sabotaging the whole experience? No!! We still had to pay for the whole hour anyway! Bleh~

Went back to Sophia's flat to pack. That's her flat below by the way. If you've ever been to Dunedin, don't you think it looks similar to those in Dunedin? The more I saw of Wellington, the more it reminded me of Dunedin - the hills, the properties, how people love to walk around the city, how everything is in a close proximity of each other, even going around the bay. Didn't take any photos of the city itself, the weather turned crap on my final day - sad to see me leave. Yeah right!

Dinner that night was at Chow Restaurant. It's quite an interesting restaurant - an english, chinese fusion. I guess the equivalent in Christchurch would be, Indochine?

With an hour to spare before needing to head to the airport, we went to Strawberry Fare for dessert.

And that, pretty much sums up my weekend in Wellington. It was an awesome trip! Can't wait for next weekend - Auckland, here I come! :)

Question...

2008-08-06T12:20:00.006+12:00

Perhaps it comes with the job description but the inquisitiveness has become second nature.

The initial thought is to question the purpose, its motive and then the effect. Remember the 6 important questions. Ask:

What

Where

When

Sometimes, the most obvious answer is not the best or most correct. Always consider the involvement of manipulating factors. Neglecting them may derive a flawed conclusion. Don't forget that there are always consequences - the effect is sequential.

Most importantly, never underestimate the intellect of the mould.

It's always better to be one step ahead.

July babies!

2008-07-27T23:27:00.005+12:00

I hadn't realised just how many July babies I know out there. So let me wish all of you a very happy birthday!

A shout out especially goes out to the following people who has in one way or another touched my life...

Joel Yap
Jennifer Chen
Sophia Ling
Gerald Chang
Jin Chang
Mark Hii...

and to my cousins...

Kelvin Teoh
Lilian Chan
Timothy Levick

I shall keep this post short and sweet.

There was no repeat of the triple birthday celebration like last year due to the change in circumtances but we did however, go out for a simple dinner (chicken rice) followed by the usual karaoke at Boys & Girls to celebrate Jin's 29th birthday. He was a really good sport that night, actually drinking. Although he didn't drink too much, but at least he handled it a lot better than on previous occasions. It was definitely an awesome night! :)

Birthday boy - still functional

Wake up!!

Cutting of the cake...

Group photo...

From left to right: Liz, Tzin Wei, Dan, Clark, Jin, Me, Tuan, Ai Ling, Aileen, Ching Yang & Seng

Crossroads

2008-07-15T19:37:00.001+12:00

There are moments in our lives when we find ourselves at a crossroads. Afraid. Confused. Without a roadmap. The choices we make in those moments can define the rest of our days.

Of course when faced with the unknown, most of us prefer to turn around and go back.

But once in a while, people push on to something better. Something found just beyond the pain of going it alone. And just beyond the bravery and courage to let someone in.

Or to give someone a second chance.

Something beyond the quiet persistence of a dream.

Because it is only when you are tested when you truly discover who you are. And it is only when you are tested that you discover who you can be.

The person you want to be does exist. Somewhere on the other side of hard work, faith and belief. And beyond the heartache and fear of what lies ahead.

One Tree Hill - Season 4, Episode 2

The present...

2008-07-13T03:51:00.001+12:00

Yesterday is history...

Tomorrow is a mystery...

Today is a gift...

That's why it's called the present

Trip to Auckland

2008-07-07T16:25:00.013+12:00

After 2 1/2 years, I returned to Auckland. It was a very long and tiring 4 days. I didn't manage to meet up with everyone that I had intended to - for that I apologise and for those of you who I did meet up with, i'm sorry that I didn't have more time to spare. It's just a little bit difficult when everything's uncertain. Hope you all understand. Anyway, i'm sure there'll be a next time... Sooner rather than later. :)

In anticipation of the trip to Auckland, I was working over-time over the 2 week period prior to the trip which absolutely drained me. So by the time it came to Thursday, my battery was almost completely flat but yet, I had an absolutely packed schedule before I could leave for Auckland.

Thursday 3rd July

As I was rushing home at 5:00pm after a full day's work, I saw Cheong at the bus stop so gave him a ride home. Arrived home at 5:30pm, showered, packed, changed and then waited for Tzin Wei to pick me up. He came at 6:15pm (later than expected) and I still had to have dinner - takeaway McDonald's! Ate in the car on the way to our volleyball game at 6:30pm which we ended up arriving mid-way through the first game. Hung on for the full game because we didn't have any subs which ended at 7:30pm. Quickly changed and then Tzin Wei rushed me to the airport for check-in at 7:50pm, the flight being at 8:20pm. Hopped on the plane as if I was taking a bus! Ridiculous...

But it was great looking over Auckland City as we were descending. I had forgotten how beautiful the City of Sails is when it's lighted up with the many street lights and car headlights over such a massive land area. It was truly magical! I arrived in Auckland at 9:40pm where I was met at the airport by Tim Chuang. I was so tired so he sent me straight to Skycity Hotel so that I could crash for the rest of the night. Felt so terrible not being able to hang out that night. Sorry again! *fAiNt*!

Friday 4th July

It felt absolutely wonderful not having to wake up early the following day (being a working day) when I could just sleep in and totally ignore the stupid 5 minute snoozing intervals of the alarm on my phone. It was great! We waited around for Clark to arrive from Christchurch. He had decided the night before to book a flight up to Auckland to join us. Crazy guy! After he arrived, we went out to walk around town, visiting a pajamas store. So random. Why? Cuz apparently one of the sales girls in there is hot. *fAiNt*! Guys, guys... It doesn't matter whether they're single, attached, or married - still always on the look out. *SiGh*!

They were very unfortunate because they didn't get to see heras she probably only works weekends. Poor guys had to walk out of there without accomplishing anything. Haha! Anyway, after walking around High Street, having coffee, etc. we decided to take a cab to New Market - 277 Broadway! I was pretty much following the guys around seeing as I was the only girl (and the youngest I might add) but it was interesting. Haha! We headed back to the hotel after that to rest, waiting for Justin and Ellen to arrive from Taupo!

Upon their arrival, we headed out for dinner where Yean brought us to eat roast duck (a special request - more like demand - from Justin). Wahahaha! Check it out... We ordered way too much and had leftovers enough to feed another 2 people (at least). We were tempted to doggy-bag it for the homeless but no one dared to pass it to them incase we were insulting the druggies! Hah!

The weather wasn't too great so we didn't want to venture too far in search for a nice place to have a cup of coffee. Then I remembered Opium! It was perfect - the girls could have cocktails while the guys could have their coffees (non-drinkers you see? :P). Love the atmostphere of Opium. If only there was such a place in Christchurch. It would definitely be my new hang out place.

I suppose I should introduce Yean... and her favourite pair of glasses... If you've been following my blog, you would have seen pictures of her from new year's day in Penang. Yes, we're Penangnites! Proud to be one... :)

And of course, there's the rest of us who were originally from Christchurch - Jin, Justin & Ellen who you would have seen countless of times on my blog. Hehe~

The girls...

The guys...

Spot the glasses! Bwahahahaha!

Everyone together now...

We all headed back to Skycity after that. While Justin and Ellen went back to the room, Jin, Yean and I went to the Casino to wait for Joel. All of us were engrossed in conversation over relationships. Haha! How ironic. I won't attempt to explain because it's far too complicated to talk about it, let alone to pen it down.

Meet... JOEY!

Apparently he allowed 3 people to die on him that night. So heartless!! J/k~! Hehe...

Tim and his friend - Shafiq (Not sure how to spell his name), came to pick me up soon after and I managed to drag Yean along to join us. Wahahaha! To where? Of all places... The 24-hour driving range! Yet another random happening! Yes, this trip was full of them.

After that, went to Momo Tea House for a quick drink before sending Yean all the way back to St Heliers. Can't believe that I actually went from City Centre - Manukau - St Alberts (I think) - St Heliers. *fAiNt*! Nice car ride. Was exhausted by the time I returned to the hotel though.

Saturday 5th July

We woke up pretty late on the Saturday, had lunch at the Casino and then set off to explore Sylvia Park. It only took us around an hour before we decided to leave in search of "bak kua"! I can't believe how many of you Aucklanders don't know that there is at least one store in Auckland selling "bak kua"! Oh dear! I knew roughly where it was but forgot the exact location. So we decided to stop at a petrol station to ask where China Town was. Silly really... Cuz if we had just carried on down the road, we would have found it. Duh! Lesson: Don't ever give up so easily! :P

Between Jin and I, we bought 2 1/2 kgs which totalled $100.00. *fAiNt*! Of course it wasn't just for us... It was for our dear friends and family back in Christchurch! See how important you guys are to us? :P

We headed back to the hotel after that, where I slept for an hour while the rest talked (I think). Woke up and then had to get ready for dinner - korean BBQ (better than Christchurch's)! Unfortunately I have no photos - forgot to bring my camera out of my bag. Hah! It's OK, my memory will never fail me (I hope). The dinner was pretty good. Some didn't expect it to fill us up but we were struggling to finish in the end.

Attempted to watch "Hancock" at Metro but the cinema was pretty full and I really didn't want to sit in the front watching an action-ish movie. So we went to play Timezone. Seriously, random. Funny thing was, even though we were in another city, we were still doing the things that we would normally do while we were in Christchurch. And, there was always the question of, what should we do now? *fAiNt*!

Needless to say, we all headed back to Skycity after that. It gave me an opportunity to test the floor for my beloved "Mr Cashman". Sad to say, they have removed the machines! :( I lost $20.00 playing some stupid machine that I totally did not have a connection with before I decided to give up and meet up with Aveline. Hehe... We had intended to go for bubble tea but the place was closed and all we really wanted to do was to sit down and talk, so off we were to Burger King! We must have sat there for at least 1 1/2 hours before realising how late it was. Good times though... Treasured the conversation much more than she'll ever know.

Sunday 6th July

On our very last day in Auckland, we decided to indulge in dim sum for brunch at Sun World - somewhere in Newmarket. Not surprisingly then that after brunch, we walked around Newmarket. Justin and Ellen wanted to leave at around 3:00pm so we headed back to Skycity at around 2:00pm. Funnily, we bumped in a couple of people from Christchurch and had coffee at Rebo Cafe & Bar. With nothing much left to do, Tim came to pick me up to make a quick visit to Dress Mart with his friend, Calpa (Don't know how to spell his name either). Did a quick 1 hour power shop before he dropped me back to Skycity for Jin and I to take a shuttle to the airport.

Our flight was delayed for an hour so we ended up meeting Clark at the airport too. Other than that, that was my trip to Auckland. Don't know when i'll return again but i'm sure it won't take another 2 1/2 years. Hah!

Goodbye my friends...

2008-07-07T16:20:00.007+12:00

I have seen many people come and go in my life. Yet, it never seems to get any easier. Our group dynamic is simple - friends are our family. It's not surprising then, that when one leaves, it has a huge impact on all of us. Personally, I am happy for them that they are endeavouring to chase their dreams. But it is still sad to see them go. Nevertheless, it is the hope that they have made the right decision that comforts me.

Over the past year or so, farewells have become increasingly more frequent especially with most of us leaving after graduation. Our circle of friends has been significantly reduced in size leaving just a handful of us behind. With the very few of us left, the bond became even stronger and it is truly sad to see both Justin and Yang leave within a span of 1 1/2 weeks from each other.

Both of them are great losses to our volleyball team - "The Amigos". Its name chosen especially for the purpose behind creating this team. It won't be the same without you guys - Amigos4eva~! :)

~ The Amigos ~

From left to right: Ben Lai, Aliff, Jin, Justin, Yang, Tzin Wei, Me & Seng
Absent: Kim Loong

Ligers... Represent!

From left to right: Ronald, Jin, Seng, Way, Justin, Sam, Daniel, Clark, Tzin Wei, JK & Me

Just us...

From left to right: Justin, Me, Jin, Tzin Wei & Liz

Peng you...

From left to right: Cin, Hock, Ronald, Yang, Tzin Wei, Jin & Me

Alastair & Jessica's Wedding

2008-06-24T21:44:00.017+12:00

The trip to Dunedin for Alastair & Jessica's wedding had been planned for the past few months and when it came to crunch time, the weather proved to be against us. As we experienced heavy fog on the Friday night, Sophia's flight from Wellington couldn't land and had to turn back, and it was just too dangerous for us to drive down as well so we were all stuck in Christchurch.

It was so unsettling not knowing whether we would make it down to Dunedin that weekend. Good thing was that the fog cleared the following morning, poor Sophia took the earliest possible flight out of Wellington which managed to land, and then we were off.

Seeing as we knew that we would never make it in time for the church wedding at 10:30am, we had a breakfast stop in Timaru - Sophia and Justin opted for KFC (how can someone eat KFC at 10:15 in the morning?!) and I opted for the more appropriate, McDonald's breakfast. *aHeM*!

@ KFC, Timaru

From left to right: Sophia, Justin & Me

We finally arrived in Dunedin at around 1:00pm and headed straight to Meridian Mall to shop for Justin's shoes. While we were there, we bumped into some of the wedding attendees (who were so smartly dressed, I might add) and of course, all the cameras and cellphones with photos of the church ceremony came out. It was such a shame we missed it. I'm so sure that I would have cried. But thank goodness we made it for the dinner reception.

With 5 1/2 hours to kill after our arrival into Dunedin, Sophia and I were joined by Rafik and Howard the whole day - catching up in our hotel room at the Scenic Circle - Dunedin City and over coffee/fries at Black Dog. We even went to buy alcohol for our supposed after party and then finally, we spent over an hour getting dressed for the wedding dinner reception while the boys started on drinks. Of course we took the classic, before attending ball sort of photo... Hehe~

Classic before-ball shot

From left to right: Sophia, Justin, Rafik, Me & Howard

The dinner reception was held at The Savoy. What an awesome time we had! We ended up being known as the "moral-less table" simply because of all the dirty jokes that we entertained ourselves with. Friends could only remember 2 things - Table 11 and Room 714. *WiNk*! But honestly, that's what made it fun, right guys? Hah! Will never forget the classic moments...

Table decor

Now, let me introduce you to the people at table 11. There's...

Sophia...

Justin...

Joel...

Lewis...

Rafik...

The guys...

There was also another couple sitting at our table but I didn't really know them and they were far too quiet. Hehe! I think they enjoyed just listening in anyway and every now and then had the odd snicker or two. :P It's a wonder how we were so comfortable making a fool of ourselves in front of them though. Haha...

So who else was there?

Norman...

Howard...

Most importantly though, the dinner reception... I apologise for the photos being slightly dark (cuz I forgot which function to use on my camera and i'm too lazy to use photoshop) but as they say, better than nothing!

The wedding party...

The first dance...

Tea Ceremony...

Introducing...

The Bride & Groom: Alastair & Jessica Fung...

The Best Man - Brendan Fung...

One of the Groomsmen - Casey Fung...

Some may call this a symbolic photo. Those who know, will know. Hehe!

And that my friends, was Alastair & Jessica's special day... What I was present for anyway.

Congratulations & Best Wishes,
Alastair & Jessica!

Last weekend

2008-06-20T21:24:00.000+12:00

Last weekend was extremely fun but at the same time, tiring. We celebrated Seng's 26th birthday at none other than, Boys & Girls doing what we do best, karaoke. It's our usual way to celebrate someone's birthday I guess, other than having dinner. This was no different except there was to be a lot more alcohol than we could finish. Made it an awesome night though! :) Good thing was that even the non-drinkers were being sporting and had a drink. Good times...

Won't be saying too much in this post except:

Happy belated birthday Seng!

I was pretty out of it by the end of the night. Can't even remember taking a lot of these photos so maybe someone else was using my camera. But they're classic. Hehe! Don't know what's with all the gay action though. Well, enjoy! :)

From left to right: Justin, Ronald, Jin, Seng, Tzin Wei, Liz, Yang & Me

Snow baby!

2008-06-11T20:06:00.002+12:00

It snowed in Christchurch on Saturday and it was definitely a picture moment! :)

I could barely remember the last time I saw a snow covered roof-top but flicking through my photos, it must be back in Sept '05 when it snowed over night. This time round was nowhere near as thick as the snow storm 3 years ago but snow being a rare occurrence in Christchurch, everyone still loved it!

Typically, there would be a huge snow fight but on this occasion, it was done on a much smaller scale by simply turning up to people's houses with snow balls in hand. I, however, chose to stay in the car which I later found out was not as safe as I thought. Despite my efforts to keep warm, I still managed to suffer a cold. For that, I blame Seng. Hmph!

Turning 24...

2008-05-22T23:24:00.006+12:00

30th April:

Birthday dinner @ New York Steak House

Karaoke @ Boys & Girls...

From left to right: Kelvin, Jin, Me, Tzin Wei, Liz, Ronald & Justin

2nd May:

Belated Birthday Dinner @ MU Steak House

Karaoke @ Boys & Girls

From left to right: Ronald, Doris, Liz, Tzin Wei, Jin, Yang, Me & Justin

To be honest, I dreaded my birthday weeks beforehand. I felt bitter disappointment in myself - that I have not achieved enough. Many regrets came to mind, terrible decisions were reflected upon, bad memories made me cringe, sad ones flooded my thoughts.

What has happened to me? When did I become so bitter, so cold, so angry, so frustrated, so pessimistic? Worse of all, why do I always end up hurting the ones I am closest to? Do I unconsciously push them away when they get too close to me? Am I so scared to let my guard down for people to see the true me?

I'm sorry. I may not say this enough and I may not say it to the ones that I ought to, but I am truly sorry. I thank you too, for caring and still trying to stand by my side and I ask that you be patient and understanding. I hope that one day, things will return to some sort of normality, that I will find a balance, that I will find the confidence so that no one can shatter what seems to be a fragile sheet of glass.

I said this in my previous post, but I shall say it again...

Thank you to those that remembered and took the time out in your day to send birthday wishes my way. It means more than you can imagine.

Year 2008 thus far...

2008-05-19T18:06:00.002+12:00

Significant events since the beginning of the year veer very little from the devastating news of my Grandpa's death on January 21st. It seems like only yesterday that our whole family was brought together in celebration of his 90th birthday yet that has been over a year ago and it has since been over 100 days of his passing. The mourning period has officially ended - ironically, of all days, on my birthday.

So my birthday...

Thank you for all the messages, e-mails, phone calls and gifts! More importantly, thank you for remembering (even if it was Facebook that reminded you)! *aHeM*!

But before I upload photos from my birthday, I think there's a catch-up post due about now so, let me take you back to the beginning of the year to fill in the gaps or moreso, to post up photos!

February...

1st February: Karaoke @ Boys & Girls

2nd February: Elaine's farewell @ Bernald's House

6th February: Chinese New Year Eve/Ben Lai's birthday @ Seng's House

From left to right: Seng, Raja, Aliff, Ben, Ben's girlfriend, Tzin Wei, Freddie, Melissa & Me

6th February: Chinese New Year Eve "Reunion Dinner" @ Portofino

7th February: Chinese New Year Eve - Karaoke @ Boys & Girls

From left to right: Andrew, Me, Jin, Sam, Freddie, Melissa, Liz, Tzin Wei, Ben's girlfriend, Ben, Seng & Justin

9th February - 10th February: Trip to Terrace Downs

15th February: Freddie's Farewell @ Boys & Girls

25th February - 26th February: Audit Training in Dunedin

March...

21st March - 22nd March: Trip to Kaikoura

29th March: Sunset @ Avonhead Park

29th March: Aliff's 22nd Birthday @ Uni Hall

From left to right: Yang, Tzin Wei, Liz, Raja, Way, Sam, Wilson, Me, Freddie, Aliff, Jin & JK

31st March - 4th April: Graduate Induction Training

April...

6th April: Yoko's Farewell

10th April - 12th April: Methven Training

16th April: Jennifer's Graduation

26th April: Jennifer's Farewell

30th April: My 24th birthday (next post)

May...

3rd May: Party @ Craig's House

From left to right: Xavier, Kevin, Me, Craig & Chase

Trip to Perth

2008-04-26T18:34:00.000+12:00

As I may have already mentioned, I went back to Malaysia late last year, spent 9 days there before flying into Perth to explore Western Australia. It was a pretty awesome trip. With over a thousand photos from that trip, I won't be uploading all of them on here but check back on the photo section of my blog in the future. Meanwhile, have a glimpse here of what's more to come...

Perth

King's Park (by day):

Perth Mint:

Jacob's Ladder:

King's Park (by night):

Swan Bells Tower:

William de Vlamingh Memorial:

Swan Brewery:

Fremantle:

The Perth Zoo!

AQWA

Perth City (by night)

The London Court

St Martins Tower

Perth Central Train Station

Burswood Casino

King's Park - lighted

Margaret River

Port of Bunbury

Busselton

Cape Leeuwin

Jewel Cave

Hamelin Bay

Lake Cave

Mammoth Cave

Voyager Estate

Margaret River Chocolate Factory

Laurence Cellar

Port Mandurah

The Pinnacles

Geraldton

The leaning tree

Sand Dunes

H.M.A.S. Sydney II Memorial

Mabel Street

New Norcia

17 days later, my holiday came to an end and it was time for me to head back to Christchurch and face reality.

The trip back to Malaysia and into Western Australia was fantastic! Of course, the mood was dampened because of the sad news from home. I don't regret making the trip back even though it was such a short one. Can't wait until I travel again. :)

Smile...

2008-04-25T18:19:00.001+12:00

"Smile"
by: Michael Jackson

Smile though your heart is aching
Smile even though its breaking
When there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by
If you smile with your fear and sorrow
Smile and maybe tomorrow
You'll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just...

Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear may be ever so near
That's the time you must keep on trying
Smile, what's the use of crying?
You'll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just...

Smile though your heart is aching
Smile even though its breaking
When there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by

If you smile through your fear and sorrow
Smile and maybe tomorrow
You'll find that life is still worthwhile
If you just... Smile...

Two intense weeks...

2008-04-15T21:28:00.061+12:00

After 2 weeks of graduate induction/annual training that included 5 days in Dunedin, 3 days in Christchurch and yet another 3 days in Methven (yes, including a Saturday), i'm all trained out! Subsequently, however, I have a far greater appreciation for having signed on with such a great company (and no, they aren't paying me to say that). Hehe!

Trip to Dunners, 31st March - 4th April

4 grads from Christchurch (including me) flew down to Dunedin early Monday morning to join the other 6 grads from the Dunedin office for graduate induction. I was lucky enough to have started almost 2 months prior to this training so the experience was not as daunting as it probably was for my fellow colleagues who started on that very day itself.

The working hours for the week spent in Dunedin isn't really worth mentioning as I suspect that it will possibly bore you to sleep - you know, work work work. Nah, it was all pretty sweet - late morning starts, slow paced, information overload, and all that jazz. All of that coupled with hang overs or lack of sleep from the previous night and that pretty much sums up the week. Nah, i'm kidding. That only happened on the Thursday night which I shall mention more about later.

The Christchurch grads stayed at 97 Motel which is located less than 5 minutes away from the office. Surprisingly, the rooms were extremely spacious (perhaps because I so happened to have been allocated the biggest room among the 4 of us... Hehe!) and had adequate facilities. The bed was comfortable too! Thank goodness for that. The breakfast on the otherhand was disappointing to say the least - lack of variety but all paid for, along with lunches and dinners. So it was absolutely wondering eating our hearts out! Hehe...

One thing (among the many other things) i've learned since starting work is learning how to drink wine which I encountered on the Tuesday night while having dinner with the buddies! I still insist on riesling because it is one of the sweeter wines out there but I may choose to endeavour onto other types of wines in due course. :þ~ Such an alcoholic! Keke. It's hard not to pick up this habit when socialising is such a strong focus in the company culture and naturally, comes wine and beer. Wahahaha!

Thursday night... Most of us grads came over to the motel, specifically my room (being the biggest) to have a few beers and some wine before hitting the town. We ended up bar hopping. Can't remember the name of the first bar we went to but us girls were given free drinks. Hehe! Then we headed to South Bar - Monkey Bar - Ra Cafe & Bar. By the time I got back to the motel, it was 2:30am. I didn't sleep until 4:30am and struggled to wake up 3 hours later to pack, check-out and get to work on time.

Surprisingly, I didn't suffer a hang over unlike the rest of them thanks to the litre of water I drank before sleeping. Now that's what we call smart drinking! :þ~ So you could say that, we all pretty much suffered through the Friday, struggled onto the partner shout (which included more alcohol) and was relieved when we finally left for the airport at 6:00pm. Needless to say, I was exhausted by the time we arrived back in Christchurch at 8:00pm that night.

Having said that, I had a fantastic time down there - at work and out of work.

Meet my fellow colleagues...

Just the 4 of us...

From left to right: Me, Andrew, Ben & Amy

Grads '08 with the HR manager...

From left to right: Andrew, Ben, Amy, Ginny, Calvin, Shelley, James, Casey, Me, Kong Ja & Ian

Outside of work...

I was ordered to place Lewis as high priority on the list of people to meet up with during my stay in Dunedin. So on Monday night, I walked (in heels! *aHeM* *aHeM*!) to meet dear Lewis and Emu outside the Dunedin Hospital. Surprisingly, I had forgotten my way around Dunedin although I knew roughly where it was. Seeing as I was walking, I decided to depend on the trusty map. Lesson: Don't trust a map! I overshot it by 1 street because that's where the stupid cross (that indicates where the hospital is) was! Damn it! Gr!

I had forgotten the immense amount of energy Lewis has which is very infectious. It's the sort of persona that someone could feed off! I shake my head but it is more in awe than anything else because of how envious I am of his vibrant personality. Honestly don't know how he does it. I will admit though, that for a stranger he could come off as being a little too intense but i've known this guy for years! Really miss having someone like him around.

We dined at Table Seven. The food was delicious but a little expensive. The company was great though! :)

Me and the guys... Lewis & Emu

The food and US!

Lewis had to rush back to the library to study so Emu and I went to South Bar for a drink. It was interesting catching up with him as it's been ages since we last talked. Through our conversation, I realised how time has determined our success or our failure, how it has nurtured or stunted our growth, how our paths have been so obviously affected by our choices. At a point, it truly saddened me...

On a lighter note, had another fantastic dinner with friends on the Thursday night at Little India. It ended up being somewhat of a reunion for the summer of 2002 (with the addition of Emu) but a couple of people were missing. Hehe! We've all grown up so much - some of us working and the rest, nearing the end of their studies. What a long way we've all come and in this instance, it was comforting to know that some things just really never change...

From left to right: Emu, Me, Jenny, Brendan, Casey, Lewis & Rafik

A random shot...

Miss all of you so much!

I had to rush back to the motel after dinner for the Thursday night drinking session with colleagues as mentioned above. I won't go into any further details but, it was a pretty good night.

Unfortunately, I missed Tzin Wei's graduation ceremony so, a special shout out goes to him...

Congratulations

L-L-L-Lai Tzin Wei!
(Kekeke!)

Trip to Methven, 10th April - 12th April

Staff from both offices (Christchurch and Dunedin) met in Methven for the annual training, staying at Brinkley Lodge. The schedule was jammed-pack which was a good thing considering we were in a small town with only 2 pubs - Blue pub & Brown pub. Funnily enough, they are painted their respective colours. Hmmm!
Courses ran from 8:30am - 5:30pm on the first two days, followed by dinners that started from 6:30pm 'til the wee hours of the morning. As some of them would learn, those who stayed 'til the end paid for it the following day. I was somewhat smarter this time round calling it quits near midnight. Just didn't want a repeat of the Dunners trip. Hehe...

Friday night was the big night! We had a buffet dinner at the Brinkley conference hall, followed by dancing with a band from Christchurch. Not sure what the name of the band is but they rawked! Considering it was late notice (due to a last minute cancellation by the other band) and they could only come up with 2/4 of the band members, they did a superb job catering music for such a wide audience! Huge thumbs up to them...

I was only staying opposite from the bar and restaurant and could hear everything until 3:30am. I don't know what time the party ended but yet, they could all manage the team challenge the following morning. Although, there were tales of vomiting by some of the grads along the way sighted by the CEO... Haha! Not cool guys... :þ~

Anyway, here are just some of the photos taken that night...

Altogether now...

My buddy... Kate

The team challenge on the Saturday morning was held at the A & P Showgrounds in Methven in groups of 8 or 9. Our ultimate task was to build a chariot that could carry a person as we raced around a 400m course and carry out 2 tasks (changing riders and singing a song) along the way without the chariot touching the ground at any time during the race. The building materials (i.e. wooden poles, net, string, etc.) for the chariot could only be purchased once we had earned money equivalents by solving given riddles that were scattered around Methven town.

Pictures taken while walking around Methven...

It ended up being a very successful challenge. We ended up being 3rd when we could have come 1st! Why? Those who had less than 4 guys in their team were given a 25m head start which didn't help our situation at all because although we had 4 guys, 2 of them were terribly hung over. Then the group that ended up coming 2nd cheated by singing in chorus with us when they clearly arrived after us. Eesh! But it's all in good fun. Hehe!

Team: Night & Day

From left to right: Matt, Me, Grant, Calvin, Ian, Su, Kate, Kay & Ginny

We had a BBQ lunch before saying our goodbyes and parting ways. And that my friends, ended my 2 weeks graduate induction/annual training for 2008.

Terrace Downs

2008-03-27T23:26:00.008+13:00

As promised in my previous post, this is an overdue post about my trip to Terrace Downs - a remarkable golf resort situated just 1 hour West of Christchurch that happened way back in February (9th - 10th to be exact).

So after arriving back from Malaysia/Perth just a fortnight beforehand and having suffered through the first week of work which was absolute torture (as expected after having a year off), I was ready to get away from Christchurch. So when there was talk about a trip to Terrace Downs, I was definitely up for it!

Early Saturday morning, we were off!

The weather was beautiful - gentle warm breeze and a slightly cloudy sky... a great day to be out in the open. I didn't play because i'd probably end up making it a 36-hole golf course more than anything (haha!) but I did follow the guys out to drive the golf cart around. Hehe! It was entertaining.

By the time we finished the first 9 holes, we were all so hungry because it took longer than expected... I wonder why! So we took a lunch break to meet Angela and Ethan up at the Clubhouse and then returned to the golf course after. Golf finished at around 4:00pm if I remember correctly when they started at 11:00am. No comments. Haha! Good value for money though...

It was definitely fun - had an awesome time! The weather was perfect, the view was spectacular and the company was great. What more could you ask for?

Pictures, pictures? Of course! :þ~ Most of them were taken on the golf course itself. More will be uploaded later as usual (although it's been ages since I last updated the photo section of my blog).

Terrace Houses that overlook the magnificient golf course:

The breath-taking view...

Introducing the golfers:

Freddie...

Clark...

Jin...

... and their driver... ME!!

Random snapshots...

Posers...

Finally, me!!

After golf, we were so exhausted that we headed back to the house and took a nap. We finally woke up in time for a late dinner in the clubhouse, coupled with coffee and dessert. *YuM*!

Clubhouse main entrance at night...

Was expecting to have a midnight spa but was told on our way out that we had been misinformed about the opening hours of the spa. Stupid!! Such a waste! What's worse, they had sold the last pack of cards the previous night. I think the only other form of entertainment on offer was for us to drive to the next town and visit a couple of the pubs there. Seriously? Hmmm!

The decision was obvious - have a night in at the house. By the time we had arrived back, Clark and his family were either asleep or about to sleep. Freddie and Jin wanted to watch a chinese movie. I decided to sit outside on the verandah with a cup of coffee in absolute darkness. It was such an amazing feeling to be completely alone in the dark - a sense of isolation, complete freedom, a feeling of peace. I don't know how long I sat out there for but it was great. I think of all things, that was the best part of the trip.

The next morning, we woke up... absorbed the freshness of the air and the spectacular views again and then went to the clubhouse for breakfast. Took some photos of the golf course and the clubhouse from the house. Had to take a picture of my special verandah too! Hehe...

After breakfast, took photos of the whole group (which I don't have copies of because it was taken on another camera), checked-out and then headed home. Sounds boring but it was definitely one of the most relaxing holidays i've had so far and I think it'll be quite hard to beat. I'm just too tired to elaborate. So yeah, that was our trip to Terrace Downs. Not sure when i'll be back there again but it's a place i'll never forget. :)

Easter Holidays!

2008-03-23T13:02:00.090+13:00

First and foremost...

Happy Easter!

The Easter holidays couldn't have come at a better time. After working for 1 1/2 months, I took my first sick leave on Friday, suffered through work on Monday, made it to work on Tuesday but was sent home because I was too sick and haven't been in since. So I will be having a super long weekend - 7 1/2 days straight to be exact thanks to "Accountants Day" that falls on Tuesday! :) Feels like last year all over again... Except probably not as nice since I keep sleeping and coughing like crazy~

After much planning, the day of the Kaikoura trip finally arrived on Friday! It started at 7:00am when we all gathered at McDonald's, Riccarton for nothing else but McD breakie! *YuM*! Then at 8:00am, we started our journey up north. Made a number of toilet and ciggie breaks along the way then finally arrived in Kaikoura at around 11:00am.

Happy Justin & sleepy Ellen...

Tired driver - Jin

Smiley me!

The landmarks of Kaikoura...

Not knowing what to do since we couldn't check-in to our accommodation until 2:00pm and our fishing trip was scheduled for 1:00pm, we dropped in at the Information Centre only to find out that there wasn't too much else to do in Kaikoura except to visit the Seal colony. So off we went. It was exciting to see them up close and personal, almost camouflaged among the rocks.

New Zealand Fur Seals...

After that rather smelly experience, we returned to town for a caffeine boost at Craypot Cafe & Bar and then took a peak in some of the shops. Couldn't resist but to take a picture of the fries. Left us rather dumbstricken as we weren't sure whether we were suppose to pour them out or not. Hmmm!

The morning passed pretty quickly and soon after, we headed over to South Bay to board the fishing boat - Top Catch Fishing Charters with our skipper, Justin. What a coincidence... By this time, the weather had improved and was warming up.

The 15 minute ride out to sea was absolutely amazing. Having the sea breeze brush against my face and being out on the open water was refreshing. It gave me the sense of freedom, the ability to be able to breathe again - an unforgettable feeling. For that, the trip was worth it...

The fishermen/women...

From left to right: Liz, Tzin Wei, Ellen, Justin, Jin, Seng & Me

The view...

An albatross who kept hanging around our boat

Once we anchored, it was time for some fishing!!

The first catch was made by Jin who caught a blue cod and a sea perch soon after dropping the line. It gave all of us plenty of hope which we soon realised would be crushed as it would be the only blue cod for dinner that night. Seng caught the biggest sea perch that day...

Despite our conscious efforts to prevent feeling sea sick by taking sea sick pills since breakfast, our stomachs couldn't sustain the rocky ride once the boat had been anchored. It all started with Jin who suddenly stopped fishing and hung onto the rail at the top of the boat. Then it was my turn. I will admit that I almost vomitted but refused to be the first to cop out so I was concentrating really hard not to. At that point in time, I couldn't care less what everyone else was saying or doing to me. I just felt flushed and apparently my lips went pale too. Worst feeling ever... and a very costly one too!

Tzin Wei, having reminded us multiple times (probably his way of reminding himself as well) to look afar, ended up being the first and last to vomit. Good thing, we have evidence! Wahahaha!!

Liz fell sea sick after trying to get some tissue from my handbag for Tzin Wei. Haha! 4 down... 3 to go... At that point, we all decided to give in and head back to land after being out on the water for 2 hours although we had paid for 3. As for crayfish, we didn't get any as the tide was too rough that the skipper couldn't find the buoy where he had placed the pods. He did say that he would head out early the next morning to bring us back some and then contact us but the next morning's tide was even worse than the previous day. So he said that we should call in on him the next time we're in Kaikoura. Yeah right... So yeah, we were out of luck.

Feeling sick and tired, we went to check-in to our accommodation - The Fairways. For 7 of us, we occupied 1 apartment and 1 studio. The location was pretty good because we were around 5 - 10 minutes out of Kaikoura town itself. The place was nice and new, equipped with the necessities. Of course if I was to compare it to Terrace Downs then it wouldn't be nearly as nice but I guess that's where the price difference comes into play. Which reminds me, I have yet to blog about that holiday... Next post, next post... Hehe!!

Anyway, this is where we stayed...

The Fairways...

By day...

By night...

Inside...

One of the bedrooms...

I think most of us were exhausted by the time we unloaded our luggage from the car. I definitely was. So after showering, I crawled into bed and aimed for a short nap. What I didn't expect was that I would only finally wake up at 7:30pm - a 4 hour nap was it? Oops~

Everyone woke up and preparation for our BBQ was in place. Menu for that night: our precious blue cod and sea perch, lamb and chicken all on the barbecue, and of course, stir-fry vegetables! Had fruit salad and lychees for dessert and then drowned all that with a couple of drinks.

By the end of the night, I think most of us were tired from such an early start earlier in the morning. We ended up sleeping around midnight? Well, I was probably one of the first ones to call it a night. A lesson to be learned: No panadol and not enough alcohol when you're sick makes you feel really crap! Haha...

Woke up the next morning at around 9:00am to check out by 10:00am. It would have been ideal if we could have stayed an extra night, having rested most of the previous day but Seng had to work. Bleh! Trying to make the most of it, we headed into town for brunch. Had fish & chips at Continental Seafoods. Bloody expensive place... If I can recall, they were charging $70.00 for a whole crayfish. The closest we got to ordering that, was a crayfish sammie which Tzin Wei ordered for $15.00? Rip off! We would later find out on our hunt for crayfish from Cods & Crayfish that it would only cost between $35.00 - $45.00 for one depending on the weight and the size - cooked or alive. *fAiNt*!

Following Tzin Wei's recommendation, we went over to the Kaikoura Winery to take in the beautiful views from the deck. Indeed, the view was amazing... The winery was simple, definitely nothing compared to the Voyager Estate that I visited whilst in Western Australia (which I hope to get around to blogging about someday. Hehe...) The coffee there was bearable... Definitely better than Craypot Cafe & Bar but you can't expect too much right? It's a winery. Duh~

So after taking in the breath-taking views while sipping coffee and talking a whole load of rubbish, we headed back into town to walk the shops (again), buy lotto (very important) and for Tzin Wei to eat his much craved for... crayfish. Hehe...

Not wanting the trip to end, some of us decided to go back to the Seal Colony to collect some rocks. To see Tzin Wei manoeuvring his way around the rocky surface was just painful but seeing both Tzin Wei and Seng jump when they realised that they were walking straight towards the seals... Now that's what made the trip back to the rocks worth it. MuaHaHaHaHa~!!

It was finally time to leave Kaikoura... to head back to reality.

On our way home, we decided to turn off into Hanmer Springs - a place I haven't visited for a couple of years now. What we expected to take 30 - 45 minutes ended up taking over an hour? It was just such a long and windy route. The place hasn't changed too much. Robbie's has been bought over. The Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools & Spa Resort have had at least 2 new heated pools added to it. We didn't go in because it was so packed being a long weekend. Instead, we went to have coffee and eat some fried chicken.

I have to mention Smurfie because he was our front row passenger the whole way to Kaikoura and back. Hehe... Do you see him?? Look closely!!

No? He's on the dashboard!! Well if you can't see him, this is smurfie up close. Isn't he cute? Keke... I should really name him... But I do wonder how long Jin's going to allow him to live on the dashboard. Hehe!!

... And that concludes our trip to Kaikoura...

Do not let your fire go out...

2008-03-01T15:10:00.004+13:00

"Do not let your fire go out - spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the not quite, the not yet, the not at all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, then only frustration for the life you deserved - the never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists. It is real. It is possible. It is yours."

One Tree Hill - Season 1, Episode 2

When Girls Don't Put Out!!

2008-02-22T09:47:00.003+13:00

The following is a forwarded e-mail I received from Brendan Lim. It is exactly what I need on a Friday morning when you just need the day to go slightly faster so that it'll finally be the bloody weekend! :P But please note, it may be offensive to some people but it sure as hell has cracked me up... Quite mean though. Hehe...

When Girls Don't Put Out!!

This was written by a guy... it's pretty damn smart.
Girls -- Please have a sense of humour!

I never quite figured out why the sexual urge of men and women differ so much. And I never have figured out the whole Venus and Mars thing. I have never figured out why men think with their head and women with their heart.

FOR EXAMPLE:

One evening last week, my girlfriend and I were getting into bed.
Well, the passion starts to heat up, and she eventually says, 'I don't feel like it, I just want you to hold me.'

I said, 'WHAT??!! What was that?!'
So she says the words that every boyfriend on the planet dreads to hear...
'You're just not in touch with my emotional needs as a woman enough for me to satisfy your physical needs as a man.'
She responded to my puzzled look by saying, 'Can't you just love me for who I am and not what I do for you in the bedroom?'

Realizing that nothing was going to happen that night, I went to sleep.

The very next day I opted to take the day off of work to spend time with her. We went out to a nice lunch and then went shopping at a big, big unnamed department store. I walked around with her while she tried on several different very expensive outfits. She couldn't decide which one to take, so I told her we'd just buy them all. She wanted new shoes to compliment her new clothes, so I said, 'Lets get a pair for each outfit.'

We went on to the jewellery department where she picked out a pair of diamond earrings. Let me tell you... she was so excited. She must have thought I was one wave short of a shipwreck. I started to think she was testing me because she asked for a tennis bracelet when she doesn't even know how to play tennis. I think I threw her for a loop when I said, 'That's fine, honey.' She was almost nearing sexual satisfaction from all of the excitement. Smiling with excited anticipation, she finally said, 'I think this is all dear, let's go to the cashier.'

I could hardly contain myself when I blurted out, 'No honey, I don't feel like it.'
Her face just went completely blank as her jaw dropped with a baffled, 'WHAT?'
I then said, 'Honey! I just want you to HOLD this stuff for a while. You're just not in touch with my financial needs as a man enough for me to satisfy your shopping needs as a woman.'
And just when she had this look like she was going to kill me, I added, 'Why can't you just love me for who I am and not for the things I buy you?'

Apparently I'm not having sex tonight either....but at least that bitch knows I'm smarter than her.

Alright Ladies. Forward this if you agree. Hell even if you disagree, forward it anyway.

Men, forward this if you have BALLS !!!!

Day 1 at Work

2008-02-04T22:57:00.001+13:00

Started work today. Can't believe that i've started my career... as an Accountant. It has been a whole new experience - eye-opening and mind-boggling. What on earth was I thinking?! It's so different to what you learn at high school or at University. I felt extremely stupid, having to always rely on my trainer for direction. Didn't expect the first day to be so full on. *SiGh*... Have I even made the right choice? ... Feel like quitting and it's only been 1 day... Perhaps it's because it's only been 1 day that I feel this way. Let's hope it gets better... or else... screw it!

I'm not me...

2008-02-03T02:46:00.002+13:00

I'm said to not be quite myself at the moment... or at least, not the same person I was when I left just over a month ago. I must admit that it's true. Circumstances have changed. The impact of which is to such an extent that others can pick up on.

I find myself standing in the middle of nowhere, totally lost and alone. I've lost someone very dear to me... I've been separated from my loved ones... I return to an almost empty house... and when I look around, I see no one I can confide in anymore. Why did I even bother coming back?

Christchurch... It's supposed to be my home.

I've lost the stability that kept me sane. For now, I feel like i'm totally lost at sea, drifting, hoping to find land soon because i'm scared of drowning. I may not have the strength to pick myself up again.