Trigger happy

I went trigger happy with the camera. Reason being, my curly hair's going to be lobbed off soon. So I'd like beautiful memories of it. *winks ;) which of course just happens to be the perfect reason to perfect the shots.

On an unrelated note, an interesting Calvin and Hobbes quote:-

"Everyday I have something that grows bigger and bigger, it's a list of the people who successfully pisses me off, " Calvin.

You gotta give the little guy credit where credit is due. His observations are spot on!

Mom's Snow White Cake

I can't believe my dad bought a Walt Disney cartoon character cake for my mom's birthday. Lol, but it was sweet of him. Err, it looks pretty, probably more suited to kiddy girls. It sure looks nice. But the material that the scene's painted on is slightly rubbery, a little icky to eat.

LOL, but mom looks happy enough.

Christmas 2007

Christmas 2007 in GEPC.

This is one of the dressiest Christmas Service I've attended yet. Everybody looked really festive :)

In fact, there's so much red that it reminds me of Chinese New Year. Lol, more photos in Facebook.

Carolling 2007

Christmas Eve, what more suitable than carolling before welcoming Christmas Day, with a countdown :) which is exactly what we did.

More photos in Facebook.

New Year's Lunch

Mr. HO's Fine Foods.

Ineresting to have lunch. The bacon I've been craving for is found here. The craving has been satisfied.

Mashed poatoes, bacon, ham and egg sandwich, beer battered fish and chips, ice lemon tea, Earl Grey of course.

Everywhere's crowded today. The new year started off with a nice, cooling blanket of rain. Now the evening sun looks lovely, a really mellow kind of golden color.

Ahhh...reflections on the year past

What has past, what is going to come? Will the following year bring joy to the heart? Or will it bring heartache and heartbreak? I suppose both are inevitable. Especially when one puts their heart into another's hands in hope. But then, I can always pray for more and more of the former instead of the latter.

We've toasted the year in with hope. Let's pray joy, peace and love follows suit, abundantly.

Here's to all, a blessed year ahead!

May God bless you.

Ushering in a spanking good year

Pretty Cupcakes to usher in a sweet New Year. Isn't that what most of us wish for? A year overflowing with abundance and goodness. Amen to that :)

Baby Michael

Baby Michael and Mummy Angela. Those from Ipoh would probably recognize Pastor Elijah Kong, this is the newest addtion to their family :)

GAP Charity Screening of Enchanted

This is the cinema foyer where the movie was screened.

The stars of the show, I much prefer Patrick Dempsey's gentleman style to the prince's charming one. Amy Adams as the princess. A different kind of happily ever after.

GAP's promotional posters for Holiday 2007. Crazy stripes!

Hotels in the Mood for Christmas

ShangriLa's in the mood for Christmas, this particular morning it was misty, chilly and with the warm yellow lights, it's exactly suited for Christmas.

This is in Park Royal Hotel and it was decked with a short walkway of midsized Christmas trees. Taken during the warehouse sales we had there.

Baby Esther is 2

She's 2 years old this November. Kids grow so fast. She's totally mischievous but lately she's taken a fright to strangers and all. The worst thing is, she needs about half an hour to adjust herself to the fact that she knows you and is familiar with you. Jeez, that's a pain. Terribly insecure.

Celebrated her birthday early during the weekend. She's scared of candles and the birthday song! Would you believe it? I've never heard of kids who is before. Weird...

Balls of yarn for Christmas

Almost everybody got roped in the team got roped in to help out with winding yarn around these Christmas baubles. But it was kind of fun and in a way err I can say now that I understand why some ladies find it thereaupatic to knit. Lol, anyhow, decorations are up in the stores and the different colors of the balls really made the stores look festive.

Compliments

Sometimes the sweetest compliments are received when you least expect it. Aunty S and Uncle V called out to me during lunch yesterday. Aunty S asked me why I’m not attached since I’m so attractive. LOL, yes I think I blushed. Then I patted her hand and told her that thank you but that’s probably from the women’s point of view. Then Uncle V patted MY hand and told me he’s confirming it from the men’s point of view. LOL, ahh well, always nice to have compliments. *winks* She even said that if she's a guy she thinks she'll go after me. Lol, went on to say too bad the son's so much younger than me.

The bitter sweet thing about it is, they mentioned P and how they prayed for a partner for him. Sigh, they mentioned that they spoke to him about this a few years ago when he was still single. That tugged at my heart strings. Anyhoos, don't think, don't think!!!
Glad it was a short encounter this year, enough however to make me nostalgic but then I had 2 days to cheer up :)

Back from a 4 day break!

First day of work after a few days of break and it’s so nice to come back to the new office.
But it seems a bit odd too. Reason being I’m so used to going 2 floors up. But Trusting in God’s spot-on timing, this is better. It was getting too “claustrophobic” upstairs. I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on my work. Big mistake.
One of the topics actually all of the topics that were spoken on in the conference stayed with me, in particular that we were fearfully and wonderfully made by God. Why?
Well, Pastor Elijah mentioned that just our face alone demonstrates God’s thoughtfulness. Just look in the mirror. The hair grows an inch and half at least, in a month. Our eyebrows stop growing at a certain length. Odd, I never really thought about it that way. Come to think of it, I do pluck my eyebrows, (roll your eyes at vanity!) and whenever I do, they grow, after a few weeks. But they stop at a certain length. Although everybody’s different, it does stop at a reasonable length. Another thing to thank God would be the length of nostril hair and armpit hair! Not my words, the speaker’s! Lol, thank God they do stop at a reasonable length. Oh yes, not forgetting the famous position of the nose. The nose is pointed downwards. Aren’t you glad that it’s not facing upwards? We’ll drown every time it rains. That had me in stitches.

Caysha and Empress

Would you believe Empress was just a small puppy a few months ago? Dogs grow so fast! She rarely barks though. I find that a huge plus. I'm not too fond of dogs barking loudly all the time. She looks adorable. But she's awfully fond of jumping up on people. She's so friendly.

Baby Caysha, she is grouchy when she's sleepy. Her hair's so dark and she has so much of it. Her eyes are fringed with the sweetest long sweeping lashes. But I've got this paranoid fear of carrying babies so young. She's just 3 months and her neck's still lolling about. She's so fragile.

I am so not ready to be a mom.

Beautiful skies

Dusk, on the 28th of October 2007.

Sunrise on the 13th of November 2007.

Birthday 2007

So what is it like to be another year older? The truth is, it is a little depressing, to know that you're getting on in years. Another question. How does it feel on your birthday? I didn't really feel anything special. Now I know that it's supposed to be a day to be cheerful to be looked forward to.

But honestly, maybe it's all part of growing old/mature, birthdays doesn't hold the magic it once does for me anymore. When I was younger, I would count the days till it came. More often than not however, the day didn't turn out as spectacular as I thought it would be.

Maybe it's the disillusionment of so many years of birthdays, maybe it's just part of growing up. My birthday this year was just another ordinary day to me.

The little girl part in me wants something different though. I want my birthday to be as magical as a fairy tale. But what ingredients or events justify that illusive description?

:) I really don't know...well, I hope I do find out next year. There's always hope.

Esther

Went to dinner's at godmom last Sunday. Esther was in an especially chirpy mood. Got tons of photos of her smiling away. Naughty little girl.

Seremban Grilled Crabs

Lured by the promises of grilled crabs, we made a day trip to Seremban. Interesting. I've alwasy wondered why some places insist on selling fresh seafood when they're no where near the sea.

But the crabs and seafood we had in Seremban was surprisingly fresh and tasted quite alright. The grilled crabs still had the saltwater taste on it.

The fried squids were right up my sisters aisle. She liked it. The fried rice was for the benefit of the sister as she doesn't take crabs or prawns.

The salted egg prawns were slightly disappointing. If they had peeled of the shell and let the salted egg yolk marinade the prawns, I think it'd be much better.

The buttermilk crabs too were not too fantastic. Bearable.

It was quite worthy a trip to discover the food in Seremban. Though I must say, it is a rather congested town to live in especially down the older parts. The Jusco shopping mall reminded me of my home town one.

"Pursuit of Happyness"

I know this movie speaks and empathizes with at least one person. A person whom I had not been in contact with for almost 2 years, not by choice but by circumstances. If that was the horror he went through, I understand now. My heart aches for him now.
I could feel Chris’s desperation when the world was closing in on him. There was no pity and more and more cold water upon him and his son. If that was what he really went through, I feel his pain. What a man could do for his son and for survival out of desperation, is beyond what I can imagine sitting in relative comfort here.
The world is not as merciless as it may seem. Trouble happens. But if Chris hadn’t taken on the internship with no pay, he would not have ended up opening his own stock brokerage firm later on in life. Surviving for 6 months without pay and having the government seizing your money is beyond what I can feel.
The tears running from his eyes when he finally made it and got an offer from the firm to join as a broker WITH pay this time. The relief and thankfulness, the shakiness of his hand when he fumbled to take the notebook on his desk, his desire to see the son at daycare and to hug him, to finally be able to tell his son that everything is going to be alright. The future looked bright with hope. That feeling must truly be felt to be believed.
A 5 year old boy, the strength and reason that his father was holding on, striving. Those words that he gave the father must mean more than anything that the father ever heard in those bleak days of his life. “You’re a good papa”. Those words made everything that Chris was going through worth going through.

There as a scene when the son dropped his toy when they were chasing the bus, tears were streaming down his face when he was silenced by his dad when he wanted to go back to pick up the toy but they were rushing to go to the shelter for the night. He never blamed his dad, didn't hold a grudge. The forgiveness in a child may be more than what I have in me for the mildest of offences towards me. The bond shared by the father and son touches even the most stony of hearts.
But life teaches many lessons, not in the ways one would expect. But in life’s books, there’re always clouds with silver linings. The bleaker it seemed to be, the more down in the dumps we seem to be trodden into, the faster help is on it’s way, the faster our circumstances will change, for the better.
We need hope. We need to cling on to it even though the impossible seemed to be impending. For Chris, it was a long, long 6 months. For some it may be a long winter, for another a long 12 months. But at the end of it all, at the end of the season, things will get better.

I love the picture where he just picks up his son at the beach and with light heartedness, swings him around. The picture in the diner had Chris looking at his son with affection even though that was where they were staying for the night.