Eye opener

Just putting up at short one this time. It's totally unplanned but just thought of sharing something I stumbled upon.. Well, I was blogwalking this afternoon in the midst of reports & IVs (I just needed a place to escape the "work madness" for a bit). I stumbled upon an interesting blog and was just scanning through this guy's posts and out of a sudden amongst his posts...this sentence jumped out, calling out to me for attention..

 "Be kinder today,

for everyone you meet is fighting their own battle in life".

...and it did. Caught my attention & my mind straightaway. Kinda had that *boink*-on-the-head moment. How many times do I go through my days...saying not so nice stuff about people, judging them, complaining about them etc etc without even thinking what it must be like in their shoes or what they're going through at the moment? Countless of times. (uhuh...am right now hearing the judge banging the hammer, pointing straight at me & saying "Guilty as charged!"). A good eye opener for today. Hmm...what has opened your eyes (or heart) today?


p/s Sorry I didn't live up to the promise of my previous post where I would post something nicer. Let's give it a 2nd shot on my next post. Ok tak? ;)

The Ride

It's time to rumble...again! Haha. I'm guessing you'll be predicting another heart-jerking-out-of-breath-hair-pulling-moment post! I know, i know my recent posts have been pretty depressing or rather *%&*!!#$@&!!?! in nature (or am I exaggerating a lil too much?). 

And yes...here we go again! The past two weeks were very much the highest of high and the low low. Not really lowest of low...but just low. (suddenly that song is in my head...low low low). Geez! 

Well, the high days were those days where I have those laugh-til-my-tummy-ache-real-bad moments. Here's one of 'em: We had a Bowling event a week plus ago and the game was played in such a way that you have to bowl in different sort of styles i.e. bowl backwards, between the legs, sitting down etc.. Knowing me, I just couldn't resist but laugh (out loud) at people that day. And the best thing is that when you're one of the judges or rather the organisers...you're pretty much entitled to do so..hehehee. 

Ready..target locked....

 Bowls away! (with some help from Derek)

What are you waiting for?

Another high moment was when the choir had their retreat last Saturday. I joined the afternoon session as I had to work on Saturday morning (one of the low). Am glad I chose to join the retreat that afternoon, as I almost decided not go at all..I still have lots to do at the office (sometimes I wish I could be David Copperfield and make those reports disappear or turn them into pretty craft supplies..or a cuttlebug would be perrrrfect! Dream on, Evonne...dream on). 

So, there I was, at the choir retreat with Fr. Chua as our speaker. Let me tell you, any event that has Fr. Chua in it, would bound to be a laughing session! Plus one of our choristers, Janet, was there too and she too could be pretty hilarious. Add them both together and you would certainly get a laugh-til-my-tummy-ache-real-bad moment. We had who-can-blow-the-candle-at-a-distance competition (to test our strength), which we ended up singing happy birthday and laughed at how ridiculous we looked while trying our best to blow the candle out. Some even had to be restrained by Fr Chua on the head so as not to cheat by moving their bodies closer when attempting to blow the candle. We were taught the vocal exercise where you lie flat on your tummy, hands to the side with your head and legs lifted up while repeating "ah" (errr..) We kinda look like some singa laut terdampar kat pantai! These were just some of the moments that we had. It was all laugh worthy but just as important and knowledgeable for us as choristers. 

Despite having all these high moments, the low seems to be able to seep through and bring you to a darker, sinister moment(s). There were days when I wake up, I feel my throat closing in and it's hard to breathe and I just couldn't get myself off the bed, while the to-do-lists, problems of the universe (especially having to face people from a total different planet - we kinda have that species a lot in the city where I live i.e frequencies don't match because they don't speak in human language - yes my imagination's gone a bit too adventurous but it's somewhere along that line. Go figure, if you've got the time) and fears starts pouring into your head making it even heavier and there were days where I wish I was living a total different life altogether. Oh man...those days were pretty nasty. 

Somehow, I manage to get back to reality and put on the "keep calm & carry on" attitude on. Not easy but doable. And I realize that it's during these times that the Big Guy up there gives me a wake up call, a nudge to my heart (and head)...always through the daily devotionals I subscribe to. I am ever so thankful for that.. Kinda keeping me on solid ground, though I do feel at times I'm already near the edge. 

So there, life IS a rollercoaster. Yes, Ronan Keating, we hear you. Been there done that, will go through it again because it's still the same ride which we only get to ride once.

p/s I hereby promise that my next post will be a less depressing & nicer one...much nicer. :)

Congratulations to you

I just need to rumble some stuffs here. Am having a heart-jerking-out-of breath-stressed-out afternoon. So I thought, "Hey, I've not visited my blog in what seems to be light years ago! So why not jot down some crappy-mood-related juicy stuffs just to vent out a little bit."

So here goes.. I hereby would like to present some very auspicious awards to....*drum roll by mad person & followed by Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho music*

Congratulations to that person who was able to put a thunderstorm over me this afternoon! Thank you very much for trying to run away from your responsibilities as a manager. Just a little note to you, next time try to put a thunderstorm on yourself and see how it feels.

Congratulations to the workers next door doing the renovations for their oh-so-wonderful banging, scrapping & drilling sounds which bring chills to the bone and heat to my face the whole afternoon! What can I say but Encore! Encore!

Congratulations to the terrifying news I just received this afternoon which left me poor heart jerked & mind blank! Am much in need of some encouragement. All I can say is this: Serving in the ministry really puts you in a place where you are constantly challenged in so many ways.

So there you go. Congrats & have a nice life!

*Just having a moment here, hence the moody post. But no worries, this too shall pass...

And I shall resolve this by purchasing a funny movie @ kedai merah, laugh it out and have a SAP (stop & pray) session. Uhuh, that shall do it.

In a daze

Dazed. Overwhelmed. A tinge of fear. Anxious. Hopeful.

Thinking of home.

Someone please take me to...

...on a big jet plane!

Why Paris? Well, a postcard from my cousin who went to Paris was on my desk..and hence the thought of being there!

I was listening to this song several times. Nice! And I really like the video clip. Makes me wanna put my face to the fan as well! I feel just like this girl, about my job right now...*sigh*



...gonna take ya for a ride on a big jet plane..hey hey

* The picture was a courtesy of my little nephew. He was actually putting up a bored face, wondering why is it taking the apek sooo long to prepare his kolok mee.

My Pursuit to De-stress during the Weekend!

On Friday I...

* had a upsetting day and lost my temper at work (not worth mentioning)

* blamed Friday the 13th and having such an impossible boss as the cause of huge thundering clouds hovering my head ready to strike people into pieces, whoever gets in my way!

* got busy doing my house chores because I wanna spend Saturday morning getting crafty (shooh...go away dark clouds!)

* ate, laughed and watched Paul the Octopus predict an important decision @ Citrus (thank God for great friends)

* started re-reading 'The Time Traveler's Wife' :)

On Saturday I...

* woke up to the sound of my neighbour's blasting Iban dangdut songs (ohkaaay)

* read a few more pages of 'The Time Traveler's Wife

* had scrambled eggs + coffee for breakfast...yum!

* got crafty with ice-cweam schticks. ;)

* had fun @ Dragon Store, though it wasnt' so much fun for my purse...had to squeeze out some $$ for the 'funtime' aftermath

* went for choir practice with only 5 members turning up (better luck next week i hope...and pray)

* said goodbye to Sid...the tissue supplier

* played badminton with the gals, Vic & Mag & lil Sam (and he's only 9!).

*headed for Suncity for early dinner. Conversation topic was a mixture of interviews, cooking & men with wavy hair. Weird combination. I know.

*  went to bed early as I feel a bit flu-ish *sniffs*

On Sunday I...

* smiled & nodded at my Chinese neighbour for the first time. (my eyes went into zoom mode to his very red hair!)

* went to church..well, actually I sped to church, thinking that I was late, but arrived just on time..phewh!

* tried my best to focus on the sermon on kronos and something something in greek but my mind kept flying off far faaaaar away...

* stumbled on a few keys on the keyboard while Fr. Cheong was closing in prayer. Oops! Sorry..the prayer didn't meant to have any sound effects to go with it.

* went hunting for my laser jet printer (someday...yes, someday you will be mine!)

* saw some very young girls performing some very provocative moves in a dance competition. Yikes!

*popcorn+coke+LOL+Despicable Me+Maggie = Awesomeness :D

* watched Josh Groban's live concert before going off to bed...*bliss*

Lovely weekend & my pursuit was accomplished! Yay!

The longest time

It's been 2am for faaaar tooo long in this poor blog of mine. Oh yes, I've even gotten comments from my friends, Maggie & Sue, saying that my blog is now infested with roaches and bugs! A time for some pest control, people! I know it's been neglected & abandoned for too long. It's the longest time I've left my blog unattended. I need to clean it up! There are photos to share & stories to tell and...sigh....a lack of time in which to do so.

And so I thought August would be a less busy month for me. Yeah right! *eyes rolling* My to-do lists are piling up fast as the early August days go by! I'm trying my best to slash off all those to-do items just like using those mesin injin rumput! Haha...which reminds me, I so wanna do that to a guy I saw the other day @ Mings. He's an orang putih. Very long hair. Very delicate features. Very banyak the dada hair! And he's wearing this very low cut V-neck white t-shirt! His hairy pastures are more than just peeping to say hello, the're practically in full view making the Mexican wave & shouting 'Look at me! Look at me!' Ughh. Am not into hairy chested guys. No offence, but they're a huge distraction. A bad one. I was so ready to pasang my machine, put on my safety gloves and glasses and "injin rumput" his chest hairs! Hahahahaha! Erk..soorry guys...my imagination has gone a bit to the wild hairy side. This is really not helping much to "clean up" my blog, huh. I think I'm adding more crap and in the end attract more roaches & bugs! Not good.

So, what I've been doing since 2am, four months ago? Well....lots! I'll post it up little by little....especially on my craft journey. ;) I'm excited to show & tell but time is a meanie who does not permit me to do so right now.

But I assure you...I'll be back!

2am

It’s almost 2am and I’m still wide awake. I’m tired. But my motor is still running. I think it’s because of the hype about the decorations that we did in the Parish Hall tonight. Hehe. Myself, Maggie, Diana & Audrey..and oh Jusip too were busy decorating and getting the place ready for tomorrow’s wedding. Vic and her bro, Donny, did came in to help out for awhile. Well we were there since 745pm and come to think of think, I have never stayed back in church til very late. We went back at about 1.20am! Imagine that! But no doubt we had loads of fun decorating especially the balloons and the signage (we are so proud of our creation!)...hehe! Audrey even suggested that we all quite our jobs and go into the field of event management, haha. And Jusip would become our balloon pumper, Diana the balloon tie-r specialist, Maggie the master of balloons arranger and Audrey the ribbon maker. We’ll make a good team. Hahah! Well, here’s a sneak peek of what we did....:p

Pump pump and snip snip


Balloons galore!


In the beginning

Will upload more photos soon to see the outcome of our decoration session..hehe. My bed is calling me and I need my beauty sleep right now. ;) Time to hit the sack! Good night (or rather good morning!)

Breathe in......breathe ouuuut

The past few weeks have been very much eventful….filled with works, meetings, band and choir practices, preparation for Holy Week & Easter and now preparation for Jo’s wedding. Whooh! It’s all full speed ahead! I wasn’t even able to take a pit stop after Easter. The activities for the week ahead were already waiting in line! There’s the Naim market study which causes me to have a certain kinda fit to which I barf out housing units (sigh), the "never ending journey" of valuation reports to do, the Miri Easter Celebration meeting, Youth Service meeting, band and choir practice (Maggie, Audrey & I will be wedding singers tomorrow…haha, and with only 2 practices I hope we don’t slaughter the songs! Gulp) and preparing the decorations for the wedding tomorrow (Maggie & I are far from done. We must get it all done tonight, yikes!) Oh, I also have some cards to make as well….oh dear! And come Sunday, I’ll be flying off to Kuching for my company’s annual dinner. I hope I won’t ‘pancet’ halfway through…haha. However, in the midst of all the hustle and bustle, I was met with two surprises, which, of course are the highlights of my week! It gave me that warm fuzzy feeling of great delight…yumm! First was that I found out that my Aunty Cia is preggers! Praise God. Whoohoo! After seven years, lil Latana & Keepat will be welcoming a new dedek soon! A new addition to our already huge family by end of this year! Hope that I’ll be buying pink booties! hehe. Christmas will be extra special! The next news is that, Jusip Willits is in Miri! He’s baaaack! I missed him. It’s been 4 yr plus since he visited Miri, where we all shed buckets of tears when he went off after his 8-month stay…and it felt as if it was just last year that he left. And now he’s baaack to attend Jo’s wedding. I was so shocked to see him with all those facial hair! Haha! He looks so familiar yet different. There’s a mature-ness about him, oh and he’s added some flesh to the once scrawny bod. But deep down inside he’s still the manchal Jusip we know. (yea, check out his FB and you’ll know why) p/s He wants to sing Kampung Love during the wedding reception. I can’t wait to see that. I hope he brings a suitable costume for the performance…! ;p
I’m glad those surprises came. They are much needed in moments like these. In addition to that, here’s a moment I would like to share.
This "took my breath away"! Haha..

Our very own Yang Dipertuan Ah Kong William underneath his royal payong with his butler.
p/s In conjuction with our company's 35th anniversary, everyone gets an umbrella each. It's soo blue..so unlike our company colour which is yellow and black

I guess that's all for now. So, here’s to an action-packed weekend! Bring it on! :p

I'm back

And of all the days…it just had to be today that the internet connections go cuckoo…hmmph….sabaaaar jak lah. On those days which I’m busy…the connections are perfectly well! Yup, it’s only that when I’m free & have nuthin’ much to do in the office that it decides to just simply goes on “connecting” mode, for what seems like a verrrry verrrry loooong time. How awesomely ironic is that! (eyes rolling).

Well, I know that I’ve not been updating my blog since…err let’s see..9th October! Hah…about a month plus, well almost two! How ‘bout that? :p The word busy hasn’t left me since then. Am constantly swamped with work…gosh. Sue mentioned that she could hear crickets and occasionally a toad croaking in my blog. Hahahaa! It’s a swamp in here and I’m turning into the swamp thing…hehe…not. Well, it’s time to get it spruced up. Forgive me for starting off my blog with a whine. Blame it on the internet weather lah.

Moving on…I’ll share with y’all what I’ve been busy with the past month or so…here goes:-

My first creation for October was a wedding card for Rosty....

Next is a card for Sue, whose birthday was on 14th October. The first one I made was from a group of us friends and another one was the one I made personally for her. :)

One of my favourite cards...hehe. Should've taken her picture with the card...lupa lah...:p

Next are three cards I made for my aunty which she ordered for her three boys...hehe. The first one is for Josh who turned 21 on 19th October. The 2nd card is for Pat whose 24th birthday was on 4th November. Happy birthday, boys! :) And lastly is a card for Nick, who graduated last month. Congrats to ya, Nick!

My next project was a birthday card for Fr. Chua. He is also our FIG 3 choir conductor. Oh, we had a great time in Bandar Seri Begawan last month, where the FIG 3 Choir sang in a concert at St. Andrew's church. We actually planned to celebrate his birthday in Bandar after the concert but the timing tak ngam...so we decided to celebrate when we're back in Miri.

It's so hard to get him to give a decent pose with the card I made, and this is what the picture turned out to be!
Tsk..tsk...Fr. Chua...

Oh dear! p.s. He received a card, 2 chocolate cakes and a box of chocolates!

These two thank you cards/bookmarks were made for our speakers (Ven. Solomon, Fr. Chua & Subdeacon Augsutine) for the Young Adults Weekend Getaway at Soon Hup Villa on 30-31st October. I didn't manage to take a photo of the card I made for Ven. Solomon, though...huhu...tak sempat.

For Live.Love.Craft challenges, Sue and I had four weeks of fun doing cards of the 4 seasons namely Spring, Summer, Autumn & Winter. Here there are:-

Flowery Summery & frosty winter

Springy Spring & Breezy Autumn

And here are another two of my LLC Challenge cards...

This challenge was to use circle punches. This is my orangy bubbly card :)

The next challenge was to include kittens or puppies in our cards. I'm more of a cat person..hehe. So I chose kittens! I took time to colour the picture with colour pencils..hehee. Makes me feel so primary school. ;) Here it is:-

This Saturday, 28th November is my parents' 28th Anniversary! Whoohoo! This year, they have decided to have a party to commemorate the special day. My mum have asked me to make the invitation cards for the event. And guess how many I made? 55 pieces! Incredibly, I managed. Phewh! My mum wanted it to be simple, cream+pink in colour. My dad..ok jerr...no comment, as long ada kad. Hehe. :p

I used a cream coloured backing paper and for the invitation, I used a pink paper which I printed the picture of my parents on their wedding day as the background. And finished it off with two punched hearts at the top.
I should've taken a picture of all the 55 cards I made. Didn't think of it then...darn. :s

Yeeeaaay, I've finally reached the end of today's post...and it's a looong day of waiting & uploading (took me almost the whole day to get here!) and a looong post after a looooong absence.

Feels good to finally update my blog. I'll be back. :D

p/s My apologies for my broken English ..hehe. It's so rojak...i know.

A wedding, a birthday & a funeral

There's just so much to say, but just couldn't find the time to do so and there's not so much inspiration going on the past week...not wanting to talk about it though. It's just a really though week at the office. Found myself on the verge of tears several times at work. Sigh. So much for the first week of turning 27! Hah! Leaving that aside....yup, last Saturday was my 27th birthday & it was my friend, Rosty's big day too! She tied the knot! Whoohooo! A very happy day indeed. My friends and I attended the blessing at Holy Trinity Chapel Lambir and the night reception at Rosty's place. Everything felt as if it went sooo so fast..but we enjoyed every moment of it...being part of a joyous & memorable occassion that is! It does seemed rather surreal to see her as she walked down the aisle, beaming in her beautiful wedding dress...who would ever thought that this day would come so soon! :) Here's wishing her & her hubby a happily ever after. :)

After the reception, we headed for Marina Seahorse for supper but not before stopping at my place for a piss stop...hehehe. :p During supper, my friends suprised me with a cake! Hehehe...yay! And sang the birthday song. It still didn't really hit me that I'm a year older and to tell you the truth...i'm in a bit of a denial...still. Hah! And oh, I got some really nice pressies & cards (a handmade one made by Sue as well! Looove it!) from my friends & family! Am trully blessed to have had this moment. Thank you to my friends for a great time that night and thank you to my family and friends, who are "jauh di mata tapi dekat di hati"! :D

Well, it's time to head off home. It's been a long day & an even loooonger week. I attended a funeral this morning. Subdeacon Roland's dear mother passed on earlier this week. The eulogy by SD Roland was very touching & emotional and it left me teary eyed & sniffling all the way. I have never heard anyone talked so fondly of their mom before. My heartfelt condolences to SD Roland and his family. And I do believe that his mother is in a better place now. May she rest in peace...

My Series of Fortunate Events

A lot have been happening in the past two weeks….whooh! :) I went back to Kuching (of course!), on Friday for the Raya holidays!

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I got a chance to visit my secondary school, SMB St. Teresa. I spent 5 years of my life there. The place has changed so much! So many wonderful memories…sigh. Met with my Chemistry teacher, Pn. Foo, as well! It’s been 10 years since I left high school…waaah.

On Saturday, I attended Bishop Aeries’s consecration service & celebration dinner with my family. The dinner was a pretty grand one with various cultural performances and the 6.45am choir also preformed several songs…very impressive! Revd. Roannie entertained us with some songs and Jerry Kamit performed as well!. Such talent!

It was indeed a blessed & memorable day! I also met my Sunday school teacher, Uncle William at the dinner reception! Wow…it really does bring back lots of memories. Makes me wonder where my Sunday school friends are now….

The next day, I stuffed myself to the max during Raya visiting. Haha…don’t dare to step on the weighing machine dah. I went out lepaking with my friends & mi familia too. Got to see my little cuzzies play sand art…haha (I think it’s the new craze for little kids. Heck even grown ups play ‘em). Found out a new hang out place called BarSaga. Pretty cool! It was indeed a great time…and always NOT enough time. I didn’t get to do one thing, though. I actually planned to watch a movie at the new MBO cinema at Spring. But tak sempat…as usual. Haiya…

By Wednesday, I’m back in Miri. Work starts loading on my table. (am procrastinating quite a bit already…hehe.) And then there’s the AYC AGM which was on Sunday. The LLC’s weekly challenge's due as well. Whooh, so much things to do! Well, am glad I managed & went through the week in one piece, haha.

On Friday, the youths…Vic, Elsa, Tim, Lydia, Shannen & myself joined Revd Alfred, SD Julius, SD Jackson & the MWF to Sg. Liam longhouse. There’s a service at the longhouse’s chapel that night which was celebrated by Revd. Alfred. It started off with a Praise & Worship session and then we’re divided into groups. Elsa, Vic, Shannen, Lydia & I handled the youth group. Our mission was to reach out to them. Revd Alfred mentioned to us that the youths there are being challenged with problems as such as drinking, gambling & smoking. We even saw some of the boys smoking at the tanju just before we started off our session!
The session was at the ruai of the longhouse. We started with an ice-breaking game. They enjoyed themselves! However, we were a bit concerned with the decibel level going a lil’ too high that it might disturb the longhouse folks…oops. The sharing session was on how to prepare for exams. They were proactive… they asked questions & responded to ours as well.

We took turn sharing & I struggled with my ‘jako Iban’..oops! as I’ve never done any sharing in Iban before and found myself searching for words or rather trying to translate my words in the midst of my sharing….haha. Nama meh penyadi… :p And lastly, before we bersurai, we prayed for them & ended the session by encouraging them & challenging them to improve themselves and do their best. After the service, we had supper at one of the longhouse folk’s bilik. They served very yummy local dishes and also durians! Haha! But, am not a fan of durians. So I just took photos of ‘em instead.

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The next day, Saturday, was another busy day…especially in preparing things for the AGM and also Family Service. (It’s the youths turn to lead in Praise & Worship). I was up & running since morning….helping out the Teenz practicing for AGM’s praise & worship session, practicing for the Family Service & then choir practice for the Miri Xmas parade. Apuu..ka luput ku..haha. I ended the day with Maggie at Chilipeppers. A nice time chillin’, releasing the stresssss & laughing out loud…literally!

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Come Sunday, we had a Family service in the morning, which is held every 4th Sunday of the month. And in the afternoon was the AYC’s AGM. We’re very impressed with the number of youths attending this year. For the past several years, we have never exceeded 40. This year, in fact 50 youths attended! Praise God! All the various youth ministries handed in their reports, which was verry good indeed. Aiseh. We also distributed our new keychains in conjunction with AYC’s 40th Anniversary….designed by Mr. Chairman himself. The meeting went smoothly & we’re encouraged by words of wisdom from Ven. Solomon Cheong, Bro. Tommy (our advisor) and Bro. Bajeng (Mr. Chariman).

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Kudos to the Praise & Worship team..Zara, Lydia, Cyril & Shannen for the great effort. It was their first time & I could see that they’re nervous but they are very brave indeed to take up the challenge. The guitarists were Daniel, Bartholomew & Melvin. Very proud of them!

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After the meeting, we had some refreshments & fellowship, as usual…di bawah pokok. :) By 5.30pm it’s time to pack up & go home.

Finally! I can let out a bigggg sigh of relief & thank God for His endless blessings & guidance. :D

Merdeka!

This year, I celebrated Merdeka with my family. We went to Johor Bahru, where my brother is currently studying. It has been 3 years since I last stepped foot in JB. This place used to be where I studied too. Now, my lil bro is taking over my place. I visited JB in 2006, two years after I graduated, to meet up with some friends. Such a memorable place, where I spent 4 years of my life!

As usual, just like any family trip, we spent our time shopping, sightseeing and most of all….eating! And of all the days, my dad kena gout! I guess it’s because of all the eating sessions we had! Thank God, he’s back on his feet after taking ubat.

On Saturday afternoon, we went for a youth service held by the City Harvest Church. This is where my bro, Vin worships and he is involved with the music ministry, playing the bass. I was a bit anxious on how my parents would respond to the style of worship as they are very much used to the traditional way of worshiping…hymns and all. So, it’s something that I would like to see…heehee. And to my surprise, they were clapping away & trying their best to catch up with the songs…hehe...lagu rancak bah. The sermon, was preached by Pastor Chee Kiang from Singapore. He’s very fashionable…he wears this leather jacket, jeans and has spiky hair. But underneath all that rocker outlook that he portrays, his voice is gentle and has that affectionate tone. J During Holy Communion, we were given unleavened bread. Very interesting indeed...my first time eating unleavened bread! They’re somewhat like those Jacob’s crackers, you know!

And in commemoration of the coming Merdeka Day….we sang the Merdeka song while waving our lil’ Malaysian flags. Patriotism’s in the air.

After the service, we got to know some of Vin’s friends. One of them, Berlina, turned out to be related to us, which we found out after a bit of “bertusut” session that we had! She is from the Kadazan side of our family. Small world indeed!

On Sunday, Vin & I went to Singapore. My main mission to Singapore was to go to this craft shop, Made with Love & oh… also to meet up with my friend, Prakash. Hehe. Well, I came across the blog of this craft store and was mesmerized by the pictures of the store. They have so much crafts stuffs sold there and it was mentioned in their blog, that it’s the biggest craft store in South East Asia! So I imagined that it would be verrry big. Waaaah…! But………when we reached the store….it was not as big as I imagined that it would. Oh well… But I did have fun browsing through the craft stuffs & got some stuff for myself & Sue. I couldn’t help but multiply 2.4 to all the prices of the things. Vin & Prakash became my calculator…haha! Poor boys....they had to wait quite sometime for me to be done in that store. Hahah…!

After JB & Singapore, I spent a night at Kuching…Home sweet home! And after that it’s back to Miri & work work work…bluaargh.. :p However, am just glad that I had the time to “Merdeka”, literally (haha) from my daily routine…just unwind & spend time with my family. A very good breather for me, indeed!

Niah Getaway

Finally! I'm able to do some updates. I'm less busy today and managed to get my posts done.

Two weekends ago, I went for a weekend getaway at Niah National Park. It was an event organised by ADYC, which they called Partners' Weekend. And no, I did not spend a weekend in some gua looking for a potential partner, hahaha! It was a weekend for youth leaders to gather, share, be trained & be equipped to 'Transform our land in One generation'. We started our journey on Saturday morning. Janet & Bajeng carpooled with me. I was a bit worried about the condition of the tyres of my car...one of the tyres pancet the day before...but got it quickly done..And thank God, we arrived safe & sound.

Our first session started off with a walk into the caves. How awesome is that! The last time I went into the caves was back in 2005 with my colleagues..a week after I arrived in Miri. But it was raining so badly then & we had a tough time walking in the caves as it was very very sliperry. I slipped once! Sakit aa! So, this time the weather looks very fine and I was hoping that it would turn out to be better than my previous trip. :)

So, off we went. A whole 40+ of us! We have to cross the river by boat and then take a walk through the jungle before reaching the entrance to the caves. It was really fun! On the way there, I got a chance to talk to Ben, the ADYC chairman. The whole time walking, we shared stories...he shared on his printing business (which was very inspiring) and I shared on my teeny crafty business (a lil bud compared to Ben's flourishing business).

After walking for about...err...couldn't remember..coz was so engrossed with the conversation..haha...we finally reached the cave. So we prepared our torch lights and some put on their gloves(!) before we enter into the daaark. It did came across my mind, that this might be a good place to do hand mime with glow in the dark gloves! Hahah! As we entered the cave, it gave me a concoction of feelings....I was excited but then there's this tinge of fear & some sort of "misteri nusantara" feeling going on, heheh...the darkness can be a lil intimidating sometimes. But as I walk, I was more mesmerized with the formation of the cave ceilings and walls, than the looming darkness. Kinda make you stand in awe! I couldn't really describe it. You gotta see it for yourself.

After exploring the cave, we made our way back. The journey back got more interesting....haha...for Bajeng & I, that is. Well, Bajeng kinda slowed down after coming out of the cave..yup, he's "out of gas" even after we made a pit stop at the stalls for drinks. I waited with him, not wanting him to be left behind all alone. Kesian bah... After the pit stop, we continued walking (waaay behind everyone else) and all of a sudden his kaki began to have cramps! And he had to make stops after every few metres as it hurts quite bad. I, took the opportunity to freeze the moment and took a couple snaps of our surroundings. I snapped some rather interesting shots. So baad kan...there was Bajeng, in pain and all...while I was happily snapping away, hehe. It's nothing much I can do. I couldn't possibly carry him! He's more than twice my weight and size! Pengsan aku. :p

After a rather "loooong" walk...we're a few metres from the jetty. Finally! And not before Bajeng's foot suddenly kena cramp again....and this one's the worst. I could see it from the way he cringed. Akai.. Well, we waited for quite sometime, til his cramps lessen and finally, we managed to reach the jetty and there was Janet anxiously waiting for us! Phewh!

The next few days of the event was very encouraging & inspiring...eventhough we experienced butt pains from sitting on the papan floor for too long and in addition to muscle pains on our legs from the cave "walk", hehe. Well we had sessions conducted by Revd. Andy Shie from St. Andrew's, BSB, Bro. Ben and Bro. Stephen Wong. We touch on topics of leadership, taking care of your "sheeps" and Bro. Wisco from Region 5 shared on their activities and how they manage their ministries, as their region has been growing a lot for the past years. We also had games, which later we could do with our own youths.

The weekend flew too fast and without realising, it was time for it to come to an end & for us to head off home. It indeed was a fruitful weekend and I got to know more youths from various regions as well as those whom you already knew, you got a chance to know them better.

I trully think that it's also a good way to start connecting with each other....to share on materials & informations for our youths. We exchanged e-mails and numbers before we parted. I don't know when will we see each other again, but I'm most sure we will. Because we're in this together.. we're partnering with each other and most importantly God...to transform our land.

This is just the beginning of the journey... :)