My best friend told me recently that her mum passed away last month. She died because of the doctor's negligence. It's sad, because it happened so suddenly.

I sobbed a little after I heard the news, because I knew her mum.

Here I am, thinking how uni sucks because of the massive workload and how I dont get enough sleep. And I get so caught up with my own problems sometimes that I forget others face bigger challenges. Like, filling up her mum's roles. Funny how our problems dont seem that big when we stop and look around at others.

That piece of news reminded me again of how much I have to be thankful for, how much blessings God has poured into my life all these years. It's those little things that we've taken so much for granted that we should be grateful and thankful for.

25 things

Have been tagged several times on fb to list 25 things about myself. Since I haven't got anything better to share, I shall do the list here.



1. I like looking at the skies. Night or day. And I'd like to go to places like the McDonald Observatory,US or the Stonehenge to watch the stars.


2. I cracked my head when I was around..6? It was when I first rode a bike. No one taught me how, I just jumped on it and rode it. And because I was too short for my feet to touch the ground, I fell to one side when I braked. My head hit the sharp edge of the wooden fence. I remember I was pinned down by a few nurses when the doctor stitched me up. I didn't even move one bit, all I was thinking about was that ice cream cake I was gonna have after that.

3. I want a dog.

4. I love gerberas. Roses are overated


5. I've always been independent when it comes to getting something I want. Never liked the idea of asking from parents.
Edit: That's when pocket money from grandparents come in handy. :p


6. I admit I'm not a very chatty person, especially when I'm sleepy. Or hungry.


7. I prefer white chocolates or dark ones.


8. I dont have a sweet tooth. I'm more of a savoury person. Mmm..chips.


9. I used to like soggy fries. But now I'll just use a paper towel to soak up the oil.


10. I'm a Mac person. And I HATE PCs.

11. I have a very wide interest. Currently, it's photography. But that doesn't mean that I no longer like drumming etc etc. I only wish I have all the time to master all of them.

12. I'm somewhat an environmental freak. I'll recycle anything that can be recycled and find great satisfaction in doing so. And I try to convince people to stop using plastic bags.

13. I've made holes on the door of my brother room. With scissors.

14. I have a tattoo under my right eye. Felix threw a pen at me when we were younger. :p

15. I'm very bad at lying. I always get caught.

16. I can fall asleep anywhere. All I need is somewhere to rest my butt. Yes, I can even fall asleep sitting up straight and chewing gum at the same time.

17. I hardly use cups, unless it's a hot drink. I drink from bottles, tumblers.

18. I love receiving parcels/mails by post. So far, that happens mostly when I shop online. :D

19. I love cheese and anything that has cheese in it. Nothing can go wrong.

20. The best schooling experience for me would be during college. I never really liked high school.

21. I can finish a whole shopping mall within a couple of hours. That's why I prefer shopping alone sometimes.

22. I can't stand the cold. In winter, I can be wearing 4 layers of clothes and still shiver.

23. I admit I am mushy and I like mushy stuff.

24. I'm the person that needs pin-drop silence when I study.

25. I always love a good laugh, a good meal, good company anytime.

Ka-ching!

I've got my pay slip today. And surprise, surprise...

I found out I'm paid $17 per hour!
...as opposed to how much my boss said she was going pay me: $15 per hour.

I'm being reminded how good God has been in the area of my finances.

Last year, I brought back X amount of money to spend in Malaysia. Then that's when I realised I haven't tithed (because I like doing things in one shot.). So I tithed, rounding it up to the nearest hundred, leaving myself with about half of X amount. There goes half of my shopping list. To my surprise, mum (and dad too) was extremely generous to me. She gave me a sum money to spend, meaning I can do whatever I like with it without her consent. (Uh, right, mum? :p ) That was something she has never done for me or Felix. And only today did I realise that the sum of money mum gave me was exactly 2 times the amount I tithed.

Getting 2 dollars extra an hour prolly doesnt sound like a big deal, but it does make a difference in the long run. Convert it into Rm, and you get about 1k more. That's prolly 2 months worth of wages for some in Malaysia. :D


Edit:

And I get 19 per hour after I turn 21. Nice!

Back in Perth

EDIT:

I attended FGA this morning. Left home at 12 noon and got there at 2pm. I took such a long time in getting there mainly because I got lost looking for the place. Hahah! But all's good. I really like the place, although it's kinda small. Congregation is about 200? But when I said I'm looking for something deeper, yeah, I found what I was looking for. People were really friendly as well. All I did was introduce myself to the usher and everything else was pretty much 'kao dim-ed'. :D Thank you, if u've been praying for me. Love you all.

******

Just a quick one. It's already 2am.

Yup, my 2 and 1/2 months break at home has finally ended. It was definitely a good one. I'm not gonna talk about my entire trip, but I'll give you some highlights.

Hong Yi and Choon Ean are two amazing people whom I got to know a lil better during my trip back. Yes, I knew who they were, but I never really gotten a chance to even talk to one of them. They both have great personalities, and they're such joy to be with. :) Heh.

Apart from that, time at home was great as well. I'm glad to say that I do feel closer to my family, especially Dad. This time round, I got to see his other side that I've not noticed before. I get really amused when I see him so animated sometimes. Lately, people come to me and tell me that my dad's so cool. Haha. And I couldn't agree more! :) Mum's great as usual, with her fantastic cooking. This time, she even let me take her car. And she was so cool about it when I told her about the little accident that I was involved in. More on that another time. And Felix, he tells me he strives to be a better bro each day. Aawwww... :p

Meeting up with my ex college mates was another highlight. I only managed to meet up with four of them. Half my class wasn't even in KL, some had classes. But still, it's good to see them again, although it was just for a couple of hours. We had lunch, then we goofed around the mall. Pics will be up, if not here, it'll be on facebook.

My only regret is not meeting up with Kimberly. She was my neighbour and childhood friend. The last time I saw her was when I was 8. That's 13 years ago. Funny thing was we still remembered each other. And just not too long ago, she found me online. We'll meet up end of this year, and meals would be on me, since it was my bad that we didn't meet.

As for the rest of my time back home, I've been eating and catching up with more friends. Time with you guys was priceless. I only wished I had more time with each of you.
Eergh. I better stop before I get emo. But I really do long for home, even now. Still, I try to make best use of my time here.

Anyway, I'm still looking for a church to attend. I've been online for the past 6 hours trying to figure out the location of different churches, the maps, the different routes, looking up the transportation timetables etc.
It's so difficult.

Example.
To get to Riverview Church.
Take a bus from my house to Bullcreek Station.
Train from Bullcreek to Perth Underground.
Walk from Perth Underground St. to Perth Station.
Train from Perth Station to Victoria Park Station.
Walk 1.3km to reach destination.

Journey time alone is 1 hour. If I include waiting time, that's like 1.5-2 hours. Cant help it, transportation services are so limited on Sundays.
Then when I checked again, I discovered Armadale Line is closed tmr due to some service upgrade. So Riverview's out.


FGA. Website's under construction. Couldn't get the address. That's out for now.

Metro. I read their website and I cant imagine myself being there long term. Cells are once a month or once every fortnight? Nah..


I give up. I'll look again next week. For now, I shall be happy with my MTGs I got recently.

Please keep me in your prayers if you're reading this.

Eergh. I don't like church hunting.

Moo.

Happy Chinese New Year, everyone!
Hope your new year celebration has been good so far? Mine's good, have been busy stuffing my stomach and pockets. :D

Anyway, I attempted to capture a teeny weeny fraction of last night's display of fireworks. It was taken from my bedroom window.






















































I call this... The giant fireball!














































































































































This was with camera shake. But I still thought it looked kinda interesting. It looks like... a coral? Speaking of corals, is anyone interested in getting scuba diving license end of this year? I'm planning to go and looking for people to join. :D

Happy New Year!

There's one thing I like about the start of every year: new inspirations. It's like on this particular day, you get an extra burst of energy, you set goals, you aim for better.. This time, no new year resolutions for me. But, this day will be the start of my 3-year plan. What plan, you ask? All will be revealed after 3 years. Waa, so mysterious for what, you may think. Well, let's just say that it's something that I'm not taking lightly, something that I'm giving myself time to work on, something that I'm prayerfully considering and think through. So, I dont want to reveal anything yet before anything is done. Let's just call it The Plan for now. Hehe.

Anyway, Happy New Year, everyone! I hope 2009 will be an outstanding, spectacular, fantabulous year for you. :)


p/s: I know I STILL haven't uploaded the pics. :S

Haaaaaaaaaaang on!

I know I still have not uploaded the pics yet. After Christmas, I promise. On both this blog and facebook. Hehe.
I've had the busiest 2 weeks ever! But loving every moment of it. :o)