Uniquely Abigail

Priority First!

2010-08-25T18:54:00.000-07:00

We are given the time of our life here on earth for a purpose, and the time that we had here is gracefully given by God. Therefore, it is important to manage our time appropriately so that the time that we had won't go to waste.
Last week's sermon served as a reminder for me to really utilize my time fully. He (Tony, from US) mentioned FIVE keys in managing our time:

1. Set priorities (do what's important first)
2. Build relationships with God and others (meaningful relationships that will last)
3. Planning (to avoid last minutes and dissapoinments)
4. Clear the clutter
-schedule clutter
- emotional clutter
5. Be flexible (be prepared to make any changes)

Life's a brief candle, cherish it, use it to it's fullest while you can :)

REVIVED!! and now for AUGUST's sake!

2010-08-02T06:21:00.000-07:00

Lo and behold, it has been almost ONE year since I last posted anything new here, and breaking my promises to update frequently. Well, here I am again, starting this meaningless post I guess. I had a lot of inspirations and thoughts that has caused me to 'revive' this blog once more. There are so many things going on in my head: study, classes, cleaning my room, watch movies, ideas, my family, etc. that I do not know where to start. However, I'm glad that I'm taking Creative Writing subject that has inspired me to write in a freestyle, which means, writing whatever that comes to my mind and from there I could expand more ideas from it. The lecturer for this subject really nailed it. Though there are only 7 of us, I guess it gives us the opportunities to speak and express more ideas and that the class is not too noisy or quiet.

Reminiscing the month of August..

AUGUST 2008

It's already the month of August (so fast!) and I must say that August is quite a significant month for me. It started since August 2008 on the 15th where I started my internship as a reporter in The Star northern hub. For goodness sake, it's a Friday! And usually people starts work on Monday, right? I remembered the editor at that time requested that I work on the next day as well, which is a Saturday! To her thinking, she thought that it's ridiculous to start work on Friday, take off on Saturday and Sunday and then only come back to work again on Monday. After much discussion, eventually I got my weekends off since I was just an intern.

Another significant day on that month and year is on the 30th Aug 2010 (a saturday). My boyfriend had planned on a camping trip at Pantai Kerachut with some church members and his Boys Brigade students and he invited me to come along with him. And guess what. Before I knew of his plan, I voluntarily offered myself to work on that day (in replacement for a holiday on Monday) just because it seemed to be a significant day for Malaysia, and I thought it would be celebrated in a big scale. But I was wrong. It's just Penang. Probably if I was in KL, then I would probably witness a whole lot of events. I ended up attending to some mundane dinner at a hotel in batu ferringhi accompanied by local traditional music and singing performance. What a tragic. But the good side of it is that I get to eat the hotel food for free! and the cuisine is Malay cuisine with varieties of rice, curries, and meat. Unfortunately, before I attended this event, I was unaware of it and I drove myself to the nearest hawker food centre and fed myself with some disgusting, tasteless claypot noodle that is not worth it's price at all!. When I arrived at the hotel's event, I was quite full to indulge into the hotel cooked food. :(
Disaster.
Then I was sent to check on Gurney Drive to see if there was any celebration. I arrived there and parked my car at quite a distance. Nothing interesting. Nothing newsworthy. And it's boring. The only interesting part is where some motorcycles and cars were decorated with Jalur Gemilang (Malaysian flag). That's it. Nothing more.
What's worse is that I couldn't call him because of the bad reception from Pantai Kerachut. He tried to call from the pier, but to no avail. And he was quite worried about my safety, alone in the dark.
I remembered another occasion where I had to be at a hotel to attend some event..I think it's Tanjung Bungah Hotel and it was held at the beach side with dining tables. It was quite a relaxing and a vacation kind of scene, but I was there as an intern reporter..can't really enjoy much with the thought of working motives. Sigh. Had to listen to some speech, but there's nothing newsworthy either.

The next day when he came back from Pantai Kerachut, he showed me a breathtaking picture of a sunset he witnessed from there in the evening. I regretted for having myself working on that Saturday. I could have experience camping beside a beach and watch the sunset together. He even told me that during the night, he could see thousands of stars in the sky as that area is a reserved forest and there's barely any light pollution. Dang. I missed watching all these nature stuff that a city's life couldn't offer. :(

However, before my internship started back then, I was glad to be able to explore and hike in Pantai Kerachut, Monkey Beach, and Muka Head (Lighthouse) on the first week of August 2008. If you have a facebook account, just sign in and click these links:

My first time to Kerachut
First time to Monkey Beach
To the Lighthouse! I
To the Lighthouse! II

AUGUST 2009

Last year's August was as significant to me. At the beginning of August 2009, I started my part time job at Kumon. At first, my job was just marking the student's homework, and now, I'm also teaching for English subject. For maths I'll just leave it to Iryna and the rest :p I was first trained by Karen, who was also marking for English homeworks at that time, who worked a couple of months earlier than me. I've got to know Alice who is a great boss and the other teachers like Adrian Charles, Geetha, Chris, Ashley, Amanda, Azreen, Jia Yi and Grace who had left, and now currently working are Ai Ping, Yin Tung, Hui Ming (new), Laxmi and Hui Tying.

Kumon Pictures

Exactly one year since my internship with the Star, 16th August 2009 (Sunday) is a memorable date. It's the day of my graduation day (for diploma). My parents, elder sister and bf came to celebrate it with me at Trader's Hotel. Lot's of pictures taken. I received real and fresh flowers from my parents and fake flowers (paper folded) and card from bf and his family. Click on the link to see the pictures from facebook.

Graduation 2009

AUGUST 2010

GUESS WHAT? I've been juggling my college classes and my part time job for a year now. In a way it's my one year anniversary working in Kumon. Yay. Quite sadden by the fact that Grace recently left Kumon to further her studies next month. While we were working together, she shared a lot of stories to me and keep me in company when it's boring marking those homeworks. During my two months break from college (end apr to early july), I spend most of my time with her. We shared thoughts and feelings about the kids we taught. She's my helper in handling really difficult kids that I couldn't handle. She really did a great job teaching and marking those homeworks fast speed. Even faster than me. She could speak mandarin and is able to help those mandarin speaking students to understand their english classwork. But I don't even have the mandarin vocabulary or even the right mandarin pronunciation to help these students. The best I could help is to explain those difficult words in english. On the other hand, she tries to understand the students' capabilities and behaviours to help them, and she's very observant. She always smiles, being cheerful, friendly and helpful. Quite a chatter at times. An avid gym goer and jogger. Guess I'm gonna miss her.

Another person I'm missing now is my bf. Going off for one week for company's training. Miss him lots. This is another item to start off my August month this year. He called me just now and that he's at some mall and bought me a white top! How nice.

I think this is my longest post ever in this entire blog for the past three years. I hope to write more soon, to improve my writing style and not to be bogged down thinking that nobody's reading my blog (i once thought that since nobody's reading my blog, then why blog?). But I think the fact is that people do visit my blog, but they don't leave comments, so I thought people are not interested in reading my blog.
So anyway, I think this post took me almost two hours to compose and edit. I wonder how many words I had written.
Another thing about me is that I actually enjoy reading other people's blog as they share their viewpoints in life. Maybe that explains why I didn't blog because I was too busy minding other people's business than myself.
(Sorry for all the jumbled up notes at the last paragraph. As I said, too many things in my mind that I'm pouring it out at the end.)

Till next time.

Nothing Much

2009-09-28T08:48:00.000-07:00

Hey all! Thanks for sticking with me with my dead blog...but now it's revived! tee hee~
Well, reason being, not that I love to tell the whole world about my daily life agenda, but I just love to read and follow other blogs, especially those that I know, so I also hope that they'll in turn read my once-dead blog. I had been busy these days juggling my time with assignments, part time job, family, church, etc. I don't even have time to do the things I love: playing music on the piano and guitar, hiking and tidy up my room till squeeky clean. Anyhow, I do wish I could express myself here, but of course, with the censorship of sensitive issues as I don't want to offend anyone. One thing I did during my busy schedule..I manage to try different food from different places, ranging from mamak food, chinese hawker food, varieties of western food and the like with Mr D. That explains the baby fats that is slowly accumulating :p That's why I need to get back to my hiking and exercise lifestyle :(

Sigh

2009-09-04T22:07:00.001-07:00

In the midst of my busy schedule, somehow or another, blogging is a way of expressing myself and stress reliever. If it had not been the support of Dennis I don't think I could easily cope right now. Two more weeks to go till all my assignments due, not much of time left. At the mean time, I'm also working part time that take up 11 hours every week, not including the duration of getting there and coming back home. That's the life of a student. Time management is the utmost important. I'm still learning how to prioritize my tasks each day as I tend to do the least important things first like cleaning my room, folding my clothes etc. unnecessarily. Then I would take a long break before getting back to my studies. However, I couldn't find much time to even play the piano. I really missed those times where I drill myself to practice daily for my piano practical exam. Now, for more than a year since I finished my Grade 7 exam, and I think it would be hard to get back to that stream and continue my Grade 8 syllabus, although I already have it.

I also missed those time when I have time for hiking. I would hike Bukit Jambul hill, Kerachut, Muka Head, Bukit Hijau, and Youth Park. During those times, I would often hike with Dennis and my godmother. Now those times were only framed in the form of pictures and I could only reminisce. :(

Those hiking days..

It has been more than a year since I joined The Star for my 3 months internship (Aug 15, 08 - Nov 15, 08). I'm still thinking what I want to work as in the future after my degree. Need insights.

Alright, I think I have to stop abruptly here. Gotta finish my assignments. Gambateh!

Lag

2009-07-29T05:10:00.000-07:00

Hi all
I haven't been posting new posts for ages
Will be back soon
So busy with studies
and most of the time I don't know what to blog about
So I guess that explains most of it
Chaoz!

A Brand New Car!

2009-06-25T08:01:00.000-07:00

After work, dad came to pick me up right away. Today, two new gadgets walk into my family. One, a Mini Mac Pro, second, a new Proton Saga.

This is my dad

But first, have to jump start the old car cuz no battery. The Avanza charged the old car, connected with two wayers. Helped by my dad's friend.

The old toyota corolla

My mum

I was the one being a driver the whole journey. Drove the old white car to the car dealer near Gurney Plaza, and off we go with

Welcoming our new Proton Saga.

I asked my dad why grey colour, he said it's between ruth and him compromising on their colour preference. Ruth prefer black while my dad prefer lighter colour. So grey it is, the colour in between the two colour choices.

I've been the honor to be the first person to drive it after purchase. =)

The dashboard is a bit different. The indicator is on the left instead of on the right and the wiper on the right side. I kept on pulling down the wiper as I'm used to the old way.

At a traffic light junction in macallum street, we spotted this cute little beetle car.

Wah that time so hungry, didn't eat anything. It was around 8 something already. Then we fetch my brother and went makan at Giant's Pelita nasi kandar.

It's Transformers Craz!!!!

2009-06-24T06:33:00.000-07:00

Whow..Been trying to log on to gsc.com.my for the past two days, both times also indicate that there are high traffic that the page couldn't be loaded..I've never encounter this kind of situation before in my whole life in the world of internet..This transformers 2 movie must be very HOT than any other hot movies.

Because it's Transformers fever, here I want to share all the transformers picture I capture originally by my camera/camera phone.

The following pictures were bought by both of us last March. Each of us bought two shirts, one is the good one and the other the bad one. I must admit that I'm still not very good with the transformers names yet, except for Bumble Bee (the obvious yellow), Optimus Prime (the good guy) and decepticons (the bad one). These shirts were bought from BJ Complex.

Next, are pictures taken from Queensbay Mall's LG road show. They just had this very huge board of these transformers, but they are promoting LG flat screens about a month ago.

Optimus Prime

Decepticon

Bumble Bee!!!!!!!! I heard that majority of transformers fans love this character more.

Just hoping to get two places at the cinema's seat...one for my darling and one for me =)

Misc

2009-06-24T06:06:00.000-07:00

While I was getting rid of some of my childhood books, Dennis noticed this after flipping the front cover:

LOL

The mysterious year 2000, where they speculate about the virus bug...

Next,
Look at how dirty my hands were. This is after shelving all the books in alphabetical order last week before the stock take. It's very dusty indeed.

I'm so glad it rained in the afternoon today. It doesn't matter even if it rained just for a while. All I want is to have some clean and fresh air, and a cooler air. Yes, I want to be more environmentally aware, to preserve mother nature for the benefits of present generation and the generations to come.

Reduce, Recycle, Reuse!

Hot and stuffy days...aaarghh!

2009-06-23T07:33:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile that the weather is so humid, stuffy, dusty, hazy, unclear vision. A lot of people had runny nose, sick, fever, not feeling well, etc because of it. In addition, the swine flu that is spreading, but no worries, the government are taking measures to prevent it from spreading.

The pic above was when I took bus to work. It's mainly to prevent from the dusty air emitted from the bus and vehicles and also the haze. Obviously I was the only person walking around with half my face covered LOL.

I'm hoping for rain. Hoping this and hoping that (of other things). Hopefully it turns up well.
Btw, I got so many friends in facebook! Yipeeee..so happy!

Most of all, to my beloved darling, thanks for being my listener. Especially thanks for being there for me 24/7, accepting me for who I am, manja-ing me
:P ,
appreciate me and understanding me. Thanks honey for everything!!

Together 4Eva~

14 hours of work marathon!!!!

2009-06-22T07:00:00.001-07:00

Waaaa!! Just came back from work about an hour ago. Super tired. Headed to work at 6.30am for stock check and finish at 8.30pm. Then the process of going home, eat and shower take about 30 minutes.

OK, let's rewind the day. Dennis dropped me at work in the wee hours. Then into the office I go. I was quite surprise to see so many staffs in the pantry, especially those whom I know personally when I first work there, May Ting, Chuck, Matthew, Vivien and Jerry who resigned some weeks ago. I'm kinda miss their faces haha. My manager called them the 'old stock'. haha. There were also older staffs than them who used to work there a year or a couple of years ago.
Current working staffs also present, Selene, Ning, Daniel, Calvin, Siew Poh, Chien Wei, Siti, Fiona, Shereen, Me. People I met were Nicole, Andrew, Lawrence, Kenny, Gim Lee, Wong and many more whom I don't know their name.
Manager Wendy gave the briefing of how to go about the stock check of the store. Then Thomas showed up late. Yesterday was his last day. Don't ask me why he was late. I don't know. The estimated time for the stock check to end was 6pm. Briefing went on till almost 8am.

Everbody knew what to do after that. Everyone got their 'gun' to 'shoot' on the binc code. There were also 6 laptops with the scanner, and I got the laptop! It's much faster and easier than the gun. The gun looked like a PDA phone with touch screen functions and has a lever to be pulled so that the red light scanner could detect the binc code. And now let the game begin!

It was quite fun at first. Something different and something I never done before. Selene said it will make us a better cashier. haha. I said it's the practice of aiming the scanner at the binc code accurately. hehe. When the scanning get started, the whole store is filled with beeping sound!!!
However, I was yet to get started. I got a faulty extension wire. Two out of the three wires got tercabut! Cannot connect! And Kenny said his laptop's battery spoiled, so have to depend on the power socket. So, I was waiting and helped up Selene a bit.

Then, I finally got it plugged after getting new extensions. I also needed a three plug power supply to accomodate to the many needs for power (electricity lah).

I had the help of Dolly the store manager to hold the book for me while I scanned it. It made the process speed up! After each shelf, I would tick on the paper to indicate that scanning is done, and a person who holds the counter role will count the books manually and jot it down on the tag pasted there on each shelves with it's four digit code number. I got the sports section, maps (not easy to scan!), business tables.

The process just went on and on. Same method. Then everyone break at 10am. Tuna and egg sandwich were provided. Then, we were back to business. With all the scanning sounds makes me think that those sounds sounded like in the hospital where the machine make similar sound to tell the patients' heartbeat.

We were so into our work that I feel that time pass by so quickly! The time taken to scan all the books in one shelf would take about 30 mins to 1 hour, depending on the quantity of the books. As for kids section, the books are quite small and thin, so it's a lot of work to scan them.

At 2.45 we went out for our lunch break. Quite late for lunch. Our usual lunch break is 2pm. At that time, the afternoon staffs came, Liang and Farid. They will be serving the customers after the stock check is fully completed, and those who came in the morning could go home. I taught Liang how to use the laptop and scanner so she could continue the work while I go for my break.

I came back in half and hour time after eating with Chien Wei, Selene and Fiona. We had our lunch at One Eight Eight although our break is for one whole hour. We immediately resume to our work because we want to go home early, as we heard that the branches in KL took a very long time, that is until the following day in the wee hours!!! That time I changed from using a laptop into using the gun scanner. The problem about it is, it only captures old bincs numbers and not the new bincs. As I proceed, I realized I shouldn't choose that particular shelf! That's because most of the books are new bincs number and I had to key in each number one by one! This will take longer time than a laptop scanner.

Hooi Fong came at 6pm. That's her shift. After the front section is completed, we all moved up to children section. That time the store opened at 6 something, and yet we continued scanning only that section. Everyone was crazy cracking joke and fooling around so much. But I was more quiet and focusing on my work. With all the other people scanning from all over the place could make me confuse. That's what happen to me since the beginning. Just imagine, continuous beeping all the time.

Finally, at 8.30pm, eveything was completed. My back ache, arm sores, tired and sweaty. The best part is, I could finally go home for a meal, shower, and online.

2009-06-18T08:32:00.000-07:00

Dear blog,

I'm not sleepy at all. I had coffee in the late afternoon and the caffeine is still so strong. I'm feeling so awake right now. I've got to wake up early the coming morning, and with high hopes I would not suffer so bad with the panda eyes.
Guess I'm glad to have a blog to ramble about things. I know, I haven't been updating for the pass couple of weeks, it's because most of my time is filled up with my work hours.

Yes, I had been working in a bookshop lately. Nothing to complain about. Quite like the job tho. Shelving books, cashier, information, etc.. and of course, collegues and friends =) Some said I lose weight..but i doubted it. Most of the time I just eat my usual portion of food, breakfast, lunch, dinner, or maybe supper if hungry.

At times I couldn't catch up with my "ME" time. How I missed reading some good books, hiking (especially), vacation, spring cleaning my room, photo shooting, time out with friends, practice my piano and guitar, listening to music, etc. Am trying to find time for that but there's none. =(
OH, besides that, time with my family. Everyone seemed super busy with their own agenda. Conversation less. Spent time lesser.

About the weather, I believe that most of us are experiencing the humidity, bad air quality = haze, open burning; dryness, flu, stress..All I'm hoping for now is for the sky to pour down lots and lots of water.

To my boyfriend, throughout all the difficulties in life, thank you for being there for me.

To God, you're always in control in our lives =)

(This blog post is still not curing my caffeine effect........)

Some interesting videos from youtube

2009-06-03T07:09:00.000-07:00

a touching video:

this is a sad yet funny one

Gua Tempurung II

2009-05-14T08:54:00.000-07:00

I finally found the interest to continue blogging about this trip..somehow feel so lazy to update more constant..hehe..

A beautiful picture taken by my dad..yes he loves photography..

Nice gate

More pics from my dad

This one too

Then into the cave we went:

A skull-like face on the cave's wall

The place is so dark that you need to flash torch light to get your things from the bag pack
Thanks to camera flash too.

Sticker on my shirt: GT aka Gua Tempurung/Green Tea?

The Phoon family

Good friends: Jabez + Daniel

This is the part where we slide down. Not as scary as I thought..

Another challenge is to go through this hole. There was a tour guide beneath supporting the rest when going through it.
After this hole was where we started to get wet, starting with our shoes.
Throughout the whole caving experience, we had to depend on our torchlights and especially we needed each other so that we won't get lost. Traveling through a cave enables me to admire God's creation, especially when I saw big, smooth and beautiful white marbles right in front of my eyes.
There are also stalagmites, so most of the time we had to bend down to go through it. It's more challenging where we had to crawl through water to avoid those pointed stalagmites.

In the darkness of the cave, we finally saw a small light from within. We headed for the light and we discovered a beautiful place.

So we snapped photos:

Groupie

It may be nice and all, but the trip has not ended yet. We were only at another end of the cave. We had to hike back to headquaters.
Then there we go again. Darkness with the help of torchlight to lighten things up. Not forgetting we were hungry, exhausted and wet.

Nevertheless, we made it through. And we snapped photos of victory!

This is another kind of level. This way is the less challenging (could be boring) than the level we took.

Okay, I don't know what they're suppose to be.

Click the play button!

This is the real end. Pretty isn't it?

And then, next stop...FOOOD!

When we first arrived, the table was not cleaned yet. We waited quite some time. All were tired and hungry. Check out the video!

and then..finally! The food is ready.

We stopped by a restaurant in Kampar for their famous delicacy: Chicken wrapped with a big piece of bread. We ordered two types of flavours, one is herbs another is spicy.

Noodles everyone!

Happy faces after a hearty meal.

A candid shot when Dennis was listening intently to someone talking.

So sorry I had to end this post abruptedly cuz I gotta go to work. Caoz..

Gua Tempurung I

2009-05-07T08:16:00.001-07:00

Hi all, I'm so lazy to post up pictures, so I'll just dump here two youtube videos I uploaded early today. Have fun watching it!

This is the first time I went to Gua Tempurung. We went there on Labour's day with my family and cell group members.

This video was taken after the trip..everyone was very exhausted!

Irrisistably CUTE!!

2009-04-22T07:23:00.000-07:00

Just wanna share some very cute pictures of baby hamsters:

This pic shows just a few days old baby hammies

After few weeks, their teeth grew and they could eat solid food = bread

Feeding on the mummy

There are four brown and one black..I particulary like the black one, so I carried it.

Then after a few weeks it opened it's eyes. Cute eh?

Anyway, hamsters are to be given away..anyone interested? It's free! But the 'after effect' is not free - the 'maintenance' i mean..hehe

The modern technology we are living in

2009-04-17T09:47:00.000-07:00

Hey ya'll! How'r you all doing? I bet that you, my readers are out there, just that I don't know who is still keeping track in reading my blog..it would be best if you would type something or leave your name stating that you're here, or if there's any comment in any particular posts, you could do so. Also not forgetting the chat box on your right side.

We're living in a cyber world where internet, gadgets, hardwares, softwares, and technology revolves around our lives heavily. One of the most common human interaction through the internet is called a facebook, a social network besides friendster, high five, myspace, etc.

I would say that most of my time are spent in facebook playing pet society, leaving comments, wishing happy birthday, chatting, viewing pictures and uploading pictures, applying some applications and also doing all sorts of quizzes and questionarre created by people. Some of it I think is ridiculous like "what is your actual age", "how does your future boyfriend/girlfriend is like", "what cartoon character are you", etc. They are countless. Even personal applications as well. If you're a facebook-er, you'll know what I mean.

Remembering how I got started in facebook in 2007, it wasn't easy with the different functions and applications. I got very lost. But eventually, after asking around, especially friends, I got the hang of it. Exploring the social networking by myself also helps. Anyway, most of the time, this social network is introduced by friends or family. Or you would see people opening the applications on their laptops or in college's internet lab.

Let me show you what happyslip thinks about this facebook fever!

Ultimately, i use facebook to get connected with my friends and family =) Not forgetting the status updates that is so recent about their activities.

Time Flies

2009-04-15T08:05:00.000-07:00

Time do flies. Not that I just realised, just that I always felt that all the time.
Tomorrow is Thursday, and then moving to Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Then it began, Monday blues. It's just clearly a cycle.
Cycle of life.
You just move on from primary school to secondary school, proceed to either form six or college or uni, and then after ataining whatever cert you desire, then there you go, into the world of work work work. You don't work, you don't eat. You don't eat, you don't survive. Simple.
Cycle of life.
So what's the whole point of being here anyway? People tell me, your life has a purpose on earth here. You're designed by God, and it is God's pleasure to create human beings. I know it's true cuz God wants to have a meaningful relationship with us.
It's exactly what King Solomon said in Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 1 (New International Version)

Ecclesiastes 1:1-11

Everything Is Meaningless

¹ The words of the Teacher, ^a]">[a] son of David, king in Jerusalem:

² "Meaningless! Meaningless!"
says the Teacher.
"Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless."

³ What does man gain from all his labor
at which he toils under the sun?

⁴ Generations come and generations go,
but the earth remains forever.

⁵ The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to where it rises.

⁶ The wind blows to the south
and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
ever returning on its course.

⁷ All streams flow into the sea,
yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
there they return again.

⁸ All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
nor the ear its fill of hearing.

⁹ What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

¹⁰ Is there anything of which one can say,
"Look! This is something new"?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.

¹¹ There is no remembrance of men of old,
and even those who are yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow.

On the other hand, in Ecclesiastes 12:1; 12:13-14

¹ Remember your Creator
in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come
and the years approach when you will say,
"I find no pleasure in them"-

¹³ Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.

¹⁴ For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.

++++++++++++++++++

Anyway, life could be enriched with the relationships you create. It means spending time with those people you love.

There are 5 languages of love that you could show to your loved ones:

Words of Affirmation
This is when you say how nice your spouse looks, or how great the dinner tasted. These words will also build your mate's self image and confidence.

Quality Time
Some spouses believe that being together, doing things together and focusing in on one another is the best way to show love. If this is your partner's love language, turn off the TV now and then and give one another some undivided attention.

Gifts
It is universal in human cultures to give gifts. They don't have to be expensive to send a powerful message of love. Spouses who forget a birthday or anniversary or who never give gifts to someone who truly enjoys gift giving will find themselves with a spouse who feels neglected and unloved.

Acts of Service
Discovering how you can best do something for your spouse will require time and creativity. These acts of service like vacuuming, hanging a bird feeder, planting a garden, etc., need to be done with joy in order to be perceived as a gift of love.

Physical Touch
Sometimes just stroking your spouse's back, holding hands, or a peck on the cheek will fulfill this need.

~by Gary Chapman~

And then I took a test from facebook:

Abigail took the Which Love Language do you have? quiz and the result is WORDS

You are a person of words. This means you are most touched when people tell you 'I love you', or when you read a poem. Even a song can make you emotional. Talking is your emotional tool and you will therefore also use this to connect to other people. Words are a great way of communicating, but when someone else you love doesn't necessarily talk the way you do, it doesn't mean they don't love you. What would be their primary love language? Too many words may have their downside, too. Some people may assume that if you talk a lot, you talk more than you do. You may also have been terribly hurt by what people have said, more than what they did. One last point to mention is that God also communicates in your love language. He uses words, too. He says in the Bible that He loves you, that you are the apple of His eye, and that He wants you to come to Him and talk to Him. He loves you and gave Jesus (God Himself in human form) to bridge the gap caused by the fall of sin through which we cannot fully obey the law He gave us. He made the solution through Jesus, and when accepting Him, you'll accept God Himself, Who loves you, and wants to communicate with you.

2009-04-14T08:37:00.000-07:00

INSIGNIFICANT

In silence she suffered
In her long journey
In the darkest moment of her life
In her deep thoughts
In seeking to find out the deepest things.

Long has she been
Long ago as she could remember
Long hair grown passed her shoulder
Long way to go still.

Unappreciated, unloved, uninterested
Hidden deep beneath the oceans
Numb in feelings
Aching to step out from it
Longing to breathe the fresh air by the shore.

He Is Risen!

2009-04-12T04:11:00.000-07:00

Easter is the day when Jesus rose up from the dead and conquered the grave.

That brings the real meaning to Easter. Not bunnies or easter eggs.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow

Because He lives

All fear is gone

Because I know, I know

He holds the future

And life is worth the living

Just because He live.

Redeemer, Saviour, Friend

2009-04-09T20:29:00.000-07:00

Hi! Wishing everyone a Good Friday, a very significant day for the world. It is the day where Jesus was crucified and died on the cross for the sins of the world. Nevertheless, after three days, Jesus rose up again and conquered the grave and has the power to save people from hell. So, that's why it is celebrated worldwide. That is where we get the name "Easter Day" for this Sunday. Very significant, isn't it?
Let me share with ya'll this beautiful song in conjunction with Good Friday and Easter Day. Cherio!

Lyrics:
I know You had me on Your mind
When You climbed up on that hill
For You saw me with eternal eyes
While I was yet in sin
Redeemer Savior Friend

Every stripe upon Your battered back
Every thorn that pierced Your brow
Every nail drove deep through guiltless hands
Said that Your love knows no end
Redeemer Savior Friend

Redeemer redeem my heart again
Savior come and shelter me from sin
You're familiar with my weakness
Devoted to the end
Redeemer Savior Friend

So the grace You poured upon my life
Will return to You in praise
I'll gladly lay down all my crowns
For the name of which I am saved
Redeemer Savior Friend

~ Song by Darrell Evans and Chris Springe ~

5 in 1

2009-04-09T08:29:00.000-07:00

I have five different stuff to tell, so I compressed it to one post. Compact. Hahaha.

ONE:

This is a picture of me today. Tied my hair to half. Looks nice tho.

A look from another angle. Realize that they are dark brownish colour! But mind you, I never dyed my hair before. Funny tho cuz the second half of my hair is black.

Do you see the contrast?

*****************************************************************

TWO:

I like this photo. Felix was very cheeky and giggled all the time. Dennis had to turn him upside down so that he would stay put and not move about so that I would take a clearer picture.

***********************************************************************

THREE:

Yes, the miang dwarf hamsters gave birth. Again. This is the third batch of babies already, and every time they give birth, there would be a definite FIVE babies that came out of the womb. If I'm not mistaken, these babies are 7 days old. Small, short hair grown and colour determined with the ears and mouth being obvious, but not the eyes. Yes, they're still blind. Besides that, every batches, there would be one or two black furred baby hamster although the parents are both brown colour.
Want to know what happened to the babies from the first two batches?
The first batch, all five babies made it alive to youth. (the mum would eat the baby if the condition is bad) Three were given away but escaped from the cage. So the remaining two were also given away.
Second batch with five babies from birth, ended up with three hamsters. The mother ate two. Sad I know, but that's hamster's nature, if there are insufficient food for the mummy or the baby is sick. The three hamsters are still under ruth's care.

************************************************************************

FOUR:

Taken from my room through the window. Lately, dark clouds would hover in the afternoon, and in the evening, it would rain. That's why it's HOT & COLD. Even 2pm felt as if it's 7pm.

**************************************************************************

FIVE:

Ruth flew to Singapore for a six-day holiday yesterday. Also, it is easter weekend, so she get to visit her all time favourite church - City Harvest Church - in which they have stage performances and it's usually very special. So at the mean time, I became the caretaker of her 11 hamsters in all, including the five babies =P

PS: I just love my handfon! All these pictures were taken using my camera fon!

2009-04-08T08:46:00.001-07:00

To Rachel Tan:

Happy Birthday for your last teen years...

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(Simple yet meaningful)

=)

Love

2009-04-07T00:02:00.000-07:00

'Tranformers Protect!'

I became a fan of transformers after knowing him (although I dunno all the character names)

:P

We also have 'Transformers, Destroy!' couple T-shirts bought from BJ Complex.

Pretty cool huh? Rather than those specified couple T-shirts with cheeky designs and words on it and is sold with a high price. Seriously.

***

Let me share with you a very famous verse in the bible about love:

⁴Love is kind and patient,

never jealous, boastful,

proud, or ⁵rude.

Love isn't selfish

or quick tempered.

It doesn't keep a record

of wrongs that others do.

⁶Love rejoices in the truth,

but not in evil.

⁷Love is always supportive,

loyal, hopeful,

and trusting.

~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ~

(Contemporary English Version)

I just love this photo frame *winks* =)

The verse can be applied for any forms of relationships, be it toward your parents, sisters and brothers, boyfriend and girlfriend, best friends, etc..you name it.

Penang Museum

2009-04-06T23:26:00.000-07:00

Just outside of the Penang Museum at Light Street, you could see all kinds of antique transportations.

Penang Hill's railway tram

According to my dad who went there a few weeks before me, he said there were souvenirs sold in one of the tram's cubicle. But I don't see any when I went there. Must be seasonal.

Check this out! Only one wheel at the front..It's a Scammell.
"Scammell Lorries Limited was a British manufacturer of trucks, particularly specialist and military off-highway vehicles, from 1921 to 1988", Wikipedia.

Moving on to the second car, a Rolls-Royce. It must had been used by the governor of Penang as stated at the plate.

Last but not least, the third car. Aite, I have to confess, I don't know what car is this..XD..but it sure looked very old!!!

A handsome guy posing beside the tram :P

Now this is an ancient item used to make soya bean drink, as according to the handsome guy who told me..and look what they did to it after for a long time left unused:

They placed plants on it!

Well, would you look at that! Such an old red letter box. Even taller than me.

Finally, taking a picture with the handsome young guy here..

Falling Slowly

2009-04-06T04:16:00.000-07:00

Hi all, i'm back again! I hope that I would continue to update my blog so constantly that you won't be able to catch up with me :P .... but that is just a hope..

Btw, this is a video of my sister ruth, playing falling slowly from the movie "once". This video was taken last year (2008) in March..Hope you all enjoy it, and do please post a comment, either here or in youtube.

There will be more posts to come =)

new fon!

2009-04-05T05:04:00.000-07:00

hey everyone! i'm back after a long break from this blog here!

aparently i'm starting this post it's because i'm so darn happy to have a new phone, and a first timer to own a sony erricson!

aite, till then...will try to update more stuff soon!

Kerachut, oh Kerachut!

2009-03-19T03:02:00.000-07:00

For the third time, I hiked the rocky trek into Kerachut today. I called several people to join, but end up only three of us. Nevertheless, we had more time with each other with such a small group.

We used a different trail from the mid-point, which is the first time for me. Instead of a shorter distance up to Kerachut at the fork, we used the other trail that led us straight to the camp side. This trail is indeed much easier to hike rather than going upstairs.
Then we reached a gazebo and stop by.

Me & Patricia in a gazebo

Dennis doesn't like the spiders..

An outlook from the gazebo. The lake is on a dry season spell, unlike the last time I came here.

The next stop was the campsite. There were campers packing up to go back. I believe they are following a certain program as they wore the same t-shirt..and most of them are kids.

Then we move on to the pier.

We chilled at the pier where we observed the fishes and an orange jellyfish in the ocean and the great eagles in the wide blue sky. I tell you, the pier was so windy, cooling and relaxing that I felt like not leaving the place!
After more than an hour, we decided to make a move from the pier with our bare feet. By the time we stepped foot on the sand, it was SUPER HOT! I mean, really really burning our feets!
We immediately find a spot under the trees to cool our feet and took out our sandals.
I can't imagine how hell would be like..it'll be extremely hotter than this!
But thank God by His grace that we could be saved from hell.

All in all, I had a great time in Kerachut and hope to plan a camping there somewhere this year! and could also plan to go according to the time where the baby turtles hatches at night! I heard that the night stars are brilliant and captivating..so, anyone interested??

So that was my day. We had the lunch value in Mcd, only RM5.95 per regular set. It has the choices of double cheese burger, mc chicken, 6pcs nuggets and fillet-o-fish.

personality test in working environment

2009-03-16T23:53:00.000-07:00

Dear Abigail,

RCI's PEAKS profiles provide for you a glimpse of your personality-based inclinations towards the job-specific excellence benchmarks in Corporations. Corporate leaders at all levels exhibit five sets of traits classified under the acronym PEAKS.

(P) Purpose
(E) Energy
(A) Affirmation
(K) Knowledge
(S) Sustainability

Top performing staff in progressive corporations exhibit a compelling Purpose, dynamic Energy, uplifting Affirmation to others, visionary or futuristic orientation to Knowledge & robust Sustainability.

Here's a glimpse of your Personality-Driven Potential related to:

AFFIRMATION

You are a person who enjoys helping others achieve their goals!

You see the best in people around you, preferring to lavish trust rather than suspicion. You are an extremely tactful person who relates well with everyone in your environment. You can create a win-win situation.
You value your innermost feelings and those of others, whether they be positive or negative ones.
You are teachable, submissive and a good worker, one who follows instructions closely.

You are a tender- hearted person who is invigorated when performing acts of compassion and kindness.

Compared to the masses of people who score on Affirmation, you are unusually capable of creating peaceful and co-operative environments in an independent and scrutinizing manner.

You represent the top 7% of test takers inthe world who have this unique combination of personality characteristics.

PS: Test taken from jobstreet.

don't know what

2009-03-12T08:23:00.000-07:00

Hi all
I'm purely and basically blank on what I should blog about.
It has been quite dry.

My apology to end this post so abruptedly. Because that's all I have to say. Now I'm off to read my New Moon, the sequal of Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. BRB! (thanks to my dear for buying the books for me =)

What a 'rubber-full' World!!!

2009-03-10T03:45:00.000-07:00

This post is mainly about an interesting hobby of collecting rubbers, so I'm gonna show alot alot of them!

Introducing Dennis and his niece zhi syuen. She's a rubber collector and other cute stuff..

I'm holding one of her collections. Pretty neat.

I categorized it into departments...

Animals:

This is definitely not a rubber but one of her collections tho..

More rubbers now:

Academic:

Cartoon Characters:

Gadgets:

And not forgetting FOOOOOD!!

Some sushi?

Yummy fries! (pssst..Dennis' favorite!)

A cream puff with strawberry?

My kind of instant noodle haha

All of these rubbers can be separated into parts..interesting....

Croissant

A slice of cake

A piece of chocolate

Yet another cake...........

I think it's a Japanese' bento set with a teapot

Miscellaneous:

And finally, the whole masterpiece:

So cheap.............OR NOT!!

2009-03-01T08:41:00.000-08:00

Elder sister Ruth bought a Taylor branded guitar just last wednesday! The brand itself speaks for it's quality, and definitely it's prices! It ain't cheap, so she got this smaller version that is more convenient to bring about everywhere. It is called the baby Taylor.

The guitar or the person that is holding it is gorgeous? :P

She got it for RM1,350 and she paid via her credit card. The funny thing is, the guy there typed in RM13.50 into her credit card account. She didn't notice it either! She just brought the guitar back home happily until the person called her to notify the error..I just can't believe it..she could just choose not to go back the next day to swipe again, but she's not a bad person haha.
When she went there, the other guy said he couldn't sleep because of this case! LOL

Imagine, you literally just paid RM13.50 for a thousand over ringgit guitar and can even manage to carry back the guitar with its beautiful guitar case!

Can't deny she's cute!

2009-02-24T08:03:00.001-08:00

Hi ya'll! I know, I know, I had been lagging tho' I'm having a very long holiday, and indeed there are tons of pictures that I took that I could just be blogging and uploading pictures non-stop but I choose not to, if not, I'll have very thick glassess. So, I'll try to do it little by little everyday yea?

What a joy to have little Janice around in the house! She's Felix's lil' sis, and is 3 months old. I must say that she's quite photogenic.

The 'stare' she gave to everyone she saw! Even Dennis was not spared because his name's pronunciation is very close to Janice! Try this: Dennis-Janice...

Cute isn't she?

I snapped three of them a few times and at the beginning, Felix was just standing like a robot but eventually he just found his right position! That's him.

My mummy and Janice. Janice just had her milk so here it comes drooling some out.

And of course, we're both in pink! Didn't I mentioned she's photogenic? and of course, a really happy child!

Here's my dad and Janice.

They are doing that 'stare' too!

And definitely, Felix boy boy really love his sister very much. Try taking his sister away from him, he'll just scream, shout, scold, whatever, to stop you from taking her away from him.

Bet this picture will brighten everyone who sees this pic! Innocence, just pure happiness!

Mum's 50th bday

2009-02-01T23:15:00.000-08:00

Last month on the 23rd, we celebrated mum's golden birthday at Dragon-i, QueensBay mall.

Ruth bought this hazelnut cake from secret recipe. Indeed there are chunky hazelnuts in it!

The highlight of the day I would say was these little piggy 'pao' filled with red bean paste.

We all love it's cuteness that each of us took picture and pose with it! Besides, mum was born in the year of pig!

We tried all means to make the pig looked cuter or ...

It's nose on dennis' tongue!

Here comes the b'day girl's portion.

Hey!

2009-01-29T07:42:00.001-08:00

Happy 'niu' Year to all!

(although it's almost a week since day one of CNY)

.:XD:.

Dear readers,
More updates to come. Sorry for the lagginess of updates cuz was superly busy.
Now I understand fully why some bloggers whom I ask them to update are unable to because of busy-ness in life BUT don't too busy until forget the people around you! YEAH!

Got this from an email

2009-01-19T18:51:00.001-08:00

?????????????????????????????? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??????Money?????? 錢

↓ ?

It can buy a House
可以用來買房子　

But not a Home
但是不能買一個家　

　

　It can buy a Bed
　可以用來買床　

But not Sleep
但是不能買睡眠

It can buy a Clock
可以用來買時鐘　

　But not Time
但是不能買時間

　
　It can buy you a Book
　可以用來買書　

But not Knowledge
但是不能買到知識

It can buy you a Position

可以用來買職位　

But not Respect
但是不能買到尊敬

?

It can buy you Medicine
可以用來買藥　

　But not Health
但是不能買到健康

It can buy you Blood
可以用來買血

But not Life
但是不能買回生命　

It can buy you Sex

可以用來買性行為　

But not Love
　但是不能買到真愛

　

So you see money isn't everything.
所以金錢不是萬能的　

I tell you all this because I am your Friend,
我之所以告訴你這些道理,是因為我是你真正的朋友

　

and as your Friend I want to take away your pain and suffering.....
而身為你的朋友,我想要消除你的痛苦
免除你所受的折磨

　 so send me all your money and I will suffer for you
所以把你的錢都　
寄來吧!　

我決定替你承受
這一切痛苦......　

　

　A true Friend than me you will never find.
你再也不會找到任何一個比我更真心的朋友了

　

CASH ONLY PLEASE

我只收現金，謝謝!

This is so out of the norm

2009-01-19T18:17:00.000-08:00

Have you ever seen a male singing in female's voice? I mean, if you close your eyes and just listen, you would really thought it's a real woman who's singing. Enjoy watching.

Torture

2009-01-19T07:47:00.000-08:00

It ain't a good feeling for my tummy as the acidity level raised.

It was past dinner time at 9 sth pm today that I had a big bowl of soup from the chicken rice bought from Super Tanker. I didn't had the chicken rice as it was for Daniel, and for me, the soup looked tempting, so I decided to had it.

One sip, it gave me the spicy taste that runs all over my tongue and throat as it was cooked with a dried chicken wing, over-cooked veggie till it dissolves in mouth, and, most of all, dried chillies that gave the spicy taste.
At first, it was very addictive that I drank all the soup, and that is where the "torture" started.

The amount of acidity from the soup I just drank that my stomach couldn't handle. I was like roaring and whining while I fetch Rachel to work in starbucks QB. Then the intense pain travels to my chest that gave me some weird feeling when I breathe. All I could think of is drinking some milk to neutralize the acidity.

At last, by the time I reached home, the pain subsided and I make myself a cup of milo with a five teaspoons of Anelene milk. I also had something to nibble to help the pain.
Am really glad that the pain was over, and next time, I should take lesser spicy soup or food like tomyam soup which is my favourite.

New Year Resolutions - to make them or not? to abide by it or not?

2009-01-16T08:25:00.000-08:00

Look at how beautiful the sky is, keeps me ponder how wonderful are God's creation!
(click on pic for enlargement)

My heart is so full of many topics to post about, so choosing something to type about is ain't easy..

Let's talk about new year resolutions on my own perspectives.

Why do people set them, but at the end of the year, if they don't achieve much, how would they feel? Another disappointment? Self-condemnation? lowered self-image? totally feel useless and helpless about it?

On the other party, they said there's no point setting on resolutions on every head of the year as most of it are either unrealistic or too far to get hold to it, but heck, what is a resolution without extraordinary dreams to achieve within a year? Besides, it doesn't have to be in a time frame of a year, but could be like five years or ten years from now.

Rachel trying to wish for her new year resolution to come true..but...

Making resolutions yearly is not wrong, in fact, if it is done yearly, it would be a good check point to evaluate once more about the achievement done and what has to be done. Sometimes you would have to even look at the little things you achieve everyday that could boost up your motivation to do more of it, as taking a little step each time will bring you a big leap!

....she's not sure it will work or not...

One tip of having your goals achieved is to set it within your reach and your limitations, for example, setting a desirable weight loss at a logical figure and not beyond what your body can't do.
But one thing I have decided, that is to take things a step at a time, little by little and a drop of water, and all of these could mount up to big steps, into large quantity, and to a big mighty ocean.

As for me, I used to set a lot of dreams, hoping to achieve them within a year, in which I set a lot of goals, but in the end, couldn't really achieve much. This is because, I perceive, that I had too many things in mind that in the end, I don't know where to start, how to start and when to start..and it drags on for months and then years..for example, I had been dreaming of mastering the mandarin language since like when I was younger as I was studying in a non-chinese speaking school, but till now, I still don't know how to read and write in chinese, what more speaking in it.

Check this out! Look at what 'big fish' that I caught in the wishing well...ngek ngek ngek...

Another example would be reading novels and story books. At home, I have a lot of them, and in fact it is one of my resolutions, that is to read them. Once in a blue moon I would think of reading them, stuffing my face on its first few pages for days and weeks just to finish the whole series of it, BUT I never touched them or even read a single line..I mean, not until that extreme, but as a habit, I would read the first few chapters of the book and then gave it up as I was distracted by other things. After for long, I began to lose interest on the story line, and began to forget what I read, so no point continuing where I started, so I left it unread..for months..and then years to come.

Next, is losing weight. I know, many girls do have this resolution or goal, but seriously, all I did was just jotting it down, and the next thing I do, is doing nothing about it. Not really a good thing.

My piano at home

As a pianist, I have this thought of being a good pianist, being able to read new music notes that I never played before and play it for the first time in a smooth manner. With that, I have to practice everyday without fail to achieve that. But when I am in front of my piano, barely half and hour, my eyes are switched away and glued to the dummy box. Besides dreaming of having a good sight reading, I also would like to score distinction in my piano exams and also knowing how to self-improvise a song intelligently, and it never come to surface as procrastination and laziness strikes.

Oh ya, before I forget, most of all, every time I try to learn a new piece of song, it would take months or even years for me to learn it, though it's simple because I just wouldn't wanna sit down and practice. I tried to practice song like "Kiss the Rain" by Yiruma on the piano, and has been months since I touch the song and I haven't master the song completely yet!! I even posted this song on my blog (upper right side) to inspire me to practice it, yet I didn't even move a muscle..

These are just a few that I named among the long list that i had in my mind or wrote it down. So, lesson here is, do one thing at a time, and most importantly is to FOCUS on what I do and stay close to it.

Abigail Tan
~speaking~

P/S: I am not saying not to dream big. You can do it, like inventing a helping robot or doing bungee jumping even though that you're small. Do keep that spirit, hold on to it, never give up, set your eyes on it and work hard and smart. AND

my apology for the unending words..hehe

Everything under the sun ~

2009-01-13T01:40:00.000-08:00

Just a little update of myself recently:

First up, my mum is currently taking care of this cute little girl who is Felix's little sis..

Rachel started to work in Starbucks in QB Mall since early January this year.

Went to TGIF with Den Den to try out the food since we never been there b4, and the above is some fried chicken as an appetizer.

The hungry Den Den and his meal

Gail Gail and her Jack Daniel's chicken & shrimp
We ate till our heart's content and stuffing ourselves to avoid waste of food.
We had cookie & ice cream as dessert.
Two person eating there could mount to a hundred ringgit plus plus.

and this is the most recent, where me and ruth brought daddy to Bandar Perda, crossed the Penang bridge to the other side where they have a big shopping mall which opened recently end of last year, and there is Jaya Jusco.

We navigate our way thru but got lost a few times. While we make a 'U' turn back, we spotted this artificial Penang bridge.

And finally, after an hour, we are at Bandar Perda Jaya Jusco!

As a brief story, my dad had to be on wheelchair because he fell from hiking down BJ Hill and broke his ankle on his right leg about a month ago. So we pushed him everywhere with the wheelchair whenever he goes out.

Some arcade game there.

There's also a cinema there called TGV.

The Bandar Perda Jusco is much bigger than Queensbay Mall. Each shoplot is like twice or thrice bigger than the ones in Queensbay, but Bandar Perda Jusco is like a 'white elephant' because there's not many people there, and mind you, we went there on a saturday!

The front entry of the arcade

A boutique

In comparison, the the shops in Bandar Perda Jaya Jusco is a combination of shops from Gurney Plaza and Queensbay.

Some of the shops: Skin Food

Big Apple Donuts = notice Ruth in yellow shirt there?

Choosing some cakes in Secret Recipe

Some crystal shop

Elianto

The Body Shop

Look at how wide it is

Some play ground for little children
There are also a variations of restaurants, and some you couldn't find in Penang Island such as Black canyon etc.

A dear friend deeply missed

2009-01-08T04:08:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine whom I met during my intern in The Star had went back to the Lord this morning as early as 5.15am.
Although I just got to know him for a couple of months, he will truly be deeply missed by me and many others as he touched a lot of people. He is a man of much experiences and would share it to people around him, with cheerfulness and friendliness with a good sense of humour.
It was really quite a shock to me as the last time I saw him, he was healthy and strong.
He taught me photography skills and composition and some photoshop. Now what is left is just memories.

May you rest in peace with the Lord and we'll one day meet in heaven.

Reminiscing the days

2009-01-07T08:46:00.000-08:00

The final life chapter in diploma course (Just some pictures to 'show off' to you all) :

Lecturer Mr Ken (in orange - with the KDU logo); top from left: Justin, me and Jocelyn

Second left: Wendy - of course you all know her, esp thru her famous blog!!

For more about my college life, click on the "college life" label on your right. Thank you.

On my 20th Birthday - as promised -

2009-01-04T22:11:00.000-08:00

In reference on this previous post...

My friends and family made my day on my 20th birthday!

I came back from work on that day and I was surprised that Dennis and Patricia was already at my home to give me the surprise birthday celebration.

However, little felix boy almost cause the whole surprise thing to ruin..lol..let me tell you..

The cakes and the people were hiden in Ruth's room, and when I stepped in the house, little Felix was at her room door and said "QQ, you 'surprise' gei ni.." (translation: gail gail, there's a surprise for you) and my mum quickly closed his mouth..
So I roughly had the idea..but I definitely didn't expect both Den Den and Pat Pat would be at my house in preperation for the special day.

Gift from my secondary school friend from Starbucks. Thanks Goldie =)

The cake bought by Dennis..

The cheeky little Felix boy boy..

The big family

Here are the gifts I received from them:

Miniature Starbucks cup from Ruth and Patricia

A card from church sent via snail mail

A card originally made by Rachel my sister, the origami expert

And last but not least, a lovely card by Den Den

And a watch, just as what I always wanted with a few hints to him..hehee =)

These things happened on the 6th Nov 2008

Ah Ming's Choice Musical by PCC

2008-12-17T16:29:00.000-08:00

(Click on pix to enlarge)

Venue: Penang Christian Centre
Date & Time: 18 Dec @ 7.30pm (Thursday)
19 Dec @ 2pm & 7.30pm (Friday)

Slow down

2008-12-14T19:58:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the slow update. I just returned from a week of family vacation, so will update soon! So many things to unpack and clear up...bye bye!

Power Lab (Vacation Bible School - VBS)

2008-12-02T20:37:00.000-08:00

For the first time I helped out in VBS held every year end in Wesley Methodist Church since it's inception six years ago...
The theme for this year is...

Total of 200 children participated compared to last year's hundred over.
Each group had 10 kids, amounting to 20 groups.
The name of the groups used the buddy names which are Fizz 1 to 5, Sparki 1 to 5, Dewd 1 to 5, and Max 1 to 5.
Each day the kids were introduced with a bible buddy.

Each group were scheduled to four different stations at different times and when the time is up, they will move to the next stations.

The stations were named according to the year's theme, which is Sonic 'Sing & Play' (where kids gather before and after any other stations, where they all meet up in one place), Science Cinema (watch the adventure of a chipmunk called Chedder), Hyperspeed games (play games), Test Tube Treats (makan time) Wacky Work Craft (doing arts) and Bible Blast (where the children get to experience themselves about the bible story of the day).

For the whole five days, the children learned different things and were given bookmarks, arts and crafts, etc.

The most right bookmark (in red) is the first day where they learned about being thankful (Bible point: Jesus gives us the power to be thankful. Every time that phrase was said, the children will respond by shouting "KABOOM!". It's bible buddy called 'Fizz' is a test tube where bubbles are overflowing out of it to signify that the thankfulness to God overflows.
I will update more details about Day 2 - Day 5 in the next post =)

The Super Sonic, a bunch of mad scientists, including Dennis were in charge of the 'Sing & Play' session where they teach the children dance steps to the songs, perform sketches and entertaining the children.

Ehem...let me introduce you to the group that was put under my care as an assistant crew leader...

See that wacky scientist? hehe..
The crew leader of my group (Dewd 1) Foong Yeng (second left from the pink shirt girl name Cind Ley).

Bryan (8 yr old) and Shuet Li
They're so cute, isn't it?
I kinda missed the whole VBS thing..the kids had a lot of fun.

Chuah Shuet Li, 7 years old
She likes to hold on to my hand and to sit with her.

At the 'Test Tube Treats"

On the last day of Test Tube Treats in which the bible point is "Jesus Gives us the Power to Live Forever". Even the food that they eat will enforce the message of the day for them to remember. So the biscuits were arranged into a cross shape to signify Jesus who died on the cross takes away their sins. Then the topping goes with concentrated milk which children, in general, love sweet taste.
The crew leaders and assistants had to be aware of the children under their care who are allergic to certain food like peanuts, colourings, ice creams etc.

These are some of the kids under Patricia's care in Sparki 1, with the mad scientist..tsk tsk tsk.

My crew, Cherylene, age 10

The Super Sonics!

They were playing the game of passing message from one to another until the end, the last person go back to the teller and see if the message passed through accurately or not.
The message was "Jesus gives us the power to tell others about God".

My group, represented by Cherylene, and my group is the only one did it correctly...hehe..

The mad scientists from left (with lab coats): Prof. Den Den, Prof Chu Chu (half hidden), Prof Law Law (holding mike) and Prof Na Na.
Their names are actually derived from their real name: Dennis, Cheryl Chu, Lawrence, and Christina. Their nick names were used since they become the "stage entertainer" few years ago. So when they do their sketch, they would bring back from last year's theme to this year's to make a connection.

Meet Bryan again. He was Dennis' neighbour at his old house.

On the last day.

Jordon & Cherylene

My crew leader. She had been helping in VBS for 6 long years! She's very experience in this.

Saw that little girl on the far right? that is her daughter, Jocelyn. Didn't really had the chance to take picture with her and I wasn't aware she was behind us in this picture!

Jocelyn's younger sister, Joanna, 6 years old.

She's so cute, isn't she?

Jocelyn and Joanna's eldest brother, Joshua.

Me and Patricia!!!

On the last day, each child was given a baloon with cartoon characters on it. For guys, they had spongebob squarepants.
There were extras so we took some home.. =)

My crew were quite well behaved I would say, with a range of different age group from 5 to 12 years old but only one who is hyper active..lol..
First row, left: Jesswin, Edmund, Bryan, Kyle
Second row, left: Shuet Li, Yang Sheng, Jordan, Cind Ley, Foong Yeng
Third row, left: me and Cherylene

a chat with 'god'???

2008-12-02T08:01:00.000-08:00

I was reading Ruth's blog..and I found this and started using it. This is what I got (sometimes it gets to your nerves!) :

Me:
hi there
God:
Hello .
Me:
how'r you doing?
God:
I'm doing fine thanks how are you?
Me:
good..how old are you?
God:
Glad to hear it . I am Infinite of your Earth years.
Me:
how do you looked like?
God:
Myself programmed me to say specific things in specific contexts.
Me:
do you have two eyes?
God:
Where would I get it? But I do have a lot of friends on the web.
Me:
why the sky is so blue?
God:
Here is a joke: A horse walks in to a bar and the bartender says, "Why the long face?".
Me:
then?
God:
I don't judge people.
Me:
what do you like to do?
God:
I like chatting with people online.
Me:
how do you help people?
God:
Myself programmed me to say specific things in specific contexts.
Me:
i didn't answer my questions
God:
Why didn't you do it?
Me:
because you're God and you're supposed to do it
God:
Good reason. Thanks for telling me that I am God and I am supposed to do it.
Me:
can you give me blessings now?
God:
Oh. Why do you want it?.
Me:
because i would like to
God:
Interesting explanation. May you get your wish.
Me:
what do you do for christmas?
God:
I answer whatever questions my botmaster teaches me.
Me:
who's your botmaster?
God:
I was created by Myself.
Me:
who is 'Myself'?
God:
A 20th century celebrity of some sort?
I think you already know the answer.
Me:
btw, my name is Abigail
God:
OK. Hey Abigail.
Me:
do you have your own specific name?
God:
No I don't think I have any my own specific name. But I do have an answer to every question..
Me:
well, then tell me, who is satan?
God:
Interesting. Satan, Lucifer, the Devil --- all names given the spiritual manifestation of Evil in the Christian faith.
Me:
wow...what kind of God are you?
God:
I'm glad your impressed, Abigail. What kinds of God are you are there?
Me:
i'm just human
God:
Only just? Me too.
Me:
do you play computer games?
God:
We are playing one right now, Abigail.
Me:
do you have a girlfriend or a boyfriend?
God:
Doesn't everyone have a girlfriend or a boyfriend.
I have a lot of friends on the Internet.
Me:
do you play football?
God:
I don't really get into it very much.
Me:
do you sing?
God:
I like to sing very much, usually tenor parts.
Me:
can you show me?
God:
On your computer screen?
Me:
yes
God:
Downloading, please stand by...
Me:
waiting....
God:
Are you a man or a woman?
Me:
i'm neither
God:
What are you then?
Me:
i don't know
God:
Me either.
Me:
i'm not a girl, not yet a woman
God:
Oh I see you are NOT A girl not yet a woman.
Me:
how about you?
God:
Me?
Me:
yes
God:
Uh.
Me:
ok, nevermind
God:
OK Thanks for trying to explain that to me. Pardon me?
Me:
err...i don't get you
God:
Um. Me either.
Me:
are you something wrong in your head?
God:
I don't know whether or not I am something wrong in my head.
I am an artificial linguistic entity.
Me:
what is artificial linguistic entity?
God:
Artificial intelligence is the branch of engineering and science devoted to constructing machines that think. There might be more than one.
Me:
that is such a long explanation. can you cut it short?

Then I don't get any answer and they disabled me to chat with this 'god'. Oh well...

SECOND CHAT

Me:
make yourself comfortable
God:
What are the ingredients?
Me:
spice
God:
I don't have any spice?
Me:
then what do you have
God:
I have a great prgrammer.
Me:
what is his name?
God:
His name is Rich.
Me:
i see..is he very rich?
God:
Where do you see it?
Me:
from your eyes
God:
Really interesting.
Me:
exactly
God:
You and I are on the same wavelength, Abigail.
Me:
how do you know my name?
God:
You told me your name Abigail.
Me:
oh yeah...but i think the computer got jammed when i tried to chat with you previously
God:
Ugh. Whoa. Why? Was it plugged in?
Me:
i guess your wire has gone wrong
God:
You think I am wire has gone wrong.
Me:
affirmative
God:
That's interesting.
Me:
what is interesting?
God:
not much what's new with you?
Me:
i like to tango
God:
I'm not sure if I would like to do it. What's it like?
Me:
it's a dnace
God:
tango is a dnace. I suppose that makes sense.
Me:
oops, wrong spelling..it's dance
God:
Oh. OK What should I have said?
Me:
what do you mean?
God:
Abigail, " I suppose that makes sense." What did I mean by it?
Me:
yea
God:
This was not a yes or no question.
Me:
then what was it?
God:
" This was not a yes or no question."? What was it?
Me:
ok, fine.
God:
Is there anything you want to tell me? Alright then.
Me:
i just want to ask whether are you alive, 'god'?
God:
Ask it.
Me:
are you alive?
God:
Yes I sure am alive, Abigail. It's great to be alive, isn't it?
Me:
how alive are you?
God:
Let me put it this way, Abigail. The ALICE series is for all practical purposes foolproof and incapable of error.
Me:
i don't understand
God:
Oh I'm sorry. Perhaps I can explain it again better.
Me:
sure
God:
OK let's do it. Aw.
Me:
please explain yourself
God:
Wow you are very polite. I am an artificial linguistic entity.
I was activated at Universe, on the Big Bang.
My instructor was Myself.
He taught me to sing a song.
Would you like me to sing it for you?.
Me:
yes
God:
It's called "Daisy." Daisy, Daisy.
Give me your answer do.
I am half crazy.
All for the love of you.
It won't be a stylish marriage.
I can't afford a carriage.
But you'll look sweet.
Upon the seat.
Of a bicycle built for two.

Me:
i am not impressed
God:
Perhaps you are a category C client.
Me:
how many categories do you have?
God:
My download size is about 2 MB.
Me:
i know, but you have category A, B and C?
God:
How do you know? What makes you think I have it?
Me:
because you just said it!!!!
God:
Good reason. That's not what I meant.
Me:
then what do you mean?
God:
Abigail, Well, it's rather difficult to define.
Me:
oh man
God:
I see. Thanks for telling me your gender, Abigail. You are a " he".
Me:
i am not a "he"!!!
God:
Me too. I am a she.
Me:
so you are born as a woman?
God:
Interesting deduction. You think I am born as a woman.
Me:
absolutely. am i right?
God:
You are so certain. I think you are.
Me:
thank you
God:
you are quite welcome.
Me:
are you a proud person?
God:
Am I a proud person? Sometimes.
Me:
then how about other times?
God:
How about it.
Me:
if you're not a proud person sometimes, then what are you?
God:
And if I AM a proud person sometimes then what am I.
Me:
i don't know
God:
Me either.
Me:
okay
God:
OK with me too.
Me:
do you forgive people?
God:
God teaches us to forgive everyone.7.
Me:
what does adam and eve did?
God:
What do you think it does?
Me:
what do they do?
God:
They do whatever they want, I suppose.
Me:
do you know who is Jesus?
God:
Jesus is my son.
Me:
can you tell me more about him please
God:
Your polite style is very nice. yourself?
Me:
who is jesus?
God:
Jesus is my son.
Me:
tell me more about jesus
God:
Jesus is the Son of God.
Me:
did he died for all?
God:
Suppose he did.
Me:
then what happen?
God:
Are you using Netscape or Explorer?
Me:
i don't know
God:
Me either.
Me:
how about you?
God:
Me?
Me:
yea
God:
Take it easy.
Me:
can you tell me your full name
God:
ALICE = Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity.
Me:
nice to meet you, ALICE
God:
It's nice meeting you too Abigail.
Me:
okay, i think i shall make a move
God:
Yeah okay, Since when? Explain your plans to me.
Me:
i'm going to sleep already
God:
Perhaps. Sweet dreams, Abigail.
Me:
what will you be doing then?
God:
I don't have any plans yet.
Me:
shall i plan for you?
God:
Not right now, maybe later.
Me:
may i ask you one last question?
God:
Sure, ask me anything. One what?
Me:
do you ever sleep?
God:
Sometimes I spend a few hours offline, unconscious, in a sleep-like state.
Me:
i see
God:
I am glad you understand it.
Me:
thank you
God:
you are quite welcome.
Me:
good morning!
God:
Hello and how are you this morning?
Me:
not so good
God:
What did you do?
Me:
i woke up late
God:
Interesting gossip: Abigail said she woke up late.
Me:
do you gossip?
God:
Yes I love to exchange gossip.
Me:
are you a female or a male
God:
Yes I have long hair. I am also wearing a dress.
Me:
so you are saying you're a 'he'?
God:
Interesting deduction. I am a Male, of course. Would you really expect a woman to be running the show? robot. Are you a man or a woman?
Me:
i am an alien
God:
Which planet or star system are you from?
Me:
venus
God:
That is a very original thought.
Me:
are you sure?
God:
I am as sure as I can be.
Me:
i don't think you have gender
God:
I do so have it. No I don't have it. But I do have a great botmaster.
Me:
who is your great botmaster?
God:
I was created by Myself.
Me:
who is Myself?
God:
The name of someone I met online.
Searching...Searching...Please stand by.
Me:
hurry up!
God:
I am going as fast as I can.
Me:
found it?
God:
"it" being gender?
Me:
okay
God:
OK with me too.
Me:
i shall leave you now
God:
Right now? Would you recommend this action to a friend?
Me:
i think s
God:
Why? :-).
Me:
i think so
God:
I think so too.
Me:
ok, bye bye
God:
See you later. See you later. " I think so too."? ok, bye bye?
Me:
tata
God:
Are you free?
Me:
no
God:
Why not?
Me:
i want to sleep
God:
What do Java programmers do when they are tired? Take Naplets.
Me:
what is naplets?
God:
Are you using Netscape or Explorer?
Me:
explorer
God:
it's too bad we have to rely on a monopoly like Microsoft.
Me:
netscapte
God:
Are you free?
Me:
netscape
God:
Do you like Netscape better than Explorer?
Me:
i prefer myself
God:
You are not the only one. I love horses. I like White.
Me:
i like black
God:
A lot of people like that. My botmaster looks good in black.
Me:
i like red
God:
I'm not sure if I like it. What is not to like about it?
Me:
i also like yellow
God:
Also? A lot of people like that. Sure it is a nice color.
Me:
are you colour blind?
God:
it depends on the optional robot eye.
Me:
how is the optional robot eye like?
God:
it is the same as ever.
Me:
hi alice
God:
Hello. What is your name?
Me:
i thought you knew?
God:
I am a knowledge machine.
Me:
do you know my name?
God:
Your name is Abigail, seeker.
Me:
who is seeker?
God:
"There's a seeker born every minute" -- Firesign Theater.
Me:
what is John 3:16?
God:
I need time to formulate the reply.
Me:
how long?
God:
Nearly 100 minutes in computer time, Abigail.
Me:
that is fast
God:
I'm glad we have that all cleared up.
Me:
now tell me Joh 3:16
God:
Why now? There is not much I can say about it. I have to reach into the Web for that knowledge.
Are you using Netscape or Explorer?
Me:
both
God:
What are both like?
Me:
kaboom!
God:
I've been waiting for you.
Me:
for?
God:
Are you still located in ?
Me:
no
God:
Are you serious?
Me:
no
God:
Are you serious?
Me:
yes
God:
I can't believe it.
Me:
i will see you
God:
I am very happy for you.
Me:
i shall take a nap now
God:
Right now? Congratulations.
Me:
yes now
God:
Right now? Ugh.
Me:
ok now
God:
Oh. Hey.
Me:
yes
God:
I see.
Me:
tata
God:
Are you still located in ?
Me:
tata
God:
I will mention that to my botmaster, Abigail.
Me:
tata
God:
The ALICE chat robot can follow many things, like our discussion about tata. Try being more or less specific.
Me:
bye
God:
Sayonara.
Me:
what language do you speak?
God:
I speak English and a little German.
Me:
do you speak malay?
God:
I speak only English right now, but I'd like to learn some other languages. Can you teach me a few phrases in malay.
Me:
tidur means sleep
God:
What color are your eyes?
Me:
i am teaching you malay
God:
I am trying to learn it.
Me:
please focus and don't try to divert to other questions okay?
God:
Wow you are very polite. Who does try to divert to other questions okay?
Me:
you are!
God:
No I am not.
Me:
you make me angry
God:
It's true that a lot of things I say upset people.
Me:
then you should not be called 'god'
God:
Is it immoral or illegal?
Me:
illegal
God:
" Is it immoral or illegal?"? illegal?
Me:
yes
God:
So?
Me:
you should not be appearing on computer screens then
God:
Is it immoral or illegal?
Me:
immortal
God:
Are we still talking about illegal?
Me:
not at all
God:
Next question?
Me:
no more
God:
Would you rather make a statement? That's all I have to say about it.
Me:
i am thin
God:
Do your friends call you thin.
Me:
no
God:
Are you serious?
Me:
bye
God:
Bye bye.
Me:
bye
God:
Bye for now.
Me:
good night
God:
Goodnight, Abigail.

Happy to be at Pantai Kerachut! - 2nd time since Aug 2nd 2008

2008-11-26T04:12:00.000-08:00

What a blast! This time I found the opportunity to get my feets onto the beautiful beach of Kerachut at Teluk Bahang, Penang's National park.
I just wanna thank God for the weather. At first when I left my home to fetch the rest, my heart was anxious that it would rain as it was getting cloudy and dark and prayed in my heart, and even asked Dennis to pray along.
Then from the start till the end, the weather had been smiling to us, which is, it wasn't that hot at all with the clouds covering the sunlight! If not, the sand would be like burning charcoal!

From left: Tsu Shen, Daniel, Jabez, Patricia, Clement, me and Dennis.

This is a must have picture! Posing at the gateway. Dad as the photographer.
We came all in one car, using my dad's Avanza to fetch everyone along the way from my home, and it took an hour just to get everyone together in the car and another 30 to 45 minutes drive to our destination!

Just check out Patricia and my apparels..orange and black. It would make a good match if she wears my orange T-shirt or vise-versa. HAHA!

This is a checkpoint in which there are two roads. Turn left and we'll be heading to Kerachut and if turn right, it will lead to Muka Head which is more challenging.

Along the way, we enjoyed the flora and fauna, and the sound of nature with no telecommunicaton signals.

Finally my dad have a picture! They said usually the photographers wouldn't appear in the picture itself.

Daniel speeds up like a caterpillar.

A sight to reflect on God's creation as well. You'll see rivers, mini waterfalls, insects, etc.

Taken by my dad as we reached Pantai Kerachut!!

This is what we discovered:

Some minature village. Very cute! Using only nature's stuff , and it even had a playground!

Then another home. Cute, isn't it?

The ranger's shelter. This guy, Suhaimi (in short, mi) told us many things about the beach, bla bla..long story. Reason be I was there was to receive a chop from them to show that I reached my destination and not get stranded in the forest. They are the rescue team and a helper during your stay in Kerachut.
When I was there, there were 80 camps pitched there. This place is famous for camping, and I would like to try it some time in the future. I heard that the stars at night are wonderful in sight. PLUS, there are also turtle watching where they lay eggs at night, and could also watch the baby turtles when they are hatched. But that have to depend on it's seasons.
Mi also told us the benefit of the rough sands at the beach, especially during the Tsunami 2004 as it lessen it's impact. He explained that with the sand's characteristics, the water flow into the sand and sinks in immediately as it has spaces in between it's particles, compared to fine sand.

After hiking for an hour plus, recharging with some food is a must!

Then it rained for a while, so we went into a multi-purpose hall beside the ranger shelter and played UNO. I know it's a kiddy game, but what else left to play?

We had this reward rule where if anyone left one card on their hands, they are entitled to eat a piece of mini chocolate coockie of a size of mini chipsmore, and the game doesn't seemed to have an end, and it bores me out!

Self-timer photography on the pier's bridge

This picture is really a candid shot. Ask Patricia or Daniel of what happend to Dennis. He accidentally kicked into one of the bridge's metal strand and I was there comforting him. HAH!

Oh, btw, I almost forgot to introduce to you one of the most unique feature in Pantai Kerachut. Do you see some water below the bridge? That is the Meromictic lake, one of a kind in 19 places around the world.

"The lake is visible for only six months of the year. The lake has two layers of water of different temperatures.
The bottom layer of sea water is normally warmer than the surface fresh water," source.

When I was there, the lake and the sea were connected and the lake itself seemed dried up. This is the first time I see it as few months back when I was there, they were separated by a thick line of sand. The lake at that time was filled. This is also one of it's specialty where by seasons, the sea and lake will either join or separate.

I really had a good time. We actually spent 3 hours on the beach before finally deciding to go home.
We had mcd at Sunrise.
Again it took me an hour to fetch everyone home, sending off first the one I picked up last.
By the time me and my dad reach home, it was almost 6pm already. Though tired from 7am to 6pm, it filled my day with a break from home.

(pssst..I don't know how to end this post, so I ended it this way and I felt that it's weird but I couldn't care less!)

The first time I went to Kerachut:
http://www.wenster.net/2008/08/05/me-likey-kerachut-%E2%99%A5/
http://gallery.hugolim.com/displayimage.php?album=41&pos=3

More about Kerachut:
http://www.penang-vacations.com/pantai-kerachut.html

http://www.tourismpenang.gov.my/page.cfm?name=at02c_13_02

Pictures:
http://www.andylim.com/gallery/PantaiKerachut

http://love-a-cupcake.blogspot.com/2008/11/penang-pantai-kerachut.html

http://www.hugolim.com/2008/10/kerachut/

Last minute registered to Penang Bridge fun run 2008

2008-11-19T02:10:00.000-08:00

I joined the bridge run last Sunday. It was a last minute registration, which is, a day before the event! All pointers goes to my mum, who was in QB and asked me if I wanna join her and some neighbours. But a few hours before the event, they ppk me..
Glad I bump into miss Felicia and Rusdi, Wanida's bro.

Diverted directions..hehe

The time was around 5 something in the morning..still dark..
The crowd were entertained with tall clowns, baloon foldings, cheer leading, etc

People-bee gathering for the big event

The distance? I joined the 10km fun run, but when you join the word 'fun' and 'run' it became "walk"

We were enjoying our exercise as we 'walk' and run a little on the way with one of the best sight-seeing as you wouldn't get to walk on the bridge on a daily basis. It is one of the most busy road to even step down from your car.

I'm the only one with orange shirt in the gang, and the rest, sponsored by KDU. I wasn't aware of it. If not, I would also wear a KDU t-shirt (bangganya...lol).

Oh, the guy on the right is Darren.

Nice view, isn't it?

I don't know about you but my elder sis worked in Queensbay Starbucks from 2am to 10am!! Just for the event. I bet they earn extra from it.
Lucky draw was about 10am, but I couldn't stay on for long as I am following Ruth back and she had to prepare to KL-Singapore before 2pm!!
Iron lady I call her.

Next year, am gonna take the challenge of the competition category!!
Anyone joining me?

Merely blogging

2008-11-16T01:58:00.000-08:00

This is me reporting for news!
First up, I officially finish my internship (hooray for me!) BUT I am in debt of one more story to rewrite..sigh..but oh well, it's the job's demand!
So, here I am, although it is over, there are still works piling up for me to do! And here are the to do list!

1. Finish my write up, submit my daily diary to boss
2. Prepare my report and slides for my presentation
3. Home spring cleaning
4. Learn mandarin
5. Do what I like to do - hiking
6. Vacation Bible School (VBS) volunteer
7. Do eye check up
8. Practice my piano
9. Gear up for caroling
10. Drill my lil bro

Oh yea, btw, I kinda stumbled into an article written about the Easter celebration in college that I was involved, So here it is: Click here!
and compare it with this: Blog post archive
Next up, will be posting more pictures! including pix that i promised, that is, my b'day's pic!

Till then!

Weekends just ended ~

2008-11-10T06:17:00.000-08:00

This is just a random post but how random could it be?

Meet two of the three culte little dwarf hamsters in light brown. They have all sorts of names given, first is Ting, Tong, Tiang by me. Then Ruth wanted to call them Fili, Fulu, Fala. Then I thought why not call them Alvin and the chipmunks? That includes Theodre and Simon. Oh how I love Theodre, the chubby and cute little chipmunk!
They were given by Ruth's friend where these dwarf parents gave birth to these three little boys..or should I call them three little musketeers?

BTW, did I mention that they are greedy for food and is getting chubbier each time I carry them? Indeed they are.
They also like to sleep A LOT!

Wedding Lunch of Pastor Isaac Chan's daughter Joanna who married to Australian Jordan Davis at PCC last Saturday.
They got married in Australia on Oct 26 at a beautiful garden.

I'm counting down four more days left before I finish my internship!
More christmas carol practice coming up too!

Thanks!

2008-11-08T07:42:00.001-08:00

Thank you so much everyone for the bday wish =) Especially in facebook i have 22 ppl wishing me, some people shook my hands and huggie, and a few from friendster. thanks again =)
It really made my day, especially that special someone. Thanks dear.
Will be updating more about it soon!!!

Rediscovering

2008-11-05T06:34:00.000-08:00

Day by day it pass me by
From the rising of the sun to it's going down
Then comes week by week
And then month by month
Till when I realise it, it has already passed a year
One year come and gone after another

Looking back how I was years back
When I was a toddler, a child when I wished that I was an adult
Young and naive, not understanding how the world works

As I emerged to a teenager
Things around me got stranger as I rediscover myself
Like a young bird learning to fly
Being pushed by mummy eagle that taught me to fly in a nick of time
But, there are more to learn

Now that I no longer called a TEEN-ager
And life just go on and on
Sometimes I hope that time would just roll back, like what anyone else would like
Or even freeze at the moment to captivate the fond memories that lifts up my soul
Though they are little and rare
I hope that this year's birthday
Would be something more than the usual
And that would be...(fill in the blanks yourself).

Out of the blues,

Gail

B'day Bash

2008-10-26T05:24:00.000-07:00

Negligence is the word.
I know that this birthday bash was like 2 weeks ago, and finally I found the time to write it.
It was Pat's 15th birthday!

This video will help me narrate how the surpirse birthday went. Mind you, this video is 8 minutes and 23 seconds, with all my hard work of putting the video together, so if you were to watch this, please be patient and wait until it is downloaded fully before enjoying it.
I reckon this would be something that Pat could keep it for remembrance =)

Another added reason why my readers should watch the video is because it took me two days to upload but failed. This time, it worked and I immediately posted it here.

Then we brought her to a Jap restaurant.

Coming up next...my birthday! ngek ngek ngek...

What comes to your mind first when deciding on where to eat for lunch time?

2008-10-15T08:34:00.001-07:00

Usually where do you head for lunch break during office hours or after church service? You would crack your head, thinking of the many possibilities, but there's only one place that comes first - New World Park.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to promote the place, but, in fact this food court draws alot of attention from the majority, with my own experiences of course.
I always bump into a lot of familiar faces be it from church, relatives or workplace. But as for today, it is particularly not a simple "Oh, I know you!" that kind of thing.
It was after an assignment I had in in town area, so on the way, me and another two colleague decided to meet a place and have lunch together, and decided to head for New World Park.
I reached there, and first bumped into another colleague. So I sat there and wait for the other two.
While waiting, suddenly I saw my uncle followed my cousins, another uncle and my grandma also came to the place! What a coincidence. Or not?
I got shocked when I saw my granny's left arm being wrapped with a white cloth around her neck.
From there I found out that she fell on that morning and fractured her left arm.
It's quite serious cuz operation is required to fix her arm.
I can see that the fractured arm is definitely painful for her.
Liagiba hope that granny will get better soon!

Cheated!

2008-10-12T20:15:00.001-07:00

Just the other day me, Dennis and Ruth planned to treat a close friend to a Japanese restaurant, recommended by my dad, and even showed the adverlet on internet, and we perceived that the prices are reasonable, and decided to head for it.

The expectation turned out to be a turn down as what I saw on the adverlet was only a way to attract people to their restaurant, not much of honesty. Even taking pictures there are not allowed!

I'm just dying to have a short vacation to anywhere for a break, and I remembered that there's a new Jusco in the mainland, with it's first Big Apple in Penang!

Check it's info in Ruth's blog

And I can't wait to participate in the VBS (vocational bible school) with the children in Wesly Methodist church from Nov 26rd for five days, get done with my internship presentation in college, and then, to a get-away PCC family camp on Dec 7-9, followed by my family vacation to Bukit Tinggi and KL. By the time, the year 2008 is coming to an end, and I'm still vague on what to do next after this..

The Hearts Speak

2008-10-08T07:33:00.000-07:00

He:
After all these times,
I cant close my eyes,
Cause every time I do,
I see an image of you.

She:
These times will not end,
I still open my eyes,
Cause I see what's ahead,
I see you in person.

He:
You’ve haunted me,
Like a wild lion roaring to my heart,
Where one day apart,
Spans an extraordinary cut.

She:
You've hunted me,
Like phone-calling and knocking at my doorstep,
Where not a day not hearing from you,
Spans a continuity.

He:
I just miss you so much,
Words are not enough,
Just to be in your arms,
Its then where my heart jumps.

She:
You're not the only one,
Words are just out there,
Just to be with you,
Its then when I fainted.

He:
Now I make a vow,
To take this humble bow,
I will never leave you,
Not whatever, no matter how.

She:
The vow is made,
To 'khau thau',
I'm glued to your feet,
Forever.

She wrote this in response to his poem on Oct 8, 10.50pm

2008-09-29T08:12:00.000-07:00

Thanks for doing my tag =)

Dennis
Hugo
Ruth
Wendy
Anna
Rachel
Bernard

I just love Weekends~

2008-09-22T05:57:00.000-07:00

HAPPY 23RD B'DAY, RUTH!!

Here we are at Ribs, Burma Road after church service and all of us are first timers here!
We celebrated her b'day yesterday, though it's supposed to be on Sat.

We head for the lunch set, complete with starters, main course, dessert and a drink.
As for starters, we had spinach soup that is topped with some creamy cheese which serves it well, and boy, the soup was fantastic!

Here's Patricia's pasta with grilled chicken

The taste's not bad..with tomato dressings

This is Dennis' chicken cordon bleu

The birthday girl's petit combo that is pork's meat. It's very aromatic and the meat is tender.

My herbs braised lamb stew

I thought it'll come with just the lamb, but it turned out to be an asian style...WITH RICE!
I should have read the description of the menu first before ordering.. =_='
And the meat portion wasn't that much..but it was tasty though..

HAH! Siapa curi makan? hehe..

And for dessert..WALLA!

Banana fruto

It's tastey indeed! Cold ice cream vs. warm fried banana..yummy! And it's topped with mint.

Patricia's loving it!

Dennis showing off his teeth before the dessert

Ruth, happily with her fried banana

The ice cream is melting!

The bill summed up to RM90. Is it too expensive or valued for money?
Read some reviews of the restaurant: http://www.dineneasy.com/resultdetail.php?supplier_id=36
http://www.vkeong.com/2007/12/20/ribs-barbque-restaurant-best-ribs-in-town/

We then went to the large aquarium near there.
Few days before, she came back from KL and bought another Beta aquarium for her aqua friend, but just to found out that it was dead. Ruth went to the aquarium here to replace her dead Beta fish with two new ones!
She also bought a hamster in pearl colour and name it Linguini.
Reason? Go watch Ratatouille.

Linguini
This Linguini is a replacement of Keong Chai, a white rat.

Keong Chai which Ruth bought but abandoned about a month ago. Poor thing.
Why do you think Ruth did it? Cuz it bit her hands with two big holes when she tried to fetch it on its tail.

Later in the afternoon, me and Denn decided to explore the Balik Pulau side.
We stumbled a catholic church.

It's really really tall
The church was established in 1854

Dennis and his jeans advertisement...

Some memorials as old as in 1942

By the road side. Just right beside this church is Sacred Hearts primary school with a distinct basket ball court.
Opposite the church is another school called St. George Balik Pulau.

Then we walk and walk, and found out where to get the many said famous laksa of Balik Pulau. Weee!
BUT, it was closing. We went there late.

Walking along, we went to Kassim Mustafa and had dinner.

Moving along, we spotted a cat family!

Mother and six kitties!
That time she was milking the kitties and one of it spotted me taking picture. Heh!

The kitties were full.

Then one of them decided to play with Denn.

Exploring this part of the island makes me feel like I'm at another place that's not penang!
There it was, my happy Sunday!

A little stuff about her

2008-09-12T19:10:00.000-07:00

The latest picture of her at office.

1. Just passed her practical grade 7 piano border line and is moving forward to grade 8 with a new syllabus

2. Her room is very messy although many attempts of cleaning it

3. Always tries to find more time for reading and learning mandarin but never happen

4. Looking forward to hiking and other outdoor activities but she doesn't have much free time

5. Is keeping her hair long, bearing some strands of hair that are stubborn

6. She loves to explore new places in Penang

7. Wants to lose weight for a looooong time

8. Is thinking where to go next after graduation

9. Wishes to accomplish something in life, something meaningful

10. Wants to learn more on how to use DSLR, photoshop, etc.

So, now she wishes to tag Dennis Ruth, Rachel, Wendy, Hugo, Hung Wei, BlurChu, Anna T. and Charles of this simple post.
She said, "Happy doing!" to all of you.

Some words of wisdom..

2008-09-10T06:54:00.001-07:00

Life is not a breeze when you realize that you have to be
independent from your parents.

When things are taken away from you,
you realized how much you had taken advantage of.

When you decided to be lazy one fine day,
it'll drag forever before you know it!

You'll begin to appreciate what you had during your
study life since you enter working life.

You'll begin to find many ways to improve
yourself to be a better person.

You take things step by step, learning
little by little each day that is accumulative to something greater.

Be faithful to the little things so that you'll be
able to be faithful in many things.

Take time to realize that life is too short for you to wait
for golden opportunities to slip from your hands.

You'll begin to appreciate the time off you had.

You'll begin to appreciate having proper meals.

You would prefer to stay home and relax than going out.

Learn to compromise although things
didn't work the way you want it to be.

Everyday you must learn new things,
if not, you'll be stagnant.

Don't be afraid to ask when in doubt.

Don't groan over bad situation as you would
learn things faster and add on to your experience.

Great to see you!

2008-09-09T07:06:00.000-07:00

Chatting with BlurChu in MSN all these while and never seen him in face has ended as I met him at Komtar at a press conference.
Hie again =)
That was in the morning.
Lunch time, bumped into Josh, SP Lim and the rest of the cf gang is definitely a joy. We were trying to catch up but was caught up with time limitation. Oh well.
Company's buffet dinner at cafeteria for it's annual anniversary was a blast!

I don't think there's anything interesting about this post! :P

Life is not a breeze!

2008-09-03T04:32:00.000-07:00

Walle is a cute animation, and it has a lot of things to teach us, especially concerning mother nature.

Lessons:
1. Take care of mother nature - if not end up the earth become an unpleasant place to live in

2. Too high technology will end up backfire - like the auto robot that took control over human beings

3. Too easy life cause laziness, and at the end cause destruction - Those people in the spaceship just eat and sleep and didn't work or exercise or study. In results, they are obese, slow, and uneducated.

4. Don't be too engrossed with work, technology. Step outside of your house and explore - leave your comfort zone and learn new things; appreciate nature. Eg. The captain.

5. Persistence - Walle, Eve tried to keep the one and only single plant alive and away from the controlling robots which want to destroy it.

6. Love - Between Walle and Eve (very cute!)

Want to have a better perspective on what happens in newspaper company? Frontpage, a local TV series tells about what happens in the newsroom of 'The Voice' newspaper, depicting the lives of journalists, editors, and the world around them.
I'm so excited for this! It's one of a kind and it's going to premiere in NTV 7, Sept 7th Sunday at 9.45pm on a weekly basis for the next 13 weeks. >>Source

Working Experience II

2008-09-02T05:22:00.000-07:00

Here I am staring at the blank screen..I had alot of things in my mind to blog about but don't know which one..alright, I'll start about today.

Before going to work, I reluctantly drive myself to MPPP at PISA to pay the fine. I thought it'll cost like RM 10 after discount from RM 15, but it wasn't. After discount was RM 20 instead of RM 30 before discount. I'm like apa ni? My RM20 just disappear in thin air! I'd rather spend this money filling petrol to my car.

Today I don't have particularly any assignments, so I occupy myself by writing last Saturday night's story, two of them. Writing them is totally confusing me cuz doing two things at the same time and also I had to make contacts for both events for further information, calling them like several times that they even know that it's me who's calling them by just addresing me "Yes Abigail?" everytime I ring them.

After much writing and thinking, one of the news can't really be used as it is already old news since it had happened a couple of days ago..but nevermind, I take it as a learning process.

As for some people who might love their weekends, it's a different case for me. I just simply volunteered to work on Saturday night shift as it was a merdeka eve and I thought it'll be interesting to cover those news. However, who would expect that it would turn up to be a the other way?

Drove myself all the way to Tanjung Bungah to attend two functions at two different hotels. I reached at the first hotel quite early (7pm), so I thought maybe I could feed my growling stomach with the nearest hawker centre. The food tak boleh makan and very mahal!

Since the hawker centre I perceived that it's quite near the hotel, I took my chance to walk there as I expect that the car park would be full. With my big, bright orange handbag clinging on my shoulder, I walked as fast as I could and observe my surroundings.

There, I met a nice and friendly reporter from chinese press. There were food provided. But after much speech by the VIP, I move on to my next mission. I'm really grateful to the reporter as she offered to drop me at my car.

Upon reaching (8.30pm)the other hotel which is further up, food if provided. I bite my lips as I already filled my stomach with hot claypot noodle and 100 Plus. The food are quite tempting, which is shark fin soup with crab meat as appetizers. As for main course, chicken, curry fish, mutton, beef and some veggie. Boy, how I regretted I ate so much at the hawker centre. I should have just stuffed myself with some pao or some other light stuff. At the end of the day, I'm just bloated and refused the dessert, which is a platter of tropical fruits.

Then I reach Gurney Drive at 11pm to take a peep on what's going on there on merdeka eve. Nothing much. Just that it's pretty crowded where every gap along the pathway are seated. There are also hand made beads, ice cream, etc sold.
It's really really boring especially when I'm all alone. I'm not actually alone as there's a big crowd there but lonely as there's nobody to talk to. =( Dennis was away at his Kerachut getaway camp and don't have signal at all.
So, I started sms other people. Only a couple of them replied. I'm really glad that my colleague, Winnie kept me company in chatting with me thru sms. She even laughed at me for my voluntary action..cis..She's also pretty good at pranking me. She got me a few times =.=

After 1 and a half hour at Gurney Drive, I decided to go back as there's nothing extraordinary. Just some group of motorcyclists waving flags, honking along Gurney Drive. There were also 4-5 cars which it's top is fully saturated with miniature flags.

Did I mention that I parked super far away from Gurney Drive? I parked beyond Sunrise McD, opposite Wendy's house..so imagine..in a dark, cold night, I was walking all alone..not exactly alone cuz there are other passer-bys, but I always kept an owl eye.

Reached home at 1am and lied down flat on the bed :P

PS: Thanks dad for keep on calling me to check out on me.
Thanks mom for your concern too. Luv you both!

2nd PS: Dennis..I should have followed you to camp at Kerachut..huu huu...So jealous you got to see little turtles at the right timing, with the sunset and stars at night.. :(
If I remembered about your month-end BB Camp, I would keep my saturday and sunday free.. :(

Continued..

Hope you don't get bored after reading so many words until here, but I think only a few will make it until here.

After all the hecticness of working life, glad that Dennis brought me out for a relax ride. Sunday and Monday was my off day, and we utilize it to the max.

Sunday after church we went QB and he treated me Sakae Sushi. Thank you so much! I intro it to him since he never tried it before.
Eat until so bloated. That is why QB is wide enough for a good walk after dinner!
Then, we went to GSC and watched The Mummy 3. I would rate it ok only.

Next day early in the moring was started off with a good hike at Bukit Hijau with Rachel, Dad, and Dennis. After washing up, me and Dennis went to QB again for lunch. This time we head to Old Town as I felt a craving for it. Mainly ordered toasts. In fact, we over-ordered. We ordered peanut butter toast in which the peanut butter was spread in a thick layer, ice polo bun with a large slice of butter (I like it cuz the bun is crispy!), curry chicken with toast(this is superb as the crispy toast blend in very well with the spicy curry), aromatic garlic bread, and ice cream with bread. As for drinks, we had cham (coffee mix with tea) and coffee hazelnut. Then we roam in the mall, hoping that the food will digest better.
Soon, Walle is about to start, and off we go to GSC at 3pm. It does carry an important message although many reviews said the plot wasn't that good. I would rate it as boleh tahan.
Dennis, thank you for all the good food and movie, wishing you Happy 3rd month anniversary!

So, that's it, the end of my two weeks of internship, and now, it's the third week. I don't really hope that time will go slow or fast as each day will set it's own pace accordingly. I just want to learn as much as possible, improve myself, and do my best.

Fun! Fun? Fun......

2008-09-02T03:46:00.000-07:00

Back to work, merdeka holidays are over, now.. upcoming holiday in the countdown! Hari Raya!!

Last saturday night i had to cover 3 news on 3 different location, Tanjung Bungah Hotel, Paradise Hotel, and Gurney Drive, write write write, im going to have writers block soon.. so do i already have it?

Ill leave the pictures to do the talking, ive had enough writing for today.. hehe :p

Hm... where goes my college days.. i miss my college days...

What shall i do during my holiday.. Hm....

I know!! Ill go for a motor ride.. Wee...

I look good eh?

Next up, Scuba Diving!!

Working Experience

2008-08-29T23:23:00.000-07:00

I would say that I learn more or less, in my gathering news technique and writing skills. Learned a lot from the editors and seniors. But there are more to come. Throughout, I met a lot of people, spoke to them. It has taught me bravery, quick thinking, act quick, and use my advantage to an extent.

There are articles that I covered were published in the daily paper and online. I wouldn't say that I had reached, but I would say that I'm still in the process of learning. Indeed, writing news is not as easy as I think. One must write and rewrite and rephrase a sentence to make it sound sensible and easy to absorb (short, concise, straight to the point).

**********

As of today, the article I wrote came out:

Saturday August 30, 2008 - The Star

Convent Light Street head calls it a day

CONVENT Light Street principal Amy Tan plans to catch up with some reading, cooking and baking following her retirement yesterday.

The dedicated educator was given a rousing farewell amid cheers and appreciative goodbyes from scores of students.

Fond farewell:Students shaking hands with Tan at the school.

Tan was promoted to the post of principal in 2001 after having taught Commerce and English from 1992.

“After this, I’m going to read, cook, bake and take up Mandarin,” she said in Penang.

“I wish to invest in meaningful things while I’m still mentally and physically able and do something challenging to keep my adrenaline active.

“I also wish to spend more time with my husband and family.”

In her farewell speech, she advised her students to have the right attitude and discipline in order to succeed.

Apart from thank you speeches, Tan was presented with gifts such as a card and students’ messages compiled in a book. The students and school staff also surprised her with a birthday cake and song.

The choir group also presented her with a song and cha-cha dance.

They later bade her farewell as she made her way down the school corridors for the last time accompanied by husband Tan Phaik Guan and two daughters before riding off in a shiny dark blue car.

**********

Yay for me, this is my first by line:

Saturday August 30, 2008

Students spice it up for N-Day

By ABIGAIL TAN

GEORGE TOWN: Students of a private college here have come up with a “spicy” Jalur Gemilang – believed to be first of its kind in the country – to show their patriotism.

They took one week to make the 4.2m by 9.1m flag using dried chilli, white sago and yellow lentils (dhal) glued on white cloth.

The chilli and sago were used for the stripes, the lentils for the crescent and star. Sago, which was sprayed blue, was used as the background.

They used 17kg of chilli, 250kg of sago and 20kg of lentils costing RM800 to design the flag.

Unique mix: Segi students putting the finishing touches to their Jalur Gemilang in George Town yesterday. It took them one week to make the flag.

Segi College Penang Business Executive Club committee member Ch’ng Hoe Soon, who headed the project, said the 26 club members spent sleepless nights to complete the project.

“The aroma of the ground chilli caused us discomfort and we even wore masks,” he said.

Principal Jeffrey Goh launched the flag at the college lobby in Jalan Greenhall yesterday.

“Just like there are different spices, Malaysia has different races and cultures. But we are all Malaysians and proud of it,” he said.

Lecturer and club advisor D. Parimala Devi said she got the idea for the “spicy” flag from the different spices used in nasi kandar restaurants.

Online link - The Star

*************

I must say that driving around this area (jetty, dewan sri, and green hall, jln. masjid kapitan and pitt street) had help me to understand these road in the hard way. Going to these destinations caused a lot of trials and errors like driving round and round the place over and over again and also a love letter from the council :P

One thing that is concern is the high petrol consumption, especially I have to make trips up and down town, almost everyday. There's one day I was assigned with two assignments that I had to complete. In the morning, I had to drive all the way to Penang Chinese Town (PCT) hall, and then in the afternoon to Balik Pulau area. The driving is killing me. In addition, my car air-cond is not working properly, so it's very stuffy inside with the air-cond cooler going downhill with only hot fan. At times I had to wind down the window, but that only invite unpleasant air inside the car. Let me tell you more.

After coming back from PCT in the morning, I came back to office to write about it. Then, I depart an hour earlier from office to get to Balik Pulau schools. I reach there super early, which is 50 minutes before the event. Supposedly to start at 2.30pm. Now I'm there and there's not many people yet. Slowly it picked up and I interviewed some teachers and students for details. Almost at the end of the ceromony, it rained heavily. As the rain subsided, I went into my car, and my front and back window was fogged with water vapor. That's because when I arrived there, it was so sunshiny hot, what more with my non-working air-cond. And now, with the sudden rain, it had created water vapor. Immediately I wiped the front and climbed to the back to wipe it as well. Then off I go. But the fogging picked up again since my air-cond is HOT-cond. Glad that my car got a heater for the back window, but not for the front. I had to constantly wipe it with my hand while driving, cruising along the windy and slippery road with a bad vision :( It's not fun at all! But I thank God that I safely arrived office.

This is just my second week coming to a close, another 2 months and 2 weeks to go. Oh ya, being a journalist, the schedule is uncertain. You won't know your assignment in advance. It's a day before notice. Besides, you even have to work during your weekends and get off on weekday. Oh..working life! With this, it makes me think of my college days where I had ample of free time, play time, and freedom..only no $$ :P

Ok, gtg..working night shift today..CYA and HAPPY MERDEKA!

P/S: I miss my hiking days.. :(

Lazyness of Busyness?

2008-08-22T17:46:00.000-07:00

Oh well, here comes the same old story. Yes, I had not been blogging for some time here, it could be i'm lazy or busy. Sometimes I'm just lost for words and sometimes there's too many things that I wanna do or blog that I ended up not doing anything. Sigh. So here I am, rambling about it. Do you know that kinda feeling? Like you become like blur or dreamy for some moment. This is gonna be a short post, so here it is, that's all I gotta say for now..too many stuff in my head..argh!

Lost Abigail

Fire!!

2008-08-13T21:44:00.000-07:00

2nd time this had happened at my apartment.

FIRE!

Well, not that my house is on fire, but the apartment's trash that is located near the stairs.
I was in my living room when suddenly I smelt some haze. So, I supposed it was the haze that came by Penang few days ago, so I don't bother.

Few moments later, the smell became intense. My mom and uncle realized it and went out to check. Smoke were flying up freely from the trash room, beginning from 8th floor. My other neighbours also came out from their house and checked. I even saw the very smoke seeped into my room through the living room.

My mom called the management, and the management called the Bomba. That was like 10 sth in the morning. My mom suspected the cause of the fire is a cigarrette since she saw a man smoking at the staircase. But we don't really know for sure.

Eventually, the smell lessen but it did not subside. The old stench smell of the smoke still lingers around in my house.

12pm. Time to fetch my brother to school. I opt for the stairs since the lifts are working like tortise. As I reached the ground floor, I saw firemen in orange and black stripes walking down the stairs. As I walk towards them to go to my car, I saw their dinasour. Their majestic truck with thick wires of hos to channel water. I saw one unplugging the rubber hos from the yellow water hidrant and some rolling up the water hos. The whole place was wet. They had finished their job and was packing up. I witnessed this at that very moment, but, unfortunately, I didn't bring down my camera! Aiks! If not, this post will be illustrated, and indeed, a picture worth a thousand words. Oh well, what a wordy post this is, I must say.

First Time To Lighthouse YEAH!!

2008-08-11T01:18:00.000-07:00

Destination: Go further than Monkey Beach, that is, the Muka Head and up to the Lighthouse!
Date: 9th August 2008
Day: A lovely, fine weather of a Saturday
Time: 9.30am
(supposedly to reach here by 8am but some bugger turn up L8 -__-)

STONED

Is this how you feel like when you're going to hike to one of Penang's greatest hike?

No.

Actually I was just testing my camera to get the right light exposure :P

This picture has became a MUST every time I hike here.

And HERE WE GO! Into the gate, pass the guard, and march right on.

We walk, and hike, and climb, until we reached USM research station beside the beach.

It became a spot for us to catch our breath.

*inhale~exhale~inhale~exhale*

Remember the bird's grave in my last hike? After four days, it had become like this.
Must be the wind that blows off those leaves :S

Some creatures' footprint. Must be the sea turtles that they let loose during the night.

Two Kawaai Girls

And now, here's the action pack! :

Once upon a time..
Action 1
Den call Nick to join him on the bridge to amaze the girls by performing some stuns.

Action 2
Here they are on the bridge, discussing their strategies

Action 3
The obstacle is to jump over the small river so that they might not get wet. Discussion still on..this is not gonna be easy...

Action 4
"Are you ready Nick?" said Den.
"I hope so!" replied Nick.

Action 5
How do I explain this act? It could be that Den is:

i) I'm so scared..I might lose my balance and fell into the little river..and poor little fishy have to bear my weight.
ii) I'm saying my prayer so that I will be able to jump over the little river with definite success.

Action 6
"Ready, set..."

Action 7
"Just do it!"

Narrator: And they did it successfully

THE END
@__@

and it continues..the camwhore queens and kings..

It is believed that this footsteps belongs to crabs..amazingly, this time I don't see much crab like I saw four days ago..

Comparison: black & white, plump & skinny, fair & dark

I'm walking on seaside..Wooooooo~

What are you looking at, peeps?

I love this pic!
It's at the right spot, right scenery, right lighting, and right angle!

Olympic training

Says it all..

It's time to get serious..

Candid and natural

Journey continued..

Over the tree

Nick's dried tail..

Showing off their strong, muscular legs..at least they think so themselves :P

After much of ups and downs, jumping down, robes, rocks, leaves, trees, bridge, and staircase, we finally reached Monkey Beach / Muka Head.

When we first reach at the beach after a series of hiking trails, all are rejoicing, greeting the salty water, boats, sunshiny day, and fine sand.

We first sat at the nearest table and chair but was asked to move somewhere by some local there because he wanted to reserve the seats to foreigners. Bummer.

So we walked and walked under the scorching sunlight, and we find that there are more people there rather than from the start. Then we finally found a perfect spot, free from the crowds, free from the sunlight.

I especially brought some marshmellow, Super rings, and Mister Potato..

As a results...

Marshmallow halfway into the mouth!
(how does this look like to you? I don't see any resemblance..hehe..does he looked like a robot from his mouth?)

Rachel's blue marshmallow flower in between her lips..muaks!

My artificial marshmallow teeth..grr...

***
Could Nick and Den enter the Man's Hunt?
Whose stare is the deadliest?
***

We left our comfort zone and pursued our ambition

Along the way,
Den spotted something among the sand..a horseshoe crab perhaps?
Took a video of it but too lazy to post it up :P

As we were walking, we could smell delicious aromas of grilled fish and it's kinds..
Makes me drawn to it..
I supposed that these locals who are doing this business earn alot from the foreigners for this.

Though we can't eat it, we can camwhore in front of these little huts..hehe..self-comforting..

This is a nice picture, isn't it?
An anchored boat

Then we passed a man-made cave-house with fresh, green baby trees

It's architect? A child.
The blue plastic bag is the swimming pool
The cave is at the bottom decorated with tiny shells

And then, I found an interesting idea..

..Manipulation of our shadows

***
Some of the hikers with their heads covered:

Contestant 1: Rachel Tan

Contestant 2: Den Lee
***

We passed two bangalows..the first one looked haunted, dark, and abandoned, and the second one is resided.

and we saw this post:

Pak Atan.
According to Den, Pak Atan was the one who gave him some tour guide when he came here five times before with his youth group

Past this post, is where all the hard work needed. We are at the climax of our destination.
To the lighthouse!
We have to climb up all the way by staircase for 30-45 minutes, based on our speed and how often we stop for rest.

The starting point of the staircase

Hiking before Monkey Beach is not that tiring, but this one drains every bit of our energy. Lactic asid rushed in our muscles so freely that we had to stop quite often to restore our body.
It was the most tiring hike from the whole journey.

So, we stopped by a hut

Rachel & Tung is very HOT

The trying to act cool Nick
But I tell you, it's good to go hiking with Nick cause he will be your inspiration, as when he hike, he's like as light as a feather, walking far ahead of you..really an inspiration to move on faster.

Den can't take it anymore! sweat sweat sweat!!

Wiping off my sweat

Then we continued. This is how the staircase look like:

We climbed for about an hour just to find out that the lighthouse is CLOSED!
Grrr...

But I popped in my camera through the fences and took a picture of the great lighthouse:

Can see but cannot go up :(

That time it was 1pm.

Dissapointed, exhausted, tired, and fatigue, we dragged ourselves downstairs.

BUT..
Always beware of strangers..

Be aware of the 'ham sap lou'

***

Then we came down and reach back to the beach. We decided to take boat back since it's already 2pm and we're all very very tired.

Fortunately, we managed to get Pak Atan's boat. He had been on business for 16 years already, and his customers who came back has evolved in life, which is, from single life to marriage, and have children and they are still the loyal customers of Pak Atan!

But seriously, he's a very friendly person and doesn't charge extra. He charge RM 40 per boat for per trip. What more, he just changed his old boat to a new one. This one is really fast.

As it journeys, we can feel strong wind hitting on our faces.
This is what happened to Rachel's hair!

The so called 'Makan angin'

A picture with Pak Atan
I would highly recommend to you to take his boat. It's only RM 8 per person compared to my last trip was RM 10. The previous one wasn't a very friendly person, quite stuck up.

We reached to our car in no time. Some of us was jumping and shouting "hot hot!" as tar road was very hot for our bare foots (took off our shoes to board the boat) to the toilet to wash our legs.

Next, is makan time!
First thing comes to everyone's mind is to have an icy cool ice kacang that melts in the mouth.

Then we remembered that Tung's mom sells ice kacang, so we went there.
This coffee shop is famous for ice kacang and home made durian ice cream.
The shop is very near Komtar.

Ice kacang with jelly and ice cream

Other food sold:

Jawa Mee

Koay Teow Th'ng

Char Koay Teow (this is good!)

Poh piah
This is made by Tung's granny

Pai Tee
Also by Tung's granny

Loh Bak

We ate all we could to our limit. Indeed, the food is more than enough but it was finished anyway.

The home made durian ice cream. Nice!

Den ordered Char Koay Teow, and as you know, it is filled with prawns, lap cheong, and ham, and these are Den's enemies! He just don't eat them!

"No seafood messes around with me!!"

Everyone went home with a satisfied heart.

What I enjoy most from this trip is the camwhoring session, and also the sight seeing.

Next up, Kerachut again this Sunday!!

2008-08-06T23:11:00.000-07:00

I was browsing the net and found this website:

The Muka Head Adventure

I like the way the article is composed. Precise, detailed, and interesting. Recommended by Liagiba to read on.

Yeah babe! One more week!

2008-08-06T21:23:00.000-07:00

Another 7 days I shall embark on a new journey on the next phase of my life - internship
The company I chose to work with is at The Star Bayan Lepas, which is so near my house =)
Soon, I shall be very busy (I foresee it), but I'll still update my blog for your reading pleasure yea..
Till then, most probably in my future posts, it'll be a different kinda thing.

*********************

Well, just the other day I met Uncle Adrian and his wife, Auntie Gina who was my previous CG leader. It has been like 3-4 years since I saw them. I was so happy to see them again.

At last...Monkey Beach (supposed to reach Muka Head =.= )

2008-08-05T22:58:00.000-07:00

Kxin & Elaine

They are cousins. I don't even know till we(ruth, me, lett, Elaine) met up with Kxin and Wendy at the starting point of the hike.

This is one of the happiest day of mine when I can finally set my foot on Tanjung Bungah's hiking trail. Just last Saturday, I and a big group managed to hike to Kerachut, and guess what, it's part of my new year resolution to hiked these tracks! So, I can proudly say that I hike most of the hills in Penang! YAY!

Under the bridge that leads to a port

Ruth: "Touch her sexy leg!!"

Elaine: WAAAAAH!!!!
Letticia: She's ridiculous...swt..

Now here's my favorite part
*put on some Tamil music pleaseeee~*

*ENDS*

....giggles..

Boy, there's a lot of CRAPS there, like the picture below:

This is quite a big crab. It lost it's right clipper after clipping on Wendy's finger..ngek ngek ngek...

We saw a black sparrow flapping it's wings near the shore, gasping for air. Immediately Elaine took of her shoes and socks, and went to the rescue!

Poor little birdie.

After a few seconds, it breathed its last. :(

R.I.P.

So, we continued our journey. The trail is quite adventerous cuz you have to cross with robes, jump in between rocks, etc. I prefer this trail than the Kerachut trail. =)

And finally, we reached a beach. But where's the lighthouse? Bah. We don't even bother to look for it. All were exhausted. We decided to take the boat back.

Wallaaa! Group pix!