Cakes

For a while now I'm struggling because of the multiple issues which occurred at the same time. Thank God for a very supportive group of friends, I'm pretty much supported. Plus additional help from the college and the counselling services, I guess I'm hanging in alright. Not great or the best, but I'm having the right support to get me through this.

I baked a bit these days, thinking it'd be great to share with my friends. I know not everyone will like my cakes but so far nobody complained that my cakes tasted horrible. Nobody but one. As much as I know what he said isn't the truth about me, I still felt horrible and disgusted to hear that this individual (who had caused me a lot of distress and troubles these days) had once said it openly to someone that my cakes tasted horrible and he wished that a previous PhD student was still around because she baked great cakes. This very same individual actually told me he enjoyed my cake when I offered him. Now that I finally know what he had been saying behind my back to others, without checking whether the person he backstabbed me to is my friend or my foe, he's officially banned from all the cakes and food I make in future. Unfortunately, he actually commented on my cake to the one who started dating me and thought my cakes are great.

God knows all that are kept in the dark and He will reveal it in due course. I believe He has my back. This issue is not my battle alone. I've God on my side all the days of my life. My God will deliver His people and save me from injustices. This, I believe.

I'm missing everything about Kota Kinabalu now... from the food to the people to the availability of Starbucks coffee and Coffee Bean anytime I want. Last night I made dumplings for dinner to satisfy my desire of eating "wo tie", the fried dumpling. Though it's not the Lotus Restaurant standard, but I sorta gotten by with the self-made dumplings. Didn't taste so great when it's fried, but it tasted all right when it's boiled. A success, definitely.

Here's the picture from a crappy phone camera...

I know it looked pretty good right? Haha. I offered some to my Spanish coursemate later and I think he's still alive after consuming them. So, my experiment didn't kill anyone :)

Europe Countdown: Day 53

Wow. Another day had passed. I started the day by eating two delicious-looking half-boiled eggs with toasted wholemeal bread, and cocoa drink. The eggs were prepared by Jennifer (thanks, Jen!). After breakfast, she sent me to Kelana Jaya LRT station, and from there I took LRT to Ampang Point. It was rather amusing that I finally know that my GPS in the phone actually works perfectly when I used it when I came out from Ampang Point LRT station. I walked for about 5 minutes to reach the Embassy of Spain. Rather interesting because this is the 2nd time I went to an embassy (my first time was the Embassy of Malaysia in Seoul). It took me about 15-20 minutes in the embassy to fill in some forms, and I was so relieved (thank God!!!) when Mr. Julian said that it takes about two weeks to get the visa. However, my cert of good conduct and also cert of good health are pending. And also the cert by Ministry of Higher Education too.

After that, my friend, Kiwi picked me up from Kelana Jaya LRT station and went for lunch in this Indian restaurant. Haha. I had a plate of Briyani Bukhara Mutton! Yummy, yummy!!! The best Indian food still has to be sought in West Malaysia... I'm still missing ABC on my list. Had a good laugh in the afternoon when Kiwi brought me along to meet his workmate-friends for a drink. The thought of Bollywood-style pre-wedding videography caused me to erupt into a bout of unstoppable laughs. And it's kinda weird to know that my friend of 8,9 years never heard me laugh out loud like this when we spent time together back then when I used to travel to KL and "passed by their house for a visit". I guess we must have forgotten much of our past, or I change quite a bit within our seven years of not keeping frequent contact.

Oh yeah, I had dinner with my senior Rose and her friend in the Gardens, and I bought a nice 15 European languages phrase book. Essential ones, of course, published by LonelyPlanet. I also purchased Periplus Spanish phrase book. Really felt blessed by so many people these few days. Thank you, dear Lord Jesus!!

I'm pretty tired now. Time to sleep.

Today's bible verse for reflection:

"In your prayers do not babble as the gentiles do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard. Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask him." (Matthew 6:7-8)

Just Another 30 Days to 2011

It's been a LONG time again since my last post, and thousands of apologies to those who look forward to reading my rambles. Life's been UP and DOWN, as usual, though not as "dramatized" as it used to be. Thank God!

I have some plans for next year, but it is not the right time to disclose what exact plans are they, but it is definitely a step, or maybe steps, forward. I really hope my plans are according to His great plan for me. Now I'm taking things step-by-step, hoping that all will fall into the right places at the right time.

It is the 2nd week of my school holidays, as a teacher, but I'm still craving for a time of rest. It had been a whirlwind even before the school year ended two weeks ago. There were school graduation night, meetings for Protem Committee of Learning Center, minutes of meetings, various odds and ends to tie up before the school year ends (and I still have stuffs to do tomorrow at school!!!), planning for Youth Alpha "crash" sessions (to fit the schedule, due to bad planning!! :( my bad!), executing my steps to the life-changing plan in 2011, etc. In between I had movie outings, dinner outings... Umm... The whole October, I was outstation practically every weekend (I realized that I love my lazy weekends!!) for spiritual retreats. Come to think of it now, I wouldn't be able to go through all these without Him supporting me all the way. My God is awesome!

I've been missing daily masses (apologetically...) and I wish I can spend more time with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, at least when I attend daily mass. With the holiday season, and all the activities, it is definitely a challenge for me to drive to church for mass every evening. I have to make my list of priorities!!!

Well, food and movies have been a constant companion to me, as usual, and I have a new group of friends to eat with. Thank God for the companionship He provides me with. Sometimes I do miss hanging out alone. Crazy, but true. I guess I'm heading towards singlehood with a better perspective these days. Thank and praise God!! And yeah, I'm still learning to balance between quality time spent alone and quality time spent with friends... I am still swinging from one extreme to the other, like a pendulum. Haha.

One good thing that is going to happen is a paid vacation to Northern Vietnam with my mom this coming mid-December. I heard about the winter (without snow!), and the need for warm clothings. I had been hardworking in researching the weather and all... Hopefully the trip will be fun, fun and more fun!!

I'm excited to let the whole world know that the Youth Alpha in BM that we are running in Youth Prep Centre Alamesra just passed the Holy Spirit sessions (a benchmark that we are finishing this first round) today. It went on great. Though there are only 7 youth joining the YA in BM sessions this school holiday, we're very happy for them that they received the Holy Spirit during prayer ministry. Praise God for His good works. We do hope to run more rounds of YA in BM in YPC Alamesra in future to come!

Photos will follow after my trip when I have time to edit them. Oh yeah, I got myself a Casio Exilim Z90 recently. Pretty decent compact digital camera!

Time for a clay mask and beauty sleep.

May the love of Christ be with you always. Amen.

THANK YOUs

Thank you to all who remembered my birthday and sent me wishes via text messages and also Facebook. My birthday was a great one, though not a blast in the sense of the world. I was away for a spiritual retreat deep in the mountains with some teachers from our sister school of the complex and it was a wonderful experience to know them and to love them all (Fenny, Clare, Bian and Boo). The ladies are considered my new friends, while the men have been my friends since 2006. The bonding was awesome. Though there was no mobile reception there in the retreat center, it was totally alright for me.

The best experience was the individual blessing by the priest with the Blessed Sacrament. The moment Jesus was nearing to where I was sitting in the chapel, I was in awe of Him, totally. I wonder with amazement how could Jesus, the Son of God, came down on earth, and now, right in front of me, wanting to know me, love me, be with me, forever. The highlight was when the priest blessed me with the Blessed Sacrament, I was filled with bliss of being at the feet of my beloved Christ. That is "the moment".

I got home about 4 something in the afternoon, played with my neighbour's Snowy and Browny (the pups) and then dropped down to sleep until choir practice. After practice, I had a simple dinner at Upperstar while waiting for John, my friend, to meet me up. Yesh... the nearest to birthday cake was Coffee Bean's cheese cakes. LOL.

After All Saints' Day mass yesterday evening, we went to Sailors' Cafe in Grand Millenium. It was awesome, the food was great and the company was even better...

Jason and Jeremy had a number of dishes, ranging from soup of the day to meatballs of the size of a golf ball, salad, chicken wings. Fabian had NZ lamb shoulder while Tity had creamy pasta. I had fish and chips. The deco was lovely too; I like the black wall with chalk writings and photos from the places the owner visited in the past. Here are some photos taken there...

Jason's soup of the day

Bian's NZ lamb shoulder

My fish and chips

Tity's creamy spaghetti

Meatballs

Brand New Look

Alright, finally after few hours of critical illness on my blog template, here's the latest new look for my blog. Lovely, colourful, sunshine and rainbow... Now I feel much better. Phew!

When I get well from my silly cough, the first thing to do is to treat myself with some real good cheese cake and a cuppa mocha... Maybe not mocha... Ice-blended black forest with lots of whipped cream and chocolate chips from Coffee Bean will be nice! Or even a good meal of junks (BK/McD/KFC) will be great. Hehe! I have enough of wholemeal bread with tuna mayonaise or sardine fried with onions with rice! Sigh!!! Ahh... I'm even thinking of Korean food in Bintulu Restaurant or Grace Court in Sembulan... My goodness! I'm actually craving for spicy food! No wonder.

Looks good eh? Yummy too...

It's a girl thing, really!

To all the girls, have you ever had a day whereby you have the urge to just shop till you drop dead? If you do, continue reading...

To all the guys, have you ever wondered why girls need so many pairs of shoes, not that they would wear them all the time? If you do, continue reading too...

To all the girls, have you ever wondered what's the beauty in heels or shoes that causes you to be thinking that splurging is a must like how eating is to all mankind? If you do, continue reading...

To all the guys, have you ever wondered why all girls love heels that made their toes so miserably painful that they whined but they will never let go of the pair that burns your pocket? If you do, continue reading please...

Well, the story is this... Shoes are simply irresistible for girls!!! It is like how a guy must wear necktie to work. We have different names for the pair of "things" that cover the feet... To name a few... We have sandals, heels, pumps, flats, wedges, platforms... Blah blah blah... I used to wonder the same things... Why do girls need so many pairs of shoes??? It is just SHOES... But NOW, it is NOT just shoes... They are simply irresistible.

I think I started purchasing heels and wearing them when I started working as a marketeer... It made a difference on my feet... I'm not short, but wearing them, I feel more confident. They made me even taller, obviously, but I think I look nice when I wear heels and skirt and put on makeup. Haha! All girls look lovelier with all these elements!! LOL! So guys, we girls don't mind you check us out when we're wearing a pair of decent heels, because it is a lovely creation.

What else I want to say about it? I notice that wedges are more comfortable than stiletto heels, though stiletto heels make the legs sexier than usual. In fact, I love both, and especially those with ankle straps!!! There's something about the straps that kept me mesmerized always! However, this time I bought myself a pair of open toe pumps and a pair of wedges from Rachael G, a Singapore-based company, in 1Borneo, KK.

Here are some photos of the two pairs...

I love the design of the box, the colour and the material~

This is the first pair which I was attracted to... I love the design, simple and comfy... This is the nearest I can get to close toe pumps... I like the fact that it comes in three different colour... White, "camel" and black. The white one was gorgeous, camel was normal, black is serious. I love the white one, but I just got myself a pair of white wedges right before CNY, so I've decided to be "serious" this time... LOL! I can wear it with jeans or with office wear. It was a 70% discount deal. Worth the money~ Less than MYR40!

This is another gorgeous pair which I bought... I love the fact that this is my first pair of open toe black 3-inch wedges. In fact, it was the design of the "wedge" itself that caused me to purchase it. And also the tiny golden prints on black. It made the whole pair of heels more adorable... But the heels can't match anything that I have so far...

Here's the 3-inch-high heels of the wedges... The design is a mixture of gold, brown, blue tones. It's lovely to be worn with dresses and also jeans I think. I might try with skirts but I think dresses will look better. Especially simple black dresses~ Hehehe! This pair is also a bargain... 70% discount!!!

So when did I start to become a fashion chic? No idea... It's probably in the nature of all females to love fashion... I'm just excited over the heels I bought, so I'd like to share their beauty with you all! Well, after burning my own pocket, time to save!!! Thank God for the food from CNY lunch in school so I no need to worry about breakfast and lunch these two days I think. Oh!! There's still papaya left in the fridge, and pineapple! I want to cook pineapple chicken tomorrow~ Anybody interested to be my guinea pig? Hehe!

Till then... God bless!

New Year's Eve in Jude/Samson Malinggang's House

Dot, Karen and myself went over to Jude/Sam's house after mass in St. Simon... I'll post a separate entry on the Feast of Mary, Mother of God and my reflection... Here are some snippets of what happened...

Jude was BBQ-ing chicken wings and hotdogs for us in front of his house

I think Dot was fairly warmed by the red wine offered by Sam's daddy

Brown, the runaway dog residing in Sam/Jude's house... Apparently his name was "lai fu" (来福) and he used to stay in Christina Liew's house... LOL! He looked tiny in the photo, but actually he's not that small after all~~ LOL! Oh yeah, something special about him, he never allows anyone to touch him...

Another dog, unknown of her origins. She's just there to join the party I think... LOL!

This was how Karen and I looked like after a cup of wine... Hehe! Muka mabuk but actually tak mabuk... :P My "kidz" is growing up... Haha!!! Now can drink already~~~

Jude and me... Just for fun~~ Hehe!

Malcolm, lighting the mercun (firework) inside the plastic bottle...

Nahh... Caught in action ~ Bian n Simon with the bunch of fireworks...

Malcolm, success was written on his face~~~ LOL!

Another shot of Karen and me...

Dot n me... Haha! I do look a bit red here... LOL! Dot, how many cups of red wine alrdy?? Lol!

The foggy group photo...
(Front left: Jude, Marianna, Harold; Behind left: Sam, Lilian, Karen, me, Dot, Simon, Malcolm, Bian)

Clearer pic...
(Front left: Jude, Marianna, Harold; Behind left: Bian, Karen, my, Malcolm, Dot, Simon)

Pretty self explanatory yeah? It was fun all right... Hehe! I really enjoyed the night with you guys... The companionship was great, the food was delicious, the drink was nice, the music was entertaining~ Thanks for the invitation~ Thanks, Dot, for asking me along... Heheheh!!! :)

Christmas 2008

I bet you guys had seen the photos on Christmas Eve... Now it's all about what happened after that night... LOL!

This year was an unexpected Christmas Day, despite the fact I couldn't really remember what happened after Christmas mass last year, including where I was or who I was with. It's a short-term memory loss I guess. Perhaps that memory was somewhat important to me, enough to hurt me because of its importance. So I guess until the time comes for me to remember what happened during Christmas 2007, let me focus on Christmas 2008...

So what did I do? Nothing much, in fact... I served with others in choir for Christmas morning mass, attended "The Father's Love Letter" by SIB Skyline in Sutera Harbour, was at home to watch a few episodes of "1L of Tears", went out with Felix, Yvonne Teo + sister, Valerie and Brenda to Archbishop John Lee's residence, visited Chris' family's open house in Lok Kawi, went over for dinner at Gloria's house, came home and continued watching the jap drama. Looking back... Quite a lot also eh???!

The next day was 26th December... Slept in late because watch drama until quite "early" in the morning... Then went over to Joanne's house to have lunch (thanks, Joanne, for the lunch!!!) and after that went to Giant in City Mall with Joanne and Jonathan to purchase stuffs for our CG retreat. I'll blog about CG retreat after this... Hopefully! After sending all the food stuffs to Denis' house, I went to collect my "wo tie" (fried dumpling) at Lotus and headed to Joanna's house in Tanjung Aru for our Christmas Choir's Christmas Party. Lots of lovely, delicious, colourful food, and the gifts exchange, not forgetting the video watching. It was fun, laughed a lot, crapped fairly. Hehe!

Now for the pictorial description... All the way from Christmas Day to 26th Dec... Hehe!!!

After Christmas mass with my anakku sayang, Cheryl, Joanna, Koko Adrian and Joshua

Another take with them...

The Wongs and future Mrs. Wong (Gloria) :P

With my students in Magellan... From left: Shaun, Dominic, Gee, Andrew

Another photo with them... Geezzz... I do miss my students at one point...

With Aunty Cynthia (Denis' Mom) near Archbishop's Residence

The statue of Mary in front of the house

Gloria and Fred with the piglet's head... Taking photo was Adik (Gloria's brother)

And Fred says, "This is yummy!!"

On 26th, taking photos as people started coming in...

Joanna and Dot giving pressie to Joshua

Hanging around before food...

Yes! Finally after grace... Yay!!!

Singing carols for Joanna's family

Another take...

And another take... all these taken by Timmy, my future Bio student (I hope...)

Adriance, the Tenor

Conchiz, Mag n Tity

Singing Birthday song for Tity (Her birthday was on 27th~ Happy Birthday!!!)

My anakku sayang and me... after Christmas exchange...

The new addition to my bear family - Pinky Wawa and Koko Adrian... Umm... Koko!!! How can you feed Pinky with liquor??!~~ >:P

Ahh... Finally, my bear and I... Pink and pink!!

The gift is from Goloria Chiew baobao... Hehehe!! Jan marah, ya, golo~

My gift went to Cecilia~~ LOL! So ngam dis!!

The Altos after watching the choir video... Muka mengantuk dis~~

Rachel and myself at Joanna's christmas tree

Alright... that's the end of the entry!! Hope you had fun knowing my days!! Hehehehehe!!! God bless all, Merry Christmas!!!