coming into november 07....

what made it saddening?
swee heh, my colleague is leaving. sighh... my team mate, my buddy, my friend, my guide. i learned a lot from him. not just foul language lah. can say that it was east meets west. (i'm the west lah). our team work was great. respecting each other. he knows that i'm not that savvy in the working world. he lives nearby and so it was taking the LRT daily. breakfast daily. talking nonsense often. serious stuff often. sharing knowledge, sharing lives. transport. meeting his wife.
why lah he had to go? job movement, of course. still keeping in touch now. our dept was close enough that we are still meeting up.

really blessed to have such an environment where we're not backstabbing. even if there is, aiyah.. just close eyes and ears and just live your own life lah....

work was getting draggy. CFA classes going. tuesday and thursday nights. very very tiring. focusing mentally was becoming a challenge. i can count football or any physical activities out. it wasn't that tough, but it was very draining and i had to fight each day, not to look depresssed or even feel depressed at work. i know my performance suffered some bits.

i finally started going for small group. Ronald's place has it on friday and the group comprises peers of young working adults. so, Danny, i know it took me a year, but i tried. and now i fulfil the promise to get a small group as fast as possible. why it took so long? that's another story that will come.

weddings were coming up. practises and rehearsals. my life would be a mess if it wasn't for the schedule that i have. this was where my killer 3 week of travels start.

on the last week of november i had a bank treasure hunt. from KL to Malacca. it was real fun. my department sent 4 teams of 4 each. i was one of the drivers. and i tell you it was stressful. after the whole event, i was having headache nonstop. i couldn't even eat properly and felt like vomitting my dinner. a late night walkabout at Jonker Street and a Satay Celup probably made it worse, but it was the 100 Plus that cured it. 2 cans of it. rehydrated my brain and body. thank you, Swee Heh.

my father came back for about 2 weeks. spent half of it in Penang where they were having the TRAC annual conference(national english speaking Methodist churches). i came back from the treasure hunt and spent a few good days with him. unfortunately i had to leave for Brunei on the 30th of Nov. for Gillian's and Delwin's wedding. to be continued in december07's edition.

as of october 07...

alright... as i look at the 4th Oct, china? oh yeahhh... i did go to china. beijing. visited my parents. which also reminds me of the week before where the travel agent forgot to tell me about the passport needing to be more than 6 months before expiry. but i was fortunate that i had enough time for applying a new passport (very very fast now) and also getting the China visa quickly enough.

spent a good 10 days in china. yups... it was long leave. a long DESERVED leave. it was nice to see how my parents were doing in China. and the church they were attending.
Beijing food is very very oily. the air is very very dusty. i think its due to a lot of construction for the Olympics.
how did i survive in beijing without knowing manderin?
just know how to say 'wo bu dong' and 'wo bu hui jiang hua yi' can loh... haha..

the Great Wall is really a Great Wall. my fit legs (or so i thought it was) was not fit enough. Forbidden City, seriously cool. Chinese love big stuff. and in those old days, the grander, the better. a bit pitiful that during the Cultural Revolution, so much was destroyed.

on the way home, the airplane showed 'Hero' and 'Curse of the Golden Flower'. how cool is that! we were fresh from the real thing and now seeing the wars and all that. i had my sister take a video of me running from one end of the courtyard to the other. hahaha....

the week after i'm on leave again. this time for sunday school teachers retreat. its hard for me to commit to being a full-fledge teacher because of having many things to do. honestly, music ministry is preferred. but then again, music isn't everything. lives are more important, right?
so i strike a balance loh...

classes for CFA started. seriously tiring. i'm half dead in office the next day.

from september 07...

ok.. seeing that i stopped at august after the musical, there's lots... so a lot that's been happening. (i am looking through my schedule)

august 31st - sept 2nd was the Methodist Church National Prayer Day. learned much about prayer that time, though i can't remember much now. but i remember the discipline and vigilance and also what it is to be constantly praying.

my department wants to do some charity work so a committee was set up and i was chosen to be in it. so lots of research done on the homes. were looking for the really neglected ones. and after narrowing down, we went site visiting. i was driving. and we went to PJ, klang, subang, it was pretty weird place. some were considered lavish and some places, really has nothing.

seriously, its heart breaking and you kind of wish you have a million bucks to put into unit trusts or something and the yearly gains be a constant stream of income to give to the home.

i had my department trip in Genting. it was really fun. team building. getting to know each other better. it was really a vacation for me cause i was doing nothing. cold air was really nice. weather was very familiar.

registered for CFA (and the classes later on).

wedding rehearsals too. yvonne's cell group couple was getting married and needed a pianist. canon in D (as usual... oops!) and wedding march. some worship songs too. and of course, the eventual wedding day and dinner.

my youth's sunday (MYF sunday) was also coming up... so the few rehearsals that we have weren't too draining. simple, teamwork and meaningful.

i remember replying to Janice's email really late. her mother went to my church and saw the musical. of course she doesn't know which brother i was. but her mother was telling Janice so much about it.

and she got to meet Josh Groban in Adelaide... arghhh!!!! and that's including getting his autograph. it's a dream come true for her.

and i remember msn'ning Lai Kuan too. catching up with peers. Handy and a few others.