AuthenticBeauty

Rumour has it ...

2012-01-25T17:08:00.002+11:00

'That you walk up the stairs every day'. One of my elderly academic told me minutes ago. He told me not to let the news spread too much coz' it will start making everyone else feel bad and they would need to do it, too. Hahah..seriously, I am by far not the most healthy person on this planet. But right now, I think they think I am some health freak. I still love my meat and sweets but since the beginning of this year, I had another reality check and I realised, I need to be serious about losing the extra weight I have been carrying for the past few years. So I am on the right track in 2012! Yay!

These past few weeks have been getting busier at work. But I love my lunch catch ups with Tara. We have both been very busy for the past few months but recently, she emailed me and asked me out. We sat in the park and had our lunch and she showed me heaps of wedding ideas (fyi : her wedding is in March this year). I gave her my suggestions and told her I'll send her some of my Pinterest photos. She emailed me and said this, 'Thank you for helping me today. I don't have many girlfriends whom I can bounce ideas with and I miss my mum heaps.' It reminded me the reason why God placed me here again. Tara lost her mum years ago to cancer. So God gave me another opportunity to be that listening ear and a friend who she can confide in.

Tara's hen's night is coming up in March, too. I am a little nervous as to what they will be doing but thankfully Sarah Choi is coming along. I can be assured (almost) that there wouldn't be any strippers!! This is my very first non-Christian hens' party. A little nervous but I told Tara, I am going only because of her... apparently there will be a party bus and clubs hopping. Ahhh!! I hate these type of things. Meh!

Anyway it is coming very close to the end of January. My colleagues and I are also freaking out coz' Semester 1 will be starting really soon. Our campus will be flooded with students again and planetUNI events will start rolling in. Hello 2012! Ahhhh...New things coming in underway. Excited but nervous - I guess it's good to be nervous!

Sooo...for those who wondered how my french music festival went, it was brilliant! Although someone did fall asleep in the middle of the way, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Just people gazing, enjoying the breeze and listening to the soothing sounds from Asa, Moriaty and Nouvelle Vague! LOVE...

Hello the new year

2012-01-09T17:23:00.002+11:00

'What is your new year's resolution?' This is the question I have been asked time and time again for the past few weeks. To be honest, I don't really have big ones lined up this year. Just a few tiny ones at the top of my head :

1) Be healthy and lose a few kilos : it has always been my new year's resolution every year anyway. Whether I am successful is another story..

2) Pick up another short course : right now I'm thinking of pottery. Will have to wait till next week to call up the institute about bookings.... but that's a start.

3) Spend a little more time with DIY craft stuff. Over the holidays, I have been looking at a lot of blogs, instagram pictures... maybe it's time to start the ball rolling on the skills that I have kept away for a long long time. And it helps that one of my new colleague who is temping with us is actually extremely crafty. She makes her own sun-catchers and jewelleries and sell them in markets!!

So...let's start small, Jolyn... :)

Cynthia and I will be meeting Ps Matt and Ps Rudy tonight. Going to be really interesting and exciting. Hmmmmm... Change! But Change is as good as a holiday! :)

Things to look forward this year besides my NY's resolutions :

1) So Frenchy So Chic - picnic in the park this coming Sunday
2) Annie - the musical

Any upcoming holidays? None for now. I will have to start saving... :)

Last day of work...

2011-12-22T08:35:00.002+11:00

It's my last day at work. Haven't been that productive the last 2 days. Colleagues and I started decorating the office and chit chatting away. Have been getting lotsa Xmas pressies from the academics - but mainly chocolates so I have been sharing them with my colleagues who have chocolates for breakfast!! I know weird right? But it's good. None of the chocs go to waste! I keep reminding myself... resist!! FAT ARMS AND HIPS! Mehhh...

My colleagues and I also assigned our new temp lady a funny tasks... to research if someone in our team is actually from the same school as Sofia Vegara - the lady in Modern Family. Hahaha..she wikipedia Sofia's background and read them out to us. The things we do when holidays are coming up.

Ohhh Jolvin and I went to watch New Year's Eve last weekend. It was surprisingly very good. I mean you have to go there without much expectations. I think the main thing that attracted me is that it was based in New York - my favourite city in America. And I have so much knowledge about the city that when I watched it, I knew the bits and pieces of it. Spot the Rockettes costumes!!! And the famous New Year's ball which drops when it strikes 12am! More importantly I enjoyed the stories that weave into the concept of New Year's... love Hilary Swank's speech and her story! So if you're looking for a light hearted movie to end the year, try New Year's Eve. You might be surprised by it's heart-warming outcome.

The year is almost coming to an end and the popular question is how I am going to spend it. Last year we went to Sydney. But for this year, it's gonna be a quiet one in Melbourne. A stark difference but sometimes, you just have to stop, think and reflect...Just like Hilary's speech..Love...

5 more working days to Xmas break

2011-12-16T12:26:00.003+11:00

I think the past few weeks have been so hectic that my brain is slowly shutting down and I am beginning to make tiny bit of mistakes in my email writing to my academics. I said I'll see them in 3 December 2012. Hahaha...I almost gave some of them a shock!

To be honest, I haven't really work extremely that much this year. Went on a break in March and then on another one in October. But the breaks were good. It gave me time to stop, think and reflect on the changes that have occurred through this year.

I entered this year not knowing exactly what it will eventuate to in terms of my career. I knew I didn't really want to continue with media sales and neither on the agency side. But somehow I thought an opportunity will bring me back to media after an old manager contacted me to meet up with the training manager. All didn't work out. But I believe God worked it out afterall.

Yesterday, while I was seated with my manager and team leader to complete my final probation review, my manager asked me, 'Jolyn, tell me, do you really enjoy what you are doing?' I said it with complete confidence, 'Yes, I really do. I left my old job not knowing exactly what I wanted to do. I just knew what I didn't like. But I love it now. I love helping people. And the best part of this is that I get to help academics!'

Before I left the media agency, my boss told me, 'Jolyn, you will have to find the colour of your balloon and fly away to the things you love'. Yesterday confirmed it. It confirmed that I have found the colour of my balloon. My colleagues are extremely supportive and somewhat 'protective'. My manager pointed out that one of my weakness is not telling anyone when my workload gets a bit overwhelming. And yesterday I listed out what I have been doing for the past 9 months and there will be some reshuffle to do next year.

So for now, I will look forward to a restful Xmas and NY break.
And I MISS YOU A LOT, ANT!! :) Same time last year, we were in Sydney....cider *nono*. But now I am a pretty good cider drinker. Hehe... :)

And yesterday 15 December was the 34th year of my parents anniversary!

7 years and many more things to come..

2011-12-09T17:46:00.002+11:00

Last week on the 1 of December we celebrated 7 years of planetUNI ministry with Ps Matt. It was somewhat surreal. For the past few weeks, I caught up with a few people who started of with me... some a little later some newer. Debs was saying how she remembered when she was one of the youngest in the ministry. Even Denise! Hahaha, I met her when she was still in high school. 7 years later, Ps Matt is going to bigger and greater things.

I think one of the things that made it so very special is seeing how a ministry has started from scratch. Without a name, without superb expertise to run events...but we did it. With our little talents and simply the willingness to pour our time and energy into a vision of a godly man who has a big heart for the international student ministry.

After the dinner and celebration, I had a little chat with Ps Matt. And the words he said was enough to remind me that for the years of faithfulness, God always see it through and pour out more than enough into my life.

Iris and I were driving back together and we reminiscent on the crazy things we did together. Quiz night, White Night, Mamak Night, Are You Game?, Day 6,It's Time, X-factor... just to name a few. I still love planetUNI and for the next year at least, we will welcome change and see this ministry grow from strength to strength....

Almost there

2011-11-30T13:22:00.003+11:00

The year is almost ending. I can't believe how quick it has come by. Deadlines to meet, academics who has 101 questions. But I still love my job. I really do. I meet and hear stories from different people every time. One of the hardest thing to do at work is to keep my focus. I get distracted almost every minute. Even when I am having lunch at my desk. Which is why my colleague and I either lock our offices or we run away from our desks! :P But I must say, I do still look forward to work. Despite the pressures and politics.

The common questions asked lately are when am I getting married and where is my next holiday destination. To be honest, your guess is as good as mine. But the time will come. For now, let me enjoy being in a relationship without the responsibilities of a married woman. :) And as for a holiday, my bank account doesn't really like me now so let's just say.. maybe a tiny small one next year? :) Or even none.

Dad and mum's arriving this weekend. Yay!! I miss them. Gonna have clean clothes everyday, ironed and washed! Yummy home-cooked food... and a super duper clean house. Not that it's dirty now but compared to my mum's standard.. it's mediocre.

Ahhh Xmas is coming.. and the boy's birthday is also near... :)what's plan?! ....

With lots of compliments

2011-11-18T11:59:00.003+11:00

What a great Friday to end the week of work and start the weekend.
I spent two days running around trying to organize my ex-Head of Group thank you. It wasn't exactly that hard but trying to do so many things in a short period of time was a bit challenging.

Sometimes I think I can get over ambitious about things. I think that I am 3-4 people. But yesterday, I learn that it's OK to accept help.

Before I was heading to the park for the picnic party, I had several academics calling me and offering help to assist me in bringing the food and bits and pieces to the park. Four of them turned up to help. More than what I needed. One of them even jokingly said that it's because of his long-time training with his wife. He's the slave in his household. This is from people who have PhDs!!! So cute right?

And you know you've done a great job when the most blur academic says this to you and copied everyone on the email.

________________________________________________________
Dear Jolyn,

I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the afternoon tea in Central Gardens today. It was good for our group to get together, for this occasion, and in such a lovely relaxed location. I think its true to say that the group enjoyed themselves - the company, and the food and drink that was made available.

Thank you for your energy and effort in arranging this event, and to others who may have assisted you. It's very much appreciated.

Warm regards,

................

Yes Jolyn,
I think the great job you did in organizing yesterday to get people together reflects on how important the feeling of 'team' is.
Job well done yesterday and put me down for the 9th

From............

Thanks Jolyn...

Btw, you really are doing a great job! .....'s email reflects the way many of us feel about your efforts...

From............

At times like these, I am reminded that this is worth every effort!
Don't ever be too big to do small things! :)

Back into work

2011-11-17T09:28:00.002+11:00

Since when have I become the finance department? From the time I got back to work till now, I have been sorting out academics overload teaching payments. Trust a person who still counts with her fingers to work out pay. But honestly, by the grace of God and maybe some common sense, I managed to work them out. I have 4 more to go. Aiming to finish them by end of the month. Or hopefully earlier.

Where has the year gone?! I seriously felt like this is the shortest year ever. I think it helped that I was on holidays for quite a bit this year. Went to Sydney for New Years, HK and Malaysia in March, Sydney on my birthday and then the US in Oct. What a life! Hahaha, I only can do it when young and without a mortgage.

Next year will probably be a little drought with my travel plans. The furthest place I am possibly going is Grampians for Easter. Sad but true. Unless, the boy gives me another surprise? I can never know with him... :)

My plans for next year.. I have no idea except for the fact that I am challenged to do some new things, or maybe have the confidence to ride a bike again? Iris - borrow your bike? But where to ride? Hmmmmm....And maybe take up a new short course? One of my academic asked me to take up an MBA. To be honest, the thought of exams and assignments freaks me out. I have invigilated two exams/tests and I felt so sorry for the 'kids'. I so don't want to be in that position again! :P Enough of 'real' studying.

While I continue procastinating, I promise I'll upload some USA photos very soon...Back to work!

Post - USA

2011-11-10T12:28:00.002+11:00

Hello all, I am still ALIVE. Just still recovering from the exhaustion from travelling so much. I think I have been through too many airport security checks till I have lost count. I have not suffered from jetlag at all. Just finding it hard to get out of bed every morning and I feel like I need a good massage. About time to use my birthday massage vouchers ! :)

I miss the USA quite a bit. But it's great to be back. Nothing beats home. Here's some highlights from the trip, pictures will follow soon once I have the time to resize them! :P

The journey there was a very long 23 hours. From Melb to KL, KL to Taipei, Taipei to LA. I SO HATE AEROPLANE FOOD! So disgusting and the smell makes me sick. And the worst thing is, they keep feeding you. I am amazed at how Eric, our other traveling partner managed to scoff down almost every meal. When I look at him, I feel slightly sick at how much he's enjoying the food. Thank God for Jolvin's parents. They picked us up at our stop over in KL and brought us back to his house to shower and freshen up and then eat.

At our stopover in Taipei, we had the most expensive beef noodles. It was good but imagine paying US$24 for beef noodles!! Ahhhh!!! We ate it twice but the second time 4 of us shared.

1) LA - It is supposedly the city of stars. Yup, indeed, we spotted two stars. Although Jolvin and Eric reckon they saw Mickey Rourke at Katsuya. I still disagree. He wasn't Mickey Rourke. He looked more like Santana!! Hahaha.

- Discovering ROSS - designer brand shopping while doing laundry with Jolvin. The Latino guy was smiling at us. Jolvin and I - the two jokers supposedly doing laundry and ended up with two large shopping bags when picking up our laundry.

- I enjoyed our day tour to Santa Monica, Venice Beach and Olvera Street (Mexican place).

- UNIVERSAL Studios is wayyyyyyyyyy better than Disney. :)Enough said!

- Dinner at Providence at the end of our trip. I spotted Hayden and Rachel. Wohooo! And the food was A M A Z I NG LY great! Best in LA.

2) SFO - Jolvin driving the Go Car around SFO city. Oh my! Imagine buses and trams behind us. They were nice enough not to honk us.

- The 'pearl' ring experience. Jolvin bought me a pearl ring. The process was soooo nice. I picked the shell containing the pearl and the girl brought us through this whole process of welcoming the pearl and yelling - ALOHA. I picked out a big white pearl signifying 'Innocence'. Chose the setting of the ring and the girl even gave me another chance to pick another pearl for free. This one is a little pinkish. Now I have a lose pearl.. :)

- I didn't get to ride along Golden Gate Bridge. I need to start learning how to ride a bike again. So scared coz' the last time dad taught me, I was like less than 10 years old!? :( Meh!

- Dinner at Ozumo, SFO Up class Japanese restaurant. The food was superb!! Sushi was done so well and differently.

3)LAS VEGAS - The state of TACKI-NESS. Jolvin laughs when I say that. Honestly, I do wonder why people get married here. It's so... TACKY. Maybe it's because I am not a fan of blondes, all things cowboys and country!

- The highlight - CIRQUE!!! Beatles LOVE and Le REVERE was SUPERB!!! You have to watch CIRQUE in Vegas. The bestest ever. You will never want to watch it anywhere else.

- Shopping at the outlet. It is a 1 hour bus ride but well worth it. I bought the most Coach items there. :) Wouldn't say how much but a fair bit.

4)NEW YORK - Oh New York, my favourite city. It is still my favourite. Despite the rudeness of the retail staff. Only nice people there is the high class restaurant staffs (that's because they are paid to be nice)and BONNIE AND ROB!!! :)

- BOULEY. OH MY GOODNESS. The best ever FRENCH DINING. Thank you JON and LI! Your recommendation has made it to the list of travel highlights. I wanted to leave this out because I wanted to keep this a secret. But I'm just too kind. If you ever visit NY, you have to try lunch at BOULEY. $55 for 6 course meal and they even gave us a huge lemon tea cake when we left. Remember to make your booking though. Wouldn't want to miss out on it.

- Rowing in the lake at Central Park. Jolvin rowing most of the time. It was such a beautiful weather. I love Central Park. One of the best place in this comospolitan condensed city!

- Visting the 9/11 Memorial where the twin towers used to be situated. They are now replaced by man-made waterfalls. Extremely surreal but sad at the same time. There was a guy who was showing us imagines of how the place will look when all the other office buildings are built around it. He told us a story of a tree. The tree is called a survivor tree. Years before the 9/11 attack, there was a similar terrorist attack and the tree was there. When 9/11 happened, the tree survived so they brought it to a park to nurture it to heath. Then a lightening strucked and it affected the tree but it still survived. So they brought it back to the 9/11 grounds and it represents the fighting spirit of the American people. Amazing huh?! And it was sooo sad when we visited the Tribute Museum. Seeing imagines, pictures and items of people who didn't survived, missing posters from friends and families. I just felt like crying.. And to see the airline tickets of the passengers of the flights..- United, American Airlines.... it could well happen to anyone. Life is so fragile!

- PINK BERRY!! Best ever yogurt ice cream. Favourite flavour pomegranate and original swirl with lotsa of mochi and berries! So yummmmmmmmmmm!

- Dissappointment was Jean Georges, Le Bernadin (top 10 world restaurants) and Corton. Sad but true. We paid so much and expected so much more but my mum's way of cooking fish is way better than Le Bernadin. EEeeeks. At least we can say, been there done that.

And we went back to LA and completed our travel journey there. Guess what?! I think I can survive wandering alone in the US. Well I did it in SFO and LA. A bit creepy in LA coz' Hollywood Boulevard is so shady and dodgy but overall I felt pretty safe. Although I had a terrible encounter at the toilets in NY subway. A guy budged in while I was in the toilet and I told him off. He threatened to knock the door down and I quickly walked out and Jolvin was standing there. Huge sigh of relief!

Shopping was crazy as ever! Cheap cheap cheap! Next travel stop, Europe perhaps? :)Wait till Jolvin and I have saved enough... :)

Snapshot of SFO...

2011-11-08T21:46:00.001+11:00

Jolvin and moi in the trolley!

More to come.

One more sleep - Hello USA!

2011-10-08T16:47:00.002+11:00

It has been one of the most full on week for me. Trainings, meetings and lotsa of paperwork to go through. It's always the case when I'm about to take a holiday. But it's nice to know I will be missed. It's funny to see how people react when they hear that I'll be away for 3 weeks holiday.

I have been speaking to a few of the academics and they were telling me stories and giving me tips on what to do in US. One of them also reminded me to bring ammonium in case of any food poisoning. Hahaha.. he told me, you never know when you travel. When I sent out an email to everyone informing them that I will be on annual leave, there were heaps of replies back. Some even came to the extend of saying 'bye' to me and giving me a huge hug. One of the academics even told me he will 'die' in the 3 weeks when I am away... I assured him that he will be fine under the support of my other colleagues. I think it came to one point that I felt as though it's like a farewell! How funny! It's nice to know that I am loved and appreciated in my workplace.

I have packed up - all ready although I must say, I feel slightly less prepared. Somehow I feel like I haven't done enough research for this trip. Hehehe.. okie, as Yogi said, relax! Today I spent all morning and afternoon completing some work I brought back and did more research on our travels. I even went to the extend of finding laundry places in a few of the states that we're visiting. Holidays are fun but there are times when you just wished for the comfort of your home. Imagine 3 weeks without doing laundry - I will cry! Meh! So as prepared as I can be.. I've printed and filed all my notes. I even checked in everyone and printed their boarding pass. Gee - I do sound like a mum now....

Oh and guess what, my wardrobe is slightly more spacious now thanks to some giveaways! Yayyyyy... Anthropologie,UO, Victoria Secret, J Crew, Coach.....etc... here I come!!

Till you hear from me again... Maybe in 3 weeks time or if I managed to sneak a bit of time... :)

Reflections..

2011-09-29T14:08:00.002+10:00

When you are stuck in the traffic for a good 3 hours, you have nothing else to do but to reflect on life. Music playing at the background. Pondering and reflecting on life. I know, you may say why 3 hours. When you have a crazy heavy rain, stupid drivers and trucks and peak hour traffic, this is what happens. Sometimes I wonder whether I will ever reach home.

I was thinking, why do we so often forget how great and amazing God is especially during good times? Why do we tend to 'forsake' Him or place everything else way before Him when everything seems to be going smoothly? It's easy to fall into the trap of complacency, self sufficient and even self indulgence. Yes, life is short. We should truly enjoy it to the fullest but when we begin to live our lives according to our way, then we realised everything we do becomes meaningless.

There has been so many politics happening at work. I used to think corporate was bad but education is way over that. It is a whole new level of politics. The world of academics and professional staff, the plotting, the union, the case put against different people, I just can't catch up. As much as I try not to get involved, it effects my day to day job. I believe in certain principles and I am not going to compromise that. I will do my best and help others which is one of my biggest passion.

I went over to see my little nieces last night. It's been a while since I saw them. I missed them so much. Hanna is so big now and she is very talkative. I asked her whether she's a good girl and she said 'YES'. Then I said are you a naughty girl and she said 'NO'. And then I asked her who's the naughty girl and she said, 'CHECHE'!! Hahahah.. Dana quickly said 'NOOOOOOOOOO, Hanna'!! There's something about our fallen nature of humanity. We like to point fingers and blame others. Reminds me why we need God so much in everything that we do...

10 more days to the US... Wohoooooooooo

2 weeks to go...

2011-09-26T13:10:00.002+10:00

2 weeks and counting. My manager is back! Yayyyy! Missed him so very much. I popped by his office just before lunch and had a chat. He told me about the places he went in NY. In 2 weeks time, I will be on the jetplane and will be in NY in mid October (the later part of our trip). This time, I will be watching more musicals, visit the newly opened memorial site, shop and eat lotsa nice fine food. Holidays..ahhhh...it's always nice to have something to look forward to.

There's one thing about working in the education/uni environment. People travel heaps. Especially the academics - for research, conferences and meetings. Everywhere I go and everyone I speak to has travel stories to share. And one of the lovely things some of them do is buy back little trinkets for us. So far, I haven't collected heaps yet just two.

This week's pretty busy bee. Tuesday night's dinner with the camp rego girls. My treat for us four. Thursday night is 'Crazy, Stupid, Love' movie premier, I got free tickets for Jolvin and moi. Yay!! Love Ryan Gosling!

Ahhhh..sometimes I wonder whether boys/guys actually listens. I think half of the time when I am talking, Jolvin's just daydreaming or something. We just had a back and forward sms exchange on our plans for the weekend. I reminded him just recently and he can still suggest doing something else this coming weekend. *Speechless*... men/boys!

B.L.E.S.S.E.D

2011-09-22T21:28:00.002+10:00

Thursday nights are swimming nights. After trying to find a pool that is not too conjested, the boy and I found some 1950s looking pool at Laverton, right in the middle of a neighbourhood. Well I am just exaggerating. More like 1980s. Old school, dodgy looking, with music on and slightly crappy looking side walls. I dislike pools with walls that have gaps. It somehow reminds of some piranha coming out from those gaps. Eeeeks but for the price and space, I can't complain. I even tried to shower there but realised there wasn't any door at the ladies. Meh!

Hmmm.. Jolvin decided to cook. It is 9.35pm and the food is still cooking. Looks like it's gonna be supper time.

I have been having a fairly rough week. Monday morning started with an accusation from a colleague from another department that I didn't do my job well. I was taken a back but in times like this, I realised who really watches my back. I was assured that it wasn't my fault. Then came Wednesday, just right after my team meeting, I went back to my office with my colleagues and a crazy academic/researcher came by and verbally abused me. Just because I was organizing her travel and required her to sign off some forms. I was stunned.

The thing that made me realised how much I am being cared for is when one of my colleague who was about 6 foot 2 stood in between us both so that the crazy person wouldn't come too near me. My colleagues tried to walk her out of the room and they closed the door. To be honest, I was fine until they both asked me, 'Are you ok?' There's something about this question when people ask me during a time of crisis/difficult encounter. I just teared for a few minutes. They both said, 'Jolyn, you are family so it's not ok for anyone to speak to you like this?' That affirmed the prayers I made when I left Ten. That I will find great colleagues again. It is not the first time this person came and speak to me in this way. And it is not the first time she has done this... a couple of people had this same encounter. I was encouraged to lodge a formal complain against her to my manager. I just mentioned it to my team leader first as my manager is currently away on holidays. Will see how things panned out in the next few days and weeks. There are some people who just plain crazy!

But in times like these, I am reminded of the wonderful people God has blessed me with..... :) I love my colleagues!!

New beginnings and 23 days of countdown..

2011-09-17T12:45:00.002+10:00

After 6 years of knowing who's who and what will be happening every urban life night, I experience for the first time how it feels to be 'new'. The boy and I attended Sue Lynn's urban life last night. It was a great change. Everyone was warm, friendly and really easy to talk to. I don't think I felt that new after all. I realised that our ministry has grown so much that almost 80% of the members are people I never seen before. Or maybe I am too oblivious to the people that have been here for a while. It was slightly weird that I had to ask some of them whether they have gone to our recent camp. Heh!

I feel like an oldie who hasn't been up to date with some things. I think sometimes comfort can take a better of us and we tend to forget about the changes that has constantly been taking place. But last night, I must say I truly did enjoy myself. The new people I met and some old faces that are familiar... they are also planning an urban life trip this coming weekend! Hah! Maybe it's not by chance? I think this could be the one?! :) Sarah and I have also been making sure the rest settles into a 'new family' soon. Some have already been locked in. Thank you lovey!

It's 23 days to our anniversary trip. So quick...but I am already feeling a little nervous coz' the last US trip, I was so very well organized. This time around, I am still chill about everything. But Yogi's right. The last trip was my first time being on holidays without my family. By now, I would have gotten used to it. So less stress perhaps.

Jon was talking to me last night and we both agreed that we dislike cosmopolitan type of cities but New York is soooo cosmopolitan and city-like that somehow you just love it. I don't know. There's something about this city that is so magical. I always said I wouldn't live there for long... but somehow I left a little etsy bitsy part of me in New York..I miss it too much and I can't wait! I just remember the first night we arrived, Yogi and I strolling arm in arm and we both said, 'Oh my goodness!! We are in New York'. So almost close to 2 years later, I'm going back. Yogi - I promise I'll get you, your shopping list. :)

Ohhh and guess what? I was carrying some exam papers recently to the store rooms and one of the EA mentioned, 'Jolyn, isn't it too heavy for you? You are petite and it might break you!' Urmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... for the first time in my ENTIRE life the word 'petite' has never ever been used to described me. To say I am flattered is an understatement. But then in a split second of that comment, I thought to myself, my two other colleagues are rather plus size. I always knew they were quite big. But when one recently told me she had to go through the plus size section for online shopping, it hit me.

Don't get me wrong. My colleagues are the loveliest people ever. But somehow next to them, I think I did look rather small or petite. And believe me, they were very strong as well. A box which I would say it very heavy is ok for them. It's weird being the person where people say, 'Jolyn, it's too heavy. Leave it with me'. Mind you, I once carried drum sets up several flights of stairs during my OCF days. But those were the days...

Oh and recently I did a test supervision. It was so weird. I have no experience at invigilating a test but all of sudden, I put my hand to volunteer and I was doing it for the first time. 45 students in a classroom. Thankfully it was only for 50 minutes. I was wondering what was I going to do with myself. I paced a little and sat at the corner of the room staring at students. I feel sorry for them coz' the paper which they were working on looks pretty tough and crappy. One of the girls asked me about a question. She said she didn't understand it. I was a bit nervous coz' I have never ever done a subject called Macroeconomics. What does it mean? It's like a foreign language to me. But using common sense, I just told her the question relates to the original. Phew! Talk about being 'smooth'. Hahah...oh my, I am so glad I am no longer studying. Eeeks would have been terrible.

Anyway the weekend is here. Tara and Andre's engagement and Taste of Melbourne on Sunday. My sense of smell and taste is coming back after my cold and cough. I was praying so hard coz' my experience in Taste of Melbourne might be NO TASTE! :P HAHA..

Anyway hello weekend! I love you!

1 year and counting...

2011-09-12T23:01:00.002+10:00

To the bestest best man ever, besides my dad....thank you for everything. Happy 1 year anniversary. Considering my not-so-good track record of sustaining relationships, I made it to my first year anniversary. And a big YAY for both of us! :) Thank you for your patience, love, understanding... and Sweetness!

I spent the weekend resting and catching up with my much needed quiet time. QS and Yogi my closest friends dropped by to cook me porridge for dinner on Saturday. We laughed, we talked, we hung out. QS - your leftovers still tasted great today. Jolvin loves the dessert! :)

Jerm, Ai Mee, Jolvin and moi went for a impromptu movie date. It was the worst movie ever... The Change-Up. Another trashy movie which wasted almost 2 hours of my life. Thankfully we didn't pay for it. The movie left such a bad taste that Jolvin and I decided to catch another one on the same day. Anne Hathaway's ONE DAY. Nice movie but sad.... Ant, you should watch it! :) You'll love Anne even more. She looks gorgeous in short hair!

Today, I have also made the man my official dentist - Dr Jolvin Lee! It was all so random. I told him I was thinking of cancelling my appointment with my dentist coz' I made it earlier in the year and it was going to be in October when we are in US. Jolvin suggested for me to see him instead. I have always thought of it as a little awkward but I craved in finally. Book me in! :) I really think that one of the most unattractive positions a person can be in is in a dental chair. Imagine your mouth being pulled and stretched from one end to the other. Even a girl as sweet and hot as Miranda Kerr will look hideous. Hahaha...that was just a thought.. :)

Oh and my first ever ASOS order arrived today as well! Wohooo... I bought a couple of men's shirts. They fitted well and look pretty good. Four shirts which will be enough to brighten up his wardrobe while he awaits to unleash the shopping demon in the US. Hehe...

And we both found out one very very strange fact today. I know who his accountant is. In fact, his accountant used to study in the same uni as me and he tried to ask me out a couple of times before! O M G....! How small is this world? Freakingly small! Now he is married with a son. Thanks to Facebook and my stalking skills, I found a picture to verify the fact. Jolvin almost fainted. We both laughed and he said he will never see him the same way ever! How awkward!....

Happy anniversary Dr Lee.... :) make sure you never say a word to your accountant in case he stuff your finances up! LOVE..........

September and a month away...

2011-09-10T14:30:00.004+10:00

It's 10 September. A month away from my holidays. And 2 days away from our 1 year anniversary. How time has flies? I met my accountant yesterday and he mentioned that he's been doing my taxes for the past 5 years!! Oh my! 5 years!! I didn't even realised. Guess what?!? I am able to claim my biggest ever tax this time around! Wohoooo no need to pay anything. I sorted guess it because I had 3 jobs last financial year. But not to worry, the money will go directly to my savings. Yesyes, I just imagine dad and mum's voices in my head, 'TIME TO SAVE JOLYN!' Mehhhh...

I don't have to worry about my shopping in US. I've already set aside my money. Now I am just waiting to see my savings account start increasing. It has been stagnant for a while considering how many job intervals I had the past year.

Camp has come and gone within seconds. There's a facebook group setup for people who are wanting to make camp longer. It's a good sign. It means people really enjoyed themselves but no one could quite comprehend the stress I have every session. The clock and me are friends. Which is why I have the excuse of owing almost a dozen watches! :P I look at the time every session and try to keep calm about how much overtime we've gone. But everything turned out well thankfully. The best part is having a guest speaker. Ps Kenneth and Sandra were brilliant. They reminded me so much of my early days as a Christian and a youth.

The post camp and post faculty relocation has finally striked. I am having a bad sore throat now. Eeeeks. Please don't get sick Jolyn. I really can't afford to be down. There's quite a bit of things for me to work through before I leave. I told a couple of academics of my upcoming holidays and all of them were so happy for me! A few of them were giving me tips... :) I love my job. It hasn't been always easy. Believe me, I do work with some of the d........ people you can ever meet. As one of my academics love to say, top managements can be i......ts. He's Polish and he can always get away with all the swearing.. :) The way he says it is funny. Ahhh fun times ahead. The education sector is a whole new world. I once thought the corporate was quite old school in the way they do things but where we are now in the education sector is beyond that. It's like living in the 15th century. Enough said! Although I am not in a position to make big changes, I always remind myself, 'Little changes, Jolyn. It doesn't matter... people will eventually see that. And God is with me'.

It's already September. I so can't believe it. I mentioned to Sharene recently that it feels too quick and I can't seem to catch my breath. I think partly because I took a break in March and it felt like my year only started after that. I'm also 27. No longer in the early 20s. Mum reminds me from time to time. And Facebook also reminds me of that. I realised that I am no longer as young as I would like to think is when my school's 'biggest nerd' has just gotten married. I know this sounds mean but really. There is a boy in my class and school whom I grew up with. He is the stiffest person you can ever meet. Smart guy but rather odd. And he's married! He posted some of his wedding pictures...It was unbelievable. I'm happy for him but it's a bit of an odd sight as well.. :) I am glad that in this world, there's always someone for everyone. Hehe...

Ok time for more rest.. and maybe if I feel like it ironing my clothes..

Spring.... and stress

2011-09-01T12:27:00.004+10:00

Hello all a new season has come. Spring is here. Yesterday was the very last urban life meeting. Six memorable years have come to an end. But with every ending, there is a new beginning. Yesterday wasn't the best day for me. Work pressures have been hard. The struggles of trying to do my best with the huge limitations of bureacacies and hirerachies. There is one particular person at work which drives me nuts. I am not the only one.. and yesterday when she was sitting in a meeting with my team and I, she mentioned that she's a pork chop. And I was 1 milimetre close to saying, 'YES, YOU ARE A BIG PORK CHOP!!' But of course, I held my tongue and maintained my professionalism. I just don't understand why some people simply love to make things hard for everyone. But overall, I am indeed thankful for supportive colleagues and even a good head academic whom I am working with. I just wished my old team leader comes back quickly.

It hasn't been easy the past few days. Pressures of work and camp has finally taken a slight toil on me. I reached a breaking point yesterday but I managed to gather myself. I woke up this morning all ready to go to work and while driving halfway I had this terrible stomach cramps coming. For the first time ever, I decided I think I need to go back home. I'm resting at home now. Gastric, flatulance and a headache isn't the best combination. But as what my dad often says, it's all due to stress. I have been eating but it hasn't been extremely consistant coz' work takes precedance over my timing. So now I have no choice but to rest. Camp is tomorrow so gotta rest up as much as I can for a full on weekend.

The boy just came over to bring lunch. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.. I know I know I am so blessed. I think people are starting to say, 'Jolyn is a lucky/blessed girl'. Hahaha indeed. But hey, he's blessed also ok.

...I miss my parents too..... no more home cooked meals and laundry done! Meh..!

Hello again..another birthday weekend.

2011-08-27T14:48:00.003+10:00

Well almost. Hello Ant, if you are here in Melbourne, you will be having Golden Fields dinner with us tonight. Hehehe...Tonight the girls organized dinner for me at Andrew McConnell's fairly new restaurant, Golden Fields. (the chef who brought Cumulus Inc and Culter & Co as well). Hopefully the experience is better than Culter & Co and as good or even better than Cumulus Inc.

Besides a great catch up with old friends tonight, I am trying to have a quiet relaxing weekend. But honestly, it is failing quite badly. I have a whole list of things to do. I did some 'spring' cleaning today. Chucking out old dvds and vcds (ah yes, gone are the days of 2 discs.. but I still have some). And after our camp meeting last night, I have a long list of things to do - emails to send, people to remind and schedules to update. Mehhh... I am so reluctant to do them which is why I resorted to some time-wasting task, like blogging. *Grin*..

Ahhhh the difficult week at work has passed. Hopefully it will get better from Monday onwards. I was deskless, computerless and phoneless for almost a week. It's because the movers have transported all my things across to my new desk but my colleague and I were given the tasks of handing out keys and helping people clean and unpack. And guess what... we also received abuse and 101 questions from frustrated people. Moving is a very stressful period of people which is why I can totally understand why they reacted that way. The typical trend of anger is, 'I KNOW IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT BUT I AM SO ANGRY. I SHOULDN'T BE SHOOTING THE MESSENGER. WHY IS MY KEYS NOT READY YET. WHY IS MY BOX LOST'. My colleague and I have this code between us now. We look at each other as if to assure ourselves that it will soon be over. You just become super duper thick skinned after a while.

This week we have also discovered something. PHD students are super annoying. Well most of them at least. And I really think studying too much can do weird things to your brain. I reckon it's more like Permanent Head Damage. There were a couple of silly instances of PHD students coming up to us asking us for the most silly thing. There were also two trying to figure out how to work the microwave. O M G...!

Ahhh but overall my job is still great. I think some of the things that keep me going is my colleagues. I have the best team ever. Everyone is helpful and willing to drop everything to help each other out. They also bought me some red velvet cupcakes for my bday last Friday. And I work with some of the nicest academics (although they are some pain in the backside ones), but overall they are really nice. One of them whom I have gotten on pretty well likes to ask me, 'When is your boyfriend going to propose ar!?' He's Indonesian Chinese who married a Thai Chinese wife. He was on the phone with his wife yesterday when I was sorting out his keys for him and when he put down the phone he said that he was on the phone with the master! Hahaha... He even asked me to go back to study part time, take up MBA or something. I said I had enough of study. Maybe it's because of the laziness or fear of being 'poor'. At the moment, I don't think I can take anymore study. :)

Ok, I think I have enough of procastinating. Time to get back to workiework... camp camp campppppppppppppppppppp....

Crazy birthday weekend...

2011-08-23T21:45:00.003+10:00

Scenario 1,2,3....
Colleague A: So what was your birthday surprise?
Me: My boyfriend took me to Sydney yesterday.
Colleague A: Wow! That is a nice surprise.
Me: Yeah it was.
Colleague A: What did you do?
Me: Ate, ate and ATE.
Colleague A: Did you guys stay a night there or something?
Me: No, we actually left at 9am and got back to Melbourne at 12.30am on the same day.
Colleague A: WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You must be dead tired.
Me: Sheepish smile - Beyond tired.

- P.S : This scenario kept repeating itself over and over again on Monday morning.

It was a great weekend filled with lotsa love. The boy spent a good few months planning the surprise which was extremely hard to keep. And it doesn't help that I was trying to dig as much information from him. My guesses were pretty much spot on.
Hehe...we got to go to the places I missed in Sydney - Chat Time, Meet Fresh, The earring shop and .... dinner at Quay (entree, main was soso but THE Snow Egg was BLISS).

The weekend came and gone within seconds. To add to our crazy weekend, we had our urban life trip on Saturday to Mount Bulla. The last for our urban life and the last for Christina who will be leaving us this Friday. :(... Meh!

This weekend at work is also crazy with the moves. Imagine a group of at least 100 over people moving... and to add to the quation = academics!!! For the next few days and weeks, my colleague and I are bracing ourselves for a lot more difficult questions, people and instances. But for now, we will remind ourselves it will soon be over. Close my eyes for a few more seconds and before I know it, USA - LA, SFO, LV and NY is awaiting me!!!!!!!! Wohoooooooooooooo!

Yayyy - MY leave go approved! October 10 is drawing nearer!
But dad and mum's going back this Friday... hmmm Will Miss them heaps!

Lazy weekend...

2011-08-06T13:28:00.002+10:00

For the first time in I can't remember how many weeks or months, I have been able to spend an entire Saturday being lazy. Well except for the fact that I was woken up by sms and whatsapps. Thanks to the boy and the boys - Ben and Jia Ren and QS. My phone couldn't stop vibrating.

Anyway I am still dressed in my pjs at 1.30 pm. Hehehe...that is how lazy I am. Camp preparation is underway. Had a quick meeting yesterday and managed to send out a couple of emails today. Yipeyy!! We're finally getting somewhere. On Monday, Sue Lynn and I will be sitting down and talking about budgets.

Tara started work this week. It is one of the craziest week to start - with international enrolments. She is slowly settling in as tough as it may be. But I assured her that I am here to help, listen and guide her whenever I can. She has also recently gotten engaged!!! Wohooo Finally, Andre (my ex-boss) pop the big question!? So happy for them.

The coming weeks at work will be crazy busy. Our faculty is going through space allocation movements. So I will be packing and moving to the BA building. Besides moving my own stuff (which isn't a lot), I have the joy of helping the academics in my building. Yes, fun times. Yesterday, I spent my whole morning and afternoon chucking out old crappy machines - e.g. super duper old fax machines and printers. I foresee a lot of whinging from a lot of the staff in the coming weeks. I think the huge challenge with people especially in the education environment is change and transition. It's not always the easiest to welcome and embrace but I think over the years of working in the corporate, I have no choice but to embrace it. To see the positive and to move with it. Mum said to me recently quoting from a famous motivational author, 'Change is the only constant thing in life'. How true is that?

More changes will slowly be coming through in the next few months. For one, it's a break (I wouldn't want to say an end yet because I never know what God will call me to do in the future). But it's a break from something I have been doing for 6 years. A couple of very close friends know what I am talking about. I have still yet to break the news to everyone. But after a long hard reflection and speaking to people, I think it's about time. It feels surreal... and in September right after camp, change will take place.

For every ending, there is a new beginning.

Hello mid week...

2011-08-03T13:42:00.002+10:00

And can the weekend come quicker. The craziness of work and stress has finally caught up on me. Thank God I didn't catch the cold/flu bug. But there's something that took it's toll over the weekend. Tummy cramps which then developed to bad gastric pains. I have been feeling nauseous and heavy headed lately. And no, it's not a sign of pregnancy or anything ok. I have just been taking too much strong medication and finally my tummy succumbed to the pain. Mehhh.. not fun. Anyway it didn't help that I had a long busy weekend with Beautiful Woman and then a long day on Monday.

I volunteered for Graduations on Monday. It was held in MEC. Oh my...pretty disorganized. My colleagues and I were helping out wearing the most hideous looking vests- fluoro yellow with a major 'i' at the back. Thank God no one I knew were attending their graduations then. Anyway, I noticed something with the graduates nowadays. The girls dressed as though they are going clubbing or to a ball. I'm not kidding. Some of the girls were wearing the shortest ever dresses with the highest ever heels. And then they curled their hair, you know those big wavy ones. They have the thickest ever makeup as well. I was directing them to their gowning rooms and part of me was thinking, are they for real!? It's a graduations for goodness sake. Some wore lacey dresses... and others even wore long dresses with chunky necklaces as though it's for a ball. O M G! So yes, I sound like an aunty now coz' I cannot understand the 'generation' nowadays! hahaha..

Anyway... I am so looking forward to the weekend where I get a little more rest. I'm so glad today is quiet.. I can now sit back and breathe! Not for long though..

Another week and Beautiful Woman...

2011-07-29T17:09:00.002+10:00

I survived the first week of enrollments. Enrolling domestic students into the system and looking like an idiot at times because I am still new to all of it. But in the end, I was slowly getting used to the tab and F and shift keys. I was even competing with my team leader on how many people we can enroll! I beat him and joking teased him for being so slow. The week is over but next week will be even crazier.

Beautiful Woman kick off tonight...it's a bittersweet feeling coz' I am actually feeling extremely exhausted. Doesn't help if you're suffering from bad stomach cramps and popping Naprogesic like no tomorrow. Ahhh the joys of being a woman! Mehhh...

And then Graduations is on this Monday till at least 9.30pm. Oh my...! Please don't fall sick Jolyn! One of my academics joking said that... and he said what will he do without me! :P

Not to forget there's camp preparation underway. Just thinking of all these make my head explode. But I am trying to keep as calm as possible. Nothing is going to change if I panic and freak out.

Anyway off to BW soon..

P/S : I think I still look young. Apparently I can still attract people who are 5 years younger... eeeeks!!

When you lose track of time...

2011-07-25T17:14:00.002+10:00

And busyness catch up on you. This is my day! Or at least my past few weeks! I have also been losing track of times constantly. I didn't realised that MIFF has already started until Yogi mentioned it.

Today, I was so looking forward to going home at 5pm today. Until a text from Sarah reminded me that we are celebrating an urbie's birthday dinner. Oh my.. Monday night and out. I feel like almost dying already. Tomorrow is another day of craziness. Although I realised, the art of small talk is very useful during enrollment times.

Just to give you an idea. Almost all the professional staff is assisting the Student Admin team with enrollments. We have just picked up the system a week ago and now we have been thrown into the deep end to enroll students. Mind you, it's not easy at all. We have students sitting next to us and we have to enter all their correct details in. The system is so old school - DOS!! O M G... And there's a lot of shortcut keys, tab, and Shift, F... etc. I had a chat with one of the students while waiting for help with my enrollments team leader. He's from China.. He's a funny one. Sometimes talking to them make the process less painful and a little more entertaining. Anyway right now I am waiting for the clock to tick.

This whole week is just going to get busier. Next week is international enrollments and we will have heaps more 'fun'. And then BW is this weekend. I'm looking forward but partly reluctant due to the craziness of work. I can't wait to see Sarah Choi again though! Miss her heaps. And Tara will be starting soon! YAYYYYYYYYYYYY!!

Last weekend was good. I met up with Hisham and then we waited for Yogi to finish up her sewing class. Then we hung out till the movie. Jolvin joined us too. It's so nice to have old friends back here. We even spotted Geoffrey Rush smoking outside the Forum theater. Hahaha.. not bad. An Oscar winner! But that's not the first time some of us have seen him. I saw him years ago taking the train from Glenferrie. I love it when celebrities act like normal people...going about their own business.

The catch up with Hisham was so good. He is the Queen of Malaysian gossip. Hahaha.. and I realised a couple of things we have in common as media people.. We can really tell stories and we understand each other's lingo. I think Hisham is a better story teller than me. He made me laughed so hard. If you're going to MIFF - please stay away from a movie called COLD FISH. It will damage you for life! Well kinda.

Anyway my conclusion to Jolvin is that Yogi and I have very similar tastes in films. We all went to watch The Salt of Life, an Italian film. The guys found it slow but we both enjoyed it... :)

Ohhh I can't believe how time flies. August is the busiest ever month for me. And it's also when dad and mum leaves. Gonna miss them heaps. No more home cooked meals and super duper clean house!! :P Hahaha... but they will be back at the end of the year. NICE!

Okie, I'm off now.. so sooooooooo tired.. meh!

Reason for every season...

2011-07-08T15:17:00.003+10:00

There is a reason for every season in our lives. There has never been a time that God has never reminded me that I have been placed in a certain somewhere for a certain reason. Last year, when I made the decision to leave my comfort zone and the facade of glamour, some couldn't understand and there were times I wondered whether I made the right choice.

After 5 months in the other side of the media fence, I was offered an opportunity to go back. I accepted the offer but things didn't come to fruitation. A recent news broke out regarding the cost cutting of the company due to the new owners. I heard stories of people being made redundant. It was so sad the way they were put out of job. My friend told me the environment is terrible. And right now looking back, I knew for sure why God directed my path and avoided me from going back. But the reason for all these doesn't stop here.

Two weeks ago I hear an amazing news from Tara. She's coming to work at Swinburne with me. When I first left the company, Tara was very sad. But then I ended up working just two blocks away from her and I felt God saying He isn't done yet. I am still going to have an opportunity to reach out to her. Then when I didn't go back to the media job, I wondered whether it will continue. And yet again, she's now coming to work for Swinburne and the chance to touch and impact her life continues... Yay!!

Not just that. At the beginning of this week, I had a call from my head of academic whom I work very closely with. She had a terrible and sleepless weekend. There were allegations made against her which she was trying to find a solution. And then she was asking me probably to reorganize some of her meetings as she had to go for her regular hospital check ups. She told me briefly that she had breast cancer before. I instantly knew I there was a reason why I am working with and for her...

So today, after a long hard week for everyone, I decided to take a walk to drop of a couple of forms for signature approvals and I made my way to the cupcake shop. I bought a large red velvet cupcake for her and a mini passionfruit cupcake for my new colleague. I gave it to her during lunch time with a little note. She was very grateful and said she'll share it with her grandson when he comes over the weekend to visit her. How cute is that!!! Hahaha...

There is always a reason for why God has placed me there. When times get tough, I am always reminded of the people He has given me to impact, influence and simply be a friend....

P/S : Ant's leaving in less then a week's time. I will miss him... meh!

Signed, sealed .... and delivered

2011-06-29T15:11:00.002+10:00

I'm officially employed by uni. Signed off all the forms and HR just sent me a copy of a staff ID form. I feel and look horrible today so I'm not going to be taking my staff picture yet. My colleagues and I were frantically filling out the forms yesterday to ensure that we wouldn't miss this week's pay cycle. If we do, we would have to wait for the next 2 weeks to be paid. Darn it - so hard when I have been living on weekly pay for the past 5 years. Well except for my contract work in the media agency at least. Hehehe... budget budget budget!

Last week I spent hours with a couple of academics tallying and counting the total of their exam results. It required a lot of team work and attention to detail. It's so shocking how some students put so little effort in their studies. A lot of them were below the passing marks. And then I think to myself, most of them sound like they are international students. *Ahem* a fair bit of China ones. And then there's more travel arrangements for the academics. They just keep coming. The most challenging thing is that the flight quotes keep increasing if they are not locked in immediately. But then I would need to chase up for several signature approvals before we can action anything else. Ohhh well.. that's the story of my life as an administrative staff.

Anyway back to workie work. There's so much to do and so little time in the day! Meh!

A trying week...

2011-06-23T13:52:00.002+10:00

You wouldn't know how important a person is until they aren't here. First week without my team leader and my manager in training has been very challenging. Things got out of hand, people demanding everything to be done their way.

The straw that broke the camel's back happened yesterday. There was enormous amount of confusion over the staff traveling process and a very rude academic who sent me a rather condescending email. But what really made Niagara falls stream down my eyes was when I was about to pack up and I heard him by the corridor of my office telling someone else about my email and how he shot back at me. The finance team leader was in the office at that time, and she told me to quickly pack up. Before I could do anything else, I just couldn't contain it anymore. The lovely Scottish academic who was around came out of her office and asked me what's wrong. I didn't tell her but she just said, 'Some men here can be pigs! Tell me if there's anyone who's mistreating you!' They both assured me not to be too affected by what he said.

The thing that really got to me is that I offered only help and support. And yet he snapped at me. But that wasn't enough. He 'insulted' me and told people at the corridor. It made me feel that I wasn't good in my job and I wasn't doing enough. I used to think Joan my dragon client was bad. But right now I know that no matter where I work, there is always going to be one unreasonable .... for a better word 'jerk' or 'biatch'. There are always going to be people who thinks that they deserve to treat others like crap.

I do wished I was stronger in that situation but I think sometimes there's a limit to everything. And yesterday it was beyond what I could bear. The result of all these made me realised that everyone else did appreciate what I have been doing. My head of group came in this afternoon and asked me if I was ok. Only a couple of people saw but they were nice about it.

But what made it better was while driving from Brian place to Sarah's for urban life, I decided to park in a street nearby and called Jolvin. When I asked him where he was, he told me he's parked on the same street as me!!! God's timing is so perfect! After praying and lotsa of consoling, we headed to urban life. It was a great night. Good to have Sri and Chu Tiong back. While Chu Tiong was sharing about his revelation, I realised something. What I felt - the insult and pain was just a tiny bit of what Jesus did for us. Jesus loves us and came for us - with all good intentions, or rather a highest calling. To bring redemption and reconcile us to God. But yet, the very people He came for were the very people who scorned at him and hung Him on the cross. How amazing is His love for us?!

Farewell for my team leader...

2011-06-17T14:47:00.004+10:00

Meh! My team leader is leaving today for her maternity leave - 12 months. She will be deeply missed. She's the wealth of information and knowledge. For the next couple of weeks and months, there will probably be more hours put in and lots of training required with the new staffs. I think I am considered pretty seasoned and 'old' now. Two months and counting. My contract still hasn't been finalised but for now, I am enjoying the benefits of good hourly wages. Although I must say, I don't get paid for my holidays and I don't get Roster Day Off (RDO). Guess what?! Part of working in uni is the ability to accumulate RDOs! YAYYYYYYYYYYYY! :) Hahaha.. so every month I will have an extra day off! Lalalalala...

Anyway I spent this whole morning shopping for morning tea. We spent $80 on cheese, chips, chocolates and cakes. I think I am pretty good at shopping for groceries and parties now! :) Right on budget and there was more than enough nibbles for everyone.

We had a meeting right after the farewell and OH MY!! The workload is going to be piling up real soon. Not just that, I realised a lot of people who work in the academic environment are very much stucked in their own ways. Maybe it's because of being an academic and teaching. People tend to think they know best and since they are good in telling people what to do, they find it hard to be told what to do. But really, my job is to keep calm and to assure them that I am here to help. I was just telling my parents, I have quite a good relationship with my head of academic. She likes to show me her shopping spoils! And sometimes she will whinge to me or roll her eyes to me when someone annoying comes to speak to her. At times she would be so stress and a little out of breathe that I will tell her, 'Breathe.. Breathe...!' Hahaha...It's funny!

I also realised that some of my colleagues - be it professional or academics find it hard to let go of things. There is a lady who used to work in the research team. Her role was changed due to the restructure, the faculty has streamlined roles. Since I started until now, she has refused to move and clear out her stuff from her old office. She has now physically moved to her new desk but all her old stuff are still in her old office. One of my colleagues was telling us that she even comes in early to have breakie at her old desk!!! What the!! Anyway it has already been more than 2 months and they will give her a final deadline to move her stuff. It's just so weird to know that people are quite patient and nice in the education environment.

If this happens in the corporate media companies, people wouldn't even allow a week, let alone 2 months to clear off an old staff members' things. Ohhh the joys of working in a uni! :)

Anyway the planning for US is currently underway. I have booked the accommodation for San Francisco and NY. Will be staying in good old Hotel St James in NY.. :) right in the heart of Times Sq! Love! I am still finalising the places in LA and Las Vegas. Booking flights and accommodation for 4 people in 4 cities isn't the easiest to do. Considering how thorough I am with my research. Trip advisor, booking.com and watching the exchange rates are currently my daily tasks.. I think I should be a part time US travel consultant! Might earn some extra money doing that. Hahaha..

Anyway weekend's here. Meeting Jolvin for dinner at Crown tonight. Apparently he's booked us to enjoy some fine dining. Hmmmm.. better than Vue de Monde? Hahaha. Ok no pressure. All will be good.

P/S : I had the longest ever degustation dinner last Saturday night. We started at 6.40pm and I had to leave at 12.30ish to pick Jolvin. The girls said they left the restaurant at 1am!... Crazy huh?! But it was indeed a great experience. I think the best and most interactive fine dining experience in Melbourne. It hasn't beat TRU in Chicago yet. But was pretty close.

I need to walk up and down the stairs more in my faculty.... Need to lose all those fine dining food weight!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The cutest girls

2011-06-16T12:02:00.004+10:00

The two little girls are fast growing up.
Yogi and Ant were saying that Hanna is looking more like Dana.

Check out the below pictures...

Grandma's cutting Hanna's hair... she sits there quietly without crying..

Does my hair look like Grandma's? Isn't she soooo adorable?!

Dana and Hanna drinking milk...Yes, Dana still drinks from the bottle! Hahaha..She even fell asleep while laying on me on the bed..

Above and beyond!!

2011-06-10T15:38:00.003+10:00

I am writing now as a four eyed monster. Correction, I am long sighted. Technically I should wear it only while I am working in front of the pc and while driving at night due to my mild astigmatism. But really, I am still not quite comfortable wearing it. I will wear it from time to time.. hehehe.. I can't seem to work properly wearing them yet. Feels too weird. Mind you I can still read well. It's just that images look slightly sharper with it.

Today is a great day! After a week and a bit of waiting and wondering, my manager sat me down at 2.45pm and gave me feedback on my interview. He said I was the top interviewee of all the candidates. It was a really good chat. I even brought up the question of taking leave in October for my US holiday and he said it wouldn't be a problem. We chat more about holidays and he even said he will send me details on cheaper accommodation in New York! How GREAT is GOD!! His favour always go above and beyond me!

He said I also have very great feedback from the people in the faculty. It was so good to hear that. I emailed one of the lecturers whom I get along with coz' she has the same obsession with Anthropologie and she told me, 'I never doubted you a single minute!'

And not to forget, I was almost wondering what the boy's been doing. I had a terrible dream of him a couple of nights ago. Told Ben about it and he laughed at me! What the!!! Why like that one?! Anyway, just to receive a response from the boy is good enough. He's ALIVE and well! Yay!

So this weekend, I have a lot to celebrate. Queen Sheba's birthday at Vue de Monde and my job offer! Wohooooooo..!! Life's great! And the long weekend...! LOVE!

Four eyed monster...

2011-06-09T15:05:00.003+10:00

I used to think I have pretty good genes. Almost perfect teeth - without a single filling and a 20/20 vision. Exactly a week ago, I had a reality check. No matter how good your genes may be, your surroundings and lifestyle will somehow eventually catch up on you.

After one and half years from my first eye check, the optometrist told me, you have borderline short sightedness. 0.5 to be exact. I didn't even know what 0.5 meant. It was all foreign for me. She encouraged me to wear them while driving at night to help with my vision. But other than that she said it is alright. I ended up looking for a pair of glasses straight away. Almost everything looked stupid on me. Until I found a nice one which eventually costs me a leg and an arm. I was thinking, if I could at least look ok, I must as well pay for it anyway. It was pretty depressing initially. I think no one could understand my sadness except for Yogi. Welcome me to the four eyed monster club! Hehe...We both blamed it on the long hours in front of the pc.

Today, I got a text message that my glasses are ready. I'm actually quite excited which is a little weird. But I constantly tell myself, only wear them during driving. I don't want my eyes to get lazy and dependent on them. So for those who are looking forward to see how 'nerdy' I will look, you wouldn't have much chances.
Jolvin told me I might look smarter in them. Whatever! As if I don't look smart enough. Hahaha..

P/S : I haven't hear from Jolvin aka Bear Grylls for 2 days now. He is currently in the middle of the ocean diving. Everyone ask me - WAH, HE DOESN'T NEED TO WORK ONE MEH? Ask him, don't ask me. I have nothing to say.....

Another cold morning...

2011-06-07T13:16:00.002+10:00

As if it's not cold enough outside, our office building is blowing out cold air. I had a couple of academics complaining. Thankfully there is a fan heater in our office. So my colleagues and I keep our door close and have the heater on. It's even too cold to go to the toilet or the lunch room. Pretty ridiculous. Heheh..

I am stuffing myself with lotsa of ginger assam right now. The craving for chocolates is pretty bad today. But the ginger is slightly helping ease my cravings... Eeeeks!

It has been so hard to get out of bed lately. I have been sleeping as early as 10.30 and still find it hard to get out. **Sigh**... Silly cold weather. But then again, I much prefer cold than scorching hot though. Missy Jolyn - stop being like an old academic and stop your whinging! Mehhhh...

Back to workie work!

Assertiveness...

2011-06-06T12:23:00.003+10:00

Mum and dad used to often tell me that I need to have more assertiveness. My sis-in-law is one of the most assertive person I ever met. I think sometimes being the youngest in the family makes me soft in that area. Somehow at the back of my head, I know that my brother and my parents are going to pick it up after me. But it hit me the past few years that I am no longer a child and sometimes in order to get things done, you have to be assertive. Otherwise people will walk all over you and you will never get things done. And the worst is being taken advantage.

This morning, an unfortunate customer service consultant had to be faced with my wrath. I have been given different and conflicting advices the past few months from AGL. Since we had our solar panels installed, I have been having so much trouble getting things done and the worst part is being charged a ridiculous amount of money to reconfigure the meter. One of the tricks as many would know is to tell them, could you please transfer me with the cancellation department. He did and I spoke to the consultant asking him the fees of termination. Of course I didn't end up canceling yet but I will definitely make a change over in December.

The problem is they could not justify why they were charging me additional fees for something they did not action. My colleagues were saying 'Good on you Jolyn!' at the background. In the end, the consultant rang me back, apologized and said I will only pay the fees that I was quoted by the main energy company. They will alter my bill and credit my account. How dodgy are they!?! If I didn't query or argued with them, I would have been cheated of the additional charges they applied onto my bill. Yay!!!

To be honest, I am generally a reasonable person. I will not yell and scream at anyone. You will just hear a very stern voice... or at least I try to? :)Heh...

Event turned out very well. The total tally of salvation is 81. And there was great feedback on everything. We managed to clear out the place before midnight which is quite a success. Thank God we only do this once a year! One of my friends asked if we do it every week. All the event planning team would end up in heaven if we do that every week!... :) heh...

Hmmmm... this week is going to be slightly quiet. While the boy goes diving on the boat in Cairns, I will be spending some time with my parents, my bro and family and the girls. Yayyy.. Vue de monde on Saturday night for QS' birthday!

One day and counting...

2011-06-03T11:41:00.002+10:00

The weekend is very near and one day to event. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. Early morning start tomorrow, going to be picking dad and mum. But before anything else, I need to warm up the car tonight just in case it dies on me or something. I haven't been driving dad and mum's car that much coz' it's a little bigger than my Tarzan Yaris. Oh well!

After dropping dad and mum off, I'll have to head to off to DBC to prepare for events. Just to make sure everyone is not freaking out and there's no domination of Scott Lim or in another form Jon Tan! Ps Matt's going to be around too so all will be good. We really pray that we can start on time. And those whom I invite - p/s : Yogi and Yi Ling, don't miss the opening performance ok!! Too good to miss.

Anyway this week has been quite manic as well. I think mainly because of the recruitment that is going on in my faculty. Yesterday I had to go through about 30 academic applications. Just had to check if all the details are there. Oh my, I was surprised by what I found. You would think if you've managed to study your way through to achieving a Doctorate or Professor, you'll be able to understand simple instructions but no...! Hmmm, I've actually come across a lot of loopy fruitcakes in the area of education. Not entirely a bad thing but I think sometimes studying and doing too much research does weird stuff to your brain. I think this is called 'High IQ, Low EQ'!

Anyway I look forward for tomorrow actually. But more 'happy times' for me. Reimbursements and debrief after. Ahhhhhhhhhhh... and then there's probably Mamak Night in August and camp in September. And maybe Amazing race in October. Right now, my holiday in October feels so far away!! :)

And tonight, catch up with the US trippers and Jun Yi...Will be trying out Jap food at Heirloom. Tell you if it's nice.

Mid week ... interview

2011-06-01T12:07:00.003+10:00

It has been a while since I got quite dressed up for an interview. I haven't worn a skirt, shirt and jacket altogether in a long long time. Traffic was horrible this morning. Maybe it was the extremely cold morning, cars are taking a longer time moving. I had this annoying tiny Charade in front of me this morning and the driver was a humongous guy. He was driving as slow as 20km on the West Gate. Don't you just hate it that drivers leave a huge gap between their cars and the vehicle in front of them. I always tell Jolvin, it's as though they are making room for a few cows to come through...! What the heck!

Anyway, I think I went well. The funny thing is, my manager actually wished a few of us best of luck yesterday. And guess what - he is chairing the interview! Ok, and this is not bias yeah. We have to answer all the questions raised in the interview and there's external staffs on the panel, too. Will have the answer by mid next week. Fingers crossed.

Event is 3 days away and dad and mum's arriving on event day, too. Can't wait for them to visit again! Yayy! Yummy cooking, very clean house and garden! :) Hehehe...And I can't wait for the rojak sauce my mum bought from Penang! Yummilicious!

Anyway lunch time's soon.. Ciao!

P/S : Yesterday was Dana's 3 year old birthday. On Monday 30th May, Shia gave birth to baby Katelynn... :) Yay!

Almost end of a crazy week...

2011-05-26T13:13:00.006+10:00

This week was a bit manic! On Monday itself, I had a confronting encounter. Just imagine being on the phone after work talking to my new person allocated to me from church. Then while walking through the park at about 5.05pm when it is still bright, a weird looking man walked past me. I was thinking, what is he doing, then I realized, he was flashing himself. What the heck! Just when I realized the incident within a split second, my new person across the other line asked me, 'So what do you do during urban life?' I had to answer him with a calm response although a part of me was trying to fathom what actually happen a second ago. O M G. I used to hear stories about flashers from other people but I can't believe it happened to me. Thank God nothing bad happened.

The next morning, I spoke to my colleague who has been here for 8 years. She advised me to report it to security. I did and the security manager came up to take down a report. It was so weird explaining the situation. I think he felt slightly awkward as well. Anyway after 5 minutes of interviewing me, he came back with his other work colleague and they both told me that they have security cameras around so they will have a look at them. My finance colleague said it's like CSI! Hahaha. Anyway security was also nice enough to offer escorting me to my car everyday if I want. Wow, good service! But really, I don't need it. I will just walk the longer way! No short cuts in the dark. Heh!

This morning, I came in to a rude situation. I left my keys in the office so I couldn't get in. Then I was about to walk down to get breakie thinking I will have a bit of time to spare and I bumped into my colleague. She told me to help her out with setting up and cleaning the boardroom. I quickly went up and went into the boardroom to have a look. I was about to pick up some bottles of water and juices which looked like they were half drunk and the academic 'yelled' at me! I looked at her and said, I was just doing what I was told. She went off at me and I told her I was only here to help. Another person was in the room and she looked like she's not from the uni. So I just kept my calm and walked out. Just after, my colleague came up frantically and was offering to help and the academic started giving instructions. I helped were possible and in the end, she came by to our office and apologized for yelling and panicking. Ahhh.........Oh well! I mentioned it briefly to my colleague about the morning fiasco and she told me I can actually report it if I am not happy at the way she spoke to me. She said no one should be spoken to in that way. I said I'll let it go this time around.

I think working at the corporate industry has really strengthen me a lot. I thought I was a weakling. My dragon client used to yell at me a couple of times and twice she managed to make me cry. But I always remember my boss telling me that I am not saving lives and to keep telling myself not to take it personally. My bosses even stood up for me. So this time around, when an old academic yells, I let it slip. I hear that she's not well too. So all the more, I have to apply grace in this situation.

The day had a big turn around though. I sent out an email advising my group of academics about certain systems and processes in place and where I could assist them. I had three compliments from the academics. One of them sent me and my head of academic a lovely email :

'Great follow-up Jolyn! Clear, practical advice, links, attached key document, and a very generous offer to provide support. Customer service at its best.
Terrific work.'

It's nice to know that people appreciate your work! ... I love my job! Lalalala. Oh by the way, I am having an interview on Wednesday to get permanency in my role. Hmmm, it's going to be very interesting because almost half of the panel will be people I have already worked with. I'm not extremely nervous, so all good!

Ohh by the way, the boy has been so sweet. On Monday after a bad day at work, I came back to a little surprise! He decorated my room with some white flowers and post tix notes. And he made room for more polaroid photos on my dressing table!! :) Yayy!! Gotta take more pictures then!

Ahhh, glad the weekend is near!

Changes

2011-05-17T11:17:00.001+10:00

It has been 7 weeks into the job. I still love it. Permanent applications are closing soon and hopefully interviews will start happening. Fingers crossed, by end of this month, I will be permanently employed!

Winds of change are fast happening around me. Especially to those who are closest to me. Yogi has finally quit her job and decided to embark on a journey of discovering and trying out the new. I am so proud of her. Finally she has taken the step of faith! Sometimes you've just got to step out of your comfort zone into the unknown and you will realise your worth.

Another close friend is leaving to the UK. He finally has the courage to do what he has been dreaming of for years. I remember we were sitting on the Sydney ferry over the New Year's period last year and we spoke about his future. I encouraged him to pursue it. Make the move! It will definitely give me another reason for travel - this time to the UK and Europe. QS, Yogi, Jolvin - let's go next year? Although I must admit, he will be greatly missed. I just can't imagine urban life and church without him.

And finally, God came through for Jolvin!! :) Yayyy...the boy will be working 5 and a half days soon. It will be a change for him as well. Adjusting to full time work and the long hours. But that would mean less fishing? **Grin**

On a side note, event is about 3 weeks away. The nerves is starting. Bahhhh! Ohhhh and I realised how much I hate the new yahoo beta. I can't seem to filter through my emails now because it takes forever to load. I had to scroll through about 3000 emails to find my camp booking form!!! In times like this, I wished I could have done it old school all the way!

Back to workie work..!

Wintery morning

2011-05-10T16:18:00.001+10:00

Hello Winter, why have you come by so quickly? I was enjoying Autumn the past few weeks until you came today. I thought wearing a dress, a thick cardigan paired with leggings and boots were enough but I was wrong. It felt like New York's winter for a moment until I realised I am walking along Central Garden instead of Central Park.

In October, the boy and myself together with two other friends will be heading to LA! Yes, you heard it right. We have been talking about it for a while and the AUD exchange rate has been too tempting to resist. So last weekend, MAS had a sale and we all decided to take the leap. Book book book!! Planning is on the way. We're looking at LA, San Fran, Las Vegas and maybe a trip to New York again? We'll see how we go.

Event is drawing very near as well. Everyone has been working hard and long for it to all come together. The planning and practices are always the hardest. Frustrations, stress levels... but at the end of it all, when it comes to the day, all those doesn't matter anymore. Just to see the results is all worth. Our upcoming planetUNI event 'X' is on Sat 4th June at Dallas Brooke Centre. Spread the word! :)

Mid week blues...

2011-05-04T10:18:00.002+10:00

I am suffering from mid week blues. It doesn't help that the monthly girl problems is here again. Bah! Hate it when it happens. Especially with all the cramps and gastric pains.

Last night at 2.48 am I was woken up by a phone call. The whole panicky ordeal lasted till about 3ish. Thank God all is good now. This morning when I woke up, I thought it was a nightmare. Oh wells, things like this doesn't happen often to me. Hope it will never ever happen again. And really, watching too many movies doesn't help me either. I think of weird stuff and the worst possibilities of situations.

Masterchef is back on this year. I watched last night's episode and was in a bit of tears when John (the one who suffers from cerebral palsy) refused to plate up his dish because it wasn't good enough. He's so brave and determined. I have yet to pick my favourites as it's still too early.

Traffic has become bad to worst lately. Mainly because Easter hols is over and school's back on. It takes me about 1 and half hours to get home. Driving to work is ok. And for the past 2 nights, there was Justin Beaver's concert! Oh my....I saw all the teeny boppers walking to Rod Laver.

This weekend is Dana's early 3 year old birthday. Jolvin and I bought her pressies over last weekend. Today, I'll be going out to hunt for huge wrapping papers to wrap them up. She's so blessed!! Oh and Jolvin's going to be seeing her today. Dana's first trip to the dentist! Hopefully she doesn't freak out!

Mid week blues... please go away!

Can't be stuffed...

2011-04-29T15:37:00.003+10:00

One more word about the Royal Wedding and I'll lost the plot. Seriously, isn't there better news to talk about then this. Oh come on! Goodness.

Anyway the weekend's almost here. It feels pretty weird having such a short working week. No complains though. I like!

The one thing that is worrying quite a few people at planetUNI is our event dates. Yes, that's right. We're still waiting for a confirmed date as it is either too early or it clashes with other times. Oh God, please please help us! I am not actually working on anything - e.g. promos, stage/props, dance but the thought of how pressed for time is making me pretty nervous. Just trying to keep the team calm. We'll get there somehow!

Can't wait for tonight's dinner. The boy's preparing home cooked Japanese food. :)

Printer malfunctions

2011-04-28T15:58:00.002+10:00

Dear Jolyn,

Thank you for caring and being so fast in organising what others had constant problem with. It is so nice to have you here.

:))
....................

An email from one of my academics. This morning I came in with a group of people stressing. The printers on my level were falling apart. Literally. There are 3 and they were all going crazy. Two ran out of toner (which didn't have spares in the building) and 1 is totally out of it. O M G. Just what I needed after 6 days of being on holidays.

Note to self, 'Calm down, Jolyn'. The academics came to me and asked me whether I was meant to look into it. I said not really but the two trainees are currently away on holidays till Monday so I will see what I can do. With all my years of training in media (the very fast pace environment. If you procrastinate, you will get your butt whipped) I quickly emailed my team leader who is located at the other building. She told me who to call and what to do. In the end, she had to come over to help me fix the toner coz' there wasn't any here. Hands black, halfway eating my lunch..we managed to fix it. I called the service guy in the morning and he came in the afternoon. Happens to be a Singaporean guy.. We had a chat and he told me he's planning to travel around Asia this month. So that was my day! Fixing printers and informing the academics that they are now working fine. Happy printing people! Just don't break them again please. All bulk printing goes to press!

I love my job actually. The little things I can do to help others out and make their lives easier. And to receive a simple email like the above, it makes it all worth it even more!

Oh by the way, I also found out today that my manager likes Masterchef! Wohooo! We're excited about Season 3 launching this Sunday. I told him I met Adam and Callum in person. A good topic to create conversations while in the lunch room! :) yay!

P/S : I am seriously going to buy a new laptop. But it's not going to be a MAC book. No convincing needed. I just need something simple, fast and easy to use. I don't want to relearn shortcut keys and besides, my parents are using it too. Don't nag me when you see me. I'm paying for it, my money, my choice!... :) unless you wanna buy me! heheh..

Yay to the long weekend...

2011-04-23T11:26:00.007+10:00

Hello.. I have 6 days long weekend. My work gave us an extra day on Wednesday. But unfortunately in my case, no work, no pay. Oh wells. Can't complain though! I spent last Thursday throwing away examination papers. Yes, you heard it right? There's a university policy that we have to keep papers for 6 months and after that we need to dispose them. And guess what? My colleague wheeled in a huge bin and all I needed to do it chuck away loads and loads of exam papers. Hehe... I saw some 'incredible' marks for the exam scores as well. One person managed to score a 5 and a half over 100 for an exam! Wowww..! Unbelievable! Anyway I still love my job! :) My bosses are so good and understanding. I was even told off by my colleague for starting work too early. 'Jolyn, don't tell me you're working before 9'... STOP! STOP! Hahah.. how funny!

Anyway the super duper long weekend is here. I had a great start to it. Jolvin bought us premium tickets to watch the musical 'Rock of Ages'. I 'hinted' so many times to him that it was one of the musicals I wanted to watch in NY's broadway. He bought it last year and we finally went for it on Thursday night. It was superb!! Very different from the usual musicals. A lot of humour in it and I actually love the supporting actors more than the lead. The show ended with a standing ovation from the crowd. It was THAT great!! Go watch it if you have the chance. It's well worth it. The songs are mostly during the 80s.. just when I was born. And just a warning, it's a little raunchy. Bras and all! :) haha..

Yesterday, I had to face one of my biggest 'fear'. I lost a bet to Jolvin and I had to snorkel with sealS and dolphins with him. Eeeks. And finally after all the persuasion and reminder that I was the one who lost the bet, we made our way to Mornington Peninsula. We brought our own wetsuit and snorkels. Jolvin wore his 6.5mm thick wetsuit and got teased by the instructors. Hahah.. they so wanted his.

The only time I went down the water was to see the seals. Seriously, seals are one of the smelliest sea creature. We also saw one of it peeing. Ewww...Anyway most of the trip was sitting on the boat and freezing my butt off. Ohh, we didn't get the chance to swim with the dolphins but we saw two swimming. It was an experience but I doubt I'll do it again. Swimming in the sea isn't really my thing. But I do love just sitting on the boat and enjoying the breeze. Thank God, I don't have boat sickness!

So in this year alone, I have done a couple of 'scary' things. Well not scary in a lot of people's books but scary enough for me :

1) Roller coaster ride in Ocean Park
2) Snorkel/swim with seals

After snorkeling, Jolvin wanted to go fishing. I went for a nice walk along the town. I came back and he said he caught a mini shark but had to throw it back coz' it's not edible. I ended up sitting, reading magazines and seeing him catch a couple of fish. There were so many, 2 baby sharks, 4 pinky and 1 flathead. We had to throw back the 3 pinky coz' they were too tiny. So in the end, the night ended with 1 pinky and 1 flathead. And guess who ate it? Jolvin cleaned and scaled them. He told me to take them home to cook. Hehehe... :)

Check out the pictures!

Fisherman with his catch..

After all the catching, cleaning and removing the scales.. :)
my lunch!

Okie that's it for now... 4 more days of holidays! wohoooooooooo...

P/S : I miss you QS!

First week at work..

2011-04-14T12:26:00.000+10:00

It has been a while. I have almost abandoned my blog. Of all the weeks I choose to start work on PS Conference week. No wonder I am getting slightly tired. Out of home by 7.15 am and back from conference at about 11.30 pm. I'm so glad the weekend is almost here. I just want to sleep a little more please?

I actually like my job. It has only been 5 days but so far it's has been very good. I look forward to work every morning. I hope it stays this way. Okie, to give you a bit of background on where I am, I'm currently on a short term contract (under my agent) to work for my old uni!! Yes, that's right. I'm in the education sector now. It feels a little weird because I spent 4 years of my uni life there and now I'm back as a staff. But then again, I think I can still pass as a student. Hehehe.. still young looking ma.

My role is as an Administrative Officer in the Academic and Research Support team. Basically, I am working with the lecturers/tutors. The group I'm overseeing is pretty big. About 30 over academics. I haven't met all of them yet. I had a really good chat with one of the lecturers. She's so lovely. My manager mentioned that generally the academics are really nice. But they also love a chat so they will talk and talk to you. Since I started out here, a lot of them have been giving me advises and encouragement. They gave me a bit of background about the restructuring and they said that it will get better over time. I think coming in as a newbie into the new structure is good. I don't know anything about it and I have come into a new frame of things. I know there's no perfect workplace but for now, this is by far the best.

The lecturer told me yesterday, I hope you stay. She said, don't feel that you've left something big behind because this place is a good one to be in. I think people often get the misconception of working in the media. It's all about the glamour and prestige. But when it comes to the actual working environment, I think I have made one of the best decisions in my life. I'm not saying that my past experiences and degree wasn't worth it. But I realised sometimes you've got to give up the very things that you hold close to your heart. And when you feel that it's time to let go and obey, God will open doors of opportunities beyond your wildest imagination.

And not to mention, when I actually decide to go into permanent employment, the benefits and pay are pretty good. So I'll see how the one month pans out. Oh and I have an extra day of holiday - Wed 27! But then again, I am on contract so no work, no pay! Chew... nevermind la. Better not whinge. I have an extra day off! Yay!!

Hmm, and guess what. I currently work in an office of my own. It's really quiet but I think my short stint in M2M has already trained me to work in a quiet place without getting depressed. It's actually nice. I don't have anyone staring at me while working or girls yacking about their whole life story. Oh, happy days! But they will be bringing in more people. Hope they are nice!

So for now... I really like my job! And of course the good parking - thanks Brian, Royce and Christina for loaning your carpark spot. I hope you all stay there for a long time! Hahaha..

My week as a...

2011-04-06T17:15:00.002+10:00

Serial interviewee. This week has been pretty full on. Interviews after interviews. For the past 3 days, I have woken up early like any office worker but not to go to work but rather to go for interviews. I can't complain because at least I get interviews. I'm almost successful. Will let you know once I sign my life away when the contract comes through.

This offer which I'm taking up requires quite a bit of faith. It's not something anyone who likes to play it safe will do. But sometimes in order to explore other opportunities and to discover what keeps me ticking, I have to take some risks. Even it means choosing something which is a little less stable and different from what I used to do.

I was woken up by my agent this morning at 8am and he told me there's an interview organized at 10am. I said I'll make it. Just imagine rushing like mad, trying to makeup in the car (yes, I became one of those girls who try to put eyeliners in the car), and praying very hard that I will be early. Sure enough, I was 20 mins early. The iphone comes in handy at times like this. I could check the email my agent sent me regarding the interview details. All went well...I'll probably be starting work very soon. So long unemployment and bumming! :)

I think I'll have to learn how to juggle everything again. My new workplace will require me a bit of travel. So, more time in the car and perhaps more quiet time in the mornings and evenings.

For the past few weeks, I've also been enjoying home cooked meals. I did complain to Jeremy and Ai Mee that Jolvin hardly cooks for me. So in order to prove me wrong, he's been cooking a lot. He told me to enjoy it while it lasts! Hehe.. true. But we did work it out that it's cheaper and healthier. I'm still working on my dieting and exercising....Eeeks! Have been good with controlling my carbs intake! yay!..

Anyway...the guys will be going to Grampians this weekend. So that leaves me with heaps of catch up time again....

Hong Kong ...

2011-04-01T14:46:00.016+11:00

Here's the long overdue pictures of Hong Kong...

On our first night when we arrived in HK, we had char siew and chicken rice. Very average but while walking around Kowloon - which is where our hotel is... we stumbled upon this dessert place. Shaved ice cream, flavour Black Sesame and Tofu-fah! Yummmm... sooo nice! Jolvin said that HK has more dessert places than any other! He was right!

The next day, Say Meng and I decided to visit Ocean Park. Even though I have been there when I was 7, we still pick this out coz' apparently it is way better than Disneyland. So... here I am, 19 years later... It definitely has expanded heaps from what I remember.

We headed to the Aquarium first. Check out this cool tube thingy...

Then we checked out some goldfish aquarium and there was the wishing pillars where you can write ... I made a wish here!

We also saw some pandas... the normal black and white ones and the red ones too..
This is one lazy panda... so cute though!

Say Meng suggested we take some rides... Here's one which I suggested, 'Raging Rivers', this one was fun. Way better than the mine train!

The next day we went to the Peak, where the Madame tussauds is.. Hello, this is Say Meng posing as a celebrity!

Seriously, I was kinda disappointed with the selection of wax figures. I expected more HK stars!! Where is Daniel Wu!!!

Say Meng trying to be a silly sumo...

At the Peak, there was a little shopping centre which had really cool stuff. We found this shop called, G.O.D - Goods of Desire... and this was the wallpaper outside of the shop...

We headed to Central and Say Meng told me that there's an old-school vintage Starbucks at Dudlee... while walking up, we saw Chow Yun Fatt!!! Wah wah!!
But we didn't dare ask him for a picture. Meh! Shy la. Ohh, and Say Meng found out that the interior of this Starbucks was done by G.O.D! How coincidental is this?!

At night, we went to see the Symphony of Lights at Tsim Sha Tsui..

The next morning, we had breakie at Mido Cafe. Apparently it's a very old cafe where art directors used to hang out. Hmmm.. the time we went, no art directors lo. More like tourist. Darn, kena cheated. Looks at me.. acting like a pure old school 'art director' ..stirring my milk tea with my pineapple bun.

Later that day, we went to the Ladies Market.. did some damage and met up with Joanna, Say Meng's friend. She hung out with us almost the whole day.. and we managed to check out the famous Australian Diary Company. The pudding ... TOO SWEET! The pasta with char siew ... TOO WEIRD! Only thing nice is the scrabble eggs.. nice and fluffy. But seriously, why would you line up and go through the rudeness of the waiters just for that?

At night, we went to Causeway Bay. By then, I was already tired of seeing so many people and crowds. We rested at this cafe where we could look down to the view of the pedestrians on the streets. Say Meng order this drink called, 'Chui pin'.. meaning whatever or anything in Cantonese. We laughed when it turned out to be pink and apparently it tasted very weird. Lesson learnt I hope! :P haha

Ohhhh and one of the last few days.. It was a Sunday, we ended up in Philippines.. this was the makeshift shelter I was talking about.. crazy!!

And we had dinner on Sunday night with Ada at Tin Dai Fung.. food was superb!
Picture a bit blur.. Say Meng la! :P haha

And one of the last few days, Say Meng stumbled upon some fresh milk sold in 7-11. Seriously, the chocolate milk is so good... This is the milkman standing at the hotel lobby..

Oh... although I didn't see him in person, I found this in the MTR station..
hahaha.. DANIEL WU!!!

The over all trip was good. But I doubt I'll go to HK again. Too crowded. Travel partner was a good sport and extremely patient! But from now on, I can't do this already... Unless it's traveling with a group of friends. Promise I made to the boy!

Stuff the MAC applications..

2011-03-30T15:20:00.002+11:00

Warning : For all MAC users, please don't be angry yeah. This post might be extremely offensive.

Stuff you, MAC! Ant, there are many reasons why I don't want to get a MAC book. Reason number one and it happened to me today. All documents amended on the MAC book could not be opened properly. And the worst thing happened - it was for job applications!!! Damnit!

Thankfully, one of the application is for a company which I have a friend working there. So they were kind enough to ask me to resend. The second application was for my agent which is also acceptable coz' they were also nice enough to tell me that it couldn't open properly. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... make me crazy only. And yes, I know you can convert the files into Word format. But really, it simply wasted my time and other people's time. Hmmmmph! Okie enough of whinging and hating Apple for a while.

Back to good things. I had a superb catch up with Ps Lisa. Love the times we can have a chat over a meal. Time always flies when we have our girlie talks. Hahaha girls can really talk. She's indeed a spiritual mum to me! Love!

Since coming back from my holidays, I have been settling into life in Melbourne well. It feels weird to resettle myself even though it was only 3 weeks of break. The boy and I went snorkeling on Monday afternoon - the joys of unemployment! Such slackers! But really it was one of the scariest experience for me. I think the fear of the unknown and having to do something which I have never done before really made me so nervous. We went to Brighton beach and snorkeled. Obviously, we didn't go to the deep end of the sea. Just the shallow part but it was good enough to scare the pants out of me. I must say, it was quite an achievement for someone like me. He was extremely patient - teaching me the correct breathing techniques and how to use the flippers. I think I don't have the choice either. In April during the Easter break, we will be going to snorkel with dolphins. By then, I might have the courage to do it. Hopefully God will zap me with a huge amount of courage during PS Conference! :P

Ohhh and guess what? In HK, I took an old-school mine train roller coaster for the first time in my life. I doubt I will ever do any more roller coasters. Even though I closed my eyes during most part of the ride, I felt an out of body experience. As though my heart has just dropped out of my body. Seriously, why do people enjoy this? I think I am just not a dare devil. So unless you pay me a million dollars to do it again, I don't think I will ever go for one.

Will upload some HK photos shortly. Wait till I get my lazy bum going on resizing the photos. Heh!

Leaving..

2011-03-25T20:42:00.002+11:00

It is always a bittersweet feeling when leaving Malaysia. Mainly because dad and mum are still here. In less than 24 hours time, I will be on the jet plane and back to my home sweet home in Melbourne. And most importantly, I will be back to reality. Three weeks is just enough. Although it would have been great to spend more time with my friends whom I haven't seen for a while. But in reality, everyone works. It has been great that all of them are happy to drive me around and to spare their after hours catching up.

The last friend I met up was Yie Woei. It wasn't really planned coz' my schedules were full until my niece canceled so I had a night free. She came to pick me up at 10 and we caught up for a bit. Thank God for late night eatery places in Malaysia! This is something I actually miss. We both realized that we are in the next stage in our lives. No longer in uni with no cares in the world except for passing exams and handing in assignments on time. It is the real world with real responsibilities and real issues to face. We can't just ignore or run away from them. *Sigh*, in times like this I really wish I could be my little nieces..But I guess that's part of growing up.

Reality is awaiting me in Melbourne. The challenge of looking for a job with the need of humility and courage to put myself out there again. God, You are in control.

Recently, I spoke to an ex-colleague on whatsapps. She poured out her frustrations and has made a decision to finally leave the company which she has worked for for 7 years. It's a huge step for her. But she finally found the courage. She said I seemed happier once I made that tough decision last year. Before we ended the conversation, she told me, Please pray for me! I assured her that I will. Time and time again, I still encourage her that she needs to step out in faith... coz' she never knows what is out there. She told me, 'Please remind me Jojo..whenever I wavered in my decision to leave.'

There are many times in our lives, God allows us to go through situations where we can't quite understand. But even in the midst of being in that situation, we can still bless someone and encourage them. My very first message for urban life was being the hands and feet of Jesus. If something as simple and small as this can touch a person's life, I will do it over and over again!

Will see some of you soon.. miss you Yogi, Cyndy, Tara, Sarah Choi & Lim, urbies, my brother and family... and of course ...... *drumroll* - J.L.Y.H.

The boys..

2011-03-23T04:36:00.002+11:00

I met up with Boon and Nick today. It has been years since I last saw the boys. I still call them boys coz some things never quite changed. They are 2 years older than me.. Coming closer to 30 in the next few years but it felt like yesterday when I was 14 and they were 16. Growing up and spending my teenage years with a bunch of crazy boys. They still often try to pull my leg till I never trust what they say.

Boon realized that I have exceptionally great memory for details.. He reckons it's a gift while I often tell Jolvin it's a weird 'talent' coz I always remember the most trivial and somewhat useless information. If only I could remember my studies better, I will be a genius!

Anyway it was a great catch up. I can't remember the last time they both took me out. Seriously, they have become terrible chain-smokers. My life will be cut short if I spend too much time with them. And as always, they become lobsters after a glass of alcohol. As always, I watch and wonder to myself, how did our path crossed? Boon has said it more than once, 'girls like you don't exist in my world'. Perhaps there was a reason why I knew them when I was 14 and not now. I wouldn't have been friends with them. But I believe God always has His reasons for placing me in their lives....

Last week...

2011-03-22T20:23:00.005+11:00

I can't believe how quickly my holidays is coming to an end. Well technically I will still be on holidays when I get back as I will be unemployed. 1 week in HK, 2 days in KL, 4 days in Penang and the next 4 more days in KL. It's a bittersweet feeling. Home is still Melb but dad and mum's still in KL so it isn't as complete.

The past few days in Penang is extremely nostalgic. The smell, the surroundings, the roads, the food and most of all the people. It was good to finally be back to where I spent 17 years of my life. Shia, Siao Cin, Eileen, Ke Wynn and Jessica.. It was nice spending some time with you. Shia, the mummy to be, I can't wait to see the little bub and please please don't tell me stories of pregnancy. I almost had second thoughts on ever getting pregnant. 'snip' .. Urghh..too scared! Shia is the most unpregnant behaving mum to be. Haha..she kept saying I am just pregnant not cripple.

Siao Cin..Congrats girl! About time you start wearing the bling on your finger! Thanks for driving me. Oh hopefully I will see what I can organize on 10 December!

Eileen..It's funny how we used to argue over the stupidest things. ahem... The girls know what we mean. Praying that the next time I see you, you will have met the right one!! :)

Going back to Penang brings back heaps of memories. It's like going down memory lane. I passed my old school, this stadium which I used to have sports day, the driving school which I 'modeled' for (yes, literally), church and places I used to hang out. Most of the places are still there. I noticed a lot of the changes at church, the older people are growing older, the younger ones has extremely matured and changed, and those around my age still remains more a less the same.

There are a few standard questions and comments which never changes : 'Wahh so fat already!' 'Got Bf already?' But now my question has been upgraded to 'when are you getting married?' or for my relatives 'when can I drink my tea?' *sigh* some things are so predictable.

The one thing I really got out of this trip besides having some good catch up time with my close girlfriends was being able to bond and have meaningful conversations with my two girl cousins (one is direct, the other is slightly distant). I think it's because our age gap has drawn closer as they have both grown up heaps. It was nice seeing how much they have grown and matured. My grandma doing well, too. Besides the fact that she is domineering and complaining constantly. We are now trying to master the art of patience and numbness.

This trip was indeed fruitful! Met a lot of people. Anyway I know that at heart there is still a lot of Penang-ness in me. But Melbourne has become home. Can't wait for this Saturday.. I wanna hug Dana and Hanna!

Hello from Hong Kong...

2011-03-14T02:45:00.003+11:00

Hi all... I am finally blogging after a long hiatus. Well considering how often I used to blog when I was in Melbourne working. I am currently at the hotel reception lobby using their Apple pc. No, Ant.. I am still not convinced to buy a Apple laptop here. I have almost spent all my money in my debit card on everything else except Apple! :) hehehe.. Okie, before I start my blogging diarrhea, I want to say - What would I do without Say Meng?

Thank you for your constant patience and easy-goingness. My ever accommodating shopping bag carrier, Canton/Chinese speaking (even though the HK people here look at you like alien) and reading travel partner. Seriously, I would be totally lost. I couldn't even blog without him. I wanted to logon blogger but it was all in Chinese. What the?! He navigated me to change the settings to English. Hehehe... and he says the silliest and most direct stuff. Typical Klang boy!

Anyway, the past 5 days, I have open Say Meng's eyes to a whole new world of shopping. I think Yogi, Ai Mee and Yi Ling are already familiar with my style of shopping. Hehehe... Jolvin hasn't had the complete taste. But yes, I don't take very long to decide on buying stuff. Speedy Gonzales!

I think being in HK for 6 nights 7 days is a bit much. By yesterday, I was getting tired of seeing too many human beings walking around. Every where you go, you have people... right, left, center. And many of the China people. They get really annoying when they start speaking loud loud. Today, we got down at Central and went to one of the exits. For a moment, we thought we were in Philippines. It is the Filipino maids off day on Sundays and guess what.. they were 'camping' and lepaking along the bridge and hallways of the International Finance Centre Mall. The weirdest thing is that they even built make shift shelters with partitions and booths. It is super funny. Say Meng took a picture although I told him not to. They were everywhere, even in Maccas, hogging the place. There's just too many people here. I miss my quietness and space in Melbourne. No one pushing their way through you. But I must say, it's an experience. Traveling makes me count my blessings.

Since I came here, I had a couple of people thinking I am either mixed blood and even one thought I was a Japanese. Yes, they can tell I am not from here! Bah...! That's why I kena cheated in Ladies market la. Didn't bargain enough. Hmmmm....oh well! Thankfully the Aussie dollars' strong. Now at about 7.8..... what theeeeeee!

We're going to Macau tomorrow. Enough of shopping but more eating. Please please.. all fat go away!!! Will try to exercise and swim the fat away in Melb. May all the fat be burnt away in Malaysia with the disgustingly hot weather!

It's also nice to wake up to the boy's phone calls in the mornings... :) ... Ahhh.. Missing you heaps! But it's ok... I am eating and shopping on behalf of you! Heeeheee...

Okie, enough for today. Darn tired already. Packing and rearranging my buys again tonight!! Tata...

P/S: Say Meng thinks I have OCD.. I like rearranging and packing my bags. I do it every night after all my shopping for the day. I even packed his last night. Hiaaa... it's not la ok. It's just that I like to see things neat neat. Jolvin is blessed man! :P Shameless self-praise, I know!

Leaving on a Jetplane..

2011-03-07T12:08:00.002+11:00

In less than 24 hours time, I'll be jetting off. Will be back in Msia and heading off to HK on Wednesday afternoon. My list of shopping is not that long but I'm pretty sure I would be filling my luggage with heaps of buys! Muahahaha..:) I am almost done with packing. There's only 5 sets of clothes so that would give me more reason to stock up a new wardrobe.

I'm running some last minute errands and ticking off my to-do list. Laundry done! Packing almost done! Urban life notes/to-do-list done! Check ANZ travel card done! Paid bills done! Just the last thing is to print my HK excel sheet documents... then I will be more a less done.

While I'm doing this, I've been texting nonstop.. getting my friends contact numbers in Msia and texting friends here to say gooooooodbye! :) I love my friends..! And I just found out from one of my high school friends that his gf works as a sales manager in HK Novotel at Wanchai! Thanks .. thanks for telling me now! Bahhh! I booked our accomodation already lo. It's at Novotel Kowloon. Darn it! Could have gotten a discount!

As I am doing all these, I feel a little sad to leave the boy behind. In the next 3 weeks, please keep the 'lonely' boy company yeah! :) Jerm, James, Ant... Be nice and be good! And Dave - I can imagine your look now. Hmm..guys maybe you should start playing badminton together again?

I'm also entrusting urbs to Ai Mee, Jerm and Sarah. The least they could do is to have a party when I am away. That's what Ai Mee said. :P

Anyway, I'm off now. Will try to blog in Msia or maybe HK when I can. Ciaooooooo!

Last day at work....

2011-02-28T12:10:00.002+11:00

After today, I will be officially unemployed again! Bah! But instead of feeling sad, I am actually feeling rather good. Hmmm, gonna be a bird again and fly to 'I don't know where'. But all good. God take me wherever You want me to be.

As for now, this is my last day emailing from my work email and even blogging here. It's so sweet that so many of my friends texted, email and whatapps me saying, 'ALL THE BEST FOR YOUR LAST DAY!'..

I was hit with a client deadline this morning. Didn't go to the toilet or get up to get some water/tea until 11am. Now I can breathe a little. My boss said I could leave early! Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

I'll be catching up with Ps Matt for lunch today. A very delayed one after not sitting down with him since last Sep. Oooopsy! Hehehe..

Eat & Meet at church was pretty good. Although messy but everyone did an amazing job at coordinating and running with the flow. No point stressing yeah? We can only improve as the weeks come by.

I realised I actually miss my urbies so much. It was good to see some of them on Sunday, sitting together again! :) HMMM... LOVE!

Anyways, before I end here.. I must say, the boy is one of the funniest person I've met. Seriously, he made me laughed almost all night yesterday and even this morning, I can't stop chuckling to myself. And after last night, I truly appreciate these simple things in life - phone booths and IDD calling card. Thank God for old school !

Happy Friday!!

2011-02-25T11:22:00.004+11:00

'Happy Friday' is a term used very frequently by my colleagues and clients. Everyone's much chirpier on Fridays. Today is going to be my last Friday at work. I've got one more day to go - Mon 28/2 and from there, there will be unpaid holidays, waiting and some quality time with loved ones. Not that I am complaining. I feel somewhat like a hippie doing this. Free spirited?! Hahaha..I think it's good to take time off to reflect and do the things we hope to do. Life's extremely short.

Today, I was reading the updates on the Christchurch quake and there was a gallery of people who have died or are still missing. I couldn't help but think to myself - did they know God? It sent shivers down my spine. These people were just running their everyday errands and suddenly disaster hits. I think what made it feel as though it's so close to my heart is the fact that one of their television station's were hit - CTV. It made me think... what if it happened to us here? It made it so real when social media is involved. News excerpts below the pictures had comments of some of the the victims. One of the guy was meant to walk his sister down the aisle at her wedding. A Japanese girl wrote on her Facebook status that she's looking forward for future happiness. A 38 year old guy was waiting to be a dad for the first time.

I can't help but think, am I living my life well and to the best? Am I making every moment count? Many times, disasters hits us with questions and reflections of our lives. But over time, human nature tend to forget and move on.. until something else strikes again. A few people mentioned - 'It feels like the end times!' Yeah, perhaps so. A glimpse of it. So question is - what are you doing with your life right now? I want to live to the best and live it for HIM. (Urmmm, him is not Jolvin ok - it's Jesus).. :)

Thursday morning torture...

2011-02-24T13:33:00.004+11:00

I left home this morning thinking to myself that if I park at South Yarra, I'll have a nice slow walk to my office. Little did I know, I ended up being stucked in traffic conjestion for 2 hours. Yes, two LONG and PAINFUL hours. Thanks to a truck which was overturned on the Western Hwy. At times like this, I wished my car was like Fifth Element. Flying!!!!

Anyway 3rd last day of work. My clients are getting unbelievably more demanding. Maybe that's the nature of client businesses. Annoying and demanding. Oh well, I'll have a break from traffic, excel spreadsheets and annoying demands for about 3 weeks or so.

I realised humans are never satisfied. When I have a job, I complain. When I don't have a job, I complain. Hmmmm....Oh well, like what I said to Jolvin - no work, no money. Our need to work is all because of SIN. Aiiiish... !

I'm definitely going to miss the email threads with the girls. Hopefully my next job allows me to email freely too. And what would I do without QS and Yogi's excellent knowledge on excels. Especially QS. If there's one of the many things I have taken out from agency land, it would be the extensive use of excels. Seriously, I have a love and hate relationship with it. Mind you, Yan used to study Excel handbooks during her summer breaks. After that, she could apply all the wonders of excel for our events/camp templates. Hats off to her!! I was superbly impressed. But really, I am no nerd! Heh!

Anyway back to work...weekend is very very near!

Please pray...

2011-02-23T11:24:00.002+11:00

For my mum...It hasn't been the easiest for the past few days. Dad and I have been praying almost every night. Many times, the most you can do is pray. Grandma's recovering but she's giving everyone around her a tough time. My mum and her sibilings have been working their arse off sorting things out for her and yet she can find fault at every little thing. Seriously, God - when I grow old, help me not to become like this? I pray that You will somehow work in her heart and life right now..

The past few days have been extremely hectic - emotionally and work wise. My boss constantly ask me to help him out. Hmmm..it's 4 more days till work ends so I feel that I need to do as much as possible so that things will be left clean and easier for him. I have been working over lunch and coming in earlier than usual to work. Today's the first time in this week that I can ease into things a little slower. He said, 'Jolyn, what would I do without you?' I pretended I didn't hear anything just so I don't give him any hopes or messages. For now, my future is still in a limbo. But I'm trusting that God will work it all out in due time.

planetUNI and church events are starting now so I can't help but feel that suddenly there's so much to do and so little time. Mental note - Keep calm, Jolyn! It helps to write a list down so that I wouldn't start freaking out.

Last night, the girls and I went to watch Michael Buble. It's been almost 3 years since I last saw him. He's still as good as the last time. Smooth, funny, charming and somewhat vulgar (yes.. lots of cursing). Naturally 7 was his opening act again... and for a moment, I almost forgot how AMAZING they are. Seriously! Superb! The sounds, beats and noises they make out of their human voice is unbelievable. Note : They are coming again on 30 April..go if you can!! It's highly recommended. Buble truly gave us a whole lot of entertainment during the 1 and half hours.

After the concert, I offered to drop Maria off and was stucked in horrible traffic at the West Gate! Stupid annoying road works. The four lanes became one. It took me 30 minutes to get out of that conjestion. I sped home to shower and wait with dad for Jolvin's call(Had to pick him and his sister up).

I am literally running on adrenaline at the moment. Tonight's discipleship so it's going to be another long day. It's ok - 2 more days till the weekend! I will survive!

Speak soon.. Ciao!

Real Monday blues

2011-02-21T13:29:00.002+11:00

I seriously feel sick in the stomach. I don't know what it is... but it could be a combination of everything. Maybe the stomach virus my boss left in the office. But today I came in and before I could even breathe, I checked my email and I'm already bombarded with loads of work. Hang on there, Jolyn! This is the last week of work here.

There's suddenly so much to do. And maybe the worry over the weekend didn't help much. Mum had to fly back on Sunday morning at 3am. On Friday night, after family dinner and resting and relaxing, we got a phone call from my uncle that my grandma suffered a stroke. Mum knew she needed to go back. So we spent the next hour or so searching for a last minute flight home. Had to forgo the Air Asia one coz' it worked out to be very expensive for a change of flights. Our family prayed the most over this weekend. I guess it's timely that I'll be going back in March. I booked this trip a year ago and who would have thought this would happen.

The Saturday meet up with Ant was good. It took my mind off the worry. Thanks Ant for that. I think Sydney did us some good! :) I just love the improptu catch ups!

I'm not the only one going through some drama and hiccups... I came into work and spoke to Yogi over email and she said QS is also going through a fair bit... Missy QS - I'll be praying for you!

Anyway off to continue workiework now..

15th

2011-02-17T12:56:00.001+11:00

Happy Last Day of CNY! In Hokkien we call it, ‘Chap Goh Meh’. It is the fifteenth and final day of the Lunar New Year. From what I remember, it is also the Chinese Valentine’s Day. I remember in Penang, young unmarried women would gather to toss tangerines/mandarin oranges into the sea, in a hope that their future spouse will pick it up. One of the popular places which people gathered and carried out this tradition was at Gurney Drive. But considering it has been gazillion years since I’ve gone back home to my beloved island, I’m not such whether people still do that. Peggen – you would know, Penang girl ma? Hehe... but not that you would go anyway. Got Hau Wei already lo!

Anyway, we’ll be having family dinner tomorrow instead of today. Mum’s cooking some simple dishes and Anna’s parents are also here. So it’s going to be a little bigger than usual dinner. Dad and mum told me yesterday that Dana is so happy that her maternal grandparents are here till she doesn’t ‘cai’ them much. In other words, she ignores them coz’ she have found attention with her maternal grandparents. On the other hand, Hanna is still not used to them compared to my parents. This is mainly due to my parents looking after Hanna for the past months. When my dad says, ‘Hanna, come here’. She will walk to him quickly in her ‘penguin-like’ style. It’s unbelievably cute!

This comes to mind that little children are very much a reflection of how we are with God. If we spend enough time with HIM, we will be able to recognize His voice, His prompting, His heartbeat and understand His nature. Then we will be able to walk a little quicker to HIM and towards His purpose for our lives.

P/S: I realised I have been blogging more often than ever. If only I was paid to blog! J I wished!

My colleague introduced me to Mediacafe and now I’m addicted to the new ads... Check out Jim Bean’s ‘Bold Choices’ movement. Real good!
http://www.mediacafe.com.au/_webapp_781707/Art_meets_ad_in_new_Jim_Bean_spot

Hump and numb day...

2011-02-16T11:12:00.004+11:00

Well I am not exactly feeling numb. Just thought it rhymes. But really, I am feeling slightly nauseous (No, please don't simply think). My big boss called in sick today due to gastro. Hope he hasn't left any of the gastro virus around the office. Just took some charcoal pills in hope that that feeling will go away.

8 more days before my contract ends, almost a month of holidays and waiting. God please come through for me yeah. At Your perfect timing! The offer is yet to be confirmed. But the chat with the current BB has given me an assurance that if nothing seems to work out after my holidays, there's still plenty of positions available within the agency land. And also, I still have my agent contact. Talk about transition... I have never been in such a career limbo. But somehow, there's a certain amount of faith that comes with being in this transition. Maybe it's the assurance that God will provide as well as a strong support from family, close friends and the boy.

In a couple of weeks time, I will also be meeting and catching up with some very old friends (in Malaysia and in HK). There's some whom I haven't seen in 10 years. Thanks to Facebook, I'll be meeting up with Ada, my Hong Kong friend whom I met during our Interact Club days in school. Then there's Nick, whom I haven't seen and lost touch for a billion years. Mum and I call him Malaysian, Jordan Chan. That 'kid' never grows up. He's 2 years older than me and still acts like he's 16. I remember once he tried growing a goatee... and he came to church with seemingly some facial hair.. when I went nearer to him, I realised it was drawn on. I said, 'NICK!! What did you do here?' He said he desperately wanted one so he took his mum's black eye liner and drew some 'facial hair' on. The friends I used to hang out with?! ...

Hmmm and also, I will not be driving for a good 3 weeks. Seriously, I am too scared to drive in Malaysia. And I don't know my way around so best to just be driven around. Back to teenage days! :) Hahaha.... The last time I went back, which was 4 years ago, some friends were kind enough to give me lifts! James Foo (who never horns even no matter how scary a driver cuts into his lane), Chris Leow (who was a crazy driver himself), Jeremy Teo, Josh Ong and Say Meng... Bah!! It's weird not being very mobile! Bah! Oh well, dad and mum's there too.. so all good!

Back to work again.. meh!

Made differently...

2011-02-15T10:16:00.002+11:00

I walked into the office today and asked my boss whether he managed to get the Valentine's card in time for his wife. He exclaimed, 'YES! YES I DID! There's some things you just can't forget'. Well said!

My other colleague came in later and my boss asked us what we got up to on Valentine's day. Before I could say anything, my colleague said he didn't end up doing anything coz' he just broke up with his girlfriend. AWKWARD!! My boss said, 'Oh, sorry I didn't know'. And me sitting next to him thought to myself, I just couldn't tell. He looks normal and carefree. No signs of sadness or anything.

Men and women are made so differently. I remember a few years back when Sarah my Korean colleague broke up with her boyfriend of 4 years. I came into the office early as always and realised she was in really early too. I walked to her desk and asked her how she was. And before I know it, she was bursting into tears. Even though my last break up was ages ago (say 4-5 years at that time), I felt her pain. It was as though something is piercing through my heart and you think to yourself, how can one feel so painful and sad. The worst is when a the person is unfaithful... the pain of hurt and betrayal is beyond words.

But then perhaps, there are those who just grew apart and the decision to go separate ways is mutual. Maybe that wouldn't have hurt so bad. But whatever it is, from the way I observed my colleague today, I thought to myself - men and women are indeed so different!

Okie, back to work.

P/S : Wee Li, give us a break la. Only 5 months in and you expect the boy to pop the question. Siao!

What's in the box?

2011-02-14T08:40:00.004+11:00

The to-do-list for 13/2 was to call the boy on Sunday night while he is waiting to board his plane to Sabah for his diving trip. I called and we chatted till 12am. 'Happy Valentine's day! Open the blue box!!' I quickly opened it and this was what I found!

Buttons with the box!

Oh lala....

I love Marc Jacobs!

How sweet is Jolvin Lee!!!!!!!!!!!!! We saw the similar watch in Sydney and he was telling me not to buy...he almost blurted something out. I got a little annoyed coz' I dislike it when people tell me stuff halfway. Hmmmm...but all he told me in the end was, be patient!! Okie.... it pays off! Love you so much!!!!!!!! Can you come back quicker please?

Buttons..

2011-02-12T13:25:00.003+11:00

Say Hello to 'Buttons', the surprise gift from the boy! Hmmmm not much of a surprise coz' I spoilt half of his plans. :( bah!

Anyway... LOVE!

3 weeks to holiday...

2011-02-09T21:16:00.005+11:00

Since having the iphone, I have been checking Facebook more often than ever. I told Jolvin my favourite part is checking 'News Feed'. It's funny how you get to know what people are up to just by clicking into that link. But to be honest, it is also depressing to read all the updates and check out those photos of people on holidays while I am stuck at work. It's a terrible feeling having to wake up early, go through the pain of the traffic and the worst part, not find a close car park. The past few days have been painful. I had to park about 15-20mins away from work...it's alright when the weather is good. But when it gets a little too hot, it's horrible! Anyway, I am just telling myself that I am burning some fat by walking and saving $7 from paid parking!

Urban life is starting soon and planetUNI and church will be getting very busy. But while everyone are in the midst of coming back to uni, work and life in Melbourne, I will be doing the exact opposite. In about 3 weeks time, I'll finally be going back to Malaysia for a very delayed visit. I can't really call it home anymore except for the fact that dad and mum are there technically. But I see them here so often that Malaysia feels very little like home. I don't even have a single piece of clothing left there. I think it's going to be very strange going back to a house that doesn't have any of my things there.

It has been 4 years since I went back. I know, it's a bit too long! But not as long as QS who took 8 years. I'll be away from the 7 of March till 26 March. Will make a trip to Hong Kong for 6 days right after I touch down Malaysia. My Hong Kong trip planning isn't as detailed as my New York list but I hope it's enough to get Say Meng and I by. Well, I think we'll leave it to some impromptu decisions here and there. I think I should start packing soon - and yes, I am always extremely well prepared when it comes to overseas packing! :) Feel free to employ me to pack your bags for you. I just love it! Definitely going to pack light and include my humongous duffel bag! Muahaha...

I'm excited but having a little mixed feelings as well. Not sure why... maybe it's because it has been too long since I've gone back? Thank God it's not CNY period if not I would need to meet all the aunties and uncles and will get comments about how I look. Mine you, mum's been reminding me that I need to lose some weight before my trip. Damn, Asian culture! Just imagine my dilemma here :

Shopping in Asia

Me : Hi, do you have XL for this?

Ah Lian salesgirl : No, sorry miss. The largest we have is L. But you don't need so big. M will fit.

Me : No, seriously. I need the largest size.

Ah Lian salesgirl : Okok, try the 'L' and 'M'.

I reluctantly take the 'M' and 'L' into the changing room to try. And really, I couldn't be bothered to even try on the 'M'. Straight away try the 'L' and you know what happens, I can't even get the L size skirt/ dress/ short up my thighs!
**Weight depression sets in.. Why the girls here are all so skinny! Why everything here cannot fit. Looks like I need to go shop at expensive shops like ZARA..

So yes, this will be my experience soon.. Wish me all the best! :) Dad and mum says we'll be driving down to Penang for a couple of days as well. Yay!! I'm planning to catch up with Shia who is now expecting, Siao Cin, Boon Hau....Can't wait. Pay back time Jolvin Lee - enjoy working! :) hehe...

Weekend, please come quicker!

Boxes from the boy...

2011-02-07T12:13:00.004+11:00

**Warning : Dave, if you cannot tahan reading the lovey dovey stuff, please stop here. Don't say I didn't warn you! hahah..

This is for you, Ant - in case you wonder what kind of creativity has Jolvin come up with. And Sarah, sorry la, I didn't realised you took the picture of Jol x 2.. hehe.

As promise, here's a little snippets of my gifts.

The boy left me with this box on Sat 29 Jan...The little postix notes reminded me to only read one letter per day and not to be greedy!

Inside the box, there were these.... letters for each day, his t-shirt, and a blue box...

The blue box had 2 other little boxes inside. One of the boxes had the French CDs in there..

And this one which is the smallest box.. I'm not allowed to open until I don't know when?! Chey... so mean lor, make me wait! My guess is 14 Feb? :) Valentine's?

Hmmm..can you guess what's inside that little smallest blue box? Please don't think it's a ring. Coz' I weighed it and it didn't feel like it. So what issit leh?

I'll tell you when I find out. Jolvin - can open soon?! :P

Rabbit New Year!

2011-02-03T15:49:00.001+11:00

Blessed Chinese New Year everyone! A conversation with my two close girlfriends have made me realised, I am not very Chinese after all ! Well, I do like Chinese food, movies, music (although I barely understand them), anything to do with the Asian entertainment but..... there’s a lot of Chinese customs and traditions which I don’t follow.

I remember being told off many times by my colleagues when I was working in Channel 10 for leaving my umbrella open to dry near my desk. I had so many of them say, ‘Jo, it’s bad luck to do that!’ I just look at them and said, ‘Urmmm, I don’t believe in it..so it wouldn’t affect me!’ Yes, yes... whatever luck there is.. I don’t have them anyway – I never win any of those competitions. And I think if I have God, so why need luck?! :P

I went to look up a couple of Chinese New Year customs and traditions and I think I have already broken the ‘don’ts’ more than once today.
Just to name a few :

1)Do not wash your hair – Urmm, I have already done it this morning
2)Do not say 4 – I said it today to the girls. I told them 4 people are going for the movies this weekend
3)Wear red or something new – Nothing is new on me today. And I am wearing grey and blue

And no, breaking them doesn’t mean I will have bad luck! I don't think I am the only one who have done the above today... :) right?

Anyway Chinese New Year has been a very quiet affair for my family and I since I can’t remember when. We used to spend them with our extended family when we were in Penang. But as I grew older, and moved down to KL, it has only been dad, mum, Ko and I. Or sometimes also without Ko because he would be in Melbourne.

I do have some fond memories of CNY. I used to be the only girl among my nieces (not Dana and Hanna ok!) who was daring enough to light the fireworks (before they were banned in West Malaysia). They still have illegal ones though. I love the Chinese New Year sweets – pineapple tarts my all time favourite and collecting ang pau!

Now as I grow older, CNY is a very simple family affair. Just dinner and family time.

Oh – issit 5pm yet? I smell the weekend!

Jol x 2

2011-02-01T10:19:00.002+11:00

Ant took this lovely photo of Jolvin and moi at Ai Mee and Jerm's wedding...
Hmmm, the boy is cringing and I don't know why?! I didn't pinch him wor!

I missh you!

Oh the pain of traffic!

2011-01-31T10:08:00.004+11:00

Welcome back to reality, Jolyn! School holidays have ended and my life is back to spending at least a good 1 hour in traffic conjestion. It’s only Monday and I have a feeling it will get worst throughout the week. But thankfully I managed to get the last free parking spot. It is going to be 34 degrees and there’s no way I will be walking 20 mins in the scorching sun if I park around Chapel. And no, I’m not paying $7 for parking today. I rather spend it on food or save up for shopping! :P hehe...

Ok, today it’s the first day the ‘new’ guy starts. I have a person sitting next to me now. So no browsing too much on ‘educational’ news. Well, if you’re thinking what those educational news are ... e.g. Daily Chilli, Celeb Fix, Hype, The Vines, The Age, News.com and blogs.... I know, I am so ‘knowledgeable’. But really, sometimes it’s good to take a break from work. Hehe... Well, I still have emails to entertain me. That’s if Yogi, QS and Ant have the time to entertain me.

It’s now the third day since the boy left for Malaysia. And yes, I am still coping well – no choice also la. He left me with a couple of surprises. Although I must say, it’s quite torturous considering my impatience. If someone gives me something, I will open it immediately. I can’t just let it sit there and not open. Hmmm, maybe it’s because my parents never really had the Xmas present traditions. So patience is the virtue I do not have when it comes to presents opening. So, the boy left me with a big box with more boxes in there. I don’t really know how many although I am sooooooooooo tempted to open all of them. Hehehe. And he left me with letters corresponding to all the days he is away. Hiaaaa... again, I am tempted to open ALL!!! :P Ok, self control Jolyn...!

The weekend past was good. I miss just hanging out and lazing around with Yogi. We both have so much in common. We even answered the baby picture game in the babyshower very similarly. Our love for arthouse films, musicals, SBS, indie/foreign music, Urban Outfitters, old-school.... Ahhhh, nice! I think Yogi is the only one who entertains my weird film choices - except for the 'Chi Lang Chi Puah' one. But other than that, she even laughed so hard at the terrorist-sheep bombing scene in Four Lions. I love you girl!

I feel like I’m sort of a holiday but not. Maybe because urban life hasn’t started and planetUNI events are yet to come. Church seems so quiet....a little weird! Anyway back to work now.

Currently listening to So Frenchy So Chic 2010 - courtesy from the boy. Looks like I would never need to buy a CD from JB Hi-Fi now. :P Pirate!

Yay and Nay!

2011-01-28T16:49:00.002+11:00

First of all Blessed Birthday Ant! I am so tempted to post a picture I took of you in Sydney but I think you might never speak to me again! :P Haha. Anyway thank you for your friendship in the past years. You have been a great listener, one of my very few blog readers, an urban life member and most of all a dear friend. I pray that you will have the courage to pursue your dreams and be God-lead in every decisions that you make.

Now, YAY to the weekend and NAY to the boy leaving tomorrow for a month to Malaysia. Hmmmph! Too much!! Anyway I should stop whinging and get on with life. But let me complain a bit can? :P Hehehe...

Thankfully I have dad and mum here with me. If not I might start sleeping over in Yogi's. :) Not to worry as well, the next coming weekends are already filled up. Georgie's baby shower tomorrow and some hang out time with Yogi? And then the week after is Yogi and Ant's combined birthday dinner. And also spending more time with dad and mum! Yayyyyyyyyyyyy!

I'm off now... time to wrap up workiework!

I love a holiday...

2011-01-27T15:53:00.004+11:00

We should have short weeks every month! Just a random week day will do. Yesterday 4 of us went for a day trip to Geelong. It was originally supposed to be 8, and then 6 and then it ended up being just 4 - James and Cynth, Jolvin and moi.

It was such a relaxing and enjoyable trip. No stress, no real plans. Just going with the flow. James and Cynth is such a lovely couple! Jolvin keeps pointing out that James is very much like me and Cynth like him. Hahaha.. It's funny to observe other couple's dynamics.

Anyway our trip began at 11am. Driving up to Geelong to Tuckerberry Hill. We had a simple lunch and then started picking the blueberries. Nice and sweet! Between Jolvin and moi, we picked almost 3 kgs?! James and Cynth picked about 1 kg and mostly huge ones.

Then we headed to Queenscliff's Town Centre for a walk around till almost close to 4. And then we headed to play mini golf. For the first time in my life, I held a golf club. It was quite fun although I must say, it requires so much concentration. It was a 18 holes game and by halfway, I was already getting tired and started hitting where ever.

Hmmm, there's one thing I realised about myself even more. I have very little patience with learning up new things and sometimes the impatience teamed with the lack of discipline becomes my stumbling block. For example, my favourite nephew Wern (who's 4 years older than me) is a very good guitarist. He used to give free guitar lessons in our church youth group. Well since he was one of the eligible bachelors in my church with such a talent, the class was made out of heaps of girls. And guess who's the laziest student? ME!! I took 3-4 classes and then gave up because the guitar strings were killing my fingers and my other excuse is that my fingers are too short to reach the chords. :P Now as I look back and observe girl musicians who strums the guitar so well like Brooke Fraser, Pink, Jewel, Julia Stone (from Angus and Julia Stone), I can't help but have a little taste of regret. Ohh, I should have been more diligent!!

Back to our Geelong trip. We had dinnner at this place which Jeremy and Ai Mee recommended, 'Jack & Jill'. It had a different style of serving - 3 to 4 different options for mains, nicely decorated and served per person. It was pretty good for the price we pay. It's some sort like a main course served in tapas style. Delicious! But don't expect some fine dining style.

After dinner, we walked along the Waterfront and ended up fishing for a bit. Jolvin brought his fishing gear along. And again, for the first time in my life, I learnt how to cast out the fishing rod with very little success. I almost cast it onto Cynth! :P Oooopsy. Faildotcom! Anyway we didn't catch anything. Headed home by 10ish.
It was indeed a pleasant trip! :) Can't wait for more of this random ones!

P/S : If you're wondering how my right hand is going.. the bruises are obvious now. It's getting better but I look as though I've been bitten by some poisonous snake. Can't apply that much pressure on it... no hitting the mouse against the desk in frustration when the system crashes! :P

Oh and also, I managed to get pre-sale tickets to Bruno Mars! Yayyy!

I kena 'rotan'

2011-01-25T09:14:00.002+11:00

Yes - literally. Check out my 'beautiful right hand'...
(You might be thinking the boy abused me, too).. Hehe..
This is a result of trying to bake cheesecake the second time around. My hand slipped while holding the mixer and I accidentally click the turn on button. Before I know it, the two mixers have already gone between my right hand.

And the weirdest thing is, when I checked out Ant's latest blog post this morning, this was the first picture I saw this morning. Hmm.. this is now my 'favourite tool'... Mum said thankfully the mixer doesn't have sharp edges or anything pokey. If not, I will be handless.

All's good now. Dad and mum quickly came to my aid - icing my hand and dad rubbed some ointment. The boy prayed.. and this morning, my right hand is still attached to me so all's good! :) The cheesecake better taste good!

Decided

2011-01-24T11:49:00.003+11:00

Sometimes we expect God to do the same all the time. When I left my old workplace, I had several confirmations. But this time, it wasn't the 'burning bush' experience. Yet I somehow knew it's another leap of faith. This morning I walked into work and saw an email from my current boss - contract's extended for another month. This was somehow a sign for me to make the decision. I emailed them and told them I'm happy to pursue the offer further.

Then an hour later, I received an email from Tara. She was told of the position they offered through her manager. But she decided not to speak to me about it until I spoke to her because she didn't want to pressure me. She wanted me to make it based on what and how I felt. So here I am - decided! New challenges are ahead once they confirm details and I would need to tie up lose ends. God, please help my every step of the way! Grant me favour from every side of the business.

Life's too short to continously waver back and forth in our decisions. QS told Yogi and I this morning a very sad news. Her aunt who have been residing in Sydney for many years with her son have been apart from her husband for many years. They finally decided to go back to be reunited with her husband. And news came in over the weekend that he had suffered a heart attack and passed away. Everyone must be still in great shock. QS - if you need to talk, I'm here ok.

So let's not live in regrets and 'what ifs'. Make every moment count and treasure the things that God has given you! Thank You, God for everything!

Decisions

2011-01-21T08:13:00.002+11:00

The weekend is right around the corner again. Thank God it's Friday! I am sitting down in my car right now. Not wanting to go into the office too early because I know work is waiting for me. And I am accumulating as much energy as I can to last me the day. It has been a frantic week. So much on my plate and on my mind. Career decisions to make and the fear of going back to where I left. I am giving God and myself this weekend for confirmation. GOD please speak? I want to know for sure that this is where You want me to go. Decisions, decisions, decisions. When we are little, our parents used to make them for us. As we grow up, they guide us through. Ah, growing up! I guess it's not so much making them but more of the result of the steps moving forward. We live by the decisions and choices we make.

Ok, I think it's about time I walk to my office. God, please help me finish up my piles of work and let the day pass by quicker, too....

Golden and Monday...

2011-01-17T15:38:00.002+11:00

Monday is back here again. The Monday blues isn't bad today. But I am somewhat quite tired. I don't know why even though I did very little over the weekend. Unless the Friday night sleepover in Yogi's might have destructed a little bit of my sleep cycle. Meh!

It was a great catch up with the girls. Delicious Salmon Don, ChaTIME (yes - third time since I came back from Sydney) and a really great Dan Aronofsky movie - 'Black Swan'. Advanced screenings at Kino. Natalie Portman is superb and extremely gorgeous. I always think she's a great actress but this time she has exceeded herself. But just a warning, it's quite a painful movie to watch. Morbid and very dark. I was covering my eyes for some parts of the movie while Yogi and QS laughed at me! Aiyooo, cannot la. If I see I will remember the scene for the rest of my life.

On Saturday night, Jolvin and I went to Le Grand Cirque. It was pretty good for the price we paid. But unless you've never seen an acrobatic performance before, I'll recommend it. We actually like the last act the most coz' it was different. Next week's Brooke Fraser. Hmmmm, my last Christian artist performance was Steven Curtis Chapman - 4 years ago. So will be interesting to go for another.

Today, I was working away and listening to the Golden Globes awards ceremony at the background. The other company office is actually watching it. I could hear the winner announced and bits and pieces of the hostings from Ricky Gervais. Colin Firth won Best Actor, Natalie Portman for Best Actress, Social Network for Best Motion Picture and Best Director... to name a few. Hmmm - should we watch The King's Speech, girls? Heh!

Okie, hopefully it doesn't rain today. Time for badminton practice tonight it's weather's good.

Why people so 'smart' one?

2011-01-14T15:45:00.002+11:00

'Sorry, the program is going to be fazed out in the next few months'. This was part of the conversation I had with an external media program support person in Sydney. What the heck! Thanks! Our internal media support team is so 'helpful'. I have been using this program since I started and have been highly dependent on it for the last months to generate reports for clients. Now, the external company is telling me it's going to be fazed out and they are replacing it with a new program which I have no idea it existed. I have never use the new program before and now I have to find my way through it. I even had to email the 'support team' in Sydney to get training. Thanks, Thank you very much for your lack of support! Bodoh punya orang!

And you know what I realised a few days ago. Our stationary stacks at my workplace have 0.7 mechanical pencil led for a 0.5 points mechanical pencil. What the!! Why are people so smart one? How in the world is the 0.7 going to fit into the 0.5 point?

Ok enough of whinging! Weekend's in about 1 hours time... Think Happy Thoughts, Jolyn! Maybe the salmon don the girls and I are having tonight might take away the crankiness...! Bah!

Blogging and instagram addict..

2011-01-13T12:52:00.006+11:00

I think I am addicted to blogging and instagram.
Thanks to Iris and Ant, I have been converting my pictures to instagram... - check out my 'work of art'.

Ant - here's some pictures since you've been commenting how 'picture-less' it's been! Iris - what have you done to me!?

Daddy feeding Hanna at our lounge...

Daddy carrying Dana - after dim sum

Jolvin playing with the two little girls on my bed - Dana laughing and Hanna bitting some random toy...

Jolvin and I at a park near the Sydney, Fish Market - photo taken by Ant

Baby showers... baby boom

2011-01-12T15:06:00.002+11:00

When a few girls are talking about baby gifts and what to get for a friend for her baby shower, it didn't hit me that I'm no longer as young as I would like to think. Sometimes I forget that I'm no longer in my early 20s. I really think I still am actually.

Until I had a reality check about a couple of minutes ago. A few years back, I had a couple of friends pregnant and giving birth to new bubs. But most of them were older than me. Say about 4-5 years? So I always thought I'm the youngest.

Today, I received news from Alishia that she's expecting!! Wohooo!!! I'm so happy for her and Ke Wynn. When a friend whom I grow up with is becoming a mum, I suddenly realised, I'm not as young as I would like to think. But then again, QS always says that 'Age is just a number'. Very true indeed!

Congratulations ShiaShia and Ke Wynn! :) Will see her tummy growing in March...

Entertainments for the year?

2011-01-11T14:03:00.003+11:00

I think I have this year's entertainment planned out. Well at least for the first half of the year.

Every year, the girls and I would have pre-planned events to go to. Now, there's more with the boy around. I think I've exposed him to the world of the arts a lot more - musicals, cirque....

Here's the events to look forward to :

Jan 15 - Le Grand Cirque (I'm giving this cirque performance another chance. They aren't from the same company of cirque du soleil. However, Wintuk in NY traumatized the girls and I). Hopefully no one juggles for 10 minutes in this show.

Jan 23 - Brooke Fraser - a gift for the boy

Feb 22 - Buble (with the girls). Gift for Yogi mama. He was superb the last time we went. Hopefully this is better or at least on par with the previous. Mine you, he was tipsy in his last performance but still good!

Apr 21 - Rock of Ages. Wanted to watch this in Broadway, New York but didn't get the chance. Hmm, can't wait!

Yogi and I said that if we had another chance to visit the Big Apple again - it will be purely to BROADWAY-Fied ourselves, SHOPPING and EATING!!! Can the rise of AUD dollars stop making me feel depressed? I wanna go US now...! Meh!

Okie, will be sitting down with Ps Matt and some of the event team to lock in planetUNI event dates this week. Weekend's gonna be filled up!

The weekend update - Small talks, Sand Sculptures...

2011-01-10T09:27:00.002+11:00

The reality of work has actually set in slowly. Traffic and parking was pretty good but that was because I left before 7am. I arrived at work before 8 - one and half hours early. Had a short nap in the car just to recharge myself for a full week. Bah!
My next holiday count down is Australia Day - Jan 26.

I spent last Friday afternoon marking all the public holidays on my calendar. Did you know we are going to have a long Easter holiday coz' Anzac day falls on the Tuesday of Easter Monday? So we'll be having Fri, Mon and Tue off! Yayyy! Can't wait!

The weekend gone was great! I was actually quite exhausted from the small talks on Tara's 30th. The reason why I dislike big parties is because you need to small talk all night. I find the awkward silence extremely uncomfortable. But for Tara's sake, I did it. Thankfully Jolvin and Sarah were there. I am particularly grateful that the boy came along despite not knowing anyone. I hope we'll not have too many of these awkward parties to go to. A quick and short trip to Jerm & Ai Mee's was good. I get to see the girls for a short time! Miss QS and Yogi. Can't wait for our catch up this Friday!

I enjoyed yesterday a lot! After lunch with church friends, Jolvin and I decided to make a trip up to Frankston to see the sand sculptures. I have been for one before ages ago when they had Disney characters done up. But this time it's theme is Creepy Crawlers. It was indeed creepy looking! The area was really small but we ended up spending almost 2 hours there because Jolvin bought a sand craft art for me to work on. This was my first time doing it. You know those pictures which have stickers which you can peel off. Then all you do is pour the coloured sands on different areas? It was so fun! We chose a caterpillar sitting on mushroom and blowing sisha.
I just love days like that. No real plans but ended up doing new and fun things together! Looking forward to Jan 26!

Ok, I better get back to work. Eeeeks.. blue Monday go away!

Celebrity crush..

2011-01-04T17:24:00.004+11:00

Most of us have our very own celebrity crushes. Iris loves Jake Gyllenhaal, Sharene loves Bruce Willis and Ashton Kutcher, Cyndy loves Michael Vartan.... and the list is endless. I think everyone actually knows who's mine - Daniel Henney and Daniel Wu. I have always loved Daniel Wu since my high school days. Last year, he finally tied the knot with his long-time girlfriend Lisa S. And NO I wasn't sad. Not so childish la!

As for Daniel Henney, no one knows how much I used to loveeeeeeee him more than Jeremy, Ai Mee, Yogi and Cyndy! Hahaha..they spent hours photo shopping my picture with his as one of my birthday presents a few years back. I had a picture of him and I pasted at my previous desk till most of my bosses and colleagues thought he was really my boyfriend.

But over time, I think we all snap back to reality. Especially when the person we meet far exceeds the imaginary celebrity crush! Ok, I still think Daniel Henney is super hot and good-looking. But, the boy's still the best at least in my eyes la ok!
I can hear my mum reminding me all the time, 'Looks is not everything, Jolyn'.

So, for all the girls swooning over Daniel Henney, he's off the market. Not officially but rumoured. He's going out with Korean actress, Lee Na-Young. Hehehe.. Ok that's my top celeb gossip news of the day!

P/S: Let me know who's your celebrity crush when you see me... :) I am kaypo!

So Blessed...

2011-01-03T10:42:00.003+11:00

I am extremely blessed. Some may say it's 'spoilt' but I beg to differ coz' I have never been brought up with an expectation that people MUST and WILL do things for me. Dad and mum have always taught me that God bless us with two hands and two feet to work hard and of course a brain to work smart. I once remember my parents telling me when I was little...We were in a coffee shop in Penang and we saw this disable person working to sell some stuff (can't remember what) and my parents said to me, if this person is disable and yet is working to make a living, then you should never complain about your situation because God has given you an able body to work.

I'm back from Sydney after 5 nights and 6 days. We caught an earlier flight because possible storms were coming through to Sydney and also because we went to the airport early. The check-in lady put us on a flight that was boarding in about 15-20mins time. So you could imagine the rush. We quickly prayed together that our check-in bags will also arrive with us. All went well. Dad and mum picked Jolvin and I up.

Nothing beats the feeling of being home. I still love Melbourne. The people here are friendlier and they even dress better! Haha...And to be honest, despite many people saying that Sydney have great Korean food... I seriously think it's so not true. We tried out two Korean places by recommendations and I still think they are not as good as the ones in Melbourne. So just to annoy Wee Li, I'll just say this - Melbourne is the best! :) Heehee...But I must say, Sydney feels a little like New York. Especially the old school commercial areas. The only two things I love about Sydney is being able to go onto the ferries - it's so relaxing to sit and zone out during the rides and the ability to get CHATIME bubble tea in more than one place (they now have it in Melbourne but it's only 1 store around Flinders). I think it's the best bubble tea place ever. And between Jolvin and myself, we had about 6 Large bubble tea.

Ant said he might have withdrawal syndromes from bubble tea and bridge (ah, yes - Ant, Rae and myself have learn up a new card game - Bridge). I have added a serious card game into my lack of card game knowledge. I used to say to everyone there's only two card games I know how to play - 'UNO' and 'My happy family'. And I'm not joking. I once remember Boon, Nick, Charles and Seong tried teaching me several times and we all gave up.

This Sydney trip was indeed enjoyable - more so of the company than the place. Iris mentioned once that the best time to know whether you can live with someone for the rest of your life is through a holiday trip. I think right now, I really could! :)
And I realised the boy's sense of direction is pretty good. Plus point! Heh.

I really love coming back from holidays having dad and mum around. There's transport home after a tiring flight. There's people to help me unpack (I seriously can't wait to unpack coz' I can't stand the sight of the luggage in the house filled with things that are not kept). There's people to do laundry and ironing for me. There's food prepared and this morning, there's even vitamins waiting for me! I so love my parents. And they even managed to buy me a jewelry box which I have been searching for ages. Yay!!!! I am SOOO BLESSED and LOVED!

Tomorrow's back to the reality of work but I am trying to keep as positive as I can. God, help me to know that there's nothing You and I can't handle together! Gambate!

Oh yeah and BLESSED NEW YEAR everyone!

In Sydney

2010-12-31T03:55:00.003+11:00

I dont really have much trouble sleeping in different places... But this time, I struggle to get decent sleeps on my holiday in Sydney. It is 3.57am and even though I have been tired from walking so much during the day, I automatically woke up at another odd hour. Yesterday was at 2am and after tossing and turning I got back to sleep...bah! Not good Jolyn!

Ant, Christina and Rae will be waking up in a few hours time to get ready and out to aim to get a good New Year's day spot for the famous Sydney fireworks. Seriously I didn't know the magnitude of how popular the fireworks are until now. They have many strategic fireworks sights and spots which are managed and had certain rules and regulations. People que up since early hours of the morning to get a spot. OMG!

I am partly thanking God that Jolvin and I are not doing this. Or I should say we chose food over fireworks. The boy managed to get us a table at Testsuya!!!! Wohooo! We were actually on the waiting list months ago and eventually got a spot due to a cancellation. Hmmm I so can't wait.

For the past few days, we didn't do extremely that much. Lotsa eating, walking and beach. We tried Adriano Zumbo desserts and they were pretty much a mere disappointment. The only good stuff I had were the salted butter caramel macaroon and the passion fruit tart. Everything else had fantastic presentation but very mediocre taste. I compared them like meeting a really good looking girl but once you know her, it's like .....fail.com. Outside pretty inside cannot make it.

We are halfway nearing the end of our trip. How time flies! I am nervous for the new year but I need to trust that God has it all in control even though I don't.

Ok back to bed... It's 4.20am.. Good thing can sleep in

On the last day of work in 2010...

2010-12-24T10:45:00.003+11:00

Traffic to work was so good. Seriously, I could just lie down on the road. I woke up later than usual but still got into work super early. You know when the office is dead is when the main door isn’t even wide open. I had to use my access card twice and when I got in, reception wasn’t even open. Hmmm.. Why do they make us work on Xmas eve? I don’t even know.... I am counting down till midday. Staring at my clock every minute hoping that it will pass by quicker. Bah! I know it doesn’t work. It actually feels like forever.

Both parents met each other last night for the boy’s birthday dinner. I was so scared that it’s going to be awkward. First time in this type of situations. But all was good – I hope? The boy picked up his new car yesterday as well. He was so excited as you could imagine and with that, I felt a bit bad that my present was going to be a bit of a disappointment compared to a car! Even though he bought the car himself. He was trying to guess the gift – a perfume? Nope – I got him a white Fujimax polaroid camera. I ordered it online from my favourite American store.. – which sells almost everything under the sun! He loved it and we even took one picture together. Polaroid films are so pricey. I got him a pack of 2 which has 20 photos. He’ll have to use his skills in sourcing cheaper ones on the net.

Aside from that, I am just feeling some weight and worry. I guess most of it has to do with the uncertainty of next year – where I will be and what I will be working as. I dislike the feeling of not knowing and not being able to fully plan the things ahead. A part of me is thinking whether going back to Malaysia in March and holidaying in HK was a bad idea. I know I know, Say Meng if you’re reading this, don’t be scared. I’m not pulling out on our trip. It’s just that part of me thinks whether I should actually be working instead of ‘playing’ at the very start of the year. I wished I could say I’m excited at the uncertainty of my future but right now, I’m nervous. I know it’s holiday season and I should not be thinking about this.

I actually applied for a job today. It’s something quite random but I thought I’ll just give it a go. If it’s what God wants then He’ll open the door. I just don’t like sitting down and doing nothing...

I know that I am stepping into a new season of my life. A huge part of it has been good but another part of it is extremely uncomfortable and difficult because of the uncertainty of things. I dislike the feeling of being in a limbo. And maybe that's what God is teaching me... to trust in Him even more.

I remember the illustration of a blank canvas which God spoke to me when I decided to leave my old job. I think many times in life, I try hard to do it my way and have control.... and the feeling of not knowing is slowly eating inside of me. But right now, I think I should stop and just trust Him!

'God, open the door that no man can shut! And help me discover a new passion for the things I am about to do!' I am just reminded by this verse : Psalm 24: 1 ‘The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it...’ Don’t I have enough faith to trust that He’ll provide because everything belongs to Him anyway? Hmmm, God, if faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains, then I believe You can do above and beyond what I can imagine....

The boy turns 24

2010-12-23T14:26:00.005+11:00

Blessed Birthday Jolvin Lee Yin Hou!

111 days since we made a very important decision in our lives...Thank you for sharing your life with me! I LOVE YOU a lot!

Jerm and Ai Mee got married

2010-12-20T08:33:00.005+11:00

The weekend came and went in a blink of an eye. I just got off 'Tango' with the boy.. I missh him so much. Don't know why also. He's in Tassie with family.

Anyway I got into work super duper early today - one and a half hours early! Got a great park which isn't surprising. I hope traffic is as good as today as long as it can be. Life's less stressful.

I had about 8 hours of sleep last night and napped during the afternoon as well. I think my body's finally telling me it's exhausted. Last night, I made dad and mum watch an artsy Korean movie : Influence. Dad gave up halfway and mum was complaining by the end of it. The ending was open-ended and it has quite a strange story line. I don't know why, but I have this thing for 'torturing' people with films. Most people don't really enjoy my choice of films...except for one. Namely Yogi. I think only Yogi! Cyndy curses me and have already banned me from choosing any films to watch - after Four Lions, I knew my second chance was completely gone. *Sheepish grin* Sorry la, I like weird films. Cannot issit? Well I just like the unpredictability of it all.

Okie, enough of my choice of films. The weekend went by, we had Jeremy & Ai Mee's big day. It felt somewhat close to my heart because this couple is one which I have had the privilege to share the journey with, through good and bad times.

The day began at 10am with the intention of helping to prepare lunch for everyone. But Jerm's mum and sister were far more efficient and better in cooking that they did all the job of making us noodles for lunch. All the girls and I had to do was to prepare the wedding door games. To be honest, the girls aren't as 'evil' and 'cruel' as what the boys expected. I think if I was left to do it myself, it would have been worst. *Evil grin* or maybe if Raelene had her way, it would be way more disgusting!!
Oh I just told Jolvin - and for the boys who are reading this, the eggs were BOILED! Hahaha. I just love to see their faces when they were asked to roll it over their shirts.

And the 'suck and blow' game. Cheat cheat cheat! Looks like the guys have never watched Clueless - well not surprising coz' it was my favourite movie at 12. Alicia Silverstone was big then! They ended up biting instead of sucking and blowing the paper blotters. Bah! At least I never use seaweed lo!

The day started off crappy - with drizzles and rain. But we kept praying till the sun was out. So the beautiful bride and groom managed to have their big day out in the garden. The reception followed on after the ceremony. And we had a night of feasting, laughing and dancing (well more like watching people dance for me). The speeches were beautiful especially from Ai Mee's dad who has never ever done one in his life. It was so sweet. And Jerm's parents are the cutest. I told Jolvin - I want to have that energy when I grow old!

We left at 11ish.. and before I left, Ai Mee's dad and Jerm's mum held my hand and thank me for everything. For looking out for both Ai Mee and Jerm. It just reminds me that all I do was worth it. Sometimes we forgot how much we have impacted the people around us. And that night, I thank God for the privilege of playing a part in both of their lives. I love them both!!

P/S : 3 and half more days to Xmas hols starting.
3 days to the boy turning 24.

1 more day till Jerm and AM's big day

2010-12-17T16:39:00.005+11:00

The weekend is coming and the parties around me are already starting. One of the creative agency is having a black and white party for the Xmas celebrations. I got an invite but didn't respond because I don't work there for one. A bit the awkward to go when I don't know anyone.

My company had our Kris Kringle today as well. I got a coconut and lime soy candle. Hmmm.. interesting huh? Well, I'll put it to use sometime. My room will probably smell of coconut and lime.

And this morning, I realised the monthly girl problems is here. It's early this time around! No wonder I feel so sleepy and tired lately. I dislike being a girl when this happens. I'm so glad I'm not the bride tomorrow. But I'll still be dressed up. Gotta practice my walk tonight so that I wouldn't stumble tomorrow! Been a while since I did that whole bridesmaid walk and the song which Jerm and Ai Mee choose is a little slower paced. Slow steps, Jolyn! The last time I was a bridesmaid was when I was 16 and at my thinnest stage. I only weighed 50kgs! Gone are those days... Bah!

So tommorrow is going to be an early start. But it's also going to be really fun and exciting. It's my very first 'urban life' wedding! hahaha. Seriously! It felt like a bit of an urban life project when we met up for the briefly on Sunday. Torture time for the boys at midday tomorrow. It's such a waste that Jolvin's missing out. Nevermind, I will find another time to torture him! **Evil Grin**

5 more working days to Xmas! Yayyyy!

15 December

2010-12-16T13:07:00.002+11:00

On 15 December 1977, dad and mum decided to make a lifelong commitment to marriage. It has been 33th years now. It is actually a very long time, more than half of their lives. And the secret behind it - GOD. Not many marriages lasts nowadays. And for all dad and mum's best efforts, THANK YOU! Thank you for helping Ko and I believe that despite the differences, some things can work or at least we try to make work.

In the mood of weddings and anniversaries, I have just finished writing up my maid of honour toast. It didn't take long. Just needed it to be short and sweet!

Oh and Jawa-Mee also just turned 28th yesterday as well. 15 December is actually a significant date. Dad and mum's anniversary, Jerm's bday and also our graduation date 5 years ago. Darn..! I can't believe I graduated 5 years ago. Make me sound so old!

Anyway, I SO can't wait for the weekend and Xmas to come. One of the media companies I know is closing for Xmas from this Friday onwards. Such slackers! I wished the same for me! As for now, I will just have to wait till 24th midday.... 5 and half working days to go! Yipey!

Wedding-fied

2010-12-13T12:57:00.003+11:00

I am literally 'wedding-fied'... 3 weddings in a row. 2 done, 1 more to go. I think I feel as though I am already married myself! Haha.... Dressing up takes a bit of effort. I don't know why but I kinda struggle with that... especially what to do with my hair! **Sigh**, I wished I had a personal hairstylist!

Last weekend, Scott & Pearl got married. Their wedding was the most lavish one. It sure does reflect Scott a lot. He was pretty much the 'groom-zilla'. Pearl was the easy-going bride. The day started at 10am, picking up Brodie and Iris to the ceremony. Then after that, a couple of us hung out for lunch at Glenferrie. I love wedding catch ups. We sat down and chill over lunch till about 3ish and headed to Carlton for Ben's graduation. After that, we went over to Ben to prep up for the dinner. The night went on till almost 12... I was half dead by then. But nothing beats the drama of Brodie's car keys after. Thankfully, I found it in between my car seat and seatbelt before I drove into the Tullamarine freeway.

The next day, we had Ai Mee and Jerm's wedding brief meeting and rehearsals. It felt like a very long day. Sorry Ai Mee, I didn't mean to yawn so much and doodle during the meeting. It wasn't boring.. I was just dead tired. By the evening, I was driving in an auto pilot state and crashed into my bed at 9am.

Ohhh, Xmas holidays please come quickly! I feel super tired already! And not to forget, I think I need to start exploring other opportunities.. take a break from media perhaps? I really don't know.. God please help!

And there's one thing I've noticed during wedding periods. For the single people, they will get hassled on finding someone. I felt Adrian's 'pain' - 'Eh, Adrian when are you going to start making a move on the multitude of single girls?' And then, for those attached like myself, 'Eh, Jolyn, when is your turn?' I look at them and say, 'For goodness sake, it has only been 3 months! Please give us a break!' I had people even 'self-inviting' themselves to my future wedding. What THE? Nothing better to do issit!?

Is it 5pm yet?

I miss...

2010-12-08T15:51:00.002+11:00

Despite the horrendous weather, I met up for lunch with Sarah, Tara and Andre. Tara was lovely enough to offer to pick me up from my office but I told her traffic was bad and it would be quicker for me to walk and meet her there.

The $2.80 Daiso umbrella which I bought over the weekend was put to the test today. It's not bad for the price but I don't think it can really hold up if it hails. But other than that, it kept me pretty dry! The girls and I exchanged our Xmas pressies. Sarah got Tara and I the same summery sky blue dress. It's cute! She got herself one as well. So that means three of us have the same dress! Haha. Tara got me a red and white stripy bag perfect for swimming or the beach. Love it! It's so good coz' she knows that I've started to swim again. I got Tara a summer cardigan and Sarah a flowery bow top - all from UO. Love love love!

We had a great catch up. I really miss all of them so much. Tara was complaining about ratings shortfalls and constant client hassling. These are all the things I don't miss at all.But I miss those times when I could just walk up to their desks and have a chat. I miss our shopping trips down Chapel together. I miss watching Oprah with them during lunch time in the lunch room. I miss seeing them about 40 hours every week of my life in the past 3 and half years. Ohhh, how things have changed. But I love the fact that everyone of us still make the effort to meet up and catch up.

I'm so counting down to Xmas. Looking forward to some time away from work, quality time with my family and my Sydney trip! :)

Media facts...

2010-12-08T10:53:00.002+11:00

I just read in Mediaweek...

Australians taxpayers have contributed $4 million to Oprah's trip downunder, including $500k from the Victoria Government.

'A spokesman for federal Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson said the Government had not signed a confidentiality agreement, but it was not at liberty to provide details about the tour because "they are here to make a show for Oprah, not for Australia".'

What a waste of money! This is where our tax goes to huh?

..................Speechless.......................

Home sweet home with dad and mum

2010-12-06T16:19:00.003+11:00

The weekend came and went within seconds. Dad and mum's here and the home is extremely clean, laundry and ironing all done within a day and the garden is no longer a forest! I thought I've cleaned enough but as usual, mum re-mopped and re-swept the floor. I think it's a mum's thing! Heh!

My parents had a tough first night on the day they arrived. Had to rushed to help look after Dana while Ko and Anna brought Hanna to the hospital. She is better now. She's having a viral infection. Reminds me that being parents require lots of sacrifices and strength. I don't think I am capable of it at this point of time. I feel so bad for the poor baby... praying that she gets well soon.

Before I know it, it's already Monday. Had a great lunch with Deb, my new found friend at work. She's the only truly Asian person besides myself. She's from Singapore. A really lovely girl. We had a nice long walk to Swan St for Spud and chatted a lot about work and the culture.. not always positive but for now, at least we have each other to count on. I am still trying to adapt but not getting any more comfortable. It's hard when you feel like you're in a limbo. My BB is going to be away really soon.. so will see how I survive a week without him.

For now, I just dream and wished Xmas will come by really soon. 2 more weeks and counting! That reminds me that I'll better start drafting out my maid of honour toast. Hmmm.. so many things to say about Jerm and Ai Mee.. but so little time! Hehe..

Can't wait for a nice swim tonight...I'm badly needing a bit of exercise! I can't believe I am actually saying that!

One time shoemaker

2010-12-01T12:35:00.000+11:00

I have officially completed my shoe making short course. But I highly doubt I will be able to make one from scratch without any help from my teacher and the massive amounts of machinaries provided in my class. It has been a great experience... I have learnt so much about what is involved in making a pair of shoes. No longer shall I take footwear for granted. You pay what you get.....I will no longer pay even $10 for a cheap pair of shoes coz' in the long run, it is extremely bad for your feet.

The above picture is the 'almost' finished product before they are taken off from the lasts (lasts is either made out of plastic or wood which mounds the shoes). I think it looks way better in the lasts than out. Sadly, my shoe is a size too big. This is because the leather I have used is very stretchy and the cut I was going for is a little wider. Hmmm... I think I will have to find more in-soles to somehow tighten them. If not, this handmade pink leather shoes will have to sit in my cupboard for memory sake. As to whether I will pursue this further down the road, is still in question. I'll leave it to next year to see how my year pans out. But shall I say, one of my aim is to own a pair of very pricey shoes someday... **grin** maybe a Christian Louboutin? Or Manolos? Hmmmm.. Considering the tedious amount of workmanship placed into them - why not? As long as they are not made in CHINA!! Yogi - maybe in 4-5 years time yeah? Or maybe 2 for this and 5 for the bag? Hehe..

My teacher said it's a great effort for a first timer. So I'm pretty proud of myself. So let's see if my hands itch for more creative and crafty short courses next year. One thing's for sure.. my sewing skills have slightly improved! Maybe I can start learning to sew fabrics instead of leather from home. Hmmm..mum, I need your help!

Hmmm.. I also just realised, I might be suffering from 'blog diarrhea'. Ant has recently commented that since getting an iphone, I have been blogging more often than ever. My first year in blogging, 2005 (30 posts) vs 2010 (60 posts to date). I might be seriously suffering from some kind of technology disease. NOOOOOO.. I don't want to be dependant it!! Let's see how long I can be doing this? Perhaps, I might blog less with dad and mum here. Hehe..

2 more days till my daddy and mummy comes...

Work... I quite like technology

2010-11-30T12:51:00.000+11:00

Yesterday I was dying of boredom. The moment when you realised you've read too many news is when you flip through different newspapers and still come across the same news over and over again - The Age, News.com, Daily Chilli, Yahoo.news.... Time was tickling by so slowly.

But thankfully the BB is back today and I've got some actual work to do. I found out the joys of technology from the IT guy who is still trying to fix the most horrible printer. There's just something about me and printers. I thought my old workplace's printer was crazy - we used to have to hit it a couple of times in order to print. Note, this could be one of the reason why I am so violent?! Hehe...

Anyway this work printer takes forever to print a simple document. It will reprint random pages and you will have to hit the 'OK' button time and time again. But the wonders of this all is when the IT guy called me and told me to access my Office Communicator. There's a desktop sharing thing... Woww, super cool. I know there's such a thing. But to see it connect so easily is great.

And then I had to run some invoice report which I have no idea on how to do. I asked Debbie (my new found colleague who's from Spore) to help me via office communicator! She walk me through the steps and I learnt how to do it within minutes! Ohhh the joys of technology! I like.. well only sometimes!

Stupid printer is still not fixed yet.. Counting counting counting.. They should seriously just get a new one! Back to work!

1 down, 2 to go

2010-11-29T09:20:00.000+11:00

I love weddings.. especially Christian ones. Not just because it’s a time to experience a beautiful union between two people but most importantly to see how God has brought two people from possibly the most diverse background to cross paths and fall in love with each other. Every wedding is a reflection of the couple themselves, unique in their very own way.

I also love the fact that weddings is the time you catch up with long lost friends or even people whom I hardly get a chance to talk to in a more personal level. It’s time for our hang out time Sharene! When you get back from Malaysia yeah? Just a note, try not to sit next to people who make you laugh too much. Brodie and Mandy were cracking us up big time. It was hard to contain our laughter... But all in all, I had a great night. No dancing for me .. but it was nice watching the boys and girls break out in their ‘out of the world’ dance moves.

The next day was great too.. catching up with the girls and having some little pampering time for Ai Mee’s hens. Tea time, massage and manicure. I have this horrible relationship with manicure. I had my nails painted and was drying them in front of a fan for a good 15 mins. And guess what, I still smudged them!!! What in the world is wrong with me? The massage was good but extremely short. It helped me with my sleep last night. So much more relaxed.

While the girls had some nice, clean pampering fun. The boys did the opposite. They tortured and terrorised the poor groom. Some were funny, some weren’t funny at ALL. And to the organizers who may be reading this, yes.. you know who you are. If there is anything I can say, I’ll leave it to God to deal with you. It all starts with a little compromise. Ps Matt always says, ‘To live our lives above reproach’. Enough said!

Oh, this brings to mind, I also love weddings coz’ it brings people whom we’ve shared a long journey together. Seeing Rachel and Jono was great. Old memories we’ve shared. Some from OCF days.. some from planetUNI days. I like what Rachel said to Peggen and I, the oldies work with tough love. I think it’s so true...We are not afraid to be the ‘bad’ person for a second. To tell the truth and to speak what is right. Loathe me or love me.. you choose. I do it because I truly care and love you.

Having bumped into Graeme on Sunday after church was great, too. Good old OCF days. Peggen, I think only a few of us understand what it feels like right? Graeme was like a Ps Matt to me during my early days in Melbourne. He was like my spiritual dad, always there at the right time. Coz’ every time when I bumped into him or have a chat, I will end up in tears and he will have to pray for me. He literally saw me grow up from a teenager to a woman. And it was timely coz’ I got a chance to introduce him to Jolvin. For many years, Graeme used to ask me whether there was a boy. But now, I can finally say yes – and let him ‘scan’ Jolvin for me! Graeme’s very sensitive to the Holy Spirit. He has prayed and prophesied into my life several times. So Jolvin better watch his back! Hehe... no, I am not threatening anyone here.

One wedding down, two more to go. I look forward for more catch up times!! 5 more days before dad and mum comes!! Wohooo! The two little girls are getting very cheeky. Hanna, the little one bite Dana in the backside... it was funny! I can just imagine how they would fight when they group up. Oh girls! Drama queens! I hope none of them actually grows up like their aunty. She brought her mum enough pain.... eeeks!

Reminiscence of NY and Chicago

2010-11-26T12:33:00.000+11:00

Same time last year, the girls and I were preparing for our dream trip to New York. I can’t help but feel a little envious over Dave and Li’s pending honeymoon trip there and news of people spending Xmas in the Big Apple. I read today in Mediaweek that the Fox and Nova radio drive presenters are spending Xmas there, too. Thank you all for making me jealous.

I guess the difference for this year is having family around, and a couple additional special people in my life. For that I should count my blessings. No $40 USD economy rice and $20 USD worth of fruits spent on Xmas day. Just a nice simple Xmas time with family and close friends.

And Yogi recently found out something while watching some docu on SBS. Oh, I miss being able to hibernate on my couch while watching some random stuff on SBS (and no – I’m not referring to those x rated European arthouse films in the middle of the night).

They featured, Gale Gand, the co owner of ‘TRU’, the finest dining experience with the girls when we went to Chicago. I remember Ai Mee researching for our Chicago trip and gave me a list to pick out the restaurants. All the girls were fine with anything. We picked Modern American for our Xmas Eve dinner in NY so I thought maybe we should do another cuisine. I read several reviews and decided on ‘TRU’ – only knowing the fact that it was French and one of Oprah’s favourite place. Little did we know that it was just 1 block away from our hotel and the place would end up to be the most exquisite dining experience ever.

Anyway, we got a little advice from the information centre lady telling us never to order the drinks there coz’ it will kill our bill. So being typical Asians, we had ‘tap water’. I guess the waiters felt sorry for us that they ended up giving us complimentary mini root beer. And guess what, Yogi and I found out, the root beer was homemade!!! What in the world?! I think the waiters are paid more than me. Seriously, no place top ‘TRU’. And the experience is pure art! So if you ever go to Chicago, make sure you check it out! And I promise, it wouldn’t break your bank that badly. Just don’t think about the fact that whatever goes in must come out the next day or so...Money well spent!

And I promise you, I don’t do this every time. I know God and my parents will rebuke me for constantly splurging on fine things... I can imagine them saying, ‘Imagine how many people you can help with that amount of money’. Yes, God, dad and mum – I know, I feel bad already.

This weekend’s going to be pretty full on. Wedding at Mount Eliza on Sat from afternoon till night. Thankfully Ben’s accompanying me on the ride there. I can’t imagine driving there alone. I would be zoning out all the way. And I can imagine Ben cracking his lame jokes...Good entertainment. And Sun will be Ai Mee’s Hen’s day. Yumcha in the morning and pamper tea party at the Botanical Gardens after. The boys are also having Jerm’s bucks on Sat. Hopefully they keep it within limits. When boys get together, dangerous thing happens!

Looking forward for the weekend...! Muahaha... and I'm going to see my two little nieces tonight. I misshhhhh them so much!

I super HEART ULU06 and PA

2010-11-25T13:00:00.000+11:00

I am so dreading summer. The long walks to and fro to my car has become like a marathon race. I am also getting darker everyday. I think it's about time I invest in a pair of proper walking shoes. Hmm, come to think about it. The last time I got a pair of adidas sneakers was about 7 years ago. It is still wearable considering I paid a lot for it. Heh! Must look nice what. I hate those chunky sport shoes! Yes, yes I am vain ok.

For the past few nights, I have been sleeping with my bedroom window open. The cool night breeze helps me sleep better. I have a confession to make. I have a 'new found love' ... - for Peter Alexander nighties! (Yogi - VS pajamas are still great though) My old company, TEN gave me a $75 PA voucher as part of my farewell gift. It has been so difficult to get anything from there because all the full price item is either not worth it or over my budget.

An impromptu trip to DFO South Warf with Ben actually surprised me! Well, I didn't plan to shop at all. I promise! The reason was to hunt for a suit for Ben. I feel his pain. It is so hard to find something that fits him well. Everything was too long, too big or too boxy! Even before we went for the hunt, I already got myself two nighties from PA.. It's so comfortable! Hehe, poor Ben was dragged into a store full of girls and some lingeries. Hmm, not like he mind anyway. **gringrin**

Anyway, we walked one round, found nothing and decided to give it another try. We both prayed that he would find something. And TADAAA.. we did. In some random shop. It fitted him well compared to all the other suits. All he needs to do is to get them slightly altered. Mission accomplished! I actually love shopping even for other people. I wished this would become my full time job. Personal shopper!

I had my very last urban life for the year yesterday. It was the best one ever. I guess it summarizes our year together. I also finally broke the curse of 10 and managed to have 14 people (3 are visitors). Wohooo!! It was a fun night of feasting. Most of my urbies cook so well. To be honest, I think the boys cook better than the girls.. :P Sorry girls, I think I am guilty of that, too. Okie, the reason why I hardly cook is because I don't like to clean up after a tiring day at work. I think the great cooking skills from the girls are just lying dormant in us. Heh! We just don't want to show off only..:)

The night was filled with lots of laughter and a bit of crying. I just can't believe how short of a time many of us have known each other. And yet it feels like we're part of a family. I think the finest definition of our group is we do family well. I once remembered that I was struggling to come to terms at the size and people in my urban life. Why isn't my group bursting in 20s and 30s? And God said, 'Live in your grace, Jolyn. Find what you do best and lead the group with that'. Now, I feel like I'm not even leading much.. but rather living in it. Each and everyone of them have made urban life a family. They have watched out for each other. Love you all heaps!

Dad and mum's coming really soon, too. I miss them so much. The back garden is slowly becoming a jungle of weeds even though I was plucking them out 3 weeks ago. My mum told me to leave the work to dad and her. Hmmm, I scared la. Mum, when you come don't pengsan ok? Dad's garlic plants aren't really garlic anymore.

And with dad and mum here, I will have my cleaning, cooking and washing done. Yay! Going to be spoilt for the next 3 months. Before I even know it, I will also be off to Malaysia and Hong Kong in March. I seriously can't believe how time flies. I actually booked this holiday about a year ago. A part of me is happy but dreading the fact that there will quite some time apart from the boy. He's going to be back in Msia for a month in between Jan and Feb and I'm off for 3 weeks in March. Hmmm..
nevermind. I will catch up with all my friends whom I haven't seen for a 'billion' years and be as occupied as possible. A cure to missing someone, 'Get busy'.

Oh that reminds me, I need to preplan how we're going to have urban life in March. I just realised I wouldn't be here. Sarah and Jolvin, I need your help here! :)I think Ai Mee and Jerm might still be in Msia.

Okie - off now for a walk. Tonight's Dave and Li's Hucks. Mental reminder, 'Stay away from fatty food'.

I Heart ULU06

2010-11-18T10:07:00.000+11:00

I did some acting today. Well literally... as my boss and some of the Sydney guys have been busy preparing for a huge client pitch, I was asked to assist with organizing two laptops and to arrange some bits and pieces to make as though we have more people working here than a team of two. I came into work at 7.15 am. Parking was so easy. I wished every morning was like this. They are now with the client in the boardroom as I sit at my desk waiting for work to come through.

Yesterday, Iris and I had our usual dinner catch ups before discipleship. I just love it. We chat and chat. We were discussing about emails and how when she moved to gmail, she started anew with folders. The only place I had email folders are for my work emails. And guess what, I have been trying to clear my personal email since two weeks ago. I had thousands of emails and now I’m at about 3,156 more to go. Yes, I know it’s shocking! For a person who is pretty organize, this is a really bad! I even had emails that date back to 2005!! When I first started urban life! And not to mentioned heaps of event emails, particularly from 10Fifteen. It is crazy! Iris – I can’t believe I kept so many of the stop motion video files from the urban life groups. I had to delete them though. So, I’ve got a bit of work to do but I’ll eventually get there.

Reflecting back to those emails, I realised how much change has happened over the years. I came across an email I sent to Ps Matt before I started urban life. I think it was the first time I met up with him and Ray Chuah to discuss about starting an urban life at Swinburne. It was my last semester in my course and I was only going to stay in Hawthorn for the next 5 months. In all rationale, it was quite a silly idea considering the fact that I was already graduating and will be moving to the other end of the world – the West side. But God spoke so clearly and I had my personal confirmation to take the leap of faith to lead a group. So, fast forward 5 years later, I am still leading an amazing urban life family in Hawthorn. We have multipled once and Cynth & James’ group is the result of it.

A lot of them have come and gone but a few have been alongside me from day dot. Ai Mee and Jeremy! Well to be more exact it is Ai Mee since Jerm left for WhitSundays for almost 2 years! I remember how we spent late nights packing up 1,500 welcome packs for Mamak Night. And we swore that if we found anyone leaving those welcome packs on the floor, we would scream at them! We started out with a little group of 7-8 people. Many have come and gone but the beauty of it all is the impact that we have made in their lives. I just love reading cards and email messages from my old urbies. Emails, text, FB messages from Ed, Vincent, Monique, Gabriel. They just remind me why I do what I do. They remind me that distance and certain sacrifices are worth giving and living. And for that I thank God for every opportunity that have been given to me.

At the beginning of this year, I knew that change was coming through not just in my own life but for urban life itself. When Monique texted me to inform me that she wasn’t coming back to continue her studies, I was sad. And then William told me he needed to talk. I had a feeling he was also going to tell me that he’s not going to be attending my urban life. So within the start of the year, I ‘lost’ two members. I told Ps Matt, Ai Mee and Jerm that I believe somehow God is going to increase. In faith I declared that new people will be coming in! And sure enough, we saw Him come through for us. Sarah, Jerm and Ai Mee have a gift of bringing people or making people feel welcomed. Not only did we changed our venue from Wakefield to Sarah’s little crib but we started to have new people coming in. Now looking at our urban life, we are made of 10 regulars including myself. And I realised out of those regulars, 6 of them are NEW!!! That works out to be more than half of the group - Raelene, Wee Li, Chu Tiong, Christina, Sri and Jolvin. And the best part is, they don’t act as though they just know each other. Everyone’s so familiar and so comfortable with each other that they teased and laughed ever so often till I need to ‘discipline’ them during urban life! ‘Eh, don’t do this!’ , ‘Can we get back on track please?’, ‘Stop it guys!!!’...So yes, God is indeed AMAZING huh!!?

Anyway we will be having our very last urban life meeting next Wed. Oh, and I realised, we have also changed our urban life day this year. New venue, new day, new people and new revelations! Oh and I just have to put this in, Wee Li – you will be missed!

Swimming?

2010-11-16T10:38:00.000+11:00

I can’t actually believe I did it. I swam for the first time in 10 years. And yes, I am being serious here. I am amazed myself. Don’t ask me why I haven’t swam in ages. I guess maybe I became self-conscious over my body image? I don’t really know.

I used to swim a lot when I was little. I remember mum signed me up for swimming classes with the clubs that we were member of. First it was Penang Swimming club which had a huge pool, but my instructor was too fierce and scary and I didn’t like him. Then, she thought maybe try Penang club but my instructor was too old and I didn’t like him either. So finally, she gave it the last try, Penang Sports club... and guess what. We found the ‘perfect’ instructor. I remember vaguely that his name’s David and he was Eurasian? I think he was studying in USM and working part time as a swimming teacher and lifeguard. And the best part was, he was pretty cute. Well, at least that’s what I remembered!

Hahah.. Ok, to be honest, I have this thing growing up. I like to see pretty and beautiful things. Who doesn’t right? But I think I am a bit extreme. I used to ask this question a lot – Is she pretty? Is he handsome? Hehehe...Ok, now I am grown up already and I don’t judge people from the way they look. For real!

Anyway going back to my first swimming experience with my handsome teacher... I remembered that swimming classes was fun! He taught me how to dive and go all the way to the bottom of the deep end. He taught me to peddle. I used to swim pretty often till I became tan. But overtime, I think mum realised that she didn’t want me to have extremely broad shoulders (as I already have them anyway). And I don’t know what happened along the way but I stopped swimming.

Recently, the boy suggested we did something different together. I was very reluctant to swim... but after a long convincing, I decided maybe I should give it a try. And guess what, I don’t even own a single swimwear since God knows how long? So to managed to convince a girl who hasn’t swam for 10 years and doesn’t even own a bathers is quite an achievement. Maybe he should get an award? Anyway, we went to Myer over the weekend and someone got me, my very first bathers!! It’s super cute – I love it because it’s retro!

Yesterday after work, we decided to visit the public pool around his area. I was a bit nervous when I got into the water. And when I did my very first lap, I panted like crazy when I got out of the water. Well I didn’t almost drown or anything but I was almost out of breathe. And the more I did it, the better it felt. In the end, we spent about 2 hours in the pool and I did 10 laps! Quite an achievement! I woke up this morning with slightly sore arms and thighs.. as expected. So maybe this may be a good exercise to start. Just have to remind myself not to eat too much after a swim as it will defeats its purpose.

Today is going to be final shoe making class and I really hope I can finish my shoe in time. I am a bit nervous as I haven’t done the lining, putting in the sole and wrapping the shoe around the lasts yet. Hopefully my teacher allows me to extend more time somewhere next week or so.. ? God, please help me !!!!

Anyway, the next few weeks is busy busy. My weekends are all booked out. Not to mentioned more week nights out?
Stuff to look forward too...

Sat 20 Nov – dinner with QS and company..I can’t wait for your yummilicious Peking Duck.
Wed 24 Nov – our very last urban life for the year... **sobsob**.. but it’s a good break too
Thu 25 Nov – Li and Dave’s Hucks
Sat 27 Nov – Li and Dave’s big day
Sun 28 Nov – Ai Mee’s hen’s day
Thu 2 Dec – Dinner with Tara and Sarah
Fri 3 Dec – Dad and mum’s arriving? I think...?
Sat 11 Dec – Pearl and Scott’s big day
Sat 18 Dec – Ai Mee and Jerm’s big day
Thu 23 Dec – The boy’s birthday
Tue 28 Dec – 2 Jan 2011 In Sydney...!!

Mental note : Jolyn, please do not overeat during the holiday season...

Birthday snippets

2010-11-13T11:10:00.000+11:00

I have this terribly habit of not uploading photos from my camera. After a longlong time, I have decided maybe it's time to do it...Enjoy!

The girls and I at Charcoal Lane. No hat but really worth going.. Jolvin and my favourite for now..

Yogi mama taking a photo of me and vice versa..

Queen Sheba and the yummilicious dessert platter. We had people staring at our desserts!

Chu Tiong's 30th birthday... at 'apparently' Melbourne's best Thai restaurant - Paladaar Thai. Okie only la. My uncle's restaurant in Penang even better!

The birthday girl - Happy Birthday Hanna !! She doesn't look too happy here. I think coz' she's sleepy.

The beautiful birthday cake... So pretty huh!? Taste not bad too..

An overdosed amount of cakes.. the chocolate one is cookies and cream strawberry cake brought by Jackie - who owns the GJ's on Lygon Border's

The birthday girl took a nap before waking up to blow her cake.. haha

Dana and Charis were 'attacking' the fruit platter. That was my creation ok... and these little ones loves fruits!!

Ko and family...

Check out the chair... Barbie!! :) haha

Jolvin and Dana making silly faces... I don't know who taught who though?

Hmmmm... Inside every man is a kid!... This explains it well

That's it for now...

Priceless friendships

2010-11-11T13:13:00.000+11:00

‘Among life’s precious jewels, genuine and rare, the one that we call friendship has worth beyond compare’ – quote taken from Ant’s blog from Stephanie Pellas’s little booklets.

I love my friends (and my pastors, too).

For the past few days, I had my little time of reflection while also talking to some of the closest people to me.
I realised, I have been soooooooooo blessed by the love and support of the people around me.
And in many ways, they have become a family to me.

God knows me too well. And He always brings the right people at the right time...

TARA
A lunch catch up with Tara yesterday was one of the things I needed. I know in the long run, I will eventually need to settle in and find new friends at my new work but for now, this will do. I love her to bits. The things we do together like shopping for stuff for her new puppy, invitation cards for her 30th , groceries and anything under the sun..She’s actually my closest Aussie friend. I learn about Aussie culture and words they use mostly from her. And I love the fact that she’s together with my bestest best ex-boss...Andre Acrobelli.

CYNDY AKA QUEEN SHEBA
I think many will wonder why I call her QS? That’s because she’s the Queen of our little circle of girlfriends. She’s born around the Queen’s birthday and because I couldn’t find anything that describes her ‘fierce-ness’ better than ‘Sheba’. Sheba sounds very ‘lion-ness’. Well at least to me.. Anyway, she’s one of the most selfless and kindest friend. Don’t be deceived by her initial coldness. She’s actually a big softie in the inside. She is extremely motherly and protective of her family and most of all her friends! Like she always said, ‘You can’t choose your family but you can choose your friends’. So when she’s your friend, she will go the extra mile. When I’m sick - she cooks porridge for me, when I’m upset – she listens, advise, sends me cute picture messages and offers her home as a place of comfort, when I am happy – she feeds me... well she feeds me 24/7... so if you’re wanting to go on a diet, please don’t go see QS. She cooks so well that even when I am on a strict diet, I will end up stuffing my face with so much food till I feel sick. And yet she wonders why I don’t cook for Yogi and her. That’s because compared to her super cooking skills, I am like a 5 year old trying to cook. I will always remember QS as the girl in the blue fleece jacket sitting at the front corner of the lecture hall. I approached her because she was one of the very few Asians in my course.. and from there our friendship grew. More so over the past years when we go through life together ... in our careers, relationships and getting a house and also living alone.. and eventually having our own families, too!

YOGI MAMA
She reads me like a book. There are some people who knows what you think and feel what you feel even before you say it. It is rare to find those people.. but Yogi is one. I don’t know why but somehow she explains things and express my emotions in words so well that even I myself am surprised?! I am like, ‘Yogi – you got it so right!’ I was introduced to Yogi through QS.. we first met at Kimchi Lunchbox. We weren’t very close back in uni days. I often bumped into her and her SISA friends at uni.. and most of the time, I’ll see her and Hisham lepaking along Glenferrie Road. But things changed when I made a phone call to her regarding her PR application. I somehow knew she was applying her PR at the same time as me and that the new regulations meant that we needed to sit for IELTS. I gave her call and told her and we went to book the appointment together at RMIT. From there, our friendship grew.. And that was history. The journey we have shared together is priceless. PR, the struggle of finding a job in our field, celebrating our birthdays, celebrating our first full time job and pay check, dreaming of a holiday together and actually living it out in New York – White Xmas!, shopping in the heavy rain till we both want to cry, whinging about work, ...the list is endless. She was actually the very first person whom I called to tell her about Jolvin and I.. Ai Mee once told Jolvin when we first got together, ‘You have to share Jolyn with Yogi coz’ they are very close’. Hahah how funny! Hmmm.. Yogi, I wait for the day when your mum stops hassling you about finding a husband!

SAY MENG aka DODO
I call him Dodo not because of the bird but more so because he calls me Momo. I don’t know why he calls me Momo either. I think because it rhymes with my name – Momo JoJo. He’s a weird kid. He’s my closest guy friend. And the funny thing is when we first met, it was through April who was my housemate. He came to Planetshakers when we were still meeting in RMIT Storey Hall and the first time he met me, he had to sit next to an annoying girl who was coughing her lungs out at church. Yes, that was me. I was so sick! I kept on waiting for Ps Russell to say something funny or good which made people cheer and clap and I would start coughing. He whispered to me and said, Are you ok? And then after church, he commented on my pants and said it looked good. I was thinking to myself, is he gay? Hahah.. and that was the beginning of a friendship that withstand time and distance. He is one of the only friends who still speaks to me on the phone often even though we are miles apart... He has this habit of messaging me in the wee hours of the night to say – Sleeping? Or just to drop a simple Hello! I think one of the reasons why I have finally decided to visit Malaysia after 4 years is because of him. Been a while since I last saw him!?! And for your information, he is not gay! He is very much straight and we don’t like each other ok. Our friendship is simply platonic. Hong Kong, here we come!

ANT
Hmmm.. what can I say? I knew him through Iris. I still remember the first time I met him at the underground cafe at RMIT. When I knew he was from Penang (well his parents more like it), I told him a Hokkien joke. It was funny.. coz’ he could hardly speak .. but I think he understood bits and pieces of it. And he was the one who took my ‘passport’ photo for my media cadetship! It is the best looking passport photo I ever had! I love it when he used to send me text messages while he was on his Europe travels. E.g. : On the train to Brussels. Or drinking hot chocolate in Belgium. Make me jealous only.. but it was nice being able to share travel stories with someone. It feels as though I am travelling, too! I love his blog pictures and random snippets of updates. He is the one who constantly encourage me to pursue my creativity. And Ant is also a great cook and great catch! Hahah, looks like I’m promoting him on my blog. Seriously, I believe he will meet the right girl at the right time!  P

And to the friends who have brighten up my days... Love you heaps, too !! Ben Yap and Qivin aka naughtyboy...I love it when they randomly whatsapp and text me... They are like little brothers which I never had. Okie, I know Ben is going to yell at me for treating him like a kid.. but really. He is younger than me what! I like it when we used to hang out last summer and all the silly things we do and say with James – FROSSSSST YOURSELF.. Time for catch up soon! And Qivin – still owes me a meal for losing a bet. He should make me sushi !!

...And last but not least ... my two favourite people – Ps Matt and Ps Lisa.
Urmmm, I’ll talk about Ps Lisa now since I’ve always mentioned Ps Matt. People say behind every successful man is a woman. And that is exactly how it is. Ps Lisa is an awesomeeee woman!! She’s like a mum and a friend to me. Yesterday’s catch up was soooo good. I like that fact that we’re quite similar in the way we think. A little bit feisty and black and white approach! No messing around, just straight to the point. Love it! We caught up for 4 hours.. it didn’t feel long at all. She’s actually a great story teller, too. I love it when she tells me about how crazy her family is. It is amazing how she turned out actually. She has some of the funniest stories ever!

It feels like some farewell speech or something.. Heh! But these are just the very few people who has played an integral part in my life... Thank you, thank you, thank you!

P/S : Ant tells me that I have become a serial blogger since having an iphone. Urmm, I think so, too. I even plan events stuff through my little iphone screen. Did it last night sitting on my comfy bed and typing away with a finger. No finger spasm yet!

Media update..

2010-11-10T14:36:00.001+11:00

Short facts while reading Mediaweek (Wed 10/11/2010)

'According to Ten's financial statements released on Monday, Falloon (Ten's recently resigned Executive Chairman) was paid $2.8 million in fiscal 2010, including a cash bonus of $877,313.'

Now I know why I hardly got any pay rises when I was there.. Hmmmm..Big people up there always gets all the big fat money!

And guess what, I got inside news that he only works 3 times a week.. what the?!

Stronger?

2010-11-09T23:55:00.000+11:00

Within a few seconds, words can change everything and how a person feels. The past few days has been an emotional rollercoaster. Trying to find my way through the unfamiliar. I guess God knows that I needed this support way before hand and I ended up making an appointment last week with Ps Lisa. Meeting her tomorrow night. To the friends who have so patiently listened to me and tried everything to make me smile - thank you. ' You are stronger than this, Jolyn' ...

And blessed 50th mummy dearest! Love you a million... I wait for the day when we can actually celebrate our birthdays as a family..hugs