New Year 2006

Year 2006 is off to a great start! In Heidi’s own words, “Achievement number 1 year 2006… Hulu Langat Hill!!!” *heheh…*. On the 2nd of January, we went on a 1.5 hour hike up to a beautiful waterfall. Chen En took the lead while Gerald held the back. This was the “before” picture when everyone was still energetic and fresh. From left: Ivan, KayX, Terence, Heidi, *me*, Su Lin, Chen En, and Thomas.

Our “after” picture when the sky has gone a bit dark and all already. There’s the other member that was missing from the “before” picture, he was holding my camera – Gerald on the far right.

We made friends with a couple on the hill, and they joined our hiking troupe. Apparently, they were *ahem* stalking us when made a pit stop at a stall for junk food and potty break (we erm… lost our way and had to ask for directions). So cute… the couple was thinking, “They look like hikers… let’s tail them!!!!” It’s really amazing how God brings people into our lives. Later this year, this young couple should be joining us to conquer Kinabalu…

We decided to go up again on the 11th, since we enjoyed the previous hike so much *grin*. Thanks to Yew Leong, I have more pictures to show off this trip :D This is the little bridge we need to take before the hike up…

Yupz… a bigger troupe this time around. Look… look… KayX sporting a new hairstyle *giggle*. This trip, I was leading the pack and there was one point when I was just admiring the beauty of nature. Didn’t realize that my second man was so far behind, suddenly I heard a grunt that went like “GGGGgggrrrrrrrrr…”. Had no idea what it was but when KayX caught up… I quickly grabbed the walkie-talkie and paged Gerald, “Wild animal nearby…. Be carefullllllllll!!!!” Am thinking that it should be a wild boar or something :P

Tis a nice shot of us at the waterfall; had to wade through icy-cold water and climb up the ledge to get to where we were. From left: Hork Loke, *me*, KayX, and Su Lin. P/S: I call Hork Loke.. Mr. Coca Cola cause his name sounds like it in Cantonese *giggle*.

Monkeys *oppppssss…* spidermen in action *kekekekekek……..* There were natural slides at the waterfall, but we figured that it’s too dangerous for us to try them cause we might injure our back bone of something :(

Allow me to pay tribute to our photographer, my ‘sai lou’ a.k.a. little brother Yew Leong. He was busy capturing photos that most of the pictures didn’t have him in it *Awwww….* From left: *me*, Yew Leong, and Gerald.

Yew Leong’s favourite photo… he insists that it looks like a scene from the show LOST! *LOL*

There’re a couple things that I’m looking forward to for year 2006:

• Family’s salvation. Christmas 2005 was great. Brought mum to visit DUMC for their Christmas play with sis and bro in law. Slacked bringing mummy to church for more than a year (that whole ‘unsettled thing’ about which church/how to bring/ both siblings need to be there etc), we’re finally back on track again :)
• Joy of my salvation and serving Him again. Was a dry season last few months of last year, and felt like I was running on reserves for far too long. Yet, I thank God for His faithfulness and loving kindness that His presence had been with me all the way and now finally, I’m out of it and ready to move forward.
• Function in church. Not in regards to only CLGC alone, but functioning and living in his purposes beyond the 4 walls. ‘Tis going to be an exciting year, and He has begun to show me how I can use the things that He has been teaching me for the glory of His Kingdom.
• Travel plans. I love Air Asia. I repeat. I love Air Asia *giggle*. Because of the free promotional tickets, am scheduled to go Bangkok in July, and Bandung in September. Should be going to climb Kinabalu in August, and seems like I’m going to be in China next month for business. Am planning to extend maybe 2-3 days after the archiving project is completed just to move around a bit.
• Going to try as many new things as possible and not be fearful. Off to a good start, actually – carried snakes, played with spiders and maggots in Christmas. Started 2006 off with the Hulu Langat hike and planning to go for the Mount Kinabalu climb, if I survive that… I’ll try conquering Gunung Tahan. Cause of my fear of heights, have always shy-ed away from taking roller coaster rides… and just last weekend, took my first step of going on all the rides at Genting. Yeah, I know. It’s not much, but it’s a start ;)

Yupz… tis going to be an exciting year ahead :D

Off to Guangzhou, China on the 15th of February

Direct Manager: You’ve only got 2 weeks to go get some warm winter clothing.
Support Manager: Yeah, lots of stuff to prepare just for that 15 days.
Resource Exec: Hey, bring your passport tomorrow for me to fix your visa.
Direct Manager: I’m going to miss my 9 to 5 girlfriend…
Me: What in the world are all of you talking about?!?

Full and sleepy from a heavy lunch, I just sat down in my cubicle and these people started crowding around me having a conversation, which absolutely made NO SENSE *sigh*. Apparently, before lunch they were having a chat on MSN and it absolutely slipped their mind that I wasn’t in the chat room :P

So, yeah… I’ve been assigned to a 15-day archiving project to China…

Am leaving in two weeks…
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No hugs and kisses from mummy and daddy for three weeks…
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No home cooked meal for three weeks…
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No ‘one phone call away’, “Let’s go yum cha NOW” for three weeks…
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No cell group for three weeks…
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No nice, warm, humid weather for three weeks…
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No gym for three weeks…
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I MISS HOME ALREADY *sob sob…*

Offer up a simple prayer that everything goes smoothly, nothing gets delayed and I’d be back in no time, k? *hugz* Also, for Him to open up my spiritual eyes to see what He wants me to in that foreign land. I know this short trip is definitely from Him, cause of some of the stuff that’s been happening in my life, and that the job seems to be tailor-made specifically for me :D

Merry Christmas Ho Ho Ho!

Yes, I know that I’ve been lagging with updates. With bonus payments in December and January… ‘tis going to be a busy two months at work for me. Lots of bonus configuration and program bugs to fix since they’re only used once a year. This post is going to be filled with lots of pictures taken throughout the Christmas celebration…

SS2 Christmas Carnival in the park. This year, we invited children (about 140+ of them) from orphanage Rumah Charis, slum area Damansara Dalam and from the SS2 police force. Praise God for good weather. The slight drizzle probably deterred most of the public from joining in the carnival, so the whole event was more controlled :)

The ever-smiling hostesses at the reception point. We had the children chauffeured from their home to the reception point. They were then tagged (so that they can play games for free when we identify them), given some school-going goodies, and we routed about 2-3 kids to a host (for safety purposes – we wouldn’t want any kidnap or road accidents :P)

One of the booths had this sticker pull-off, pour colored-powder thingy, to create colored picture. Had no idea what’s the game called….ehehhehe… but kids from all ages were able to participate in this.

Arts and craft booth – amazing how all the seats were taken up right from the start and the kids were just having a ball creating stuff with colored papers, plasticines, etc.

Ooooo… this was one of the cutest game. These four kids actually VOLUNTEERED themselves to be sponged!!!!! Neh neh neh neh neh!!! To win prizes, participants threw wet sponges at their targets, the more targets they hit per turn. That second kid from the top readily stuck his head out whenever a sponge came anywhere NEAR his head *LOL*. Cute ‘lil fella…

Free haircuts for everyone!!! Tee-hee-hee… I regret not taking picture of this kid who sat really still in his seat; with a dazed and frightened look on his face; afraid that his hair stylist would screw up his haircut.

After a haircut, the little girls had their hair all prettied-up by Caryna and team…

Aunty Rita doing her ‘thing’. Not only the girls’ nails were given a coat of paint, nail-art was included – pretty little prints and flowers.

Vroom Vroom… car racing section; only the strong hearted to enter…muahahahha. Actually, this was the only with lots of difficulties and had to close-shop a tad bit early. Batteries died fast with problems with the cars brought :(

Hoop-a-Joy game. Suitable for little kids where they’d throw some rubber bands towards the hoops to win their prizes. Haih… couldn’t get Su Lin and Eddy to smile for the camera…grrr. Oooo.. that’s Josh in the background for the football game. Participants needed to kick the balls into the hoops. For younger children, to target ground cones…

Cupid Cove. Hmmm…Aiya… I should’ve just gotten one of those arrows and shoot some good-looking guy in sight. Aiks… did I just type that out? *blush*

Something for the older kids as well, Playstation 2. Eng was so funny when he said to me, “Juan ar Juan… I’m hosting these two kids that had totally different personalities. One of them very active, all the games also want to try. The other kid just want to play Playstation. How huh? I cannot split myself in two to take care of them…” *whimper whimper*.

Whoa… free medical checkup. Dr Mike was sooooooo busy.

Ahhh… finally some of pictures of myself…ekekkeke. That’s me and Christine having some fun with the clowns. The balloon-makers were all Victor’s colleague; that little red and pink bracelet was made by him *smiles*.

Some shots of my playing with the stuff at the petting zoo *grin*. That’s a furry little ferret; cute huh?

That’s me with Mr Tarantula. They have claws, so when it crawls around, it feels like the little fella is clawing into the skin. Must wash hand after playing with them cause their hair and web can cause skin irritation. When my camera’s flash startled it, I was *pooofed* by its web.

Yeah, I’m smiling in the photo and all… but I DID pucker up a lot of courage touching this monster. Tis certainly a year that I will not shy away from any challenges *chuckle*.

The photo is a bit over-exposed – some glitch with my digicam. The stuff in my hand… are maggots! And for your information, ladies and gentlemen… Dezzie boy DID eat one of those squirmers.

Joy to the world, our Lord has come! Let us receive the King!!!! What’s a Christmas celebration without joyful carolers? Although, hmm… the carolers in this photo captured not very joyful lehhh….ahahahahha.

Next up… some shots from the Christmas Eve dinner with family. Ahh… picture taken is “proof” of Juan able to cook :P

Mum said, “Juan arrr… invite Soon and her kids to join us for dinner tonight…”. So, with an additional adult with 3 extremely hungry kids, there was a quick panic attack as to whether we have enough food or not… eheheheh. Sigh… Daniel and my brother’s family not in the picture :(

Close-up picture of the feast we had. Onion soup, marinara spaghetti, turkey with onion and apple stuffing, gourmet sausages, fresh garden salad with homemade thousand-island sauce, and strawberry chocolate cake.

Had Christmas dinner at Edwin’s place. Early next morning, I received a SMS from Jess. Apparently, everyone had diarrhea during the night *yawn*. Praise God for a strong stomach. I was the only one without any stomach discomfort whatsoever. Nevertheless, we had fun chit-chatting away at Halo Café after dinner that night. From left: Yew Leong, Jess, *me*, Becky, and Kevin.

Was supposed to have some photos taken at Poppy Garden during a Christmas get-together with colleagues and ex-colleagues, which reminds me… have to get them soon *grin*. Mmmmhhh… was a tiring Christmas. Lots of partying, eating, and err… cooking *LOL*. Should be enough of pictures to last awhile before my next post… my overdue New Year update….