lessons learnt

our penang trip was....


both good and bad. i did enjoy many aspects of it but there were some unpleasant moments like how my poor hubby got sick [probably sick of the penang food?]

i love nasi kandar but queuing up this long for a plateful is.... not my cuppa tea. still, i suppose since were in penang we had to do smtg we dont normally do. the line was CLEARLY in view the moment we got on penang road! it stretched all the way to the curb. not bad for a business that's situated in a "lorong" [backlane]

squid egg curry!! cholesterol bonanza
in the end i opted for the chicken in sticky sauce which i assume might be honey based, the yellowed shredded cabbage and rice. that was RM5.40

this is actually my fav penang meal - kueh teow th'ng. really. the porky bits, the fishcake, the fried onion and veggies in broth, it's the most comforting thing ever.
this is part of our ipoh dimsum binge. again, we had to wait in a crowded restaurant for what seemed like forever to get a table! the ipoh folks don't think it's rude to stand around other people's tables while they eat. i personally dn't like that idea though. dimsum tastewise... uhh i think hoong foong in USJ21 is better.
still, as long as there're good people around the table to laugh and talk with it's not too bad.




here;s the apartment gav and i stayed at. we loved it!


and this is the offending curry laksa that we suspect, brought on his stomach trouble! do NOT drink up the soup in penang curry laksa! so we were told by his aunt.

after all that bingeing everyone looked sluggish
so, in conclusion
1. when going on a penang hawker food binge, bring along fibre tablets, prunes, raisins, bananas, charcoal pills and poh chai pills to avoid diarrhea, constipation or both.
2. get EXACT directions for wherever you're going because getting lost and going around in circles in a foreign place wasting petrol is no fun.
3. make sure you get regular bowel movements!
4. do not order curry laksa at 5pm, the soup with coconut milk was probably there since morning! resulting in stomach trouble later. there's nothing worse than having stomach trouble in PENANG and not being able to eat anything nice!

happy birthday kelvin

he's someone who's always earnest and sincere, ready with a smile and has no pretenses. a good friend, fun to hangout with and tells it like it is, no whitewashing.

although a salesman by profession, he has a strong sense of truth and good conscience, knowing how to point out truths [that may not be necessarily nice to hear] ever so tactfully and respectfully that in the end only adds to the respect of those who call him "friend"

one can't help but feel at home with him around because he doesn't pretend to like you, he really does. [if he doesn't, at least he's not pretending to!]

blessed birthday kelvin. gavin and I appreciate you a lot!

come they told me parrupupumpummmm

christmas is...... over commercialized and over hyped up but i love it anyway!! especially decorations, carols and presents!
makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. and suddenly everyone's full of goodwill, giving and giving and giving. that's what God did at Christmas and is still doing so now, that's why we give presents. not bcuz we just want to max out the credit cards and get into debt. we're just emulating Christ. so, what's wrong with giving presents?

wedding details

I'm going to detail the things I did for the wedding in case some people want ideas. mostly for my own memories of the day so that 10 years from now I can log on to this blog and look at it :)

1. the dress

I was looking through dresses online and realized that in malaysia, one only had 5 choices for dresses
- rent it from the bridal studio

this was not an option for me because i didn't want to use the studio packages where the couple pose around against a backdrop. and if u didnt take the package, RENTING the dress would come up to RM800! [minimum!] so not worth it. also the selection of dresses were too limited, it was impossible finding one that with sleeves! and i needed to have sleeves:D

-buy a designer dress [like those from beatrice looi, carven ong, etc.etc.]
also not an option because they start at around RM4,000

- buy a cheap white gown from sungai wang [or anywhere!]
i shopped around for off the rack ones but couldn't find any that fit me properly

-buy it off ebay and alter it
i thought it would've been cheap this way but it wasn't! the dresses still went for about RM400 -RM800 plus more for alterations so it wasn't worth it.

- tailor it

i chose this last option because this was the most cost efficient. so i printed out this picture of a dress from J.Crew and asked ms Kee to make it.
of course it looked SO different on me since i probably weigh 10 x what this model does. also i put the neckline a little bit higher.so this is how it turned out.
cloth+lining: RM48
workmanship RM150

TOTAL: RM 198

not bad for a custom made wedding dress with lining! but then i'll never get to wear it again! wonder what to do with it. maybe i'll put it on a headless mannequin in a tall glass box in a dark hallway....

quotable quotes

now that the year's coming to an end, i'm pondering some poignant moments of the past year and some memorable quotes.

">If u wanna get upset, u can get upset very easily. But i just don’t bother.
-GL

"How do I get to Carnegie hall?

Practice you gotta practice!"

"

"to fly we have to have resistance"

love the challenges

Listen to advice

Don’t argue

Don’t complain

Be nice

Be content

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so simple yet... so profound.

ground coffee

does anyone have a coffee maker/percolator /machine?
I bought some "medium bodied "Colombian ground coffee thinking it was instant coffee and now I can't use it.

so if you want my 2 bags of ground coffee, please let me know and i'll give them to you!

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the wedding part 3

finally I feel inspired again to document my thoughts on the wedding day, 2 months ago.
after the ceremony everyone headed into the restaurant for some finger food and tropical cocktails made with 100%juice, no water added!

first up were the speeches. i was very touched with my dad's speech, throughout most of my growing up years he hardly ever said anything nice about me but tnoight he did and i was so touched i cried.
he said he was very happy that I'd found someone i truly loved.
then, tucker was on. he's an old friend of gavin's, probably known each other something like 15 years. or more!

and then terk and fanyin and rach [interestingly, all our speech givers were from our respective high schools!!]perhaps this shows that a lot of our most lasting friendships are from high school, not college or uni or work.
all their speeches were so meaningful and touching and full of well wishes and philosophical quotes on love and marriage. i think. i was too happy to remember what they said exactly which is why i can't wait to see the video pat took of the wedding!

the cake cutting was of course, quite fun. i had originally intended to buy a nice metal cake knife and engrave our names and wedding date on it to become an heirloom cake knife but somehow that never materialized and we ended up using the restaurant's very sharp knife! still i loved the cake so much! it was very me, very sweet, pink, girly and original since it was made by my mum, husband and friends [i can't stop talking about how great they are for helping me out!]

then, some of our friends did a few very special romantic songs for us! I know a people who hire their wedding band and MC for RM4K for it all but i think ours were priceless because they're our friends! [and all are very talented and passionate!] carol played guitar and sang, sonia did a very powerful rendition of "from this moment" and albert graced the solo part from "kiss me"

carol and terk did a very nice "grow old with you" from the ben stiller movie. everyone loved it!


i loved the video pat made, it was so meaningful and funny at the same time! so did everyone i reckon! here's everyone watching it
i reckon i'll watch it again on our 20th aniversary and laugh over it again!

then was the "fun" part where I, wanting to hold on to western tradition, threw the bouquet over my shouhlder.
caryn got it! or rather it hit her. I wonder why our girls are sooo afraid of catching bouquets. i mean... it's just for fun and doesnt have to be taken THAT seruiosly. besides, every girl wants to get married so why is it such a bad thing to catch a bouquet? of course no one actually believes in the whole "person who catches will be the next one to get married" thing. that's just old western superstition. this is just for fun u know! I've never been to a wedding where someone threw the bouquet before and of cousre i've never caught one but well, i reckon it would be fun to catch one.
so! that was it, my wedding! going back to the hotel room that night, so much was going through my mind. i wasn't prepared for how sad I'd feel about moving out of my house for good, being out of my parent's house forever. I didn't think of it at all really, until i came back a few days later and found that my bro had already moved into my room when i hadn't even taken anything out yet! it was really sobering to think that I'd never sleep in this room again. and i'd been sleeping in this room for 25 years! life has really changed. also I wasn't prepared for how I wouldn't live with my family anymore. not that i loved living with them so much before, [u know how it is, how they make me come home before 12, don't wash the dishes, etc.etc. hehee] but still, i felt a sense of loss somehow. I can't quite explain why, bcoz I am thrilled to be living with gavin now.

I suppose you dont quite appreciate something until it's gone. Ok i know some of you are waiting for pt 4 when I talk about what happened after going back to the hotel room but i shan't say anymore :D
thanks for being part of my day, all of you! You all made it so beautiful and meaningful! i LOVE you all!

novotel

novotel hydro majestic kuala lumpur on jln kia peng is a very big name in hotels and we were very impressed with the decor, especially in the lobby. the place is very posh looking and decorated in a modern way. and the rooms were also very nicely done up, colour coordinated and very "modern" hip looking.
however we were up for a very rude shock~ we booked it for our "first night" [u know, on the wedding night!] but they gave us a TWIN bedded room instead of the king sized bed we booked!! [imagine, for our FIRST NIGHT a twin bedded room!! garrhhhh

and, we booked the exec room but they gave us the superior room instead [that means we were DOWNgraded one level although we paid for the more expensive room type] not only that, but we couldnt even check in at 2pm which is the LATEST check in time you're supposed to have.

sigh if that weren't bad enough, the room smelled strongly of sewage [shit] when we first entered!
now if you think that's already the worst of it, it wasn't!
when we complained about it later the manager lied to us telling us that our reservation was only for a superior room but when we went home to check the confirmation letter we found that he lied and we were right all along.

sigh....

what can we do now ? we've already complained several times [through email, through snail mail, and talking to the duty manager face to face] but they just refused to compensate us in any way.

i totally totally cannot recommend this hotel to anyone at all, sad to say.

i've already called 3 times and each time the receptionist said they'd call me back and took down my number but until now, a week later, still no call from them! are they ALL trained to lie and lie and lie????? sickening!

preparing for christmas

christmas is coming! I love the "trimmings" of Christmas although I know it's got nothing to do with the meaning of it. it's our first christmas together as "married" and it's fun putting up decorations.

i thought it would be fun to put baubles up and apparently terk thought so too. here he is playing "boink the ball" with his forehead.

putting up the lights, writing christmas cards, shopping for gifts, baking christmas cookies, playing christmas music, all that is so much fun !

we spent last sat decorating our pastor's house and it's massively decorated. they have 3 christmas trees and 6-12 sets of lights in each tree [each set has 100 lights! imagine!] and although we spent a whole day there we didnt even complete half of it. there were probably 40 santas, 100 reindeer around and 50 snowmen. ok i didnt count but everywhere you l ooked there was a santa! or a candy cane! or a snowman! or reindeer!

I'm listening to

this is my favourite Christmas album in the last few years. I just love their version of "Don't save it all for Christmas day" and "We are the reason". Their medley of familiar carols like "O Come O Come Emmanuel/Away in a Manger/O Little Town of Bethlehem" is really really beautiful too.

it's been a painful week [literally]

first I slammed the door into my thumb which was a major major major painful experience, I thought my thumb had been pulverized! try having to play piano with a sore thumb! now I know how those garlic pips feel when i crush them with my cleaver.

then i twisted my neck in a way i shouldn't have and now it hurts to turn to look right. and i can't even straighten my head so everyone i meet think I'm looking at them sympathetically all the time.

not to mention the ongoing cough that started before the wedding and is still going on now. i've already finished 3 bottles of cough syrup.

hope this string of events end here.

why I dont like to eat out anymore

prices of everything have gone sky high. nowadays you can't spend less than RM4 eating out unless you just have a beefburger, no drink, no fries. places like the chicken rice shop are so overpriced you feel so ripped off eating the chicken rice [and wishing you had gone to a hawker place for that]. not to mention gloria jean's, charging RM3.50 for a muffin! and portions are so small. we went to mandy's in summitt and ordered our main courses that were served in very big dishes but we were still hungry after eating because the portions were tiny. okay maybe they're enough for girls on a diet but it's so not worth our money, with tax and drinks added you find yourself spending smtg like RM20 per head for a meal that was not so filling and not very balanced. you seldom have proper veggies when eating out, and way too much salt and oil. I think if you want to have too much salt and oil, just come over and i'll cook for you, at least it's cheap salt and oil! ahhahaha kidding.

anyway, last night i made a sausage and mash with onion gravy and salad dinner for 5 with the cost coming up to a total of RM15, which probably could only buy ONE meal if you had the same thing as dave's deli, and the portions would've been a lot smaller.

-to use less oil, bake/broil the sausages instead of frying [less cleaning up too]
-instead of adding butter to the mashed potatoes, just add milk and seasoning. you won't really taste the difference since there'll be gravy anyway

giving to God

i've a lot to learn from a guy i once met. we didn't part ways that amicably but now I've good memories of him and I hope someday in future we can be friends again.

He said that people are the best investments ever. He has a lot of money so he gives a lot of away to others, to the needy,to his friends, to strangers. I know his parents do the same. Wow.

We know that God saw us people as the best investment ever. He gave His Son to die so we could all be saved. we all know that to give to the needy is giving to God. but is it really because God NEEDS our money? [or time or skills or watever?]

in this time of "economic downturn", should our response be to give give and give still? apparently God thinks so. Ps Mal says God works in a different economical sphere. by grasping to our lives, we'll lose it, but if we give of it freely, we'll gain even more than what we hoped for. how does that work?

*by the way, i dont really know what it means when people say "times are bad"

times have always been bad in malaysia as far as i know. even from when i was born! i dont think times have ever been good in my lifetime, so as far as i'm concerned nothing's changed.

anyway, from

2 Corinthians 9

Sowing Generously

6Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9As it is written:
"He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever." 10Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

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looking back at the past year I can see how God has worked in my life, despite how certain things did not turn out the way i wanted. for eg. the wedding. things did not work out the way we planned but it worked out EVEN BETTER!!
gavin and I didn't know how we were going to afford a place to stay and a car but God's provided both those things AND more!
I'm so glad we have a BIG God to trust in.

I've learnt that by giving, we're not really giving so that someone can be helped. [ok maybe i might be wrong here and someone will comment on this post arguing with me on that] yes that IS an effect of our giving but God owns the whole world and doesn't NEED the 2 cents that we give but giving changes us. and that's why we have to give...so that we allow Him to change our hearts and make His Kingdom and His people our treasure.


For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. -Matt 6:21

parenting

I'm no parent but i know a fair bit about kids since I deal with them every moment of my work.
I've some kids with such good attitudes toward people and learning that they shine every single time i see them. they appreciate the music, the time spent with their parents in class, and they do their best. even if they're not inherently "talented", they do very well.

I can also tell when a kid is giving his/her best and when the kid is just plain uninterested/lazy/uninvolved.

for example,take Daphne* who's never had any initiative or even an attention span to begin with. she's lazy and spoiled and her mothers makes it so much worse by allowing her to control both the mum and dad. all she has to do when she wants to get out of doing anything remotely useful is scrunch up her face and pretend to cry. at ONCE her silly and affected parents cave in to her desires and immediately say "it's okay darling, you're doing a great job, you're the best in the world! mummy won't scold you anymore okay sweetie? will you forgive mummy?" this was after her mum tried to get her to listen to me showing them how to play a new song. wow. so, if she doesn't want to listen, her mum apologizes for trying to help her listen? reminds me of Gwen from Malory towers.

she's not been able to play anything for mths now but her silly mum still hasn't wizened up and is throwing her money down the drain. all 9 of the other kids are now able to play both hands for this new song but she still can't play even ONE hand and doesn't know where "Do" is although we've already learnt it 8 mths ago. this is what happens when the parent doesn't discipline the kid at all! even when i try to help correct her, she doesnt want to play and if i try to take her hand to show her, she pretends to cry and buries her face in her mum's chest. when all the kids are singing in front she just goes back to her mum halfway through when she feels like it! she has absolutely no respect for authority at all. then, when i get all the other kids to perform in front and she can't, she cries and runs to mummy again. sobbing that she can't play like the other kids. never did it occur to her that it's her own fault that she can't play.

in the same class, another girl, Marjorie* is always always cheerful, and happy to come to class, she tries her best and althugh she may not get it right the 1st time, she does the 2nd! her mum is encouraging but not smothering. she listens to me and does what I ask. although only 4 years old her attitudes toward other people and learning are way way way more mature than Daphne!


*names have been changed for obvious reasons

the wedding part 2

gav arrived first because he had to go hunt for his missing coat! damien's car looked smashing!
for wedding favors, each guest were given a little bag of heart shaped cookies, either one BIG one, or 2 smaller ones, representing one Big God, and 2 of us joined in holy matrimony. these cookies were baked by all my very special girls from CBC!

now one thing that i really really am so grateful to God for is that we had perfect weather. i was worried that it would rain bcoz it was raining in subang and the weather forecasts said heavy thunderstorms! here's the forecast for that day, "snapped" by munkeong bcoz he believed that God would do a miracle.



in fact it was nice and cool when it was time to start! and no mozzies coz they'd JUST fogged the area. i loved my chuppah [jewish wedding canopy arch thing] that was made by gavin using poles and cement and flower pots and organza. Ben helped to set it up and my friends sewed on flowers and put fairy lights on.

it was so pretty and one of a kind! according to jewish tradition, we were supposed to stand under it but we ended up standing beside it instead.

damien was waiting at the hotel's entrance for us and while were in his car driving to the venue he called kelvin saying "the hawk has landed". i felt really excited and nervous at the same time. when we pulled in and i saw the place for the first time i was so so so overwhelmed at how beautiful everything was and how great everyone looked! although there was no grass it looked so cool because of a beachy themed thing with the sand and all. the sweet pink flags waved gently in the breeze.

i was so glad that some of my guests complied to my pink and brown dress code and that really made eveyrthing look so sweet and happy! i was so excited to get out of the car and see everyone
my dad went to wait at the wrong place so we had to call him over to start walking from here!
most people look at the bride when she walks in but i think seeing the groom's expression during this time is really special
walking down the aisle with my dad was a surreal experience. everyone was looking at me and i didn't know whether i was supposed to smile, or look solemn like those other brides i've seen do. in the end i just smiled and smiled bcoz i was so happy and so overwhelmed with joy. it was so much fun. I wasn't brief on "walking down the aisle etiquette" so i didnt think it was inappropriate for me to whisper to kimkim "this is so much fun!" while i walked past her. hey, everyone's smiling at you. it's not nice to just go by without saying hi right??
one thing that struck was how short it was! i mean, these few seconds are probably what a bride thinks of and anticipates most about her wedding and yet it's over within a few seconds. in a blink of an eye, you're at the front! and your dad is giving you away!
my dad was quite happy to do so. here's the handover.
then we worshiped God, singing one of my favourite songs "made me glad"


then pastor mal talked about marriage and how we will now interact with the world in a different capacity. although we are 2 individuals, we have become one unit. how we will live and die for each other.

and then, the moment!

just looking into his eyes i felt an overwhelming joy. it was such a beautiful and meaningful moment. after 4 years of courtship, here we are, at the culmination of our time together. through all those years we had to spend apart, all the hardships, all the heartaches, all the missing each other, all the joyful reunions and tearful goodbyes, we were finally here, at the altar, about to pledge our lives to each other before God.

here i am, marrying the man i love so much. I couldn't help but tear up! and apparently, so i was told, so did a few of my friends!

the rings symbolize the promises we made to each other, to love in times of sickness and health, for better or for worse. to encourage, to support, to comfort, to cherish.


after that was the lighting of the unity candle. ours looked so DIY because they were DIY. we could've gotten very elegant ones from teddy tales or something but somehow i just didnt think of it. it never occured to me that i could've gotten them ready made!

adeline tied the pink ribbon on and terk gave me suggestions on how to tie the ribbons on the others. the rhinestones were glued on with UHU glue.
the 2 candles represents us as individuals, and the big one represents that we've now become one.
and then it was time for gav to do his thing !

and then we're married! for the recessional, our guests in the aisles threw pink flowers at us. i was really happy. i couldnt stop smiling. later my cheeks ached.

it was funny coz after walking out, we had to walk back in again to pose for photos.
ok this is the end of part 2! part 3 will come later.