i've moved!

this is my new blog which isnt quite a blog but a "soup"
it's much easier to post to. it's like a mini blog for people who dont have the time/inspiration for a proper full on blog

see ya there!

300

gav's watching this movie right now.

Kenneth Turan writes in the Los Angeles Times that "unless you love violence as much as a Spartan, Quentin Tarantino or a video-game-playing teenage boy, you will not be endlessly fascinated.

i have to agree.

united voice

Self-Advocacy Society of Persons with Learning Disabilities Selangor and Kuala Lumpur

Todate, UV has about 80 members. UV membership include person with Down Syndrome, Autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Cerebral Palsy and Global Development Delay.

Objectives

• To provide a meeting place for persons with learning disabilities where they help and support each other.
• To develop leadership, independent skills and confidence among members so that they can speak for themselves and make their own decision.
• To speak and act on behalf of other persons with learning disabilities (advocacy)
• To promote self-advocacy and form groups all over Malaysia
• To make the community more aware of the rights, needs and abilities of persons with learning disabilities.
• To create employment for members.
• To provide an example to the community of a service run well, for and by persons with learning disabilities.

United Voice will be organizing a Fundraising Fun Fair on 14th March 2009 at Bandar Utama Community Center. There will be food & drinks, games, lucky draws, inflatable castles, sand art, face paintings, performances and jumble sale and many more....

You can help support us by

• Sponsoring items for sale.
• buying Coupons (RM20 per book)
• Sponsoring souvenirs or gifts
• Volunteer for the event

Download a copy of the brochure for more information.

If you would like to participate or contribute towards this event in support of United Voice, please contact Yeong Moh Foong at 603-79540701 or email uvfundraising@gmail.com

All cash donations to United Voice will be tax exempted.

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I've got 10 booklets of coupons so please call me if you want to buy some. each booklet is RM20
please click here for the organization's homepage.

this island

thinking about death.... makes one really reflect on life.

"every man dies, but not every man really lives" -W. Wallace [Braveheart]

increasing faith

And God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8

For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.
2 Corinthians 1:20

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poignant time

We'll be starting a new life soon. We're looking forward to it. We're not afraid although we know there may be much to fear. We are full of hope because we know the Lord directs our paths.

This is such an important time for me because it brings me back to 2005 when I first got back to malaysia. that was the lowest point in my whole life, every day I cried and cried and wanted to go back to australia. and so, for the last 3 years that was my goal-to get back there somehow. and now, after much waiting and suffering, finally, it's happening.

during those long years in malaysia the thought of australia was just so painful, it caused too much heartache to even think of it so i stuffed all memories of it into a drawer that i didn't open for years. i couldn't look at photos taken there without a painful stab at my heart.

but now...i can finally reopen that chapter.

garden

im going to miss this house we've been living in although we've only been here a few mths! how fast time flies. now we're married and we're moving out in a couple of months. the garden is what i love most. here above is a mango shoot coming out of a mango seed.

luscious looking grapes from the vine! they look good but unfortunately they're hard and sour. terk can tell you firsthand. hehe...
pumpkin plants.

pumpking seedlings

another pumpkin plant.

there can be miracles

we cried with joy when we got the news.

homemade popcorn

this crunchy snack is fun to eat because of its crisp mouthfeel and so cheap to make at home compared to the ready poppped ones at cinemas or at the supermarket. making a whole bowlful at home is probably only about RM0.30!
it's really easy, just heat up a heavy based pan and add about 2 teaspoonfuls of oil, heat up on the stove at medium heat for about half a minute then add a tablespoonful of uncooked popcorn.
cook for 2-3 minutes, they should start popping wildly. shake the pan every now and then to prevent sticking and burning. when the popping slows down take it off the heat immediately then pour into a bowl.
now melt some butter in the hot pan and pour over the popcorn, cover and shake it real hard to distribute it as evenly as possible. sprinkle with salt and pepper.

yakult

yakult factory visit
we saw how this miracle health drink is manufactured and packaged right here in malaysia. the packaging materials and straws are from japan. i'd always thought all yoghurt drinks were equal but apparently i was wrong because yakult is the only one with 30,000 bacteria that'll cure all your ailments. ok that's not what they said but it was close. apparently this drink will stop all your tummyaches and IBS and digestion and make your gastro-intestinal system work better. and it has vitamins added! plus it tastes good so what's the harm? :D my only gripe is that it's too small, i could drink 5 bottles at one go!
so, after the factory visit and promotional video viewing we're sold! i think gav and i will be drinking yakult everyday from now on.

this is one of the amphibian friends we found in the garden. there're probably hundreds of them.
after observing this one for awhile we let it go of course. they're too small for meat anyway.

Isreal doesn't bomb "schools"

in response to some who're condemning Israel for bombing children, this writer will explain it more clearly.
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anyway about my foot, thanks for all your well wishes and concerns. the doc said there were no fractures, and it's only sprained. it's swollen up but other than that, it's fine. no more pain [the painkillers he gave were very very good] and i can hobble around with a crutch now.

where do we go from here?

You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence with eternal pleasures at your right hand. Ps 16:11

I've asked God that question many times in this life, with the premise that the "right" answer will make me the happiest, and it would be the easiest, with the least difficulties and maximum rewards.

I was only half right. I think going God's way may me fraught with danger, uncertainty at times, heartache, problems, challenges...but it's still be the easiest because we can depend on His strength and not our own.

with this new year come new possibilities, new challenges, new "problems" to be faced. but it's the same God we have whose mercies are new everyday.

Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed Prov 16:3

wedding details - the veil

this is just another part of the mostly DIY wedding I had just to document the things I did for future reference. I wanted to make my own veil because just buying one would've come up to RM180 at least! of course it comes in the package if you'd opted for a studio package but we decided against that from the start.

firstly I browsed around the internet to get ideas, in the end I decided on a drop veil coz it was the easiest to make and looks sweet. we bought the white tulle material and the flower shaped lace from Jalan TAR in KL.

then we cut it into an oval, rounding off the edges after measuring and marking the lines with tailor's chalk.

cutting such a big piece of very delicate material wasn't easy as you can see! it wouldn't stay still and we needed weights on each corner.
then we tried it on to see if it fell correctly. we had to re-cut it a few times to get the length right.

it would've worked fine like this but i wanted to have lace edging on it so I got my mum to sew on 4 metres of lace to the edges.

then I sewed on a little comb to attach it to my hair with! that's it!

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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