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.

--------------------------

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