It was an engagement gift from him. I love how the purple roman numbers blend nicely with the black background.

After all, my previous watch is aging. And my mum has always loved big watches, so I gave the previous watch to her.

Now I can’t stop staring at my new watch.

He received a new watch too. Yes, it’s another Seiko madness. It was a gift from the mom as a token of “Welcome to the family”. I seriously went gaga over him when he wore that watch. I was almost drooling each time he lifted his left wrist towards me. >_<

It looks like a pair of watches for couples, but they are not. Mine’s a Seiko Criteria Chronograph while he’s wearing a Seiko Tachymeter Chronograph.

Anyway this is not a paid advertorial for Seiko. I am just shouting around that I love Seiko.

It is definitely the time to think of the WHEN WHERE WHAT WHO HOW.

And of course the sweetest part will be…

Needless to say, it’s time to crack my brains!

I vented out to Daddy God and threw all my tantrums and complaints at Him. Expressed myself to Him that all these matters are turning stale and they should be resolved immediately. No parties can benefit if we drag too long. I looked up to the heavens and shed buckets of tears. This is way too much, Father. Too much.

Some of my friends comforted me and reminded me about the passion that I once had. Hang in there, Grace. Hang in there.

I persevered.

Without realizing, I actually have sought the peace of God in my heart. How can I not remember the compassion of His love that has breathed life in me?

For once, I want a rebirth of hope. I want a reorganization of thoughts. I want a reconstruction of dreams. The moment I let go and let God, dreams can be rebuilt. Worst experiences of life can be extracted and used to create a new set of interpretation of life’s events.

You will also experience the breakthrough when you feel the power to wish the other well.

We should strive to face the heat of life in stride, much like these delicate flowers do.

They are not simply surviving under the radiating sun in scorching heat; they are thriving and beautiful!

Yesterday, we welcomed 2010 with wide open arms. It marks another mile of decade since the new millennium started at Y2K.

2009 has seen me walking an arduous path with several gratifying moments. I am absolutely not proud with my achievements when I looked back at the resolutions I made 365 days ago. I for one, an ambitious perfectionist, am obsessed with higher expectations.

Failures of 2009’s resolution:-
1. I failed to read a book a quarter. Ended up reading 75% of Harry Potter 6 and 65% of the Russian Concubine. Should I start reading more in 2010? Hmmm..
2. I failed to blog 12 times a month. What have I done? 78 entries in a year, which comes to an average of 6.5 a month.
3. I failed to be more adventurous. The only waterfall I visited were Chamang Waterfalls on my birthday.

Achievements:-
1. I did travel to a colder climate country. Well, even though it was only for a few nights in Melbourne, but it was worth the experience.
2. I somehow learned a few things on photography. Thanks to Uncle Bear’s DSLR and my infamous Canon Ixus 860IS which has served me nobly for 2 years.
3. And yes, I somewhat did increase my income. I have embarked on a new journey with Boston Scientific since 1 December. I am now looking forward with this challenging yet rewarding career.

Well, it is Year 2010. What about it? What am I going to do with this brand new year?

1. I shall empower myself with moderation. Moderation is the key of balance in life. I need to balance my diet which means less junk (such as sinful indulging of ice-creams). I need to incorporate exercise as a part of my lifestyle. I am definitely entering into a phase where skin-aging has started. I shall not watch dramas insanely (read: no more 10 episodes at one go). Thus, I will need to take good care of my health.

2. I shall empower myself in God’s favour. It reminds me of the song from Carrie Underwood – Jesus Take The Wheel. It is undoubtedly that I could not have achieved what I achieved today without His absolute and divine strength. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”, as Philippian 4:13 says. In anything that I do, I just have to let God take charge. Be it my career, future partner, finance or family affairs. I surrender all to Him.

3. I shall empower myself in my career. New year, new career. What else do I need to do now? I have a gazillion things to learn up about the electrophysiology of the heart and the cardiac rhythm management. I will gather all my strength and sources to master this rare skill, and take pride in my job. More confidence means more sales, and hence, more $$$!

4. I shall empower myself with at least 1 beach holiday. I definitely need a break from the hustle-bustle of the metropolis. Air Asia, I rely on you for the best deals now. Tell me, where should I go? Bali? Phuket? Koh Lipeh? And where are my travel partners? Ah Lang? Pn Zaleha? Jimmy? Popiah? Ah Jon? Bear ah? Moo-moo? Ah Beng? Et cetera…

5. I shall empower myself with more joy. Yes to laughter; no to tears. I shall laugh more than weep. I shall smile more than frown.

I humbly come before the Almighty God, to assist me in achieving my 2010 resolutions. I shall have faith in myself and be assured to accomplish them like winning a race.

Lastly, may 2010 be an empowering year for you and me!

God Bless xoxo

John Greenleaf Whittier

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!!

Yes, I gotta run now. Have another appointment now!!

Will blog more soon. xoxo

As I was going through my stuffs in Ipoh, I found an exercise book at one of my book shelves that says “Penulisan – BM” which means Essay in Malay Language. 3 Orkid was the name of my class when I was in Secondary 3.

Out of curiosity, I flipped through the pages to find out what have I written a decade ago.

To my own astonishment, I couldn’t recall myself scoring as high as 24 or 25 out of 30 marks for each essay I have written in the official language of this country. Wow!

I am glad I actually score an “A” for this particular essay. Let me share it with you now.

Masalah sosial di kalangan remaja boleh ditangani oleh pelbagai pihak. Tuliskan pendapat anda tentang peranan yang patut dilakukan oleh pihak tersebut.

Masalah sosial di kalangan remaja semakin meningkat. Namun begitu, masyarakat tidak harus menuding jari dan mempersalahkan sesiapapun. Masalah ini boleh diselesaikan dan harus ditangani oleh pelbagai pihak.

Antaranya ialah ibu bapa- ibu bapa merupakan pihak yang paling rapat dengan remaja. Remaja yang diabaikan oleh ibu bapa mereka akan cuba melakukan apa saja yang dapat menarik perhatian orang ramai. Oleh itu, ibu bapa seharusnya meluangkan lebih banyak masa untuk anak-anaknya dan tunjuk ajar serta menitikberatkan ajaran agama dan moral. Di samping itu, sokongan moral boleh diberi untuk memberi keyakinan diri remaja.

Pihak sekolah juga memainkan peranan yang penting dalam membentuk kesahsiahan seseorang remaja. Mereka boleh mengadakan aktiviti-aktiviti kokurikulum yang bermanfaat malah menyeronokkan bagi menarik minat para pelajar untuk mengisi masa lapang dengan berfaedah. Selain itu, kelas-kelas tambahan juga boleh diadakan bagi membantu pelajar-pelajar dalam bidang akademik. Tambahan pula, perkhidmatan kaunseling pula dapat membantu para pelajar yang menghadapi masalah mental-emosi serta memberi nasihat dan keyakinan diri kepada mereka.

Pihak rakan sebaya pula dapat membantu dengan memberikan contoh yang baik kepada rakan mereka. Sekiranya satu pihak melakukan perbuatan yang salah, pihak seterusnya harus menasihatinya. Dengan itu, pihak itu dapat membantu rakannya dan juga mengelakkan diri daripada kegiatan yang tidak berfaedah.

Masyarakat juga terlibat untuk menangani masalah ini seperti dengan menampilkan kelakuan yang baik untuk remaja contohi. Masyarakat juga tidak patut memulaukan atau menghina remaja yang pernah tersesat jalan, sebaliknya memberi peluang kepadanya balik ke pangkal jalan dan memulakan hidup yang baru.

Tanpa kerjasama semua pihak di atas, masalah sosial di kalangan remaja tidak mungkin dapat ditangani dan mungkin akan menjadi lebih membimbangkan lagi. Oleh itu, pihak-pihak ini harus berganding bahu untuk menangani masalah tersebut dan mewujudkan satu masyarakat yang harmoni serta keadaan yang stabil dan aman.

**************************

Hmmm… what do you think? Alright, please do not throw rotten eggs on me if my essay is not properly written. It’s just a piece of essay penned 10 years ago.

In times of pure ignorance and laziness, I will just choose one of my favourite photos into these frames and tadaa…. they will be ready for display.

Nevertheless, you can do more to such cheap affordable photo frames if you think they are  dull in colour. All you need is a set of poster colours and an artbrush; then allow your creative right brain to take over.

I have not painted anything since I left high school. I can’t believe I still have the touch of art, and the flow of the creativity comes out naturally. I guess I inherited my mom’s genes on this.

You can always paint it according to your favourite patterns and colours. Some may like it in darker tones, some may fancy the bright rainbow colours.

Having said that, this is one of perhaps, many, simple Ikea-DIY’s that I would recommend.

Nothing beats personal touch, eh!

Maybe I have been giving out a lot of cupcakes to them for the past few months and hence the nickname.

Thus I made one banner for myself for the profile section just to color up my page.

Yeah, I think I am in love with cupcakes now.

Aren’t you tempted to have any of these cupcakes?

I want cupcakes now!!