Priority First!

We are given the time of our life here on earth for a purpose, and the time that we had here is gracefully given by God. Therefore, it is important to manage our time appropriately so that the time that we had won't go to waste.
Last week's sermon served as a reminder for me to really utilize my time fully. He (Tony, from US) mentioned FIVE keys in managing our time:

1. Set priorities (do what's important first)
2. Build relationships with God and others (meaningful relationships that will last)
3. Planning (to avoid last minutes and dissapoinments)
4. Clear the clutter
-schedule clutter
- emotional clutter
5. Be flexible (be prepared to make any changes)


Life's a brief candle, cherish it, use it to it's fullest while you can :)

REVIVED!! and now for AUGUST's sake!

Lo and behold, it has been almost ONE year since I last posted anything new here, and breaking my promises to update frequently. Well, here I am again, starting this meaningless post I guess. I had a lot of inspirations and thoughts that has caused me to 'revive' this blog once more. There are so many things going on in my head: study, classes, cleaning my room, watch movies, ideas, my family, etc. that I do not know where to start. However, I'm glad that I'm taking Creative Writing subject that has inspired me to write in a freestyle, which means, writing whatever that comes to my mind and from there I could expand more ideas from it. The lecturer for this subject really nailed it. Though there are only 7 of us, I guess it gives us the opportunities to speak and express more ideas and that the class is not too noisy or quiet.


Reminiscing the month of August..

AUGUST 2008

It's already the month of August (so fast!) and I must say that August is quite a significant month for me. It started since August 2008 on the 15th where I started my internship as a reporter in The Star northern hub. For goodness sake, it's a Friday! And usually people starts work on Monday, right? I remembered the editor at that time requested that I work on the next day as well, which is a Saturday! To her thinking, she thought that it's ridiculous to start work on Friday, take off on Saturday and Sunday and then only come back to work again on Monday. After much discussion, eventually I got my weekends off since I was just an intern.

Another significant day on that month and year is on the 30th Aug 2010 (a saturday). My boyfriend had planned on a camping trip at Pantai Kerachut with some church members and his Boys Brigade students and he invited me to come along with him. And guess what. Before I knew of his plan, I voluntarily offered myself to work on that day (in replacement for a holiday on Monday) just because it seemed to be a significant day for Malaysia, and I thought it would be celebrated in a big scale. But I was wrong. It's just Penang. Probably if I was in KL, then I would probably witness a whole lot of events. I ended up attending to some mundane dinner at a hotel in batu ferringhi accompanied by local traditional music and singing performance. What a tragic. But the good side of it is that I get to eat the hotel food for free! and the cuisine is Malay cuisine with varieties of rice, curries, and meat. Unfortunately, before I attended this event, I was unaware of it and I drove myself to the nearest hawker food centre and fed myself with some disgusting, tasteless claypot noodle that is not worth it's price at all!. When I arrived at the hotel's event, I was quite full to indulge into the hotel cooked food. :(
Disaster.
Then I was sent to check on Gurney Drive to see if there was any celebration. I arrived there and parked my car at quite a distance. Nothing interesting. Nothing newsworthy. And it's boring. The only interesting part is where some motorcycles and cars were decorated with Jalur Gemilang (Malaysian flag). That's it. Nothing more.
What's worse is that I couldn't call him because of the bad reception from Pantai Kerachut. He tried to call from the pier, but to no avail. And he was quite worried about my safety, alone in the dark.
I remembered another occasion where I had to be at a hotel to attend some event..I think it's Tanjung Bungah Hotel and it was held at the beach side with dining tables. It was quite a relaxing and a vacation kind of scene, but I was there as an intern reporter..can't really enjoy much with the thought of working motives. Sigh. Had to listen to some speech, but there's nothing newsworthy either.


The next day when he came back from Pantai Kerachut, he showed me a breathtaking picture of a sunset he witnessed from there in the evening. I regretted for having myself working on that Saturday. I could have experience camping beside a beach and watch the sunset together. He even told me that during the night, he could see thousands of stars in the sky as that area is a reserved forest and there's barely any light pollution. Dang. I missed watching all these nature stuff that a city's life couldn't offer. :(


However, before my internship started back then, I was glad to be able to explore and hike in Pantai Kerachut, Monkey Beach, and Muka Head (Lighthouse) on the first week of August 2008. If you have a facebook account, just sign in and click these links:

My first time to Kerachut
First time to Monkey Beach
To the Lighthouse! I
To the Lighthouse! II


AUGUST 2009

Last year's August was as significant to me. At the beginning of August 2009, I started my part time job at Kumon. At first, my job was just marking the student's homework, and now, I'm also teaching for English subject. For maths I'll just leave it to Iryna and the rest :p I was first trained by Karen, who was also marking for English homeworks at that time, who worked a couple of months earlier than me. I've got to know Alice who is a great boss and the other teachers like Adrian Charles, Geetha, Chris, Ashley, Amanda, Azreen, Jia Yi and Grace who had left, and now currently working are Ai Ping, Yin Tung, Hui Ming (new), Laxmi and Hui Tying.

Kumon Pictures


Exactly one year since my internship with the Star, 16th August 2009 (Sunday) is a memorable date. It's the day of my graduation day (for diploma). My parents, elder sister and bf came to celebrate it with me at Trader's Hotel. Lot's of pictures taken. I received real and fresh flowers from my parents and fake flowers (paper folded) and card from bf and his family. Click on the link to see the pictures from facebook.

Graduation 2009




AUGUST 2010

GUESS WHAT? I've been juggling my college classes and my part time job for a year now. In a way it's my one year anniversary working in Kumon. Yay. Quite sadden by the fact that Grace recently left Kumon to further her studies next month. While we were working together, she shared a lot of stories to me and keep me in company when it's boring marking those homeworks. During my two months break from college (end apr to early july), I spend most of my time with her. We shared thoughts and feelings about the kids we taught. She's my helper in handling really difficult kids that I couldn't handle. She really did a great job teaching and marking those homeworks fast speed. Even faster than me. She could speak mandarin and is able to help those mandarin speaking students to understand their english classwork. But I don't even have the mandarin vocabulary or even the right mandarin pronunciation to help these students. The best I could help is to explain those difficult words in english. On the other hand, she tries to understand the students' capabilities and behaviours to help them, and she's very observant. She always smiles, being cheerful, friendly and helpful. Quite a chatter at times. An avid gym goer and jogger. Guess I'm gonna miss her.

Another person I'm missing now is my bf. Going off for one week for company's training. Miss him lots. This is another item to start off my August month this year. He called me just now and that he's at some mall and bought me a white top! How nice.

I think this is my longest post ever in this entire blog for the past three years. I hope to write more soon, to improve my writing style and not to be bogged down thinking that nobody's reading my blog (i once thought that since nobody's reading my blog, then why blog?). But I think the fact is that people do visit my blog, but they don't leave comments, so I thought people are not interested in reading my blog.
So anyway, I think this post took me almost two hours to compose and edit. I wonder how many words I had written.
Another thing about me is that I actually enjoy reading other people's blog as they share their viewpoints in life. Maybe that explains why I didn't blog because I was too busy minding other people's business than myself.
(Sorry for all the jumbled up notes at the last paragraph. As I said, too many things in my mind that I'm pouring it out at the end.)

Till next time.

Sigh

In the midst of my busy schedule, somehow or another, blogging is a way of expressing myself and stress reliever. If it had not been the support of Dennis I don't think I could easily cope right now. Two more weeks to go till all my assignments due, not much of time left. At the mean time, I'm also working part time that take up 11 hours every week, not including the duration of getting there and coming back home. That's the life of a student. Time management is the utmost important. I'm still learning how to prioritize my tasks each day as I tend to do the least important things first like cleaning my room, folding my clothes etc. unnecessarily. Then I would take a long break before getting back to my studies. However, I couldn't find much time to even play the piano. I really missed those times where I drill myself to practice daily for my piano practical exam. Now, for more than a year since I finished my Grade 7 exam, and I think it would be hard to get back to that stream and continue my Grade 8 syllabus, although I already have it.

I also missed those time when I have time for hiking. I would hike Bukit Jambul hill, Kerachut, Muka Head, Bukit Hijau, and Youth Park. During those times, I would often hike with Dennis and my godmother. Now those times were only framed in the form of pictures and I could only reminisce. :(


Those hiking days..


It has been more than a year since I joined The Star for my 3 months internship (Aug 15, 08 - Nov 15, 08). I'm still thinking what I want to work as in the future after my degree. Need insights.

Alright, I think I have to stop abruptly here. Gotta finish my assignments. Gambateh!

Hot and stuffy days...aaarghh!

It has been awhile that the weather is so humid, stuffy, dusty, hazy, unclear vision. A lot of people had runny nose, sick, fever, not feeling well, etc because of it. In addition, the swine flu that is spreading, but no worries, the government are taking measures to prevent it from spreading.

The pic above was when I took bus to work. It's mainly to prevent from the dusty air emitted from the bus and vehicles and also the haze. Obviously I was the only person walking around with half my face covered LOL.


I'm hoping for rain. Hoping this and hoping that (of other things). Hopefully it turns up well.
Btw, I got so many friends in facebook! Yipeeee..so happy!


Most of all, to my beloved darling, thanks for being my listener. Especially thanks for being there for me 24/7, accepting me for who I am, manja-ing me
:P ,
appreciate me and understanding me. Thanks honey for everything!!

Together 4Eva~

14 hours of work marathon!!!!

Waaaa!! Just came back from work about an hour ago. Super tired. Headed to work at 6.30am for stock check and finish at 8.30pm. Then the process of going home, eat and shower take about 30 minutes.

OK, let's rewind the day. Dennis dropped me at work in the wee hours. Then into the office I go. I was quite surprise to see so many staffs in the pantry, especially those whom I know personally when I first work there, May Ting, Chuck, Matthew, Vivien and Jerry who resigned some weeks ago. I'm kinda miss their faces haha. My manager called them the 'old stock'. haha. There were also older staffs than them who used to work there a year or a couple of years ago.
Current working staffs also present, Selene, Ning, Daniel, Calvin, Siew Poh, Chien Wei, Siti, Fiona, Shereen, Me. People I met were Nicole, Andrew, Lawrence, Kenny, Gim Lee, Wong and many more whom I don't know their name.
Manager Wendy gave the briefing of how to go about the stock check of the store. Then Thomas showed up late. Yesterday was his last day. Don't ask me why he was late. I don't know. The estimated time for the stock check to end was 6pm. Briefing went on till almost 8am.

Everbody knew what to do after that. Everyone got their 'gun' to 'shoot' on the binc code. There were also 6 laptops with the scanner, and I got the laptop! It's much faster and easier than the gun. The gun looked like a PDA phone with touch screen functions and has a lever to be pulled so that the red light scanner could detect the binc code. And now let the game begin!

It was quite fun at first. Something different and something I never done before. Selene said it will make us a better cashier. haha. I said it's the practice of aiming the scanner at the binc code accurately. hehe. When the scanning get started, the whole store is filled with beeping sound!!!
However, I was yet to get started. I got a faulty extension wire. Two out of the three wires got tercabut! Cannot connect! And Kenny said his laptop's battery spoiled, so have to depend on the power socket. So, I was waiting and helped up Selene a bit.

Then, I finally got it plugged after getting new extensions. I also needed a three plug power supply to accomodate to the many needs for power (electricity lah).

I had the help of Dolly the store manager to hold the book for me while I scanned it. It made the process speed up! After each shelf, I would tick on the paper to indicate that scanning is done, and a person who holds the counter role will count the books manually and jot it down on the tag pasted there on each shelves with it's four digit code number. I got the sports section, maps (not easy to scan!), business tables.

The process just went on and on. Same method. Then everyone break at 10am. Tuna and egg sandwich were provided. Then, we were back to business. With all the scanning sounds makes me think that those sounds sounded like in the hospital where the machine make similar sound to tell the patients' heartbeat.

We were so into our work that I feel that time pass by so quickly! The time taken to scan all the books in one shelf would take about 30 mins to 1 hour, depending on the quantity of the books. As for kids section, the books are quite small and thin, so it's a lot of work to scan them.

At 2.45 we went out for our lunch break. Quite late for lunch. Our usual lunch break is 2pm. At that time, the afternoon staffs came, Liang and Farid. They will be serving the customers after the stock check is fully completed, and those who came in the morning could go home. I taught Liang how to use the laptop and scanner so she could continue the work while I go for my break.

I came back in half and hour time after eating with Chien Wei, Selene and Fiona. We had our lunch at One Eight Eight although our break is for one whole hour. We immediately resume to our work because we want to go home early, as we heard that the branches in KL took a very long time, that is until the following day in the wee hours!!! That time I changed from using a laptop into using the gun scanner. The problem about it is, it only captures old bincs numbers and not the new bincs. As I proceed, I realized I shouldn't choose that particular shelf! That's because most of the books are new bincs number and I had to key in each number one by one! This will take longer time than a laptop scanner.

Hooi Fong came at 6pm. That's her shift. After the front section is completed, we all moved up to children section. That time the store opened at 6 something, and yet we continued scanning only that section. Everyone was crazy cracking joke and fooling around so much. But I was more quiet and focusing on my work. With all the other people scanning from all over the place could make me confuse. That's what happen to me since the beginning. Just imagine, continuous beeping all the time.

Finally, at 8.30pm, eveything was completed. My back ache, arm sores, tired and sweaty. The best part is, I could finally go home for a meal, shower, and online.

The modern technology we are living in

Hey ya'll! How'r you all doing? I bet that you, my readers are out there, just that I don't know who is still keeping track in reading my blog..it would be best if you would type something or leave your name stating that you're here, or if there's any comment in any particular posts, you could do so. Also not forgetting the chat box on your right side.

We're living in a cyber world where internet, gadgets, hardwares, softwares, and technology revolves around our lives heavily. One of the most common human interaction through the internet is called a facebook, a social network besides friendster, high five, myspace, etc.

I would say that most of my time are spent in facebook playing pet society, leaving comments, wishing happy birthday, chatting, viewing pictures and uploading pictures, applying some applications and also doing all sorts of quizzes and questionarre created by people. Some of it I think is ridiculous like "what is your actual age", "how does your future boyfriend/girlfriend is like", "what cartoon character are you", etc. They are countless. Even personal applications as well. If you're a facebook-er, you'll know what I mean.

Remembering how I got started in facebook in 2007, it wasn't easy with the different functions and applications. I got very lost. But eventually, after asking around, especially friends, I got the hang of it. Exploring the social networking by myself also helps. Anyway, most of the time, this social network is introduced by friends or family. Or you would see people opening the applications on their laptops or in college's internet lab.

Let me show you what happyslip thinks about this facebook fever!




Ultimately, i use facebook to get connected with my friends and family =) Not forgetting the status updates that is so recent about their activities.

Time Flies

Time do flies. Not that I just realised, just that I always felt that all the time.
Tomorrow is Thursday, and then moving to Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Then it began, Monday blues. It's just clearly a cycle.
Cycle of life.
You just move on from primary school to secondary school, proceed to either form six or college or uni, and then after ataining whatever cert you desire, then there you go, into the world of work work work. You don't work, you don't eat. You don't eat, you don't survive. Simple.
Cycle of life.
So what's the whole point of being here anyway? People tell me, your life has a purpose on earth here. You're designed by God, and it is God's pleasure to create human beings. I know it's true cuz God wants to have a meaningful relationship with us.
It's exactly what King Solomon said in Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 1 (New International Version)

Ecclesiastes 1:1-11

Everything Is Meaningless

¹ The words of the Teacher, ^a]">[a] son of David, king in Jerusalem:

² "Meaningless! Meaningless!"
says the Teacher.
"Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless."

³ What does man gain from all his labor
at which he toils under the sun?

⁴ Generations come and generations go,
but the earth remains forever.

⁵ The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to where it rises.

⁶ The wind blows to the south
and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
ever returning on its course.

⁷ All streams flow into the sea,
yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
there they return again.

⁸ All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
nor the ear its fill of hearing.

⁹ What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

¹⁰ Is there anything of which one can say,
"Look! This is something new"?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.

¹¹ There is no remembrance of men of old,
and even those who are yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow.

On the other hand, in Ecclesiastes 12:1; 12:13-14


¹ Remember your Creator
in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come
and the years approach when you will say,
"I find no pleasure in them"-

¹³ Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.

¹⁴ For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.

++++++++++++++++++





Anyway, life could be enriched with the relationships you create. It means spending time with those people you love.


There are 5 languages of love that you could show to your loved ones:

• Words of Affirmation
  This is when you say how nice your spouse looks, or how great the dinner tasted. These words will also build your mate's self image and confidence.

• Quality Time
  Some spouses believe that being together, doing things together and focusing in on one another is the best way to show love. If this is your partner's love language, turn off the TV now and then and give one another some undivided attention.

• Gifts
  It is universal in human cultures to give gifts. They don't have to be expensive to send a powerful message of love. Spouses who forget a birthday or anniversary or who never give gifts to someone who truly enjoys gift giving will find themselves with a spouse who feels neglected and unloved.

• Acts of Service
  Discovering how you can best do something for your spouse will require time and creativity. These acts of service like vacuuming, hanging a bird feeder, planting a garden, etc., need to be done with joy in order to be perceived as a gift of love.

Physical Touch
Sometimes just stroking your spouse's back, holding hands, or a peck on the cheek will fulfill this need.

~by Gary Chapman~


And then I took a test from facebook:

Abigail took the Which Love Language do you have? quiz and the result is WORDS

You are a person of words. This means you are most touched when people tell you 'I love you', or when you read a poem. Even a song can make you emotional. Talking is your emotional tool and you will therefore also use this to connect to other people. Words are a great way of communicating, but when someone else you love doesn't necessarily talk the way you do, it doesn't mean they don't love you. What would be their primary love language? Too many words may have their downside, too. Some people may assume that if you talk a lot, you talk more than you do. You may also have been terribly hurt by what people have said, more than what they did. One last point to mention is that God also communicates in your love language. He uses words, too. He says in the Bible that He loves you, that you are the apple of His eye, and that He wants you to come to Him and talk to Him. He loves you and gave Jesus (God Himself in human form) to bridge the gap caused by the fall of sin through which we cannot fully obey the law He gave us. He made the solution through Jesus, and when accepting Him, you'll accept God Himself, Who loves you, and wants to communicate with you.

INSIGNIFICANT

In silence she suffered
In her long journey
In the darkest moment of her life
In her deep thoughts
In seeking to find out the deepest things.

Long has she been
Long ago as she could remember
Long hair grown passed her shoulder
Long way to go still.

Unappreciated, unloved, uninterested
Hidden deep beneath the oceans
Numb in feelings
Aching to step out from it
Longing to breathe the fresh air by the shore.

personality test in working environment

Dear Abigail,

RCI's PEAKS profiles provide for you a glimpse of your personality-based inclinations towards the job-specific excellence benchmarks in Corporations. Corporate leaders at all levels exhibit five sets of traits classified under the acronym PEAKS.


(P) Purpose
(E) Energy
(A) Affirmation
(K) Knowledge
(S) Sustainability


Top performing staff in progressive corporations exhibit a compelling Purpose, dynamic Energy, uplifting Affirmation to others, visionary or futuristic orientation to Knowledge & robust Sustainability.

Here's a glimpse of your Personality-Driven Potential related to:


AFFIRMATION


You are a person who enjoys helping others achieve their goals!

You see the best in people around you, preferring to lavish trust rather than suspicion. You are an extremely tactful person who relates well with everyone in your environment. You can create a win-win situation.
You value your innermost feelings and those of others, whether they be positive or negative ones.
You are teachable, submissive and a good worker, one who follows instructions closely.

You are a tender- hearted person who is invigorated when performing acts of compassion and kindness.

Compared to the masses of people who score on Affirmation, you are unusually capable of creating peaceful and co-operative environments in an independent and scrutinizing manner.

You represent the top 7% of test takers inthe world who have this unique combination of personality characteristics.



PS: Test taken from jobstreet.

don't know what

Hi all
I'm purely and basically blank on what I should blog about.
It has been quite dry.

My apology to end this post so abruptedly. Because that's all I have to say. Now I'm off to read my New Moon, the sequal of Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. BRB! (thanks to my dear for buying the books for me =)

New Year Resolutions - to make them or not? to abide by it or not?

Look at how beautiful the sky is, keeps me ponder how wonderful are God's creation!
(click on pic for enlargement)

My heart is so full of many topics to post about, so choosing something to type about is ain't easy..


Let's talk about new year resolutions on my own perspectives.



Why do people set them, but at the end of the year, if they don't achieve much, how would they feel? Another disappointment? Self-condemnation? lowered self-image? totally feel useless and helpless about it?


On the other party, they said there's no point setting on resolutions on every head of the year as most of it are either unrealistic or too far to get hold to it, but heck, what is a resolution without extraordinary dreams to achieve within a year? Besides, it doesn't have to be in a time frame of a year, but could be like five years or ten years from now.


Rachel trying to wish for her new year resolution to come true..but...



Making resolutions yearly is not wrong, in fact, if it is done yearly, it would be a good check point to evaluate once more about the achievement done and what has to be done. Sometimes you would have to even look at the little things you achieve everyday that could boost up your motivation to do more of it, as taking a little step each time will bring you a big leap!



....she's not sure it will work or not...


One tip of having your goals achieved is to set it within your reach and your limitations, for example, setting a desirable weight loss at a logical figure and not beyond what your body can't do.
But one thing I have decided, that is to take things a step at a time, little by little and a drop of water, and all of these could mount up to big steps, into large quantity, and to a big mighty ocean.



As for me, I used to set a lot of dreams, hoping to achieve them within a year, in which I set a lot of goals, but in the end, couldn't really achieve much. This is because, I perceive, that I had too many things in mind that in the end, I don't know where to start, how to start and when to start..and it drags on for months and then years..for example, I had been dreaming of mastering the mandarin language since like when I was younger as I was studying in a non-chinese speaking school, but till now, I still don't know how to read and write in chinese, what more speaking in it.

Check this out! Look at what 'big fish' that I caught in the wishing well...ngek ngek ngek...



Another example would be reading novels and story books. At home, I have a lot of them, and in fact it is one of my resolutions, that is to read them. Once in a blue moon I would think of reading them, stuffing my face on its first few pages for days and weeks just to finish the whole series of it, BUT I never touched them or even read a single line..I mean, not until that extreme, but as a habit, I would read the first few chapters of the book and then gave it up as I was distracted by other things. After for long, I began to lose interest on the story line, and began to forget what I read, so no point continuing where I started, so I left it unread..for months..and then years to come.



Next, is losing weight. I know, many girls do have this resolution or goal, but seriously, all I did was just jotting it down, and the next thing I do, is doing nothing about it. Not really a good thing.


My piano at home



As a pianist, I have this thought of being a good pianist, being able to read new music notes that I never played before and play it for the first time in a smooth manner. With that, I have to practice everyday without fail to achieve that. But when I am in front of my piano, barely half and hour, my eyes are switched away and glued to the dummy box. Besides dreaming of having a good sight reading, I also would like to score distinction in my piano exams and also knowing how to self-improvise a song intelligently, and it never come to surface as procrastination and laziness strikes.

Oh ya, before I forget, most of all, every time I try to learn a new piece of song, it would take months or even years for me to learn it, though it's simple because I just wouldn't wanna sit down and practice. I tried to practice song like "Kiss the Rain" by Yiruma on the piano, and has been months since I touch the song and I haven't master the song completely yet!! I even posted this song on my blog (upper right side) to inspire me to practice it, yet I didn't even move a muscle..



These are just a few that I named among the long list that i had in my mind or wrote it down. So, lesson here is, do one thing at a time, and most importantly is to FOCUS on what I do and stay close to it.




Abigail Tan
~speaking~



P/S: I am not saying not to dream big. You can do it, like inventing a helping robot or doing bungee jumping even though that you're small. Do keep that spirit, hold on to it, never give up, set your eyes on it and work hard and smart. AND

my apology for the unending words..hehe

Merely blogging

This is me reporting for news!
First up, I officially finish my internship (hooray for me!) BUT I am in debt of one more story to rewrite..sigh..but oh well, it's the job's demand!
So, here I am, although it is over, there are still works piling up for me to do! And here are the to do list!

1. Finish my write up, submit my daily diary to boss
2. Prepare my report and slides for my presentation
3. Home spring cleaning
4. Learn mandarin
5. Do what I like to do - hiking
6. Vacation Bible School (VBS) volunteer
7. Do eye check up
8. Practice my piano
9. Gear up for caroling
10. Drill my lil bro

Oh yea, btw, I kinda stumbled into an article written about the Easter celebration in college that I was involved, So here it is: Click here!
and compare it with this: Blog post archive
Next up, will be posting more pictures! including pix that i promised, that is, my b'day's pic!

Till then!

Rediscovering

Day by day it pass me by
From the rising of the sun to it's going down
Then comes week by week
And then month by month
Till when I realise it, it has already passed a year
One year come and gone after another

Looking back how I was years back
When I was a toddler, a child when I wished that I was an adult
Young and naive, not understanding how the world works

As I emerged to a teenager
Things around me got stranger as I rediscover myself
Like a young bird learning to fly
Being pushed by mummy eagle that taught me to fly in a nick of time
But, there are more to learn

Now that I no longer called a TEEN-ager
And life just go on and on
Sometimes I hope that time would just roll back, like what anyone else would like
Or even freeze at the moment to captivate the fond memories that lifts up my soul
Though they are little and rare
I hope that this year's birthday
Would be something more than the usual
And that would be...(fill in the blanks yourself).

Out of the blues,

Gail

Cheated!

Just the other day me, Dennis and Ruth planned to treat a close friend to a Japanese restaurant, recommended by my dad, and even showed the adverlet on internet, and we perceived that the prices are reasonable, and decided to head for it.

The expectation turned out to be a turn down as what I saw on the adverlet was only a way to attract people to their restaurant, not much of honesty. Even taking pictures there are not allowed!

I'm just dying to have a short vacation to anywhere for a break, and I remembered that there's a new Jusco in the mainland, with it's first Big Apple in Penang!

Check it's info in Ruth's blog

And I can't wait to participate in the VBS (vocational bible school) with the children in Wesly Methodist church from Nov 26rd for five days, get done with my internship presentation in college, and then, to a get-away PCC family camp on Dec 7-9, followed by my family vacation to Bukit Tinggi and KL. By the time, the year 2008 is coming to an end, and I'm still vague on what to do next after this..

The Hearts Speak

He:
After all these times,
I cant close my eyes,
Cause every time I do,
I see an image of you.

She:
These times will not end,
I still open my eyes,
Cause I see what's ahead,
I see you in person.

He:
You’ve haunted me,
Like a wild lion roaring to my heart,
Where one day apart,
Spans an extraordinary cut.

She:
You've hunted me,
Like phone-calling and knocking at my doorstep,
Where not a day not hearing from you,
Spans a continuity.

He:
I just miss you so much,
Words are not enough,
Just to be in your arms,
Its then where my heart jumps.

She:
You're not the only one,
Words are just out there,
Just to be with you,
Its then when I fainted.

He:
Now I make a vow,
To take this humble bow,
I will never leave you,
Not whatever, no matter how.

She:
The vow is made,
To 'khau thau',
I'm glued to your feet,
Forever.


She wrote this in response to his poem on Oct 8, 10.50pm

A little stuff about her

The latest picture of her at office.

1. Just passed her practical grade 7 piano border line and is moving forward to grade 8 with a new syllabus

2. Her room is very messy although many attempts of cleaning it

3. Always tries to find more time for reading and learning mandarin but never happen

4. Looking forward to hiking and other outdoor activities but she doesn't have much free time

5. Is keeping her hair long, bearing some strands of hair that are stubborn

6. She loves to explore new places in Penang

7. Wants to lose weight for a looooong time

8. Is thinking where to go next after graduation

9. Wishes to accomplish something in life, something meaningful

10. Wants to learn more on how to use DSLR, photoshop, etc.

So, now she wishes to tag Dennis Ruth, Rachel, Wendy, Hugo, Hung Wei, BlurChu, Anna T. and Charles of this simple post.
She said, "Happy doing!" to all of you.

Some words of wisdom..

Life is not a breeze when you realize that you have to be
independent from your parents.

When things are taken away from you,
you realized how much you had taken advantage of.

When you decided to be lazy one fine day,
it'll drag forever before you know it!

You'll begin to appreciate what you had during your
study life since you enter working life.

You'll begin to find many ways to improve
yourself to be a better person.

You take things step by step, learning
little by little each day that is accumulative to something greater.

Be faithful to the little things so that you'll be
able to be faithful in many things.

Take time to realize that life is too short for you to wait
for golden opportunities to slip from your hands.

You'll begin to appreciate the time off you had.

You'll begin to appreciate having proper meals.

You would prefer to stay home and relax than going out.

Learn to compromise although things
didn't work the way you want it to be.

Everyday you must learn new things,
if not, you'll be stagnant.

Don't be afraid to ask when in doubt.

Don't groan over bad situation as you would
learn things faster and add on to your experience.

Working Experience

I would say that I learn more or less, in my gathering news technique and writing skills. Learned a lot from the editors and seniors. But there are more to come. Throughout, I met a lot of people, spoke to them. It has taught me bravery, quick thinking, act quick, and use my advantage to an extent.

There are articles that I covered were published in the daily paper and online. I wouldn't say that I had reached, but I would say that I'm still in the process of learning. Indeed, writing news is not as easy as I think. One must write and rewrite and rephrase a sentence to make it sound sensible and easy to absorb (short, concise, straight to the point).

**********

As of today, the article I wrote came out:

Saturday August 30, 2008 - The Star

Convent Light Street head calls it a day

CONVENT Light Street principal Amy Tan plans to catch up with some reading, cooking and baking following her retirement yesterday.

The dedicated educator was given a rousing farewell amid cheers and appreciative goodbyes from scores of students.

Fond farewell:Students shaking hands with Tan at the school.

Tan was promoted to the post of principal in 2001 after having taught Commerce and English from 1992.

“After this, I’m going to read, cook, bake and take up Mandarin,” she said in Penang.

“I wish to invest in meaningful things while I’m still mentally and physically able and do something challenging to keep my adrenaline active.

“I also wish to spend more time with my husband and family.”

In her farewell speech, she advised her students to have the right attitude and discipline in order to succeed.

Apart from thank you speeches, Tan was presented with gifts such as a card and students’ messages compiled in a book. The students and school staff also surprised her with a birthday cake and song.

The choir group also presented her with a song and cha-cha dance.

They later bade her farewell as she made her way down the school corridors for the last time accompanied by husband Tan Phaik Guan and two daughters before riding off in a shiny dark blue car.

**********

Yay for me, this is my first by line:

Saturday August 30, 2008

Students spice it up for N-Day

By ABIGAIL TAN

GEORGE TOWN: Students of a private college here have come up with a “spicy” Jalur Gemilang – believed to be first of its kind in the country – to show their patriotism.

They took one week to make the 4.2m by 9.1m flag using dried chilli, white sago and yellow lentils (dhal) glued on white cloth.

The chilli and sago were used for the stripes, the lentils for the crescent and star. Sago, which was sprayed blue, was used as the background.

They used 17kg of chilli, 250kg of sago and 20kg of lentils costing RM800 to design the flag.

Unique mix: Segi students putting the finishing touches to their Jalur Gemilang in George Town yesterday. It took them one week to make the flag.

Segi College Penang Business Executive Club committee member Ch’ng Hoe Soon, who headed the project, said the 26 club members spent sleepless nights to complete the project.

“The aroma of the ground chilli caused us discomfort and we even wore masks,” he said.

Principal Jeffrey Goh launched the flag at the college lobby in Jalan Greenhall yesterday.

“Just like there are different spices, Malaysia has different races and cultures. But we are all Malaysians and proud of it,” he said.

Lecturer and club advisor D. Parimala Devi said she got the idea for the “spicy” flag from the different spices used in nasi kandar restaurants.

Online link - The Star

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

I must say that driving around this area (jetty, dewan sri, and green hall, jln. masjid kapitan and pitt street) had help me to understand these road in the hard way. Going to these destinations caused a lot of trials and errors like driving round and round the place over and over again and also a love letter from the council :P

One thing that is concern is the high petrol consumption, especially I have to make trips up and down town, almost everyday. There's one day I was assigned with two assignments that I had to complete. In the morning, I had to drive all the way to Penang Chinese Town (PCT) hall, and then in the afternoon to Balik Pulau area. The driving is killing me. In addition, my car air-cond is not working properly, so it's very stuffy inside with the air-cond cooler going downhill with only hot fan. At times I had to wind down the window, but that only invite unpleasant air inside the car. Let me tell you more.

After coming back from PCT in the morning, I came back to office to write about it. Then, I depart an hour earlier from office to get to Balik Pulau schools. I reach there super early, which is 50 minutes before the event. Supposedly to start at 2.30pm. Now I'm there and there's not many people yet. Slowly it picked up and I interviewed some teachers and students for details. Almost at the end of the ceromony, it rained heavily. As the rain subsided, I went into my car, and my front and back window was fogged with water vapor. That's because when I arrived there, it was so sunshiny hot, what more with my non-working air-cond. And now, with the sudden rain, it had created water vapor. Immediately I wiped the front and climbed to the back to wipe it as well. Then off I go. But the fogging picked up again since my air-cond is HOT-cond. Glad that my car got a heater for the back window, but not for the front. I had to constantly wipe it with my hand while driving, cruising along the windy and slippery road with a bad vision :( It's not fun at all! But I thank God that I safely arrived office.

This is just my second week coming to a close, another 2 months and 2 weeks to go. Oh ya, being a journalist, the schedule is uncertain. You won't know your assignment in advance. It's a day before notice. Besides, you even have to work during your weekends and get off on weekday. Oh..working life! With this, it makes me think of my college days where I had ample of free time, play time, and freedom..only no $$ :P

Ok, gtg..working night shift today..CYA and HAPPY MERDEKA!

P/S: I miss my hiking days.. :(

Thanks Wendy for this cute gift :)

i dread

i dread for the day to come
i dread for the everyday routine
i dread doing the same old thing
i dread for my future internship
i dread for the many things to do with little time left

i dread doing house chores
i dread practicing my piano
i dread singing
i dread reading
i dread writing
i dread composing
i dread self-improvement
i dread chasing after my goals and visions

i dread being lost
i dread being confused
i dread lifelessness
i dread dullness
i dread sadness
i dread thinking till headache
i dread making decisions

i dread running away
i dread running around
i dread people criticizing
i dread people nagging

i dread staring at the laptop screen
i dread watching cinema
i dread hiking
i dread exercising
i dread eating unhealthy food

i dread the hot sunny day that kills my mood
i dread the rainy days that puts me at home
i dread work and assignments
i dread taking photos
i dread going out

i dread changing
i dread correcting things
i dread facing the world
i dread life

i dread....basically i dread doing everything!
What's wrong with i?
Too emo i guess..or is it...is it...
Abigila sudah gila??~~TM