First prom dress

This morning as I was rummaging for something to wear to church, I pulled out an old purple dress with a funky retro print. It was the dress I wore to my first prom. I tucked it into my jeans to turn it into a blouse.

I showed it to hubby and he was amazed (and I was proud) that I could still fit into it after almost 10 years. Sure it was getting a little tight around the hips, but the main point is that I could still wear it!

Aaaahhh... My first prom... Pre-U Nite during my first year doing A-Levels.

It was not one of the nicest memories as I didn't have a date to go with. Actually I was supposedly going with this guy. A guy who came very close to becoming my first boyfriend. But just a couple of weeks before the prom, with some peer pressure, he 'confessed' his feelings to me. I still have a vague recollection over a nervous conversation over the phone with him saying the standard "I like you. Do you like me? Let's go steady". Actually I did like him very much. But somehow, something held me back and I instead responded with a "Let's just be friends". I was not prepared for the ackwardness and uncomfortableness that follows such an episode.

So that's how I ended up dateless and somewhat miserable at my first prom.

The prom was on a Saturday night. I was supposed to skip youth group meeting that night for the occasion. But after eating and making small talk with various people at the prom, I hopped into my car and drove down to church to see what my friends at youth group were up to. They were of course surprised to see me but welcomed me with open arms and after that we went out for supper as usual.

It's nice to have people you love to go to when you need a friend.

Company Christmas Bash in Swan Valley

Finally, the long awaited photos of my company's Christmas bash in Swan Valley.

This is definitely one of the most creative ideas for a company Christmas bash. All thanks to our PA of course!

The itinerary was roughly as follows:
9.00am - 11.00am : Swan River cruise from Barrack Street jetty to Sandalford Winery. While on the cruise we tasted 3 wines with some cheese and cracker nibbles to go with it. Upon arrival, there was a tour van waiting for to take us around.
11.00am - 1.00pm : Wine tasting at Edgecombe Brothers winery. Our host was this funny Japanese chap and he let us taste probably around eight different wines
1.00pm - 3.30pm : Long leisurely lunch at Duckstein Brewery. I shared a platter with three other colleagues and took a couple of sips from their beer sampler
3.30 - 4.30pm : Last stop, Jarrah Ridge Winery. By now I had my fill of alchohol. So I didn't really try any wine tastings, but the host let me try this yummy Swan Valley Grape Juice.
4.30pm: Head back back to Perth in the tour van.

I really liked the Swan Valley Grape Juice so much that I decided to get a bottle. The host told us that in 2005 there was an excess of grape harvest, so all the wineries decided to pool their excess harvest together to produce this limited edition grape juice. It costs $5 per bottle and it's unlikely that they'll make it again on purpose. As I was lining up to pay, my boss decided to belanja me the bottle, so nice of him. It comes with a cute little carrying bag too.

Later in the van, our boss surprised us further by presenting each of us with a bottle of Verdelho as a Christmas present! Very generous of him.

It was a very alcholic day. But a good one.
^_^

Sabah church sues PM over book ban

Source: Malaysiakini.com

A Sabah church has sued the government and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in his capacity as internal security minister for not allowing the import of Christian literature from Indonesia containing the word ‘Allah’.

Sabah Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) Church president Pastor Jerry Dusing filed the suit on behalf of the church at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Dec 10 after six titles for their Sunday school education for children were banned from being imported.

The church is also asking the court to compel the minister to return the consignment of materials that were ‘unlawfully detained’ by customs officers at the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal on Aug 15.

According to letters from the ministry, the books were banned because the Bahasa Indonesia publications contained various words that are exclusive only to Islam.

The words in contention are ‘Allah’ (God), ‘Baitullah’ (House of God), ‘Solat’ (prayer) and ‘Kaabah’ (The Sacred House).

The letters state that the ministry is allowed to stop any propagation of religious doctrine or belief to Muslims in accordance with Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution allowing certain words to be restricted and prohibited from use.

The ministry explained that the prohibition was due to the uneasiness felt in the community during the late 1970s and early 1980s, the issue has become sensitive and been classified as a security issue.

It also stated further that the publications can raise confusion and controversy in the Malaysian society.

Dursing’s affidavit rebuts several of these points including the use of Alkitab - the Bahasa Indonesia translation of the Holy Bible - where the word ‘Allah’ appears.

“The Christian usage of ‘Allah’ predates Islam. ‘Allah’ is the name of God in the old and the modern Arabic Bible.

“The Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia translations of the Holy Bible have been used by Christian native peoples in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak for generations,” it stated.
Educational purpose

He also noted that the publications was for educational purposes within the church and was not for sale or distribution outside the church.

“The publications will not be made available to members of the public and in particular to a person professing the religion of Islam.

“The publications contain nothing which is likely to cause public alarm or which touches on the sensitivities of Islam,” the affidavit read.

A range of constitutional provision were also raised by the applicants. The hearing for the application for leave in the Kuala Lumpur High Court is scheduled to take place on Dec 27.

The controversy over the use of ‘Allah’ in non-Islam publications recently surfaced when Herald - the largest Catholic newspaper - was facing problems when renewing its annual publishing permit because of the word ‘Allah’ was used in referring to ‘God’ in its Bahasa Malaysia section.

The ministry has told the publisher to remove the entire Bahasa Malaysia section or the permit will not be renewed when it expires next week.

Asked for an explanation on the matter, Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharum said the word ‘Allah’ can only be used in the context of Islam and not any other religion.

The Herald, which is published in four languages - English, Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil - has a circulation of 12,000.

Feliz Navidad

Hope you are all having a meaningful and significant Christmas...

We'll be having a hot hot hot Christmas this year... 38 degrees celcius on the 25th and 41 degrees on boxing day. Phew!

Have a good one... muaks!


The things we do to our kids

Checklist for tearjerker flick

This week, hubby and I received free tickets to watch P.S. I Love You



Not putting any pressure on any of you to watch it. But I will say that it is a very good movie. And it's the only one other movie which I've cried this much watching (the other movie was Mr Holland's Opus).

In fact, I already had tears streaming down my cheeks right at the opening scene even before the opening credits!

So if you do plan to go watch this movie, here is a must have checklist:

1. Tissues, and don't skimp on this! By the end of the movie I had a pile of crumpled up tissues on my lap

2. Waterproof mascara, or better yet don't wear any at all

3. Dark coloured top. This is optional but it's for just in case you run out of tissues and need to resort to wiping your eyes with your sleeve

4. Loved one next to you. Also optional, but it would be nice to turn to him/her after the movie just to know that you are not alone and that you are loved

5. Tissues (...juuust making sure you don't forget...)

How to fire someone

Last day of school let out today early folks.

It's 3.20pm and I'm already at home in my comfy T-shirt in front of my home PC.

I have a good boss.

Anyway, it was a pretty exciting morning. For the second time in my life, I had a chance to witness (kind of...) someone being fired.

I was busily doing work as usual at my snazzy new work PC (which I shall show you later) when my colleague called me and said we had a a meeting in the meeting room. I was a little confused as I didn't have a meeting scheduled in my calendar plsu I wanted to finish my stuff as quickly as possible before close of business today. But they were very insistent and it seemed very important... so I locked my PC and joined them.

There was only a few of us as a number of my colleagues were already on leave for the Christmas break. My manager then broke the news to us 'gently' that the certain person in question has been asked to leave due to her inability to perform which has affected other team members and affected the morale of other colleagues. And he told us that our big boss was breaking the news to her at that moment while we were 'hiding' in this room.

It was a mixed reaction. As for me I kind of expected it to happen sooner or later, but I didn't expect that my boss would drop the bomb on the poor girl right before Christmas.

After that our boss came into the room and reiterated what my manager said and made a little speech about how important it was for us to have a team where everyone was pulling their oar... and how as a small team, we cannot afford a 'cancer' like that to eat away at the team like that.

In my boss's previous company, they were trained on the procedures on how to 'fire' people...

1. Break the news, drop the bomb (whatever you want to call it)
2. Make sure the rest of the team is informed in some way
3. Make sure after the the person in question is told, he/she is not allowed to go back to his/her computer
4. Get the person to surrender their office keys, security pass etc.
5. Personally escort the person to the door

Wow. I learnt something new. So if I ever have to do this, now I know.

After that boss proposed that we crack open some beer and chill out a bit. He also declared that he'll close the office for half day and told us all to go home at 2.00pm. Great finish.

And that's how it happened.

Christmas party at Adventure World

On Sunday, we were at Adventure World for hubby's company Christmas party.

So exciting. I've never been's to Perth's Adventure World before. This should be interesting.

After a very light lunch (there was not enough food... probably all part of the plan as they assumed that we would be all going for the rides, so need to cut down on the *ahem* mess) we headed off for some stomach churning fun...

First stop was the Sky Lift. The weather was pretty dodgy that day. So we had to put up with the cold wind and drizzle while we dangled along the cables.

Pic below right: Despite hubby's cheerful smile, he was actually feeling quite terrified... and stayed completely still and warned me not to touch him. "Relax honey, it's not that bad, we won't fall off". I teased him a bit by leaning forward and swinging my legs. "I'm not afraid of falling off lar, I'm afraid the wire will snap and the whole thing will come crashing down!"



After that things were a little better as all the other rides were closer to the ground.

Chasing Ronald and Christopher on the Rail Rider...


Christopher on the Kiddies Creek little froggie boats...


Paddle Boats... so reminiscent of the paddle boats at Tun Fuad Park our family used to visit on weekends when I was a kid...


So where was the mummy in all this?

Where else?



God bless all the mummies.

Hubby said next time, he'll be happy to sit out the rides, look after the stuff while I go wild with the kids on the rides... haha!

Sweeping statements

Lately I've come across a few "sweeping statements" made about people, life and issues.

They are sometimes quite amusing to listen to. But at the same time, feel a little irritating... like the sound of a metal fork grinding against a pot/plate.


"All people who read on buses are freaks"

"All Sabahans are with the mafia"

"People who marry early are not close to their parents"

"Only girls who have an extremely close relationship with their father will be attracted to guys who look similar to their dad"

"All Singaporeans are stupid"


All the above are statements I disagree with.

Most of such statements I've heard seem to be made by people who are on the younger side. Just an observation. I could make a sweeping statement about that but I shall refrain from doing so. Because you simply can't make a sweeping statements about just anything.

Paul might say I seem to have some latent anger and tell me to cool down :) which I shall thank him in advance for. hehehe.

Long overdue pictures

Apologies for the extended silence. Been pretty maxed out lately at the office. Somehow it always takes a major holiday looming around the corner to suddenly kick start a lot of things into action. Everyone wants to clear things off before they go away on holiday and before the year ends.

Anyway, here are some long overdue pictures of the many happenings lately which I have not had the opportunity to post up yet... it's quite a lot, but rest assured it is definitely NOT as bad as Paul's whole year in retrospective post!

Alright people, fasten your seatbelts and here we go...


Birthday dinner with cell group at Yummy House. I felt really loved surrounded by all my beloved 'cell mates'. After the dinner on the way out, the waiter came and put her arm around me and said "you know, I can tell you are a very rich person... rich not in money, but in friends"... hahahaha, it was quite cheesy but I liked it. The Yummy House folks are really nice, the service is good, the waiters and boss are very friendly and sincere and food is pretty good too... nowadays we prefer to come here rather than the busy, crowded (so called happy) place up the road (which shall not be named)...



Every couple needs to have their own private birthday dinner date. We went to Cafe Bella Rosa for some Italian food and more chilli mussels... one of the best dishes Perth as to offer. But maaaan... I think I've had enough chilli mussels for a while because every overseas guest who's come over to visit us over the past few weeks, we've taken them out to eat chilli mussels. Spo for the moment, I think I will give it a break for a while. Other dishes we tried were Gnocchi Salad, Lamb Cutlets with Asparagus, and Canelloni stuffed with fetta cheese and spinach.



Been having quite a number of intense gastronomic experiences lately. There are too many to mention, but here are a few... Lunch buffet at jettys to savour their seafood (i.e. mussels, prawns, oysters), special mention on their pumpkin soup which was very smooth and light; Just yesterday we had our company Christmas party at Swan Valley (which I shall elaborate on later) we stopped for lunch at Duckstein Brewery and I shared a German sausage and meat platter for four with 3 other colleagues; Dinner with Estee (it was her last week in Perth before heading back to Singapore) at Da Vinci Restaurant in North Perth, we shared a tasting platter, a pizza and sampled their famous dessert Moist Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream; Random --Hubby's steak dinner at Fast Eddys; One of Perth's hidden secrets --Kanta Japanese Kitchen, I tried their chef's special grilled squid tentacles and a lovely veal dish; Last, after all that food overload, nothing beats a simply McDonald's Happy Meal to cheer one up!



More food... a few weeks ago on one of the O2 Youth's activity night, we had an Iron Chef night, where each team was to prepare a dish from a mystery recipe which they were randomly given on the day itself: Macaroni Cheese and Choc Chip Cookies. We all had lots of fun that night. For a number of the teens, this was the first time they had ever done any cooking in their life! The leaders were given the privilege of judging the food, and one of the teens had even prepared an evaluation form to judge them on their cleanliness, teamwork, presentation, taste etc.



Not really food related, but thought I'd just chuck in some photos I snapped of the Qantas Club Lounge in Sydney. On the flight back from a Sydney business trip our flight was delayed. But thankfully, my colleague had a pass to the lounge where we could wait in some comfort. I've never been to on of these lounges before, so quite sakai lar a bit. It was very nice --free food, alcohol, coffee/tea was provided, internet access (of course) and shower facilities. Although we were s little disgruntled over the flight delays, but at least we had some balm in Gilead.



Phew. That was a little exhausting. I'll try not to put off posting up pictures for so long next time.

3rd year...

Happy third anniversary hubby!!!

We've been through ups and downs these past three years... through it all, I'm glad to have you by my side.

You're still the one, hon...

Muaks x1000000

Laughing hard again

On Saturday after our O2 Youth Dark Zone Laser outing, one of the youths' parents had invited the leaders to their house for dinner.

The food was superb and aunty really put a lot of effort into preparing the dinner. My favourite dish was this pork dish called Kao Yuk (in Cantonese) which seemed quite similar to the Hakka Kiu Nyuk, except that it was not layered with yam slices. She told me how to make it, so I will try it out one day.

After the dinner we hung around to fellowship and chit chat over dessert (orange pudding, and sago pudding, and cheesecake!)

And here comes the comic moment...

I was happily engrossed in conversation, when suddenly two of the boys (youths) ran past us, speeding across the room excitedly, heading toward the back door... then...

*CRAAASSSHHH*!!!!!

...

They had crashed straight into the back door mosquito screen, tearing it.

Stunned silence.

Uncle: (in shocked, irritated voice) Oi! What's the big hurry????

...

Aunty: (placating) Haaai... teenagers mah!

Bursts of laughter throughout the room followed.

I haven't laughed so hard in some time. So it was good.

Contented sigh.