New Year 2010

Happy New Year once again.

I could not sleep early last night cos the sound of the fireworks and firecrackers were too deafening.

I think I fell asleep after 1a.m. and did not wanna wake up eventhough the time was already 11.30a.m.

Finally mum knocked on my door. Aunty Alice’s relatives from Sandakan had just arrived back from Hong Kong and Macau. They dropped by our house to visit her as well as passing her some gifts from her bro-in-law.

Mum wanted to take them out for lunch but I had to drive since their car had just enough space for them. I told mum I was no way fit enough to drive and therefore we abandoned her idea. They left and she cooked a simple lunch for us.

After lunch I tried to rest and at 4p.m. I started to prepare to cook lamb chops.

I cut out the button mushrooms that would be used to put inside the gravy.

Eventhough we have two ovens, I only used one. Each side of the lamb chop was cooked at 225 degrees Celcius for approx. nine minutes before turning over.

Altogether there were fifteen pieces, some really big ones and I had to separate them into three lots to cook.

After the lamb chops were cooked, I used a normal table knife to cut them into pieces. We were not having a full Western meal and that was why I had to cut them into pieces.

I did not realise that my right index finger became like this until half way through the cutting, I wanted to take a break to cook the gravy.

As I started to cook the gravy, I washed my hands and realised the skin on my left index finger had torn. It hurt a little but I could still continue to do what I was doing.

After dinner and shower, I searched for a bandaid but realised that I ran out of supply. I just had to do without it until I go to the supermarket after work tomorrow.

In the meantime, I hope the wound would not develop into an infection.

Special Date

At 4 o’clock, 5 mins, 6 secs today …

04:05:06 07.08.09

Maybe time for me to take out the piece of sticker from the car …

Half of the Year Gone

Second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, week by week and month by month, the time just passed by so quickly.

The thing I am proudest to have achieved this first half of the year is in the exercise department.

And now I feel something is missing because I could not exercise for these five days due to the rain. Rain rain please go away and come again on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. :)

2009

I declare 2009 shall be for me …

A year of Breakthrough.

A year of Entering the Promised Land.

A year of Excellence.

A year of Overlooking/Not Dwelling on Small Stuff.

A year of Making a Difference.

A review of 2008

1. God has been even more real to me towards the end of 2008 than ever before. I hope to be able to make this as a stepping stone to something greater in 2009.

2. Relationship with family is no way at the level I have wanted to be at. This still needs more time to build up in 2009.

3. By the end of 2008 basically I was like sleeping five to six hours per night. This is way below my ideal of eight hours. I was tired but not sleepy. Age is catching up but I still want to sleep more in 2009.

4. I have been having problems in cutting down internet time but I am pretty sure in 2009 I will definitely cut down the hours to concentrate on doing something more worthwhile. (I also aim to cut out tv time completely other than during dinnertime)

5. I still have to get my rear moving in the exercise department.

6. My weight has been constant all throughout the year. I have been watching my food intake closely.

20082008

(Thanks to LLS & Dr. C for sending this sms to me)

Years come and go… But today is a special day..

¤ 20082008 ¤

Double Match. It happens only once in a lifetime … so .. I wish YOU a very Wonderful Day!

Generation Y

(Thanks to Sharon Lai for forwarding this via email to me yesterday)

People born before 1945 are referred to as: The Silent Generation

People born between 1945 and 1961 are referred to as: The Baby Boomers

People born between 1962 and 1976 are referred to as: Generation X

People born between 1977 and 1995 are referred to as: Generation Y

Why do we call the last one generation Y?

I had no idea, but a caricaturist has explained it graphically below...

Hey, I learned something new today :)

Half of 2008 Has Gone By

I find that time really goes by too quickly. Maybe because I am always busy at work so time flies.

Here’s a quick half year review on my New Year’s Resolution (Improvement).

Firstly, I really want to improve on my relationship with God - Still need lots of improvement.

Secondly, I want to improve on my relationship with people, be it with family, friends, colleagues or strangers – Still need lots of improvement

Thirdly, I hope I can be more discipline in sleeping and can sleep early – Has been sleeping early the past few nights (if that counts). Need to keep that up.

Fourthly, I hope I can cut down on my internet time at night – Still need to be improved

Fifthly, exercise, something I used to do but gave up totally in 2008 – zilch, non-activity. Definitely a red mark!

Sixthly, to have a constant weight – This is by far the best – at 42-43kg. In fact yesterday when I was having lunch with Lily Tan and Sophia Tsen, Lily said I had lost more weight until I am skinnier than her. I don’t think so Lily. I still got lots of cellulite that is ‘for my eyes only’.

Still need lots of improvement in the second half of 2008. *sigh*

Big Difference – 5 or 25 minutes?

This afternoon there was another downpour but this time only for a short while. If the rain had continued to come down bucketsful like yesterday, I would have left work at 4.45p.m. to avoid the traffic congestion and flooding. Instead, I stayed and did overtime until 6p.m.

The drive home was a smooth one as compared to yesterday. I was home within 5 minutes as compared to 25 minutes yesterday. There were not many cars on the road. I think probably a lot of people decided to go home early so as to avoid a repetition of yesterday.

Today I also paid the house rates of assessment for the first quarter of this year since my office boy had to make some payments to Kota Kinabalu City Hall. Besides bill like this one, he also helps me to pay telephone, electricity, water, credit card and renewing road tax. Since I work 5.5 days per week, I do not have the liberty to go and pay all these bills. And therefore I am always thankful to my office boy for doing all these for me. Nothing comes free in this world so I would give him some cash or some food in return for the favours done for me.

Leap Year/Day 2008

Today is Leap Year/Day, a day that comes only once every four years. So we all get an extra day this year. :)

Each time a Leap Year/Day comes around, it reminds me of a friend in Sydney. He’s BC, a Vietnamese Chinese. His birthday falls on today so he gets to celebrate the exact day only once every four years.

I knew BC through Internet Relay Chat (IRC) in Taiwan Channel when I first started using the internet in 1993. During winter of that year, some IRC friends came up from Tasmania and Victoria to New South Wales to meet up with BC, Alan Lee and I. BC and his family were very hospitable to us. There were about ten of us and we all stayed in their house in Ultimo, near Sydney Chinatown and University of Technology Sydney. We had so much fun eating fabulous food and visiting places including visiting Joanne Hoe in Canberra.

New Year’s Resolution (Improvement)

I like New Year because it is time to look back over the past year and reflect upon what I had been doing in my life.

What was not done in the past year can be done in the New Year. There are also rooms for improvement for things that were done.

Firstly, I really want to improve on my relationship with God. I endeavour to spend more time reading and meditating on God’s words; and praying before I go to sleep. In the past few years I have been using the daily allocated passages printed in the Daily Bread in order to finish reading the whole Bible in one year. But sad to say I gave up this pursuit two-thirds through last year. I hope I will fare better in 2008.

Secondly, I want to improve on my relationship with people, be it with family, friends, colleagues or strangers. As I get older, I find that I need more of God’s grace and strength in dealing with people. I tend to lose my cool just like that *snap finger* esp. with my mum. I should have more patience like her in the way she relates to her mum (grannie). Help me Lord.

Thirdly, I hope I can be more discipline in sleeping and can sleep early. I love to sleep and I know how important sleep is to my whole well being. But towards the second half of last year, I was in the state of sleep deprivation. My sleeping time can range from five to seven and a half hours each night, which was not good news at all. As much as I longed for my ideal eight hours sleep each night, I did not have that. My mind can still be so alert at midnight eventhough I would have to wake up in six hours’ time during working days. Dreamland here I come in 2008! Haha!

Fourthly, I hope I can cut down on my internet time at night. Maybe I had been having information overload the last half of 2007 which contributed to my insomnia. When I was online, I can be multi-tasking to the extent that I was chatting with a few people, writing on this blog, uploading my photos, reading the news, checking on other blogs and websites, etc, etc at the same time. I think definitely a case of information overload now that I am analysing this!

Fifthly, exercise, something I used to do but gave up totally in 2008. I used to go to the gym at least once a week on Sundays after church. The only exercise I do now is when I go out for lunch at Giant Kolombong Foodcourt I would walk there from my office instead of driving my car.

Sixthly, to have a constant weight. In the past 12 months, I decreased my rice intake for dinner and as a result, I had lost about six kg. A lot of my clothes are too loose for me now.

I am sure I have lots of other things to improve on but that’s all I can think of right now.

2008 - a year of betterment for myself spiritually, emotionally and physically!

Diaries

Both these diaries were given to me by my ING Insurance Agent, Mr. David Wong. (Mr. David Wong also sent me a Christmas card a few days before Christmas)

By comparing the diaries, I prefer the 2007 than the 2008. 2008 diary looks a bit too sporty to me.

I have been using the 2007 diary to write my sermon notes each Sunday and I could continue using it for 2008 since there are still some empty pages inside it.