God’s wonderful blessings in my life

I knew since last week that we were going to get bonus for the second time in 2007. I really want to praise and thank God for His wonderful blessing once again. Indeed “Every good and perfect gift is from above …” (James 1:17).

Since I have been working in the company for almost ten years, God has been blessing me through the works of my hands. There are lots of things to be done but time and again, God gives me the wisdom to administer my work.

Sometimes when I forget about something, such as a phone call or where something is being kept, God would remind me the following day when I wake up as I commit my day to Him. He has never failed to speak to me in this way.

I choose to excel in my what I do and eventhough I have offers from other companies, I choose to stay where I am because I know that this is the place God wants to train and mould me in this season of my life. I have learnt a lot and there are still so many things to learn.

Grocery Shopping at Tong Hing Damai Plaza 28 October 2007

Grocery Shopping at Tong Hing Damai Plaza 28 October 2007

After shopping at Natural Green House, I went to Tong Hing.

I bought the following:

1. A packet each of Arnotts biscuits - Tim Tam Original, Shortbread Cream and Shapes – Bacon & Cheese.
2. Sushi rice (Nishiki brand). First time I saw this for sale in Kota Kinabalu. Have been searching indirectly for it for so long.
3. A packet of Fruit Chutney mini cheddars (double cheesy cheddar snacks). The ones I had during the Third Day of Raya 2007 were of a different flavour.
4. 2 packets of raw streaky bacon
5. 2 cans of Yeo’s Mutton Curry
6. 1 small tub of Baskin Robbins Berry Strawberry flavour
7. 1 small tub of Haagan Dazs Cookies & Chocolate flavour

I really did not know what happened to me that day. This was the first time I bought so many things from Tong Hing in one trip.

Grocery Shopping at Natural Green House 28 October 2007

Grocery Shopping at Natural Green House 28 October 2007

Two weeks ago, I was telling Monica Leong and Mimi Quek during the Canaanland Celebration that I made sushi for the first time the night before. Mimi told me that she likes to go to this shop near Coffee Bean Damai Plaza to buy the miso paste.

Today after Canaanland Celebration, I decided to check it out myself. This half shop (the other half being a clothes shop) is called Natural Green House and it is located at Lot 11C, GF, Block C, Damai Plaza, Luyang (2 doors away from Coffee Bean).

I think most of the things sold in this shop are supposed to be organic. The lady owner is quite helpful when I asked where I can locate the rice vinegar, miso paste and konbu (dried kelp which takes the form of flat black sheets with white powder on the surface. It is used to flavour sushi rice and dashi). She doesn't sell the sushi rice.

This shop has a loyalty patronage programme. If you spend over RM50, you will a get a stamp/chop on the loyalty card. After six stamps, you will be entitled to RM30 worth of goods free.

My spending didn’t come up to RM50 and therefore I was not entitled to the programme. After I arrived home, then I remembered I didn’t buy a bottle of sake. Well, too late already.

Redemption Gift from Shiseido 27 October 2007 (Photos)

Redemption Gift from Shiseido 27 October 2007

The New Year will be dawning in just a little more than two months’ time. Where has the year / months / days gone to?

I remember I received a notice from Shiseido in May 2007 informing me that I can collect my redemption gift from their Shiseido counter in Parkson Grand, Wawasan Plaza, Kota Kinabalu. Suddenly on 26 Ocotober, I realised I haven’t received my gift yet eventhough the year is almost drawing to a close and I was already thinking of the points I have accumulated in order to redeem a gift end of this year.

After work yesterday, I went to see Daisy, my Shiseido skincare consultant at Parkson Grand. When I arrived, she was busy serving a customer.

So I went wandering to look for a thing (I really do not know what it is called). You use it to cover the space between the floor and door so as 1. uninvited guest like an agouti / a coypu cannot come inside your room and hide behind your wardrobe for over an hour! 2. to block the air-conditioner from escaping to outside. I did not find what I was looking for.

I explained to Daisy my predicament and she looked for the redemption gift list of customers. We found out that someone had signed on the column beside my name and the signature was not my signature. But the good news was that there was still a gift of Hanatsubaki soaps in a Hardwood Container inside one of the cupboards. And it definitely belongs to me (which was what I thought at that moment).

Daisy checked with her colleague regarding the mix-up and the signature on the column beside my name was her colleague’s signature. She was not pleased with her colleague and reprimanded her in front of me. Her colleague gave someone else with the same surname as mine but forgot to sign on the other person’s name. She also apologised profusely to me. She told me the Hanatsubaki soaps smell very nice. I will give my verdict when I start using it.

But I am glad the mix-up was finally settled and I could take my gift and left the place to go over to Warisan Square.

Jesselton Philharmonic Orchestra 21 October 2007

I only knew a couple of days before the Jesselton Philharmonic Orchestra (JPO) was making their debut concert at the Sabah Foundation Auditorium on 21 October 2007 through Josephine Hadikusumo’s profile in Facebook.

I quickly asked her where I could obtain the tickets because I wanted to attend. Before she could reply, I text messaged my sis in law and Sophia Tsen and asked them whether they had any knowledge of the event. Both did not know and were not planning to attend. Since they did not want to go, I called up Irene Yong, whom I met through work and who introduced Classic FM UK on the internet to me. She decided to attend with me. (And even if she doesn’t, I was planning to go alone).

When I called Lily Tan, she told me she read in the newspapers about this event and probably Dr. Michael Heng would have the tickets since he would be singing in the choir. Sophia was able to obtain two tickets for me from Dr. Heng. She passed the tickets to me on the day of the performance. That afternoon I confirmed with Irene the time we would meet up and what we would wear for the event. Since she only has jeans in her wardrobe, I decided to accompany her to wear jeans.

30 seconds after alighting from my car, I saw Irene’s car turning into Sabah Foundation carpark. She was happy that I accompanied her to wear jeans.

As we approached the door of the Auditorium, I saw a tall lady coming out from the building. I realised that the person was Josephine Hadikusumo. Wow! Finally we met up after getting to know each other through Facebook for a few weeks. She’s so tall and fair. And she looked so lovely in her black dress as she was singing in the choir for the JPO performance.

Since our tickets were RM30, Irene and I were ushered to sit upstairs. We decided to sit in the front near the aisle on the left side of the auditorium. We chit-chatted before the performance started. I saw some distance relatives, Datuk Adeline Leong, Evonne Foo, Dr. Michael Heng’s family, Mr. Lim (bosses’ insurance agent) and his family.

The Guest of Honour for this inaugural event was Datuk Masidi Manjun, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment and he officiated this occasion.

For the first time since I bought my digital camera a year ago, I videotaped snippets of the entire performance because my camera only allowed taping of an hour.

There was an article in the local newspaper Daily Express two days after JPO’s debut performance. Check it out here.

I can say that there are a lot of talents in this city that can be tapped into. No doubts there are rooms for improvement but JPO had done extremely well on their debut and I wish them continuous success.

And of course, no doubt the best performance was ‘Ode to Joy’ From Symphony No. 9 by Beethoven accompanied by the choir. They brought the house down! I also enjoyed the violin, soloist by conductor Yap Ling.

If you want to find out more information on JPO, click here.

If you want to find out more information on conductor Yap Ling, check out his website.

Nightmare 20 October 2007

This was the first time I had nightmare on driving. I can remember it so vividly eventhough it did not last for long.

As I was approaching a road block, I only realized then that I was sitting alone on the left side or the passenger seat of the car. The police ushered me to stop. I quickly tried to go to the driver’s seat to halt.

Then I woke up and thank God that it was only a nightmare!

Homemade Sushi 20 October 2007 (Photos)