.. The Ye@r is ENDING! ..

In just a few hours' time, 2008 is over and 2009 is here!

2008 had been a rather great year for me. So I believe indeed 2009 shall be even better! :)

2 of my main goals in 2008 were getting my Driver's License and continuing my degree dream.

And praise God! I got my license in June! Many had heard my amazing story of the practical test.. Indeed it was the grace of God!

And... the car I would hope to have someday is... HONDA JAZZ!


But guess I have to shelf this dream aside first...... Time & Season. :)

And, got the advanced diploma from Kaplan that inched me closer to my degree dream. Though all that had happened was a big "Hoo-Har".. Guess, there is a reason and purpose for it. Nevertheless, praise God for the 1 "A+", 3 "A"s & 2 "B"s in this program!

2008 was also the time where I moved out from Branch Support to IPB. Looking back, I felt it was really a much needed move. Ever since May, I hardly did any OT at all, unlike the earlier days where 2 nights were committed to OT, and sometimes even more. It would have been hard to juggle between the many commitments that I have. So, I felt God is indeed leading the steps of my life. Like what Pastor Tan taught, God reveals our lives to us in stages, one step by one step..

There are indeed many people God has blessed me with and placed in my life whom had contributed to where I am today. I pray may these people be blessed multi-folds in return.

I am going to Adelaide in Feb to pursue my degree dream. May the 2 years be yet the greatest years ever for me. Like what Pst Kong had taught, let my value in life increase. I want to have the financial ability to reciprocate to those who had blessed me so much, so much all these while.

Last but not least, W116 had a healthy growth of... 40%! Praise God! EC Zone also had a healthy growth of 30%!

Thank you Wen Wen, Pok Pok, Xuelin and Huiling! It wouldn't be possible without you gals obeying this call of God in your life! Thanks for loving and serving God together with me in CHC! :)

Let's believe God that He will continue to guide and lead us through in 2009. From faith to faith, strength to strength, glory to glory. As we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us!

God is good..... All the time!

。。 我要去澳洲了 。。

I am..

More or less..

99% confirmed..

Going to study in Australia next year..

Feb 2009.

Now in the midst of applying for education loan with Citibank.

Hope everything will go on smoothly because time is so tight now..

..
..
..

.. MeRRY ChRisTmas!! ..

This is the first time a Christmas tree is put up in our house!

So nice isn't it!

Thank God Mad and Jie Fu shifted over and stay with us... Though the house is small, the house is so much more lively than ever before. Especially with Samuel around! He's just so adorable, our precious little nephew, and my parents doted on him so much!

With the arrival of Daniel, now is double joy!


哥哥与弟弟

Happy Family!

We're going to have a Christmas Party cum Birthday Celebration this coming evening!
It's Jie Fu's birthday, and 托他的福。。。
We have turkey and ham! Yummy!

This year's Christmas is so fun and 热闹！感谢主！

.. Baby Daniel has Arrived! ..

Date : 15 Dec 08

Time : 5:25pm

Length : 56cm

Weight : 4.735kg

Baby Daniel has arrived today... FINALLY! :)

Giant Baby!
May the Lord's hand be upon him..
Grow healthily! Steadily! ;)


Look at Daniel & Samuel!
They look so alike, don't they? :)

.. Good phrases to PONDER on ..

Came across some good phrases that is worth reflecting on..

When the door of happiness closes, another opens, but often times we look so long at the closed door that we don't see the one which has been opened for us.

~ Think about it.. How true, isn't it?

It's true that we don't know what we've got until we lose it, but it's also true that we don't know what we've been missing until it arrives.

And this is good:

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

~ Make the MOST out of every situation in LIFE! (We're not the victims of our circumstances... unless you choose to be!)

The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past, you can't go on well in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

~ 2 Cor 5:17 is always true... old things have passed away; all things have become new.. IN CHRIST!

And this is the one I like the most:

Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, it is the realization of how much you already have.

Happiness is always there... when we choose to be contended in life. No strife. No jealousy... :)

"A devout life does bring wealth, but it's the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that's enough." ~ 1 Timothy 6:6-8 (The Message)

Hope you are blessed after reading.. :)

.. Elf Yourself ..

Check this out!! :P

Showed 姐 & 姐夫 these clips just now.. and they just couldn't stop laughing!..

Imagine Mad laughs until Daniel pops out! Haha..

But, no lah. It didn't happen!

We're still waiting patiently for Daniel's arrival!!!...

Enjoy these clips!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Try it! :)

.. JB trip on 08 Dec 08 ..

W116 went to JB's City Square again!..

Really had a good time of fellowship! :)

Eating. Shopping. Foot & Shoulder Massage! :P

The only sad thing is...... Grace (our Korean friend) couldn't join us as she was stopped at Woodlands Checkpoint.

She lost her student pass and thus cannot exit the country...

Sad..... One lesson learnt for us. Next time we will definitely prevent this from happening again!

We promised her that we will bring her to JB again someday soon. :)

But the brothers are so sweet! They bought a gift for Grace to encourage her. Well done brothers! :)

I really think the brothers in W116 are really 不 错 ！哈哈 ！

Very thoughtful at times. Definitely can take good care of girls. :)

Will upload the pictures when I have them! :)

.. w116 on 6 Dec 2008 ..

It has been a loooooong looooooong while since we had a "forfeit" in our CGM games...

Played the game "Missing Coin" and we had 3 wonderful people who took on the forfeit without a single sweat! :P

Thanks Ben, Qihui & Shella for being so sporting! :P

The brothers

The sisters
... And YES!!

VICTORIA!

Welcome back ! ! ! :)


Had a hard time trying to take a picture with everyone's in..
Set the timer function and laid the HP on the whiteboard ledge.

Finally after a few tries.....

this is a bit too far

This picture is nice! :)

Ben is going to start his national service tomorrow..
Indeed another man is rising up! :P

Ben! 加 油！

We will miss you!

.. 28 Superstitious Taboos ..

Check this out...

http://www.wofs.com/index.php?option=com_content&Itemid=38&task=view&id=602

My colleague Xiaohan sent me this link few days ahead.. Which I really find it INTERESTING.. and some of the taboos are REALLY FUNNY. :P

Some of them I heard it since young.. still remembered my mum and aunties will "correct" us when we did something "wrong", so somehow put fear in our lives.. 不可以这样，不可以那样， 要不然。。。Oh oh。。。

Here are some really "funny" ones I find:

3. Hanging laundry at night
Another major taboo handed down through the generations is never to leave laundry hung in the sunshine to stay there through the nocturnal hours. Always remember to bring the washing back in when dusk falls, otherwise wandering spirits will be tempted to “attach themselves” to the clothing and take over the personality of the person when he/she wears them.

There are stories of children behaving queerly after wearing clothing that had inadvertently been left hanging outside soaking in the yin energy of the night. Better remind yourself of this no matter how busy you are. Clothes (and especially underwear) left hanging out should ideally be thrown away.

If this is true, I would have thrown away tons of clothes... :P

5. Meeting a funeral
If you meet a coffin-laden hearse as you make your way to work, it symbolizes big success coming to you in your job, or it can mean that you will be getting a promotion. The explanation here is that the coffin will take away all your bad luck, leaving you only with your good fortune.

This is really.. Weird. I thought seeing a coffin supposed to mean "bad luck"? Still remembered we were taught to turn our eyes away from it?..

12. Men should never perform female responsibilities such as suckling the baby, sweeping the floor or washing the laundry. Doing these traditional tasks of women within the household is said to bring bad luck. Doing any of these tasks as a profession or business is however perfectly OK.

This is "大男人主义" in disguise... :P

14. College going kids should avoid reading their text books in the toilet. This implies disrespect for the God of Education who then withholds his blessings. As a result, the child will lack good examination luck and will be hit by bad exam results. Allowing others to step on your text books have an even worse effect, as this creates the chi for bad luck in studies to arise.

This.. is.. CRAZY...?? Thank God my GOD is not like that! :)

Haha.. and this is really funny:

20. Stepping on poo
If you step on poo, you can expect some good luck to come to you. It is the same when you dream of poo. Apparently this has to do with the body getting rid of its undesirable negativities. It is also believed that when a bird poos on your head, it means you are about to come into some speculative money.

Will anyone go find some poo to step on?

While some are really funny, yet some are true, as in they are basic courtesy & etiquette. For example, we don't point a knife at anyone, and we don't stick chopsticks vertically straight into our rice bowl..

Whether we believe it or not, wisdom should still be exercised so that we don't portray ourselves as disrespectful to another's religion and beliefs. For example, if we visit a sick person and the person believes that pears symbolise death, then we don't bring pears!

---

Thank God, for the faith that we can have in Him.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. :)

In Christ, there is freedom and liberty. :)

Christmas is COMING! :D

.. My NEW Phone !! ..

Yeah!!

I finally got my DREAM phone!! :)

Heard quite a number of positive feedback about this phone..
Hope it is really that good for me to use it over the next couple of years!
Hoho...

God is good. :)

May the blessor who sponsored me half of this phone will be greatly blessed in return! :D

.. Asia Conference 2008 ..

It's over! Finally over after 5 looooong days!

Definitely it was a great conference.
First in Asia.
First in CHC.

Touching Asia. Transforming Lives.

I love everything!..

Except the QUEUING!!

Maybe I'm getting older. Ha....
Can't really take these kind of queuing anymore. :P

But nevertheless, thank God for a wonderful conference.

May the delegates who came were indeed impacted.
And transformed.

Transform Asia for Jesus!

.. Samuel my Adorable nephew..

1st collage created using Picasa!!
( I just downloaded >.< )

.. It is .. F I N I S H E D !!! ..

YEAH!!!

EXAM's over!

Module's over!!

Adv Dip's OVER!!! :D

好 开 心 啊！！！

.. Proclaiming -- "FREEDOM" !!! ..

Last Module.

Computer/Data Management.

Individual Assignment - Due on 10 Nov.

Group Assignment - Due on 13 Nov.

Exam - 15 Nov Sat 7pm.

After which... I will declare: "I'M FREE!!" Yeah!

Finally after 8 months, I'm going to complete this Adv Dip program. Though the disappointing issue happened, yet, I will still choose to REJOICE in the LORD!

Just one more week to go!!

E L A I N E 。。。 加 油！！！

.. the roads at 6am ..

That's how clear the roads are, early in the wee mornings!.. I really like it!

.. Peaceful ..

.. So Peaceful ..

Boon Lay/Jurong West have grown to become overly crowded over the recent months and years... To the point that I think I cannot "tahan" anymore maybe 2-3 years down the road. Every morning, the journey to the MRT seems to take ages, and the traffic seems never-ending...

我 要 搬 家！！！

Sprang out of bed at 5.15am. Bathed. Changed and prepared. Left home at 5.45am. The air is so fresh in the morning. Thank God I managed to attend 4 out of the 5 Prayer Meetings (I missed WED's!) this week. Indeed it's such a great feeling to seek God early in the day!

Believing God that the things we had prayed will indeed come to pass! :)

... Arise & Build ...

Took this picture after the service today...

I pray this Arise & Build season will be a season where many testimonies will come forth.

..Unequal Amount..
..Equal Sacrifice..

。。 Happy Birthday 爸爸！！。。

We celebrated Dad's 57th birthday on 1 Nov 08...

Had a good dinner at the NTI coffeeshop opposite JW church.
Ate "煮炒“。。。
It was a great and sumptuous meal! :)

Then came home...
A celebration wouldn't be complete without cutting CAKE!

Look at the number of candles on the cake.. :P

妈妈好开心哦！

Dad had a hard time snuffing out the candles.. too many of them!
But he managed to snuff them all out with a 2nd try... :)

Hope dad is happy...
Everyday of his life...
Though not a perfect dad, he had done a lot for the family too...
We are continually believing God for his salvation.
One day.
Some day.

I love 爸爸。。。

.. The MEDAL ..

This is the GOLD medal for the Citi Netball competition! :)

And also, NIKE $50 Voucher!! :)

Wow! Praise the Lord for these blessings... :)

And the typical pose for any sports person with the medal :

Hee hee... The burnt skin on my forehead has started its peeling process.....

.. We WON the GOLD!! ..

Yeah!! We (IPB) won the GOLD in the Citi Netball Euphoria 2008! =) =) =)

It was such a SWEEEEEETT victory!

For the last 3 years, there is this team in Citi, that many of the other teams in Citi just do not like... maybe it's the arrogant nature that they displayed??.. Hmmm. Maybe they are actually nice people? Well. Guess it's the kind of impression they gave...

This year, they came back stronger, with a new GA who is quite accurate with her shooting. In fact, they even engaged a personal coach! Wow. Sure we did feel a little intimidated. For us, we just did practices on our own.. But I guess the weekly friendly trainings with ESPN team helped us, cos we (the whole team of girls) played with the team which comprises of 3-4 guys! Playing against the guys definitely made it so much tougher cos they are faster, taller and more aggressive than us!

Anyway, in the semi-final first match, we played against GCB (my former dept). It was like a friendly match, where both teams just had fun and enjoyed playing. We won the game 21-1.

Then we watched the next game, ITO vs ICG (which is the team all of us disliked :P) ... Something that still remains in this team is this, they are still so rough & aggressive! I remembered last year when my team (GCB) played against them, I played the shooter and this defender just kept tagging to me, shoving her arm around my waist when I did not even have the ball. After a while, i "buay tahan" and I asked her, "Can you stop doing that?".. And you know what she did? She simply "bo-chap" me. **BOILED** >_<

Anyway, we won that game 9-7!! Close match! Eventually we won silver in that competition cos we lost to IPB in the final! Lol..

Back to that ITO vs ICG game, ICG won that game by a close margin. So we knew it would be an IPB vs ICG 1st & 2nd placing final! Many people came to us and told us we MUST win that game cos they just cannot stand that team!.. :O

The game started!.. The GS whom I was guarding irritated me sooooooo much. She kept pushing me when I was standing somewhere below the pole waiting for the rebound if the GA missed the goal. I was being pushed a few cm away from where I originally stood. *BOILED*.. We were leading 3-1 when the 1st quarter ended.

The 2nd & 3rd quarters were so close!.. By the time 3rd quarter ended, the score was 6-6! Nervous man!!.. But really thank God, because the umpires Citi employed were really professionals. In fact, one of them was Mr Liew, who happened to be Wen Wen's netball coach in her Pioneer JC days. At least the game was played much fairer because the umpires really did a great job. Many fouls, steppings, dragging, etc were being faulted. In fact, the GA from the other team really 不甘愿 and she made many remarks about the umpires. Then we heard Mr Liew told her off and said, "GA, you keep your comments to yourself. Leave the umpiring to the umpires." .. Wow! We went "YEAH" on the inside of us man! :P

4th quarter started!!.. The SUN was still burning above us. We made some changes to the line-up. Jamie played GA and Audrey took back Centre. Guess the change made ICG confused a little bit. And yeah! Jamie put in few goals! Eventually we won the game 10-7! When the final whistle was blown, we went "YEEEAAHHH"... and we went running & hugging one another. Ha. Very drama right. But guess all of us were just SOOOoOOo happy. What a SWEEEET victory.

But I got to leave early for CGM. Didn't manage to wait for the prize presentation.. I wonder how the medal looked like this year? Hee... 2 years ago i got a bronze medal. Last year, silver medal. This year! Gold medal! :)

Now I am still smiling away... Wahaha...

Thank God for this VICTORY!! :)

.. The MATCH !! ..

The MaTch is ON this SAT!!..

May the IPB-ians retain the TITLE...

IPB WooooOOOoshhh!!

。。 我的大学梦想 。。

Went for netball practice just now. Good time of de-stress. Had a rather disappointing week, but I guess this work-out was really good. Netball competition is ON next Sat!.. And I hope my new team can retain the championship! Yeah!..

Hair is still wet!.. So I shall take this time to BLOG!

Hmmm. Very disappointed with the way Kaplan handled my case, and I really felt unjustified. This was what they wrote in the email:

"We would like to inform you that without further evidences of miscommunication on our part, we will not be able to give you any special rebates or discounts or refunds for the A.Dip modules.

You will have to take and pay for the bridging module required if you choose to continue your studies with BBA. If you wish to transfer the first instalment of $856 paid for BBA to any of our other degree programs, we will be glad to do so."

Without further evidences? Most of the things were verbally communicated! So, how do I "have" evidences? I do have an email sent to Citibank HR in March 08, clearly stating the course I am interested in is Bachelor of Business Admin (BBA). I was seeking their advice then, wanting to ensure the degree course I'm going to take is recognised by the bank. Too bad, this "proof" is not good enough for me to justify my case.

And the "best" part is, the senior consultant said she will "try her best" to get a waiver of the bridging module for me after hearing my case. When the email was sent by her, it was a blunt "you will have to take and PAY for the bridging module..."

Well well. I decided NO WAY am I going to continue my degree program with KAPLAN.

Because:

1. Misleading information given to me prior to signing up for the Advanced Dip program.
2. Irresponsible staffs, who just shrinked away from taking responsibility...
3. Three different consultants giving three different advises. I wonder are they from the same company???
4. Advising student to take an "Adv Dip" program when the student can already gain direct entry to a degree program. How worse can it get?
5. Sales-oriented, instead of meeting the need of the student.

我真得很生气 ！！！ 太过分了！！！

Well, life still goes on. It's not the end of everything!

The dream of a degree will still go on. In fact, I do have a desire of getting a MBA too! :)

Looking forward to the day when Mad, Wen, 姐夫 and myself in convocation gowns taking a studio picture with my parents! We are going to hang it nicely on the wall! It will be a nice picture, with Samuel, Daniel and maybe Esther. Hee.... Maybe, got some other "people" too. Wahaha... :)

Every experience is a lesson learnt. So definitely I will learn from this.

So, if there's a next time, MUST ensure:

1. Seek the advices from few consultants, cos you will be surprised that different standards actually exist!!

2. Get a "black & white" written, signed off by the consultant whom you speak to. So in case next time there is a dispute and they ask for "proof", you have it and watch their jaws drop!!

Yah. I am sarcastic I know. But it's true! Protect yourself! :)

Ok. I am feeling much better!.. Blogged whatever that is in my heart.

Now, I just want to concentrate on clearing my LAST module : Computing/Data Management. Then, get my Advanced Dip cert! To think positively... I am going to have a higher cert! Yeah!

Hair is getting dry! It's 2.45am!.. I better get some rest now.

Even though bad things do happen to good people, life is still very beautiful... because my God is always there! :)

。。 袁俊帅呆了！。。

Went shopping with Yuan Jun, Chong, Wei Liang and Verona today after lunch at JP, and Wen Wen came joined us a while later.

Yuan Jun wanted to buy a sling bag, did not manage to get it, but it was still a very fruitful day for him. He wanted to buy some new clothes, so we went shopping with him...

AND! After some opinions from his “军师”，look at what he bought! :)

Isn't it nice??

Hee hee... It's actually quite fun and enjoyable shopping with the brothers... It's good to know that the brothers from W116 can SHOP! :P

Next time we can plan a CG shopping fellowship someday, HA!!

.. Exam is OVER!! ..

Cleared my Business Info Systems paper last evening... in 1 hour 15 mins! The fastest so far in my record. Hee.. Paper was supposed to be from 7-10pm. I left at 815pm. Even earlier than Business Comm paper, where I left early to rush to Wen's birthday party in April... Went to my ex-colleague Lai Yee's dad's wake. He had a sudden heart attack on Friday and passed away...

Anyway, paper was ok. This was the paper where I really went through a very disappointing week, had some issues with Kaplan that I want to get it settled SOON. Affected me in certain way... Nevertheless, am glad it's OVER!! Now on to my last module, Computer/Data Management.

Hmmm. The issue I have with Kaplan is, imagine you are on the way of finishing your Advanced Dip program in one month's time. And you get to know from another consultant that actually you do not have to take this program to gain direct entry into the bachelor program that you want to take. I was stunned upon hearing that... Wondered did I just hear correctly what I heard??.. I actually just need to take 2 modules out of the 6 modules in this Advanced Dip program, together with an Econs bridging module... Well... Am really very upset when I get to know this...

Well. Indeed it's a "People" test that I am going through... will just commit into the hands of God, and trust that He will turn this to be something good.

:)

:(

Something really BAD happened. :(

I am very upset.

But, like what the Bible says in Romans 8:28:

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them."

I will stay positive. That it will turn out to be GOOD.

God is my Judge. God is Justice.

May justice be given to me.

God is GOOD, all the time. All the time, God is good.

* Bind the devil! :o *

.. BIS Exam ..

Time flies and I'm going into my last module for my Advanced Dip program soon!..

Business Info System exam on this Sat, 7-10pm. So, I'll not be blogging till then! Focus focus focus. Study study STUDY!!

Please help keep me in prayers... an "A" for this module!

:D

.. Yearbook Yourself ..

I must be crazy to put these pictures up here.

They looked SoooooOooooO weird. :P

But nonetheless, I think it's quite fun. Haha.

So this would be how I looked in the past? :)

1950

1954

1958

1960

1962

1964

1966

1968

1970

1972

1974

1976

1978

1980

1984

1986

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

2000

Funny? :P

Try yours at http://yearbookyourself.com/