Review of 2019

So I’ve summarised a list of  top 18 things that had happened in 2019.

1. My mum finally let me drive!
It’s not really a thing to remember but for someone who only gets to drive when she’s 25 year old, this is definitely something that I want to record it down. Thanks to my persistence of not leaving my current job, I was forced to speak to my mum about driving and my mum was forced to let me drive. Haha. Indirectly force la ok. Also she has let me fetched her few times to shopping malls, dropping her off while I went to my appointments and fetched her back home. It’s a good sign! 🥰

2. In total I travel to 9 different places, which includes 3 different countries and 4 different local states. First I went to Kuantan for company kick off in Jan, Hanoi during my birthday while following my dad to work, but it wasn’t a pleasant trip actually 😅 Then in May, I went to Hokkaido with my parents! Otaru was the place I love the most in the whole trip. In June I went to Johor, Husky’s hometown for the 1st time, meeting his parents for the 1st time as well ngehehe #nervous, and also I went to Bangkok with my colleagues (semi-free trip by Allianz as I accidentally hit the challenge haha) Then in October I went to Malacca, local trip with parents after all these years of not going to local for holiday, and went to Krabi for company trip again, this time is for Halloween! Almost all of my colleagues went and it was very very fun. From walking the streets with our Halloween costume to island hopping and conquering the whole swimming pool for monkey games, it was just so, so fun. And in November, I went for a team review trip in Penang. It was ages since I went there as well, but other than getting massage, all I remember was overused my brain for review purpose. Haha. But of course, it was a fruitful trip as it helps me to understand myself better. The next day I arrived in KL from Penang, I got to pack and depart to Phuket the next day! Everyone was saying that I might as well sleep in airport hahaha #mymumplansone

3. After 25 years, finally I started indoor wall climbing. It was a childhood dream come true. I wanted to climb when I was small, and I remember having the chance to try in a shopping mall (which I think is also in One Utama) but I didn’t because I was wearing long skirt. Actually it didn’t matter because it was just a short climb, probably I was afraid back then. And this year Nek wanted to try, so both of us went for Camp5’s Basic Wall Course and started to climb. By the end of the year, even Husky tried it because of his friends. Somehow I like bouldering more. Maybe not as mafan as the Top Rope where you need a person to belay you, and not as scary as the Autobelay because when you come down, you fly down. I mean free fall. IT IS SCARY. 😖😫 Maybe i should try Bump in Jaya One next year.

4. After 3 years of dating, finally I met Husky’s family! Road to Johor was tiring, even when I’m not the one driving. Haha. I was kinda worried that I can’t mix with his family but the 1st thing that his mum said when we arrived was: “神经病啊你，回来没有讲!” [You siao ah, come back never say!] Then I also echo her words, saying ya la he la, don’t want tell you he’s coming back. But thank God they are very nice to me and I feel just like home with them.

5. I moved out from my house. A week. To opposite street. Husky’s house. HAHAHAHAHA. Pardon me for laughing for running away from home, that time wasn’t funny at all. But now to think of it, IT IS FUNNY. Because I packed 5 luggages, and moved to Husky’s house which is just opposite street. And because when I moved out my parents weren’t at home, so when I came back with 5 big luggages my mum looked me at one kind. 🤣 Reason of moving out is work related of course. But we eventually managed to overcome it. ☺️

6. Did I mention that I travel to 9 different places? Actually I was wrong. It was 10 places! If you considered hospital as one of them. 😏 So I was diagnosed with dengue, and hospitalised for 6 days. My total bill for 6days5nights were around RM 15k, technically one of the finest “hotel” that I ever stayed in. It was terrible, but at the same time I felt grateful. Terrible because I needed to take 4 times blood test a day to monitor my white blood cells and platelet count, sometimes the nurse can’t find my vein and cause super pain and blue black to me. It was terrible also because I was so itchy I couldn’t sleep, literally scratched myself to sleep; and the dripping machine beeping sound was my worse nightmare. Grateful because I had appetite to eat after the 1st day of admission, I know I’m going to be well soon but it all depends on my report. Also grateful because I survived. A friend’s  friend and a lawyer of our company passed away due to dengue not long after my discharge. It was creepy to hear the news, being a survivor of the same condition.

7. I changed my phone! It’s a small thing but it’s still a good thing. The phone I want was out of stock and we went to few places before managed to get it in The Gardens.

8. For the 1st time I watched concert in Genting with my parents and Husky and also my colleagues. It was free tickets by the way, and the singer wasn’t someone very famous but it was a good experience anyway.

9. My parents experienced trees fallen on their car when they were coming back home during a rainy day. The windscreen cracked, the side mirrors were broken, couldn’t start the car either, thank God for people who came and helped to remove the fallen branches, one even took a parang and chopped off thicker branches. Thank God my parents weren’t hurt, and thank God for angels around them. 😇

10. After the fallen trees incident, while my dad was waiting for the car to be fixed, he ended up being promoted and gotten another new company car. God’s timing is always perfect. :’)

11. Husky got a full time job! At least now his life is better than before. :’)

12. One of our extended family members got himself a major trouble and is currently serving his punishment while waiting for results, but at least he’s protected.

13. Dad got a free MiBand 3 from lucky draw!

14. I got closer to Bernice this year, probably due to similar family background and we are also MRT kakis haha!

15. Husky and I attended 2 weddings this year, one is my ex-colleague and another is his badminton friend. So many of our friends got hitched this year. But 2 weddings are enough la haha #toomanyredbombs

16. Met up with my high school buddies, Hezrin and Auni after 5 years OMG. These people ah, need to force them out from house one only they are willing to come out and see me. #willseethemagaininnext5years 😒

17. This year is a gadget year as Husky gave me a power bank and hard disc as gifts for me this year haha!

18. FINALLY IN A MILLION YEARS I SEE COLOUR ON MY HAIR! Got my hair dyed brown in salon for the 1st time. Last 2 times I used self-dyed bubble wash but I need to be under the sun only can see the colour. I wasn’t sure whether I like my new hairstyle either at first, but it was okay after that.

So these are my top 18 highlights of 2019. Hope that 2020 will be a better one as I get rid of my weaknesses and use them as my strengths! Changes aren’t easy but it helps in growing. Especially when I’m turning 26 next year! Feel like turning into 30 anytime soon. 😂

Bye 2017!

2017 was a normal year, until October when I changed my job, it just turned my whole world upside down.

Tears and laughters were the main characters during the last 3 months of 2017, trying to cope with pressure but felt excitement too.

Me and Husky on the hand, we are so low profile until friends actually asked me whether we are still together or not. See la, never post pictures of me, I also lazy post your picture already hmph.

But we did venture different types of food, and did ice skating on our 1st anniversary, which wasn't that good because a cute kid flew towards my directions forgotten to brake and made me fall flat on my butt. OUCH.

Nevertheless, yeah we are still together thank you very much. Hahahahaha.


Ohhh and did I mention that he actually did his homework for the very FIRST TIME and brought me somewhere nice for Christmas dinner! Wow the wood is becoming better material each year! 😍😍😍

And I went to Taiwan and currently in Guangzhou (no doubt I'm writing this post in 2018 backdated in 2017 ahahahaha) but the culture is so much different.

My goals for 2018? To focus on my career. No doubt the pressure is there, but in a way I feel so alive and fulfilling. Unlike the retiree life in my previous job, nothing can compare the difference.

Also to grow closer to God, because a lot of times I neglect spending time with Him with the pressure of my work.

I can conclude that 2017 was a great great year, and may my 2018 be even better!

Jeremiah 29:11

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Sekinchan

It was a last minute decision to join cell retreat this year in Sekinchan as first of all, I wasn't sure whether it will clash with Saturday banking or not, and secondly, my Unit Trust exam. And just a week before going for this retreat, one of the cell members couldn't make it so when I saw the message I straight jumped right into it and offered to replace him.

And so we departed from church around 9+, I was in Charmaine's car along with the Chin siblings, Victor and Peggy and also new member Andy. 3 out of 5 is worship team members and so we sing along songs that appeared in Charmaine's radio or Spotify playlist. The Chin siblings even brought along their ukulele!

First of all, we stopped in Pantai Redang (not Pulau Redang, which I want to go again!). The skies are so clear! And the clouds so low I can even touch it! xD

By the way, I flew a kite for the first time of my life! Ahahahahaha!

The signature boat that everyone takes pictures with, and the whole beach is full of seashells! There are stalls selling seashells that are so huge in size!

:D

:D

We also took pictures at the mini jetty! All jetty pictures below are credited to Peggy. 

The emo look far far pic xD

We also had great shots by Edward with his DSLR ⬇⬇⬇

Singing Somewhere Over The Rainbow with ukulele as accompaniment~ 

Group picture! ♡

After that, we adjourned to the seafood restaurant for lunch!

Just part of the few dishes~ 

The weather was a bit weird, sun and rain took turns to appear, but the changes didn't affect our holiday mood. After lunch we went to the signature paddy field for fish/prawn/sweet potato keropoks and more pictures.

Grey clouds again!

Group pic with the rice!
PC: Edward

Cannot open my eyes too bright already hahahaha
PC: Edward

So after all the greenies we straight went to the Santorini Homestay which is our stay of the night!

The whole house is so blue, including the interior design!

Pic taken from Google

Pic taken from Google

So we spent our afternoon unpacking our stuff, bathing, walking around etc.

Until 4.30pm then we gathered together for worshiping and sharing.

We went for dinner at 7.30pm, again in a seafood restaurant.

Also, just part of the dishes hahaha

We waited for quite long, because this restaurant really packed and by the time we left the restaurant it was already 9+pm.

So we went back for games session and also movie night.

The next morning we had a few chefs preparing breakfast for us, and I had fun learning ukulele with various songs. Before we left, me and Peggy managed to ride around the neighbourhood with the 3-seaters bicycle. Reminded me of the time when I went to FRIM with SUMC and I had no choice but to ride the 2-seaters bicycle with Husky. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
  

Group pictures in the garden~

No idea why I laughed till like this hahahaha

So that's the end of our cell retreat in Sekinchan! A good rest indeed before continue working hard again haha!

Thank God for the chance to have fellowship and short holiday with them. :)

June'17

So it's June now!!!!!!!! 5 months have passed!

Back then if you ask me what I've done for the past few months, I probably answer you I don't know. Time just got wasted as it is.

BUT! Now yes I can tell you what I've done!

1. Meesu 25

I'm currently selling couple/family/siblings/besties shirts! It's okay if you're single, just don't let the couple shirts title bring you down because I've got a feedback that she feels sad when I ask her whether she's interested in couple shirts or not. Like, okayyyyyy are you interested in single shirt? Hahaha just kidding.

Feel free to visit my FB page Meesu 25 (which is pronounced as Miss You 25) by clicking here! After quitting selling chokers, I've found a better business to try out. Hahahaha. And I can tell you that I've learned sooooooo much from it! There are the ups and downs, feeling of joy when someone says yes to buying the shirts, feeling of excitement when someone conveys their interests on the shirts, feeling of awkwardness when I had to PM them again just to confirm their interest on the shirts (don't wanna feel desperate but I just need to do follow up), and feeling of mild disappointments when someone says no to the shirts.

Despite all those ups and downs, I can just feel excitement whenever I'm doing something (or even just purely thinking and planning) related to business. Sometimes I do feel this is my calling from God. HAHAHAHAHA. Because it's basically the only thing that is still burning in my heart since long time ago. Other stuff, I'm very half basket water one haha!

2. Italian

I'm also learning Italian! Thanks to Duolingo which I found out from some articles, it makes it easier to learn another language! Also I chose Italian because it's the very first foreign language that I learned through learning piano. I'm still confused with the singular and plural words though. It makes me think of how I learn English back then, and how challenging it is when my colleague asks me what's the difference of him, he and his. Or things like that.

I'll probably learn Japanese next! Because I really really love travelling to Japan and also due to my Dad who works in a Japanese related company. He spent months in Japan for training when he was much younger. So yeah, got some influence from him la.

3. Taiwan

Besides these two, I've also traveled to Taiwan! I would definitely go back there if my goal is just to take my own sweet time visiting places and trying out the food there. It's quite a slow-pace country, so you can just enjoy your every bit of time without rushing. I don't like it when it comes to involving tours. We need to change hotels every 1 or 2 days, wait for others to board on the bus, some bus-mates got lost somewhere and forgot the time to come back, but it's good when it comes to sight-seeing. Because places like these are hard to reach when you're on your own.

4. Drawing/Colouring

Fourth of all, I've started drawing once again! Growing up going to those colouring competitions make me miss drawing/colouring/crayoning/painting. So I've make it a habit to colour again! Just can't leave my crayons/colour pencils/watercolours inside my cupboard untouched for the rest of my life. Though now I'm just focusing on using watercolours only. Pinterest is definitely my source of inspiration! Nah I'm just kidding. I'm using it to copy and paste only. Hehehe. Still trying to improve!

5. Calligraphy

Besides that, I'm also trying to self-learn calligraphy. Again, I'm using Pinterest to guide me. I'm so amazed with the typographies out there and it seems that I'm still no where compared to them! I've tried using pencil, pen, nib-set, even with a brush! The best I can do is to fake the design. -.- But I'm still trying! Hopefully one day I can write it flawlessly. :D

6. Videos

There are few types of YouTube videos that I'm watching lately. First is The Bible Project. I watched it to learn more about the Bible. It's created in a way that we can understand the Word of God in an easier way (especially the Old Testament) as the author conveys the messages through illustrations. Every video explains every Book in the Bible, so it's like there's a video for Psalms, a video for Job, a video for Genesis and so forth. I watch a video per day and I can say that I've grown my understanding about the Bible through these videos.

Then there is this Clothes Encounters by Jenn Im, a Korean American. She's just so so so so so so so pretty (still pretty when she doesn't wear any makeup!) and she has such a sweet smile! She does videos of makeups and outfits, so I do watch her videos every now and then for some inspirations even though I hardly makeup. Bahahaha.

Next is this Jubilee Media, a very meaningful place for you to find humanity in. They shoot videos that will make you touched and in these very negative world, you get to find back a sense of love and compassion in it.

7. Ted Ed & LinkedIn Pulse

I'm trying to fully utilise my lunch hours by watching Ted Ed videos and reading articles from LinkedIn Pulse. Ted Ed is about inspirations and LinkedIn is more on Entrepreneurship, Finance and Leadership. There are apps that can be downloaded for free and I really really benefit a lot from them.

10. Blog

Yeah I'm still blogging! Hahahaha! Just cannot abandon it la. So many memories inside. :')


Wow! Look at that! It has been so long since I'm so cheong hei! xD But I'm very proud that I'm wasting lesser time on social media but using more time on productivity and self-improvement. I know that with my current day job only I can have so much time to do so many things and sometimes I do feel that if I change job I'll just end up coming home wanting to sleep. But till then, I'll try to improve my time management and improve myself more! :D

10 Things About Taiwan

1. They are super duper friendly. I hardly see a black face whenever I ask directions from Taiwaneses. In fact, if the person doesn't know which direction, the person standing nearby will pop out and give you the correct directions!

2. They super duper pamper their dogs. Either they hug their dogs while walking, or they place their dogs in prams. Their dogs don't need to move an inch!

3. Their life-pace is quite slow. Don't compare with fast-pace countries like Singapore and Japan, even the escalators in One Utama seems faster than those in the Taiwan MRTs!

4. Don't expect to buy a lot of clothes in their night markets. You will end up eating a lot you can't even fit into any clothes!

5. When they say it's going to rain, it won't. Their weather is not as honest as in Malaysia.

6. They expect their people to be honest, though You can see the hawker stalls placing trays of coins on top of their tables, even expecting customers to take their own change!

7. The stuff (clothes and food) are not as cheap as I'd expected. Even before we multiply the currency with a 0.15, it's relatively high compare with Malaysia.

8. Do not be cheated by the old exterior of their buildings! Our hotel is located at the 8th and 9th floor of a residential building, which looks very old and messy from the outside, but it was super neat and tidy when you enter their hotel room.

9. Their garbage trucks play beautiful music to announce their arrival! We heard similar sound in Shanghai before, but it wasn't until in Taiwan where we found out it was actually the arrival of garbage trucks. It wasn't the messy sound that you expect, in fact I find it suitable as a lullaby!

10. Last but not least, there are super duper many scooters!!

Sydney #4

21.06.16 - Day 6

Our second last day in Sydney, which is a free and easy day.

We wanted to go to the Fish Market which we had to pass by Chinatown and saw this restaurant:

Malaysian Mamak lea!

Look at the price, haven't convert already so the expensive. *wipe sweat*

I had a dream, which is to go to Australia and sell roti canai *LOOK AT THE PRICE AGAIN*

We went to the Paddy's Market to board onto a tram to Fish Market, the world's third largest fish market.

This stork stole my food!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We bought our lunch and headed to outside to eat but it was a mistake. The wind was blowing and our lunch soon turned into cold dishes. Plus the fact that the birds are lingering outside waiting to pounce on your food, which resulted in me losing my fish. -.-

It was a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful day!

After the lunch we headed back and walked along Pitt Street.

At night we went for our dinner and my Dad said he still had some coins left. Then he saw people passing the restaurant that we were eating holding ice cream and wondered where did they buy the ice cream. Sure enough, the bakery beside the restaurant sells ice cream too. So we bought the black sesame one. They have matcha too but I thought my parents weren't too keen on matcha so I chose black sesame. Who knows, after that I whispered to my Dad whether we can buy another ice cream which is matcha flavour and he said yes WOOHOO! And we purposely went back to the bakery to buy, thank God it haven't closed yet. HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Me with Black Sesame ice cream 

Black Sesame ice cream alone

Me with Matcha ice cream

Matcha ice cream alone

Before I forget, Australia is a place with many kangaroos which are also the symbol of Australia but I'm not sure whether it is over supply or what, they do sell food products of kangaroos and also souvenirs.

 Scary scary. >.<

Oh I saw this and it looks very cute!

HAHAHA!!

Overall, other than buying souvenirs, I bought a pair of red lace pants from Forever 21. I couldn't believe that the items sold in Chinatown are so much expensive than branded outlets like Forever 21. 

I like the fact that people can just walk around the streets without fear, and because of the weather this month it's quite comfortable to go to a place by walking, can save money if you're working here. High cost of living, that's for sure. 

I used to think of coming to Australia to work or study, but it's terrifying if you don't have enough money to even survive here. 

They say that the grass is always greener than the other side, but temporary I don't mind if I would just stuck in Malaysia hahahahahaha.

22.06.16 - Day 7

Boarded the plane back to Malaysia, again feeling hotter than ever haha! A baby couldn't stopped crying in the plane. As passengers we would like to spend our time reading or catching some sleep and it's normal if we feel annoyed, but at the same time the mother feels worse because she doesn't know what happened to her baby and she just cried non-stop. I said a silent prayer, hoping the baby can just calm down and get some sleep, and within minutes she began to doze off, leaving her parents some peace. 

Honestly saying, I don't feel that good this trip. I feel like since I'm already working but I still couldn't afford to bring my parents for a holiday instead and wonder when this day can arrive. Of course it was a great experience, but deep down inside my heart I was just pondering when is the day that my parents can really sit back and relax. Sigh.