Holiday in KL Part 2

well today is the 31st of December and yes, its New Year's eve again. we are counting down to a whole new year, the year of 2009! I would be spending my New Year's eve at home with my parents and my brother David simply because I cannot be bothered to go out when everyone is out partying like crazy people and the traffic jams are just so massive around Kuala Lumpur, Bangsar, Subang, Sri Hartamas or the Curve area.

I was asking my mum just now:" Hey mum, do we always spend New Years eve at home?" she said yes when i was in my high school days. I have been to Bangsar, Sri Hartamas and even Bintang walk during my Taylor's college and Metropolitan college days. however, somehow i decided to stay at home during this year's New Years eve because I just wanted to be with my parents.

I am happy indeed, I reckon it is a good way to spend New Year's eve for a change, not just going out partying every year.

I met Debby and Jason for morning branch today, we had dim sum somewhere in SS15, Subang Jaya. food was alright only, I won't say fantastic. thats about it, spend the rest of my time at home. played chess with my brother David, had not played chess for such a long time. i won in the end, hahahahhaha.

Happy New Year everybody, hope everyone is gearing up for 2009! part 3 to be continued..........................

Holiday in KL Part 1

woooohoooo! i am finally back in Kuala Lumpur, the place where I was born and spent 20 years of my life living in this wonderful city. no doubt, i came back for a lot of reasons but the 2 main ones are:

1) seeing my beloved family and;
2) renewing my passport (if not I cannot go back to Perth, Australia)

so far so good, ate Nasi Lemak with beef rendang yesterday, my first authentic Malaysian dish since I got back. yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, it tasted so delicious!

had this drink too called charm ice! its like mix coffee and tea with ice, super nice man! maybe its because i have not had this kind of drink for such a long time. they do not have this kind of drink in Perth you know, thats why.

went shopping with my mum today at Mid Valley Megamall. bought some working shirts and a working pants because I do not have many, everywhere is having sale at the moment so why not? bought those clothes for such a reasonable price also so can't complain too much about it.

I have been enjoying my holidays so far, been spending quite a bit as well. I am looking forward to my Kota Kinabalu trip with my family this coming weekend. I am sure it is going to be exciting and relaxing. massage, golf, spa, its gonna be like paradise man! will continue part 2 soon ......................

Merry Christmas everyone

I wish you a Merry Christmas, I wish you a Merry Christmas, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!. its Christmas time again and I am having so much fun. can't believe its Christmas time again. I would be going out to Peter's house later to celebrate because he would be throwing a Christmas party at his place. food, drinks, pudding, cake, you name it. what a better way then to celebrate Christmas?

I had one of the best and memorable Christmas eve experience ever. went to look at Christmas decorations around Perth and I tell you the decorations that people put up at their houses were simply breathtaking! so nice man, I was speechless when I saw some of the decorations at some of the houses. I actually drove for 3 and a half hours from one suburb to another just to see Christmas decorations.

It was really amazing because I have been in Perth for 5 years now and have not done anything like this before. I went with Yee Fang, Rachel, and Sheron. wooohoooo, we took a lot of photos and just had a good time. We were also hungry and thought McDonalds was open but the Mcdonalds that we went to were all closed until 9pm so Yee Fang came up with this brilliant idea. she said:" hey, why don't we just have Indo mee and teh tarik?". i was like: what? what did you say? you must be joking me! . no no, serious one! i mean lets be different and try something different. Rachel and sheron were like quiet and did not know what to say so we all just headed to Rachel's place to have supper.

i took some amazing pictures from my so called crazy trip last night. still, i reckon it was fun. Merry Christmas everyone! don't forget to be good this Christmas! hahahahahaha.

Stirling Partner's Photo Gallery

photo time! yes thats right, you heard me, its photo time. so far I have been putting up photos of my friends in church and cell group and other groups of people but I somehow realised that I have not uploaded any photos of the people in my company and the events that my company has had over the past 12 months.

therefore, I decided to upload photos of my company which is Stirling Partners whom I have been working for just over a year now (13 months). I really had fun with all the social events that my company has organised this year. brings back good old memories. all the photos are actually from En's camera, not mine because he is the main photographer for my company for any events that we have. enjoy the photos people, I know I will.

My 2 bosses: En(left), my supervisor and Erich(right), my main boss

Fraser's restaurant, the place where we had our Christmas dinner last year

Shaking hands with our opponents during the CA indoor soccer tournament we had in August 2008.

Our very own Stirling Partner's indoor soccer team

Our very own Stirling Partner's netball team

Captain Helen giving a short briefing during half time in one of the matches

The netball team in action

Captain Helen taking a breather during one of the netball games

2 more weeks to go

3,2,1.................. no, no, not yet, not yet. wait for it.............. bang! i still got one more week before i am off from work for 4 weeks! yes that's right, one whole month. i am so excited and looking forward to it. the time now is ermmmmmmmm, lets see 10.30pm on the 14 of December 2008.

gosh, what does that mean? its means there are only 11 days to Christmas and 16 days to the New year where we welcome the year 2009! woooohooooo, i cannot believe it, the new year is here. aha, before that, time to give the presents for Christmas because Christmas is a time of celebration, joy, happiness and peace right? chocolates perhaps? or roast turkey with the cranberry sauce?. i don't know, have to look at my bank balance first. :)

so many things happened to me this year, the wonderful year of 2008. time of reflection? yes of course, time to learn from mistakes and move forward to what 2009 has install for me. should i write now? nah, its already 10.40pm. got to go to bed soon and take a shower first because i feel so stinky.

one more week to go, 5 days, 5 more days!. I can't wait.

Mandurah Weekend Getaway

chill, relax, distress, those words were on my mind as I headed off to Mandurah last weekend for a relaxing one night stay at this huge house facing the canal where the river was flowing to the sea. I just wanted to get studies out of my head for one day because I felt like I just needed a breather.

honestly, I am still trying to balance between my work and my studies. even though it has already been 2 months since I started my first CA module, I am still struggling to get back to my study mode. I mean not studying for one and a half years after I finished my masters at Curtin was cool because all I had to do was just go to work and come back everyday.

those days I was a full time student, thats why I had so much time on my hands but now is simply not the case. I only got night times during weekdays to study and thats like what 3 hours tops after you have your shower and dinner.

anyways, enough said about my studies, lets talk about the trip. yes there were about 23 of us who went down. some stayed for 2 nights while some stayed for just a night. we had to stay 2 nights minimum so all of us had to share the costs for 2 nights even though some of us only stayed for one night.

had fun eating, sleeping, watching Dont Mess With The Zohan which seriously is like a really stupid movie, suppose to make people laugh but no, that was not the case for me. I found it silly and a no brainer movie kind of way. ya I also enjoyed the fellowship with my YA cell members, it was a good trip. I really enjoyed myself and I was telling Sue Anne, hey lets make it once every 3 months.

I reckon it would not be difficult because the trip only took 3 days to plan so ya I reckon it was really good. if everybody cooperates, I am sure we would go down to Mandurah again. really nice place hey. below are photos I took from the trip, enjoy the photos guys! :)

Left to right : Me, Shin Woei, Leona and Genesis

The whole group who went for the trip

My beloved cell leader: Mr Jack Chia, doesn't he look cool in the photo? I reckon hey.

The 2 monkey "wannabes": Stanley (left) and Genesis (right). aw, they look funny!

Me and Leona in a black and white photo, boy I look awesome! so cool man the photo.

The whole gang going crazy!

The Chartered Accountant Program

chartered what? CA? what does that mean? it means the Chartered Accountant program, one of the most prestigious professional courses in the world. Why am I writing about it? well, thats because I am currently doing it and studying my first module as well. easy course? nah, I would say the opposite. know what is even not helping?

i talked to En and John who are 2 senior graduates in my company and guess what they told me. well lets just say they told me things that are not very encouraging. John is a CA and CPA graduate and he told me he took 11 days off from work and still barely just pass his last module. gosh that must really have told me something huh?

it is true though because ever since I enrolled for my first module, all I have been doing is just working and studying, working and studying. thats basically my life for 80% of the week, week in week out. hey, i expected something like this to happen since i started my first module but I did not expect it to be that bad until I do not even have the time to update my blog.

how long has it been?? well lets see now, one month. yes, one month, 30 days! golly, that is long. I felt like posting something today because its been so long and I miss my blog very much.

so many things have been happening over the past month. the US elections, financial crisis, friend's 21st birthday.

so many things until cannot even believe that it is already November. I am thinking of taking 1 week off to study for my MAA308 module final exam which is on the 9th of December. still thinking about it cause I plan to go back to visit my family during Christmas and I need to know how long I can take my annual leave for.

guess i just have to work it out, don't I. Below are photos of various events that happen recently, the most recent one would be Jia Huei's 21st birthday on Tuesday. Hope you had a wonderful birthday girl. cheers!

The birthday girl giving the 2 thumbs up, well done?

The 3 girls in green:(Yih Jia, Jia Huei and Yee Fang). gosh they look funny! what is Da Yong trying to do with the spray cleaner? clean Jia Huei's hair?

Search For A Star 2008

music, dance, singing, acting, cheering, magic tricks, you name it. it all happened at Search For A Star 2008 organised by Zion Praise Harvest. I somehow do not know why people tend to think that Search For A Star is a competition or something because they are fooled by the name. It is just a show where the people from my church showcase their talents and gifts that God has given each and everyone of us.

I took part in the Young Adults dance and really enjoyed myself. I just reckon that it was so much fun. moving my shoulders, hands, feet and body was tiring but it was good because just dancing to the music from Hairspray, Mamma Mia, Singing In The Rain and Summer Love was awesome, makes me feel that we were in the 1980's.

Overall, I guess everyone had fun and a big applause should go out to everyone who was involved in making this annual event a great success. everyone give yourself a pat on the back!. Cant wait for Search For A Star next year.

I went out for dinner with Jason, Cindy, Wei Yue, Justin, John, Ailin and Zheng Yi at Outback Jack Bar and Restaurant, Fremantle on Monday night to celebrate me and Jason's belated birthdays. Since everyone was so busy during the Search For A Star period, me and Jason decided to have it on last Monday.

Zheng Yi actually went for the challenge to finish 1kg of meat with wedges and salad. He had to finish all of it in 30 minutes to get the whole meal for half price. It was crazy man, saw him eat like never before. I don't think he would be eating steak for a very very long time. below are some pictures I took during the dinner, enjoy!:-

The lovely couple: Jason and Cindy, dont they look cute together.

The whole gang who went that night

A Mysterious Present From A Mysterious Stranger

Last sunday after church service, Chris Goh came up to me and said:" Hey Thomas, someone asked me to pass this card to you". I was like:" Okay, thanks a lot Chris. May I know who is it from?" "The person told me not to let you know wor, said it is a surprise" he replied. I was like okay, thank you very much, looking very puzzled because I have gotten a present from someone who does no want to reveal his/her identity. very strange, I have never received a present from someone who is an unknown person to me before.

I went back after that, tore the envelope open, looked inside and found a keychain with my name on it which looks like the one below:-



Cute right? i was impressed by it and then i was so happy that I just continued reading the card that the mysterious person has written to me. I was surprised because in the card that person wrote: Sorry your present came a lil late! Just didn't have the time to pass it to you.

I was like okay, hmmmmmmmmmm, why don't you just pass it to me then? Why did you have to pass it through Chris? How am I going to find out who you are? I called Chris the next day and asked him:" Hey Chris, who is the person who passed you the card? I want to thank him/her for the wonderful gift". He was like:" I am sorry thomas but I really cannot tell you who that person is".

I was like okay lor, thank you mysterious stranger because I am not going to ask each and every person :" Hey, did you buy me a card and a keychain?" ermmmmmm, no way man! got how many people in church, not going to waste my time asking around. I really do not have a slightest of clues who that person is, I really don't.

Thank you mysterious stranger, you have made my birthday a memorable one. hhahahaha

below is the mysterious stranger's name on the birthday card:-

Old Age Is Drawing Closer To Me

25 years old, I cannot believe that I am indeed 25 years old! I just cannot! somehow on my birthday 3 days ago, when I was driving to work, I just realised that I am indeed 25 years old already. thats means I am almost halfway to 50 years old. gosh that is scary.

no matter how much I would really want to forget about my age, I cannot because i would still remain at 25 years old no matter what. I cannot be young again and I definitely do not want to grow older too, who would want to?. and the fact that some of my friends do still call me Uncle makes me feel so much older.

my birthday was alright, went out with a few of my friends at night. We just went to Fast Eddy's in Carousel. the people who went were Sarah K, Fenny, Jia Huei, Yee Fang, Darrel, Da Yong and Janica. my brother came to join us later at 11 something.

I thought it was very cute what Janica did even though she told me that she did not buy the mooncake. She put a candle on a mooncake and ask me to blow it. I found that very creative and different because you know people always celebrate their birthdays with cakes so I thought what she did was very sweet and different.

Ya, we all just chilled at Fast Eddy's, chat, talk and just fellowship with one another. Pia, Jeremy, Mojo and Brandon came to surprise me in a way at 7pm at my house. It was funny because the moment I reached home I thought there were actually people inside my house waiting to surprise me. why? because I did not see my brother's car and also the lights were all on. so i thought to myself:" hmmmmmm, something is not right here, I am sure they are all inside ready to surprise me".

However, when I opened the front door, I straight away took a step back because I really thought there were actually people inside the house ready to surprise me. gosh was I wrong! hahahhahaha, how embarrassing!

i just want to say a big thank you to all you lovely people for remembering my birthday. all your messages, phone calls, cakes, everything. I just want to say thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. you guys really made my day on Thursday.

I also celebrated my belated birthday by going out for dinner with Vincent, James, Eugene and my brother to Ciao Italia in MillPoint today. thanks guys for the treat, I really had a good time.

The people who came to surprise me (left to right): Brandon, Mojo, Jeremy and Pia

Mr Jamester looking like he is enjoying his pasta at Ciao Italia very much, yummy!

One of the dishes that we had at Ciao Italia, the famous Fettucine Ciao Italia!

Photos from My New Canon IXUS 80IS

photos, photos, photos. this time it is from my new digital camera, can you tell the difference? enjoy!

Vivien and me (my new shirt which was my first time wearing it even though i bought it a year ago)

Left to right : Cindy, Vivien and Pauline (dont their hairstyle look alike?) I think so!

Me and Jeremy aka Carebear

Cindy and me (glasses) with her birthday present that I got her, a 50 dollars spa voucher. cool!

Vivien and me at Farmosa Cafe

Finding the girl of my dreams

time really flies and as i was driving to work today, a thought suddenly came to my head. I am turning 25 years old soon! gosh, i really cannot believe it. i am actually 25 years old already! now that is scary. its funny because i never thought i would be this old. seriously! it is as if I was in college and university and suddenly I am already working and getting older.

maybe one of the reason is because I mix with a lot of younger, passionate, outgoing university students in my church. thats why it makes me feel so old considering most of them do call me Uncle thomas! argggghhhhhh, please guys, stop calling me that. really makes me feel so old. hahahhahha.

talking about getting older, people have been asking me recently the same old same old question:" Hey thomas, so how? got girlfriend already or not?". everybody keeps asking me that question from my mum, my dad, my church friends and even my elder sister whom I have not spoken to on the phone for like 6 months since I left back to Perth after taking a 2 week break back in Malaysia during Chinese New Year.

If i get a girlfriend, i will inform you guys one, don't worry. maybe not everyone, those closer to me first of course. i still do not see a reason to get a girlfriend just because it is like what the so called trend in our generation today that everybody should get a girlfriend or boyfriend because if not you would be left out or something. well, i definitely do not agree with that.

to find that special someone, it takes time. I mean not as in forever but does not come quickly as well. just because you see someone you like you just say: Hey, you want to get together and be my girlfriend?". Nah, that does not work for me mate. hahahhahaha.

anyways, wont want to continue on and on about this topic. maybe i shall talk about it when i got more things to write about it. I went for Joshua & Andrea's wedding last Saturday, it was really really nice. short, sweet and simple. enjoy the photos below.