Tuesday, April 24, 2007

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Posted by Jo at 9:16 PM

Thursday, April 19, 2007

101 things I love about Hil

  1. The morning phone calls just to say hi
  2. The dramatic lip-syncing and silly actions to lyrics of sappy love songs
  3. The constant desire to learn more about God all the time
  4. The way he melts my heart when he sings about growing old with me
  5. The inspiring and dynamic worship leader that he is
  6. The best birthday party planner ever!
  7. The way he TRIES to dance
  8. The fact that he’s not afraid to be honest, even if it means losing a friend
  9. The long lonely drive all the way to Clementi just to send me home from school
  10. The way he’s great at most things…
  11. …And doesn’t make me feel stupid beside him
  12. The way he cracks me up with his jokes
  13. The amount of research he does before buying a gadget
  14. The patience and love he has for his dad
  15. The way his mouth is always subconsciously opened
  16. The different perspectives he always give me
  17. The way he spends money on me without thinking twice
  18. The way he spends money on others without thinking twice
  19. The silly imitations of people like Austin Powers and Jose Mourinho
  20. The way he says “eh?” when he forgets something
  21. The way he burps and farts so unreservedly
  22. The creativity in him that never seems to die off
  23. The amount of space in his heart to love and care for so many other people besides me
  24. The fact that he contributes to paying the bills at home
  25. The coupon boy!
  26. The amount of effort he puts into his design works
  27. The reminders he gives me to be a better person
  28. The mornings when we would go jogging together…
  29. …and how he would wait for me to catch up
  30. …and look at me whenever someone wearing a blue Stand Chart Marathon jersey jogs past us
  31. The patience he has to wait for me to finish my meals
  32. The stomach to help me finish the leftovers
  33. The insistence to pay for every meal
  34. The times he listened and stood by his mother
  35. The occasional smses to remind me that he loves me
  36. The way he laughs at my jokes
  37. The fact that he buys his maid Christmas presents
  38. The futile efforts to stay awake during movies, despite me pinching and hitting him
  39. The times we spent indulging in good food
  40. The adventurous spirit in him
  41. The shared dream of getting married and having kids together
  42. The way he treasures his friendships with sincerity
  43. The nights we spent talking late even though we had to work the next day
  44. The fact that we never seem to run out of things to say
  45. The way his physique complements mine perfectly
  46. The amount of thought he puts into buying me the best presents
  47. The motivation he gives me to do my assignments and articles
  48. The excitement he has when my articles are published
  49. The fact that he loves my parents for who they are
  50. The fun things we do together, like watching a soccer match at the national stadium…
  51. …and the not-so-fun things like when he pushed me into a wall. (Shrek.)
  52. The fact that he listens to what I say
  53. The effort he makes to send me home every time, no matter where we are
  54. The fact that he doesn’t complain when he has to travel back to Woodlands alone
  55. The ability he has to connect with people
  56. The kind offers to help out with my school fees
  57. The way he calls me ‘Joo’
  58. The nights he stayed up to wait for me to finish my stuff when I’m busy
  59. The heartwarming hugs he give me
  60. The food he buys for me out of the blue
  61. The vulnerable side of him
  62. The knowing that I can always rely on him. Always.
  63. The fact that he remembers my favourite food…
  64. …And buys them for me out of the blue
  65. The safety I feel in his arms
  66. The weekends we spent serving God together
  67. The freedom he gives for me to be with my friends
  68. The willingness to spend time with my family
  69. The tolerance of my PMS days
  70. The way we fooled around and behaved like kids in public, not caring about what others would think
  71. The time we prayed, shared and read the bible together
  72. The effort he makes to pray for our relationship during Grace
  73. The way he always makes sense, even out of nonsense
  74. The great length he went to get me black coffee when he heard that I only had 3-in-1s in the office
  75. The patience to accompany me on long and tiring shopping trips
  76. The way he thinks he’s my fashion guru *rolls eyes*
  77. The innate skill he has to wrap presents
  78. The fact that he understands all my jokes
  79. The common interests that we share
  80. The witty comments that leave me speechless at times
  81. The patronizing conversation when I called up pretending to be a chinese TV host
  82. The attempts to predict what I’m gonna say
  83. The fact that he knows all my friends
  84. The early morning calls just to make sure I’m up
  85. The way we codeswitch from English to Mandarin to Hokkien
  86. The good advice he gives
  87. The way he giggles in a small boy manner
  88. The silly poses he give when we take photos
  89. The meticulous manner of keeping track of his finances
  90. The fact that he knows what I’m talking about when I get into the technical jargons of my job
  91. The way he bothers to try and remember the names of my colleagues
  92. The fact that he will never pangseh me
  93. The massages he give without complaining or expecting one in return
  94. The way he tries to salvage his drool from dripping…
  95. ...And the times he failed to ‘salvage’ it. Eeeeee…
  96. The optimistic outlook of life which rubs off on me
  97. The way he teases me about things I dislike
  98. The instant retarded reenactments when I make a fool of myself
  99. The attention he gives me, even when we’re out with friends
  100. The sensitive new age side of him
  101. The fact that after 8 years together, he doesn’t love me any less, accepts me for who I am, despite my countless flaws and imperfection, and wants to spend many more years with me…

    Happy anniversary baby! I love you!

Posted by Jo at 12:00 AM

Monday, April 16, 2007

Rejuvenated

I woke up today feeling crappy, like every other morning...Snoozed my alarm for 20 mins, dragged my feet out of bed, dressed up for work and prepared myself for a blue day ahead. Mondays are usually really bad for me because well, duh, it's the first work day of the week, and to top it off, the day gets painfully worse because I have to attend class in the evening. It didn't help that I'm still recovering from the madness of March and my battery seems perpetually low.

Well, something happened to me today just about the time I stepped into the train station. I felt a sudden burst of energy and motivation towards life again. My sleepiness was drowned out by my enthusiasm to work, my Monday blues chased away by a colourful train of things-to-do. In addition...

- Rachel sent me a morning sms to remind me that I'm loved by her. She's such a sweet pea I tell you. She bought me cookies for tea, personally delivered to my office last Friday, much to my surprise and delight. I was so touched that I almost wanted to frame up those cookies, but eventually, I figured they were too irresistable to miss.

- Hil called me 10 mins later just to say hi and hoped that I'll have a great day ahead. Unfortunately, our phone call was cut short when the train was travelling deep in the tunnels somewhere between Braddell and Toa Payoh.

- I checked my assignment results online and was pleasantly greeted by a wave of compliments from my lecturer for scoring well in a "very difficult assignment". I myself was shocked when I saw the marks because I seriously thought I was gonna fail. (This is Hil's cue to roll his eyes)

- Worked on my long-overdue article for HT and I'm almost done with it. Now, that's an accomplishment.

- Fixated myself in front of the tv to watch Desperate Housewives. Such a touching episode lar. Shows like these affirm my love for watching tv...and that's a good thing!

Oh yes, getting back to the thing that happened to me just about the time I stepped into the train station. The reason why I have restored my zest for life and am finally celebrating my new life (apart from the fact that I'm slow), is that I prayed this morning! And my prayer, (of desperation and cry for help initially), turned into a prayer of praise and thanksgiving. This day wouldn't have been beautiful if not for Him who opened my eyes to see the blessings around me and for giving me the strength that I needed so very badly.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.
His mercies never come to an end.
They are new every morning,
New every morning,
Great is thy faithfulness, O Lord,
Great is thy faithfulness.

Posted by Jo at 11:30 PM

Thursday, April 12, 2007

March madness

Believe it or not, I have been logging in and out of Blogger for the past couple of days, trying to make time to record the many happenings in the weeks that have gone by, but yet, I find myself getting stuck after the first two sentences. It seems like the past month has been so crazy that all the energy has been zapped out of me and what's left now is nothing but an empty shell.

Ok, I think I'm making good progress, considering that this is the 3rd sentence I'm typing. A great achievement actually, as compared to the past few days. Perhaps the trick is to keep typing and force my brain to generate information as it comes. The faster I type, the faster my brain needs to process. Sometimes, I wonder if my brain is degenerating. I don't seem to be thinking or processing stuff as much as I should be. That's quite a scary thought actually. It's like a computer heading towards a slow and painful process of retardation. In my case though, it's certainly not due to information overload.

Well, before my brain runs out of virtual memory space, I shall attempt to regurgitate everything that has been running through my mind in the past weeks.

1) Ever wondered why annual reports are called annual reports? Yes precisely, it's one of the shittiest things you could possibly do at work. And lucky me had that responsibility landed on my desk, which was a large part of why March was worth forgetting. While I'm so totally glad that it's over & done with, (and hopefully it'll never ever land on my desk again), it has taught me some invaluable lessons. As they say, whatever doesn't break you will certainly make you stronger. I think what they meant to say was that it'll probably turn you into an old wrinkly skeptic.

This is what I've learnt:
- Don't trust your colleagues, they will always have a hidden agenda.
- Don't trust your boss, he may not bother when it comes to crunch time.
- Use your brains, that's probably the only thing you can trust at work. Unfortunately for me, mine's degenerating.

See, told you I'm becoming a skeptic. Thank God I'm not old and wrinkly yet.

2) On top of the anal report, I mean, annual report, I had to finish up my two school assignments which were incidentally due around the same time as the AR. The good thing about Phonetics (that's the module I'm currently taking) is that I don't have to write lengthy essays till the cows come home. Sadly, it's like mathematics. You've gotta understand and memorise the formulas and apply it correctly. Unlike maths however, it didn't come with assessment books or 10-yr series (complete with answers) or tutors for me to consult.

3) And of course, March would not have been complete without the manic production of CTK's first parish publication - G! magazine. Among all the crazy happenings in March, this is definitely the most energy-zapping one, and the most fulfilling of course. From reading and editing the articles, to doing the poster designs, to spending 3 hours just to slot flyers into the bulletins...Gosh, I'm just glad that everything worked out really well.

Btw, if you still don't have a copy, go grab it this weekend (while stocks last), and remember to take part in our contests to win a free meal at Botak Jones and a free Lance Armstrong book (The answer is five. Ssshh...)

Ok, that's enough of March. This month has certainly been a better one, a lot better actually, mostly. In fact, that's so much more to talk about, but I guess I'll save that for another day. Brain is low on memory space. Good night.

Posted by Jo at 11:08 PM