Hand miming at its best - Come To Jesus Fellowship (CTJF Ministry in the Philippines)

I got this amazing clip from Tiffany. And since its Christmas tide, I just want to share this for all.

I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have. God bless...... :)

What makes Christmas so special?

Christmas is around corner.....just 31 days to go, to be exact. What makes it so special? Why do everyone seems to have such an enjoyable time this time of year. Shopping discounts....booze....partying all night long....or maybe its just to usher in the new year. Even my Muslim friends and colleagues were anxiously anticipating what to do for Christmas.

Well, as for me and my family, it's family gathering and reunion. I have a small family. Since my dad passed on ages ago, we do not have much family reunions. During Chinese New Year, we would be sleeping or watching TV. I for one disliked to visit my dad's family as we were not close. Communication was also a barrier. I'm part Hainam, part Baba & Nyonya. I'm totally foreign to the Hainam language. I only know "Bong-kang" which is "Stupid", or "Chiak-peng" which is "Eat Rice". Furthermore, my dad's family would be calling me "Ah Jinnnnn", much to my disgust (gave me the chills every time they call for me). To this very day, my family would converse in our traditional Nyonya language, Rachel is learning bit by bit :)

After our baptism (the whole family involved), which was about 15 years ago, we came to know Christ much better. And we also learned that Christmas is not about partying and booze, but to delight in the birth of Christ some 2,000 years ago. Yes, we ought to be happy, we ought to rejoice, and we ought to be thankful to God for sacrificing His only Son for our salvation. That is the main agenda, nothing else. My friends and colleagues often say that I have lack of social commitment coz I don't go to discos, I don't go for karaoke sessions (accept when Im in KL....Rachel and I would visit Red Box), I don't go clubbing....I hardly do anything else besides being with my family and church. Why all the fuss, guys? If you want to have a booze, can't you do it at home? You don't even have to worry about police raids (which I'm very much sure will happen) and spoil your day. You can even drink till the crack of dawn with no worries. You won't be paying extra entrance fees for discos and waste your annual bonuses unneccessarily.

Enough said. Back to glad tidings. Every year my mum would have prepared several mouth watering delicacies for Christmas. Turkey is a must (minimum 5-6kg)....we want to follow those Ang Mohs lar....hehehehe. She would also prepared her own turkey stuffing which is always different each year (that would include some liquor...rum in particular), her very own sheperd's pie (omg...drooling already), mashed potato, some assorted macaronis and spaghettis, lasagna, vegetable salad and cakes (rum again). And we would have a jolly good time having all those goodies with wine of course. And that's for day 1.....Christmas eve. Come sharp 12.00am, we would gather around and mom would be Santa Claus, giving out our gifts.

As for day 2, we would often invite some of our church friends for dinner. And we can have all of the goodies again (new ones of course) with some extra food brought over by them. We would have our normal Praise & Worship session and some carols before dinner. And it would last till about 2.ooam. We would have stuffed our belly with so much food that we wouldnt even bother to move....that's me in particular....hehehehe

This year would be a lil bit different. Pastor said that for this year's Christmas, there would be no service. Service will be made on Christmas eve at 7.00pm, and will end at about 12.30am Christmas morning. We were to bring 2 gifts each....one to be presented to God, and another for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm still praying about what I should be giving to God. Whatever it is, I reckon I would enjoy this year's Christmas as much as I had for the previous years, plus I would be celebrating my 1st Christmas with Rachel as husband and wife.

Burned out

I am exhausted....burned out. Pancake flat. No time, no time.......*sigh*

This week will be a havoc. I will have to see my customers non stop, try to get their investments before month end, settle their forex contracts, get new customers for next years, maintain the old ones, try to extertain the fussy ones, cut out those "celakak" ones, visit branches to see how they're doing, report to my boss in KL.......walaue, robot also will go short circuit.

Yesterday, after church I slept for almost 5 hours straight. I got up feeling dizzy after all the sleeping, read some photography magazines, played on my PS3, watched TOTO live concert on DVD, skipped dinner....slept again for 3 hours. Woke up at 10.00pm and called my buddy Lee for "yum-char" session, went home before 12.00am and slept again till this morning. Why so hectic one ar this fler?

And then I thought for a while..........Rachel was not beside me. She was in Kemaman as both her sisters were home from KL. Missed her "ketiak" and hair smell.....feeling agitated whenever she's not here with me, feeling all sensitive and blur. Will be fetching my darling back after work.....yeahooooo!!!!!!

Quantum of Solace......

Everyone's talking about it. My female colleagues was gossiping about Daniel Craig about how macho and hansem he was in the movie, my male mates were drooling over the Aston Martin DB9 and Olga Kurylenko, the lastest Bond gurl. So, curious me made an appointment with my office mate to go watch the movie late last nite.

The latest James Bond movie Quantum of Solace is the continuation of Casino Royale. But I was utterly dissapointed with the movie due to several reasons :-

1.The movie theatre was packed to the brim and the air-cond wasnt working that well.

2.There were "stupid and absent-minded" people talking on the phone aloud, smoking and smooching in the theatre.

3.There were gluttons munching their goodies and slurping their drinks aloud just next to me.

4.There was a very big hairy guy sitting behind me knocking on my seat every 5 minutes even though I stared at him for like....forever.

5.It was raining and I was supposed to be sleeping.

6.My 3 cups of sweet corn was tasteless and uncooked....and the list goes on.

*

I guess it is unfair of me to say that the movie was boring becoz of all the disfunctional people in the theatre. Anyways, Quantum of Solace has its fair share of exitement. I would say that the earlier part of the movie where 2 Alpha Romeos was chasing Bond in his saliva dropping Aston Marin gave me a lil adrenaline rush....but it ended up too quickly. Bond had always been dressed up in expensive suits right from his head to his toes. But I think only an insane person would want to wear a suit in the middle of the dessert. The director should've asked him to take it off and bare a lil of his chest hairs for the ladies to drool over. And as always, Bond's associates were with the ladies, of which our Jabatan Perfileman Negara had eagerly censored. A number of parts were abruptly cut...which was an utter turn off. I'd give the movie a 5/10 unlike some Bond followers who would gladly give full marks.

You've got to.....move it

I had had a very hectic week. No time for blogging. No time for surfing the net. Not enuff sleep. Not enuff rest. Not enuff food. I even had to take a break from "poo-ing". Its just not enuff of everything *sigh* Thanks for the concern guys. I'm very much ok but only busy. With all the busy-ness and stress-ness, I made time to watch a movie with the family, Jessel and Chiew Tze as well.

The movie was great and we had a splendid time together. There's a combination of humour, romance and family togetherness in the whole movie. These poor animals. First off, they were hauled from their comfort zones in the zoo and stranded on Madagascar. Then the crash landed into Africa. Madagascar 2 has a brighter and more engaging feel compared to the original Madagascar. The movie had my niece Phoebe singing "You've gotto move it, move it" all night long. A highly recommended movie for the family.

Birthday Dinner at Kum Leng Restaurant

Sunday was my 2nd aunt's birthday dinner.....actually her birthday was on Wednesday (05 Nov). She waited for me to come back so that we can have the dinner as a family. We headed to Kum Leng Restaurant which was hardly 1km from where I live. The restaurant was established way back in the 1970s. Having changed its management for about 3 times now, I doubt the food was as good as before. To my suprise, the food was delicious. The portions were just about nice and to my liking....and they're pretty colourful too.

The birthday gal......Aunt Jenny

The sisters.......Aunt Jenny and my mum

My niece Phoebe trying a hand using chopsticks

Sweet n sour pork ribs

Sweet pineapple with prawns

"Fatt-put"...... puttttttt!!! :)

Fried eggs with carrots and green peppers

Sotong balls

Fried chicken

The birthday mee

Fried ikan keli

......and I was blackmailed and forced by my niece to put on her swimming watermelon cap !!!

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I think the price is quite reasonable having paid the bill at RM250 for 8 pax. I would recommend any of you guys to try this place out.

RHB Sports Carnival 2008 pictures

From my earlier post, I've mentioned that I would be travelling to Kuala Terengganu to attend the bank's sports carnival. Overall, the trip to KT was fun, having travelled in two separate cars with my other 5 colleagues. We were dead tired when we reached our destination at about 2.15am. Before heading to one of our colleague's home to spend the few hours, we decided to have our early breakfast at one of the stalls. We were laughing, talking cock and kutuk-ing with one another. I took tonnes of photos, but were mostly rubbish. These below are the ok ones......

This was taken in Kerteh, Terengganu. The industrial estate mainly consists of O&G companies from Petronas and TNB's main station that powers the whole of our peninsular. Remember once there was a blackout nationwide? This is the place that screwed us all.... :)

Camwhoring with Mus...also known as "Jawa"

My milo kosong "khaw".

Loga posing as if he's Rajinikhan.....*vomit*

A colleague from Kerteh branch.....

I took a candid shot on our Biz Dev Manager....Pn Adlah

We had these for breakfast..........fried chicken

Fried meehoon

Trying to take a "bokeh" shot.....unsuccessful :(

Our Kuantan team in red....called ourselves The Kuantan Warriors....bah!!!

Contingent from Terengganu in black

Kelantanese in green

Bluish West Pahang-ers

Fauzi and ex branch colleague Jeya...we call him the "Hairy Man"...:)

Kok and Zahimin terkangkang.....lol

Some little fler banging on my drums

Mus and Zarni

.....it was a clear blue sky. But the sun was scorching hot.

Bowling time

This is how you do it when you strike!!!

Camwhore myself again....sobsob. Nobody wants to take for me :(

We stopped by KT's Masjid Terapung for prayers.....picture Mahizan

This fler (Shamzury) also want to pose

We actually had 5 type of sports playing simultaneously. I was in badminton btw.....and I sux baaaaddddd. Kena marah by Loga summore. Teng !!!! Bowling, beach soccer, beach volleyball and netball. Obviously, I didnt manage to take the other shots coz I was busy losing my badminton game. The food was a dissapointment though. Like I mentioned before, it was fun but I was dead tired by the time we reached home in Kuantan (approx 12.30am). I practically crawled for shower, and ended up sleeping in the toilet while "berak-ing". Rachel had to pounce on the toilet door to wake me up.

Weekend at Terengganu Equestrian Resort, Kuala Terengganu for RHB Sports Carnival & Idol 2008

It's the weekend again.......how time flies? These past few days have been quite hectic with month end reports to fill up and targets to meet before 2008 comes to a close.

Whilst working hard like a horse, the Bank was gracious enuff to hold a sports carnival and idol search for the East Coast employees together with their families. Rachel would not be joining me coz she had to work. She was frowning all week.

The event venue will be held in Terengganu Equestrian Resort, Kuala Terengganu which means the employees from Pahang and Kelantan had to drive our way there. I think the drive would take us at least 3 1/2 hours. I'll be driving my ol faithful Iswara with 2 other colleagues tonight at 10pm. For those who are not planning to stay the night would have to travel to KT at 4.30am to reach before 8.15am.

The event is said to start at 8.15am tomorrow morning.....but as we all know, Malaysian timing would mean it should start at 8.45am *grins*. There will be various sports activity i.e. badminton, bowling, netball, beach volleyball and beach soccer. I'll be competing in badminton......and my skills sux :P. I'm better off bowling. But since my scores are usually 180 points and above, I was disqualified and was categorized as professional.......hehehe. I am in charge of the following items :-

1. Drums for our war cry and cheerleaders........its always me coz of my music background

2. Emcee for our high tea.........it has always been me again :( no others wanna take over

.....and since the participants from our Kuantan team for the Karaoke session is only one poor fellow, I had to put my beautiful voice to good voice to good use.....again. The champion and runner up would be representing our East Coast region for the Nationals in KL by December.

Anyhow, I hope to have a jolly good time with my colleagues.....watching bloopers in games and of course, I'm seeing myself taking photos at every angle I could find. Be sure to stay tuned for my pictures next.....cheers y'all and have a jolly good weekend :)

The things that you do for love.

Usually, when driving around town, I would usually hold Rachel hands. Most of the time I would say, "Where's your hand?" and she would immediately take her hands to my lips for a kiss and vice versa. It's like a remote. This morning was particularly funny. Instead of me holding her hands, she held mine. Pecking here and there. And then all of a sudden, she bite me. Not hard enough for me to scream, but I was little suprised. And then I asked her "What was that for?"......then she answered "I Love You mah"......then we laughed.

How bout you? Would you bite your spouses as a gesture of love? :)

People often say, action speaks louder than words. Talk-talk, no do-do. But I say, actions and words are equally important. Most Asians do not normally express our love verbally to our loved ones. Maybe its because of our upbringing. We are ego-istic people. Once you utter the word "love"...... very paiseh. Not macho, for the men.

I am very fortunate that my family is very close to each other. We would greet each other in the mornings and kiss my mum before going to work. We would say "I love you" as often as we can. Rachel, on the other hand was brought up in a typical Chinese family. She has yet to hear a word of I love you from her family. Malu wor....When Rachel was introduced to my family, I made her do her worst nightmare....saying I LOVE YOU to my family members. To add to the salt, I had her kiss my mum. At first, she felt awkward. Then as time flies, she felt that kissing and saying the 3 words I Love You in a family is easy. And now, it's spontaneous.

During my wedding dinner, I had a session when both Rachel and I gave both our mothers a bouquet of flowers, just to say thank you for raising us up to where we are today. Rachel gave to my mum and of course I gave to my mother in law. And as usual, we kissed our mums. I felt that my mother in law froze and shivered...hahaha.

Anyways, it is always good to express our love both verbally and by our actions. We may not see the goodness and benefit now. But treat it like an investment. The dividends would surely come. It changes people, it changed Rachel and it surely changed mine.

Which one are you now?

This came in to my mail last week. I trust my male blogging buddies aren't any of these... :) Relationship needs to be nurtured and not taken for granted. We need to spend quality time with our family, otherwise we'll end up like "after 6 years". Yesterday in church, pastor shared that there are 12 magical words that would hold fanilies together. Just would like to share with you before the joke.

1. I AM WRONG - admit if you're wrong, don't just argue because of your ego

2. I AM SORRY - say you're sorry, from the bottom of your heart

3. PLEASE FORGIVE ME - ask for forgiveness, easier said than done but should at least try

4. I LOVE YOU - mean it...women has sixth sense to know if you mean it or not :)

.......and now to the joke

How men change

The Love Word:
After 6 weeks: I looo-ve you, I love you, I love you!
After 6 months: Of course, I love you.
After 6 years: GOD, if I didn ' t love you, then why did I marry you?

Back from Work:
After 6 weeks: Honey, I ' m home!
After 6 months: I ' m BACK!!
After 6 years: Have you cooked yet?

Phone Ringing:
After 6 weeks: Baby, somebody wants you on the phone.
After 6 months: Here, it ' s for you.
After 6 years: ANSWER THE PHONE DAM*T!!

Cooking:
After 6 weeks: I never knew food could taste so good!
After 6 months: What are we having for dinner tonight?
After 6 years: DUMPLING AGAIN??

New Dress:
After 6 weeks: Wow, you look like an angel in that dress.
After 6 months: You bought a new dress again?
After 6 years: How much did THAT cost me?

TV:
After 6 weeks: Baby, what would you like us to watch tonight?
After 6 months: I like this movie.
After 6 years: I ' m going to watch PIRATES play, if you ' re not in the mood, go to bed, I can stay up by myself!

Making Love:
After 6 weeks: Baby, I want you tonight?
After 6 months: Lets make another baby, my mother just called!!!
After 6 years: Please MOVE over to your side, I'm suffocating here!!!!