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Easter Vigil @ St Teresa's

This year was a really special year for our choir, we were scheduled to sing for the Vigil Mass!!

To make it more meaningful, we have a special kid who is getting baptised on the same night with his Godpa from our choir as well.... cool eh??

the warming up practise....






here's a snap of the baptism.








what a night....

The 600th Post!

Jen asked me to do this one as the 600th post. Amazingly, we've had 600 posts and the many number of you who now read it. What started as a really simple blog is now a way to showcase our love, emotions, feelings and I'm glad for the many of you who got a chance to see yourself in funny way!

I wanted this 600th post to be on love in the family.

2 weeks ago, I had a project team asking me to decide how to work with MCYS on creating a project for families and technology. It got me started thinking what would make it fun and yet hold the meaning of Family Week and I ended with a chance to get a thousand families in the month of June coming together every weekend to learn about High Definition Video. A parent and child together in a team doing HD video and they were then to video/interview each other on why they loved the other. I didn't realise how big this was until the team got together and I was sharing it and imagine, 1000 families on video saying why they love each other.

Then it hit me. We may say "love you" to each other in a GF/BF, Wife/Husband relationship, and yet there is a need to mean it when we say it. Are you meaning it? But more importantly, as with my project to come, do we say it enough or at all to our parents? I know I don't. I think I will miss them much when they are gone. I know Jen misses her father and I feel her heart. I am taking a page out of her experience and I hope I can say to my parents "love you".

So I am taking this 600th post dedicated to all our parents today. "Love you all"

HA HA HA Christmas 2006

Yes, my last Christmas was Ha HA HA instead of the usual HO HO HO because I've got tonnes of Snoopy products as Christmas gifts hee....

So much so that some of them actually, theoretically, belongs to Ad hahahahahaha.....

WHY leh u may ask, because all those who were trying to find a suitable gift for him, found a Snoopy gift for ME instead!! hahahaha....

So he only got the joy of delivering HIS Christmas gifts to ME hee hee..... hahahahaha (oops, he's sulking at a corner now nah lah, that was last year already, so guys out there, this year just need to concentrate on SNOOPY gifts for me, forget about even looking for anything for him!! hahahahahahaha)

Even the bags were SNOOPY!


With a Merry Christmas theme! So cool, these bags were carefully brought back from Tokyo! Awesome!


My first metal Snoopy tin which is the perfect size for a day out in a sun dress, cos cannot put too much things inside, so cannot go out for too long with this bag hee hee, also cannot listen to iPod, the earphones will be trapped... hmm... gotta improvise on this.... eg. make Ad carry another big bag to fit all my other things which cannot go into this tin box?? hahaha


Such a cute coin purse, I cannot resist getting it!! I bought quite a few also, it was simply too cute to say NO to it.


Even our Christmas tree is decked with Snoopy decorations because its just WONDERFUL to find lovely ornaments to fit the occasion. Lovely!!


This calender is about the 3rd I received for Christmas and I'm loving it! Its specially carried back from Tokyo also! Lots of friends going to Tokyo, the land of Peanuts! So glad that they remembered me when they were there!! hahaha. I should remind them that I celebrate my Birthday EVERY MONTH, so whichever month you are in Tokyo, there's always a reason to buy me something Snoopy/Peanuts from there! hahaha



This is a special calender with Snoopy in his doggie house. Super cute! Also from Japanese origins, but from Kinokuniya. I din realise that Kino sells such cute Snoopy stuff around the end of the year (Oh I found out that its from Kino because my friend was so happy wrapping me this gift that she wrapped the price tag together with it as well!! hahaha.... nope, I'm not going to let you forget this hahaha... maybe if you buy me MORE snoopy gifts this year then I'll let this one slide... hahaha)


Ah this the BEST of ALL the snoopy gifts that I recieved for Christmas, its a special, limited edition mouse! Super cool!
Optical somemore, great to use, plug in and instantly i've got the mouse with my Peppermint! Ad took alot of effort to find it, even got 3 "shoppers" to locate it in Tokyo, only the most resourceful shopper found this in some small corner shop. Simply awesome!! Super Kam Sia for all the efforts that went into sourcing this delightful mouse that brightens up my Peppermint everyday! :)

Animal Crossing!

Jenad Animals

ReCycling Day Tomorrow!

Every alternate wednesday mornings, the contractor contracted by NEA to collect recycled items come by our neighbourhood and pick up nicely filled up yellow bags along the corridor.

Without realising it, we are happily filling up our bags every 2 weeks! Its amazing how much plastic bottles we use, how much paper we trash, cupboard from cornflake boxes, paper and plastic bags, boxes from toys, gifts. facial packs, toothpaste etc. (yes, at this point I've to clarify that we CANNOT recycle styrofoam.... politely pointed out by Otterman hahaha)

Its an amazing culture that we've established in our home, now guests will automatically asked if we're recycling the can drinks/bottles and help us rinse them so that we can drop it into our recycling corner the next day when its dried. (let's hope that these good practises will diffuse through their thick skulls enough for them to start their own mini-recycling corners at home hee hee)

maybe I should challenge all those who are reading this blog, to just try it out today, collect recycl-able things that you were thinking of throwing into the bin. Just put them together for a week (you don't have to worry about ants or bugs because cardboard and plastic and paper do not encourage them to grow/hybernate, just need to rinse coke/bottles twice with very little water to clean them and it'll be alright too! my house is the BEST proof) and you'll be amazed how much "trash" there is. If each one of us just put in a tiny bit of effort to recycle, we'll live in a cooler place (reduce global warming from reduced deforestation). Make better use of the resources around us.

Also, its a great way to teach the children about environment, bringing the classroom back into the home, living out the "stories" that teachers maybe teaching them in the classroom. Giving them a chance to practise good habits from young and learn good value system of the 3Rs - ReDuce, ReUse and ReCycle!


I'm happy to see my two bags full of recycling material waiting for their collection in the morning tomorrow! :D

Boo Hoo Hoo

came home tonight to find this...

let's hope its a one off incident, not some sick prank or a potential waterfall happening along the corridor....

Yahoo No Test tonight

But still got assignment!!

*SIGH*

And I still have one book review rotting away, waiting for me to ferment out some interesting aspect of it. Like as if it was not fiercely debated previously.

hmm... the art of writing has to be learnt through practise practise and more practise....

gues what?? I'm in my last night class YahOO!!!

Opening up to others

Ad has often commented on my laughter and often I'm puzzled by his comments, cos its difficult to hear myself laugh, maybe he's stolen some of it hahaha...

happy read on....
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Opening up to others
by Jon Walker


“Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand – shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16 MSG)


Fellowship — Giggling as he played on the floor with his Aunt Merilee, my young son’s eyes danced with pleasure. Christopher’s laughter was so captivating that Merilee leaned into his face and said with a grin, “I’m going to steal your giggles!”


Without warning, Christopher grabbed Merilee in a baby bear hug and planted a playful kiss on her cheek. Merilee fell back and – guess what – she giggled.


And then she giggled some more.


Finally she said, “Oh, Christopher! I was going to steal your giggles, and you gave them to me instead.”


A lesson in life from a 2-year-old! So often we walk through life thinking we have to steal or earn or grab or protect the objects of the joyful life we see in others.


We listen to worldly voices that urge, “Go for the gusto. You only live once. Grab what you can get.”


Yet from a simple child we can learn that true joy is not taken. It’s given.


Today, instead of stealing giggles, give them away and see how many more come back to you.


So what?


· You bring pleasure – You were made to be a source of pleasure and joy – to God and to others.


· Become a joy dispenser – Laugh loudly and as often as you can. Smile at a stranger. Bless people with your joy. If you don’t have joy, then ask God to guide your heart toward the joy found in Christ.


· Thank God that he is a Father who delights in our enjoyment and loves our laughter. Ask him to increase your joy that you may share it will others.


· “… Be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16 MSG)

Baby A's Jingle

On my desktop

Our Godson Baby A is so photogenic that we cannot stop snapping photos of him, with each shot, he's curious look of this world is captured.

the love of my life now on my desktop....

One Crazy thing that I did...

hahaha.....

I walked past the news stand by NTUC on the way, the curiousity bug in me MADE me walk into the store and browse what's new on the shelves.....

And I saw the ELLE magazine giving away very pretty pouches.

I couldn't resist.....

There were TWO different CoLORS!!!

yep, I really couldn't resist!!! I bought them BOTH!! hahahahaha

Jen's Crazy Things

so if anyone wants to read the elle mag for may, you know who to call for your free copy..... hahaha

The return of SBK!

one never truly knows how and when things fall out of plans....

SBK of another kind has returned, the inconsiderate kind who works with NO regards of OTHERS' experiment.

last night I put in my samples into a shared facility to be used at 37degC, overnight my cultures will grow beautifully and this morning would be good and ready for me to do 60 of the 1500 extraction.....

Then I discovered that the temp was set at 25degC this morning... some joker changed the settings AFTER I've put in MY sample!

Can YOU believe that??

I cannot.

well, its not the first time it has happened. it wont be the last either.... *SIGH*

Qi Qi is 1!

yes, our lovely niece Qi Qi turned one last month, she has such a huge birthday bash that she could hardly recognise herself... why do I say that?? hee....

just check out how she's dressed in....

check out the happy faces of two grandmas, one grandaunt and a set of parents hee... yes u noticed that CK got decked in his Korean Hanbok again, in our hot, humid weather, he was definitely not a pretty sight hee

check out the house! We were welcomed by the happy birthday banner!


Qi Qi had the most interesting birthday cake that I've seen to date, its a rice flour cake weighing over 5kg, flown in from Seoul, hand carried by grandma who just arrived the night before the party and its HUGE! Interior is filled with nuts, rasins and berries, giving it sweet, sour, crunchy texture in addition to the super filling baked rice flour. It measures 30cm in diameter with a height of 15cm hee hee

Oh oh, the round ball ball on the top is glutinuous rice balls with different fillings of bean paste, peanuts etc, I would say that the ingredients and the texture is pretty similar to our chinese cooking but just using a different combinations of the ingredients to come up with such an interesting cake.

And the birthday song was sang..... with a lovely family photo....

Did you notice there were some interesting items in the front of the table?
There's rice, noodle, $50 dollar note, a calligraphy pen and a book....

did you guess it yet?? YES, like the anciet chinese, who used to put similar items at one end of the room to let their toddler crawl towards the item that intrigue them the most, here, Qi Qi was given these 5 items to chose.

CK guessed that she would zoom towards the plate of goodies to eat as she naturally enjoy Food.

However, our dear girl, took a long hard look at all the different items set before her.

She thought long and hard before she finally decided on this:


amazing huh??

Parking in Handicap lots @ Vivo

This is not the first them I noticed vehicles parked at Handicap lots at Vivocity that does NOT display any sticker/decals of it being a handicap vehicle.

Is it out of convenience that drivers does this? Because it is the nearest lot to the shops.

Is it out of frustration of finding a normal parking lot? Because during peak hours and weekends, the availability of parking lots at Vivo is rumoured to be impossible to find.

Is it out of pure selfishness? To derive genuine users to this lot? Because each level would only have ONE of such lots.

Is it because the security in the mall is lax, so even if you park "illegally" at this lot, no one will wheel-clamp your vehicle or book you since you are already paying for parking?

whichever the reasons, it doesn't seems right to be parked in a lot that is not meant for you....

Baby Baby Baby

Our favourite godson (who is to date also our one and only hahaha), has started dancing to different beat, different music and looked super adorable!!

He is also a super duper chatty baby, we will have no lack of topics to cover....

God is GREAT!

just as i was seeking, I heard this....

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such 'wisdom' does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness. James 3:13-18 NIV

isnt He great?? its like immediate prayer answered hahaha

"Toy Story"

read "Toy Story" from Otterman's blog, an amazing tale of following your heart and touching lives....

having fun with Photo Booth

one of the cool things about the Mac is its Photo Booth software... hee.... cos with Peppermint, it comes with a webcam!! Which is great!! and totally underuterlized until I started with Photo Booth....

yep, Photo Booth software comes FREE with a new Mac ;-)

one of the willing "models" was Otterman! haha, hard to believe that this fella would open up the software on his own to take a photo of himself with his NEW mobile phone SLING... which is actually a cup of Cuppacino hee...


always wondered what would it be liked if i had a bigger mouth.. (similar size to Ad's hee cos he can always seems to stuff MORE food into his mouth than me....)



i gues Ad wanted to try to be Jackie Chan or Jackie Chueng hee... both with HUGE noses!! They say big nose people have good fortunes! shall we use this as a pinup photo??


then we kinda "forced" our godson baby A to take a "family" photo with us also hee hee


then we had an extended lim family photo shot hee hee....


does it look like we are having fun already?? yes... u bet!

Visitors from the Wild

YES, finally we were able to do this dinner thing which we have wanted to with our wild friends from nature, Otterman, Ladybird and Lekowala. It started with a phone call from Otterman about finding a contact to change his harddisk on this 14' iBook to check if it was just the harddisk that was down or the whole machine's lifespan has expired. So Ad told him "SURE, He can do it!"

Ladybird reviewed that Otterman nearly forgot to bring the iBook!! aiyo!! It was left in his office on thursday and Ladybird went to pick it up from his office on thursday afternoon. THEN on friday itself, he forgot to bring it out of the house AGAIN!!! Seems like Otterman dun really want this iBook to be fixed so that he can get a Mac Mini?? hahaha

So we planned for a simple dinner which consist of Ocean's FishHead Curry (hahaha, the food was so good that we finished it without taking any pictures! *Slurp* sorry too busy)

After some chit chat, the table was cleared and Ad started his "mechanical" job of labouriously removing the many screws from the iBook, it was close to some 30 screws of different sizes. In addition to having to use a pair of chopsticks to dislodge the shell from the internal parts, it really looked as if he was doing a surgery.... From what he thought was a simple, straight forward process, it became a 2hr+ marathon surgery hahaha

He started from the back, removing the battery (which was really the easiest part) to unscrewing the butt screws (which has about 3 differnt types of screws and close to 10 of them), Ad spent about 10-15mins trying to dislodge the white shell from the main body.... after numerous tries, he finally found the perfect way to do it, using a wooden chopsticks hahaha

Yep, we thought that was all that he needed to get to the harddisk.... but NO, there was another silver/aluminium sheet that shields the rest of the body, covering another 10 screws....

When all the screws were removed, we saw the internal organs.... woah, no joke... its not easy to access the harddisk, its really in the HEART of the iBook!

After taking a serious look at it, he decided that it was too tough to get to the harddisk from the back, so he put back all the screws, clip the white base back to the back of it and tried to start from the front........

He removed the dusty keyboard which Otterman quickly took over to dutifully clean it and Ad continued on his open-heart surgery only to find that the version of the service manual that he was using was NOT for this model & batch of iBook hahaha! Apple made 4 revisions to this 14' iBook, each revisions have its own manual and slightly different internal organisation and how its internal organs were organised.....

u know what that means??

its means that Ad found out that he has to open BOTH the keyboard side AND the back to get to the harddisk hahahaha

*imagine the look on his face*

But my very determined Ad went on to re-open the back, unclipping the back cover, this time he was like a pro, can do it very quickly hahaha

From Jenad hse wit...

then he checks the manual to ENSURE there's NO mistakes....

From Jenad hse wit...

And finally.... *applause* *applause* Ad did it!!! He finally OPENED the iBook! hahaha

From Jenad hse wit...

But what really stole the show was not the open heart surgery that took 2hrs to complete, instead it was Jen's Xaxvi Aerostep which got our guests really excited into a step, jump and run hee hee....

its an exercise mat which has similar concept to the dancing mat, it has its own console (about $150) and the mat cost about ($150) and the teacher is Jackie Chan....

Jen doing demo....

Jenad hse with otterman, ladybird & lekowala

Otterman doing his thing...

From Jenad hse wit...

Ladybird showing her endurance... she did 30mins on the aerobics mat for Jen hahaha

From Jenad hse wit...

in the end, our guests had a "friendly" competition on the mat which does an age assessment of the competitor by a series of jumps and steps... gues who won??

From Jenad hse wit...

hahaha....

we were all rewarded with a heavy dose of ICE CREAM!! yeah yeah so much for burning those calories hahaha

Somewhere else

by Jon Walker


“For I have learned to be content, whatever the circumstances.” (Philippians 4:11 NIV)


Community — Have you ever been somewhere you didn’t want to be? Maybe it was a job, a town, or a marriage. Maybe it was a stage in life, like singlehood, or a state in life, like a disability. It’s very possible that as you read this, you’re wishing you were somewhere else – anywhere else – living a different life, but you know it’s not likely that anything is going to change any time soon.


God has a word for you. It’s the same word he gave a group of people when they were stuck in another country, exiled from their homeland. They’d folded their arms and said, “We’re going to wait this thing out, and when we get home, we’ll start living our lives.”


Through the prophet Jeremiah, God told them, “You’re not going home any time soon, so start making your lives here. Plant gardens, buy homes, let your children get married, and pray for the peace and prosperity of the place where you’re currently living because, by doing that, you too will be blessed with peace and prosperity.”


To use a modern cliché, God was saying, “Bloom where you’re planted.”


Don’t invest your energy in hopes of leaving; instead invest your energy in the people around you. The Christian martyr Jim Eliot expressed it this way: “Wherever you are, be all there.” Don’t be physically present but mentally somewhere else, thinking of the future or the past, thinking of someplace else. Our journey with Christ requires that we be fully present in the present.


Dietrich Bonhoeffer called it “this worldliness,” and said, “It is only by living completely in this world that one learns to live by faith.” This focus allows you to see that your life is centered in God and not the place you live or work, not the person you’re married to – or not married to – not how you feel or how you look.


Investing in the people around you is exactly how you find life. Jeremiah even told the exiles that God had arranged for them to be in exile. So it was God’s plan all along to push them to the edge of their existence, so they would end up centered solely on God.


You may feel like you’re in exile too, but God is still working in your life; and his message to you is: Dig in and fully embrace the life around you.


So What?


· Center your life in God, not in your circumstances. God is constant; your circumstances are temporary. Ask God, “What do you want me to learn or to do in these present circumstances.”


· Change me, God – Instead of asking God to change your circumstances, ask him to change you in the circumstances.


· Practice being in the present – Today, whenever you find your mind drifting to another place, bring it back to the present, and ask God to help you stay in the present.


· Determine to be a good steward of what you have, instead of focusing on what you don’t have. Make the most of what God has given you.

The Prayer of Jabez

This is one amazing prayer which came to me as a gift not once but twice over, hence it speaks volumes of its effectiveness and positive testimonies.

Wanted to share this with you guys out there so that you too, can experience the power of prayer in your life.

" Oh, that You would bless me indeed,
and enlarge my territory,
that Your hand would be with me,
and that You would keep me from evil."
1 Chronicles 4:9-10 (NKIV)

these four lines are powerful reminded of God's promise for us (that He will Bless us);
our "job" as Christians (to increase our sphere of influence for spreading His Word);
God's on the watch for us (that He will be the guiding force in our lives);
a reminder that there are always temptations in our lives which we would rather stay away from (getting God's help to keep us AWAY from evil is like the most powerful way to be away)

This prayer has worked wonders for me, I've seen transitions and transformations in my life as a result of this prayer, if you do not believe me, give it a try!!