Eve of New Year's Eve....

Despite my stuffed nose and nasal speech, I did not let my post-assignments-break go to waste. In fact, I just had the ball of a time today. Nellie (who was on a post-rotation leave) and I yakked away for about 3 hours +++ this afternoon! Over Taiwanese fast-food and pearl-milk tea.

Uh-huh. We were mostly discussing girlie-wurlie stuff (we screamed with laughter at the most random times too), so I shan't bore you with the details. But I must assure you, my dear readers - it was therapeutic!

Driving back home, I was listening to one of Michael Nyman's (an English composer of minimalist music) albums... trying to determine what is it exactly in his music that evokes different ranges of emotions in people. The tune was basically the same in most of the tracks on the album - but because it was played differently using different instruments, tempo, chord patterns or modulations - each song had a different feel to it - and made me imagine a great many different things.

It reminded me... how important it is to use tact in words when motivating a person to grow. Affirming one's strengths is more important than harshly putting down the person for his/her weaknesses. Ultimately, an encouraged person seeks ways to grow himself/herself...

Thursday - time for some TLC

Sick. *A-tish-ooooooo*

It's time for a good rest and some TLC for myself...

Wednesday

Something I'll have to try to complete by today or tomorrow: Long Lamai Mission Trip Report.

Anyway...
Ben and I have shopped for our wedding bands last Sunday... :)

Today, I met up with Florist again while Ben was at work. I am still not done with the flower arrangements - but praise God, this stage will be over quite soon! It's very cool that Ben totally trusts my taste - and so I am allowed to do whatever I like in the 'departments' of which I have been put in charge.Five months plus to the wedding. It is time to begin preparing ourselves emotionally and spiritually for the marriage above all other material plans. Things that we cannot bring beyond this point should be left behind. Stuff that we should no longer sweat should be surrendered into God's hands. The pruning is sometimes unpleasant and painful, but we believe that God's discipline eventually bears its fruits of peace. So the tears are good news. Indeed, we look forward to a beautiful future of serving God together as husband and wife.

Meanwhile, I will also be getting ready for our next photo-shoot end of February. How I'm going to succeed keeping fit and trim so I can fit into the dresses, I don't know - because Chinese New Year and my birthday are just before the photo-shoot! :P I won't be going on fad diets too. But by God's grace, I'll figure out some plan.

Tuesday. Freiheit!

I'm done with ALL assignments for the year. *So happy* (I only hope I did the essays the way they were supposed to be done. I was so impatient to get over my final essay that I was kinda rushing over it already....)

Incidentally, my PMS ended today. Ah, the relief. In a week's time I will be de-bloated! Heh...

Tomorrow, I can finally meet my florist without panic attacks about my homework.

From today onwards - till I start school, I will be able to watch movies without feeling the horrible pangs of guilt. I will be able to wake up and enjoy my quiet-time (yes, I need to recharge!) and my books without having to think, "Oh, this would be great for my essay..." :P - and yes, I will be able to put more effort into my wedding prep! :D

To those who are still rushing for the 31st Dec deadline, JIA YOU!!!!

Almost there...

I finished my 2nd last Theology assignment today. Spent the whole day typing and typing on my bed, and trying to expound Romans 8 - even though Ben was on leave from work today and I badly wanted to go out with him to shop for a new work-chair for James.

But.... This means... I only have my final paper to write for this year! I do hope I get to complete it in the next 2-3 days (although the deadline is technically 31st Dec) because I badly want to get some wedding prep done by this week as well. Invites, flowers, etc. Been putting them off since I got stuck with the assignments. >.<' Aihhh.... And oh yeah, horrors... I suddenly remember that I have neither been exercising properly nor eating the right stuff since the beginning of this month. As a result my PMS has been extra-long...and I am still waiting for it to end.

Christmas Eve and Day....

Went to 1st Avenue for the first time...

Crossed over to Prangin Mall for dinner at our favorite Gourmet Coffee...

Fuiyohhh....look at those eyebags!!!! *EEEEEEEKS* My late nights paid off! :P

Christmas Eve Candlelight service at church on Friday night

Some of my gifts...

To church on Saturday morning for Christmas service...

HCD papers handed up...

And theology assignments to be worked on next.

The last week of 2010 is approaching. Ben and I will be celebrating our 3rd Christmas together. Wow.

Praise God.

Of air-bound dreams...

Had an awesome dream last night. Actually I had a few similar ones before - of myself dancing alone on a large carpet, like I used to as a gymnast. In my dreams, it is always perfectly clean lines, perfect execution of leaps, perfect landing, perfect posture, perfect technique... and the parts I like the most are when I leap and fly into the air. Coz I stay air-bound for at least 2 seconds and feel extremely light and FREE!!!But one funny thing about these dreams is: I am nearly always being watched by an audience... and yet, I never seem to have anything much on. It's comfy that way. I am never ashamed. Never condemned. The graceful expression of emotions in the dance - is beyond me. I could dance like that forever and ever. Every inch of my body is stretched and poised to create the most beautiful silhouettes that amaze even myself. Truly, I'd love to dance again. Perhaps not gymnastics or ballet. I did take modern jazz lessons when I was in college. I'd love to explore that again... Perhaps after I am married. I hardly have money to do things like that now! LOL.But...then again... If anyone can tell me why I dream such dreams, I'd be very grateful.

Random pics of the weekend

Ben and I attended the signing of ROM of our friends - Wei Chong and Bee Chin...at the Penang Chinese Assembly Hall...

The cute bridegroom and beautiful bride...

Pardon our pale faces... Ben was recovering from a bout of food poisoning and flu...had a stiff neck too.. As for me, I am not an early-morning person. I have great difficulties dragging myself out of bed in the mornings... and that morning was not an exception! :D

Had fun putting up the Christmas tree and its lights on Saturday night...

Went to Queensbay Mall on Sunday afternoon - for lunch and to shop for Christmas pressies... the traffic congestion was SOOOOOO crazy!!! But I am proud to say that Ben and I persevered... and after about half an hour, we got inside the building! Parked our car and headed to Queens Market to feed our growling tummies...

Tom yam fried rice

The redbean 'ham chim peng' we had at Queens Market before shopping for Christmas pressies...

At our CG Christmas dinner... (More pics of our dinner in another post)

Saturday's visit to the fish-shop...

Tried to capture the yellow fish three times... Pardon me if it seemed like I was posing... :P

Fishy Offspring

Ben's family owns beautiful lil' guppies.

They used to swim round and round in a plastic container (the kind with a red cover - in which we'd keep the Chinese New Year cookies) - but recently, Ben bought the fishes a new home... A spacious aquarium with green plants and a pump. When they first moved to their new home, they seemed a little skeptical and suspicious of their new environment... so they mostly swam together as a group. Eventually, they decided in their fish-minds that everything was OK. And so, they split up to explore the territory. Now, some of the fishes love to huddle among the greens...Sorry. The pics don't do the fishes justice. They move too fast. So whatever I capture comes out blur!

Ben's mum takes really good care of the fishes btw. She is becoming an expert in helping the mommy guppies give birth. I admire her diligence and compassion for them. She'd quarantine the mother fish in a separate container (sometimes with one or two friends), dim the lights... and with the patience of a midwife, sit and wait for the babies to pop out. Then separate the babies from the mommy for some time (coz the mommy guppies are terrible - they eat their own babies), nurse the baby guppies... and when they are ready, they get to graduate from their 'incubator' into the general aquarium!

Oh...one more thing. When any mommy guppy is ready to give birth, Ben's mum usually gets really excited - and calls Ben (even when he's at work) to report! Haha. Ben always teases his mum, "You think I am the husband of the fish?" LOLx. Then when the birthing process is completed, she always looks so proud of the babies as if they were her own.

The baby guppies look a little like tadpoles, wriggling in the water. Cute! I've got no pictures to put up at the moment of the babies... but I assure you that they are cute. Sometimes, they stay so still that I keep thinking that they have died - but of course they have not. The adults are pretty active though... which explains why I can't really take pictures of them...

Then again...I often wonder.... how does God feel while a mother is giving birth to her baby - His creation, having been fearfully and wonderfully knitted in her womb. After all, Psalm 8:2. From the lips of these infants He has ordained praise to silence the Enemy.