Journey mercies

What's that spot there on the window?


It's the moon! Is it my imagination or is it bigger here than in Malaysia? Was very fascinated by how big and bright it was. No clouds or pollution to hide it.

Warning: pictures below may cause heartache. To certain individuals anyway!

Who has the best cousin ever?

I do of course!

Because he gave me a brand new x60s, the newest model (is it still?) of the IBM ThinkPad xSeries range!

Well, actually, I'll have to say I have the best God ever!

I didn't want to take out more than I already did for the cost of moving to UK by buying a new laptop so I prayed for one. My mom offered to subsidize for one, but I figured, it wouldn't hurt to wait and see whether God's going to answer or not and held off on any purchase. Lo and behold! Two days after arriving in UK, my cousin asked if I wanted one, and he got me one!

"Or what man is there among you who if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" Matthew 7:9-12


Ahhh... reunited with my life partner (as most IBMers would probably agree - old habits die hard). You cannot believe how appalled I was to think I could end up with a Dell laptop or *gasp* that associated with the HappyPeople brand.

If you don't already know, I'm mental when it comes to how would you call it? Company loyalty? Over-association? Over-emotional? Whatever.

I was MSN-ing with an ex-colleague, who funnily enough, was the predecessor of the position I was in, and who left the company a month after I did to move out of the country as well.


Me: The top 3 brands of laptop I could only allow myself to use: ThinkPad, Sony Vaio and Mac. The bottom 3 I would so completely avoid is HappyPeople, Dell and Acer.

Ex-C: I feel so insulted man.

Me: Huh?! Why?!?!

Ex-C: 'Cause I'm using one of the bottom 3.

Me: Hehehe... let me guess, HappyPeople!

Ex-C: Yeah.

Me: But that's just me! It's not a reflection of who you are!!

Ex-C: But yeah, lousy man! I miss having a TP.


What can I say, I'm a blind devotee to the brand.

My aunt brought me to the leisure center here, which is like a fitness and health center, to go swimming and a class of yoga. After 15 minutes of swimming, I was feeling a little out of breath while my aunt, who is over 50 years of age, kept going and going and I'm 3 decades younger than her!

After that we went to yoga, which for whatever 'spiritual' connotations there may be, I found it simply to be an hour's session of stretching.

Today we drove to the center, but my aunt usually walks from home to the center which takes 45 minutes, swims about half an hour or so, goes for yoga then walks home again! Aiyaya... how unfit does that make me feel!?

I didn't have a soft copy of a picture of Carrie, so I stole it off Li Yuan. It’s hard to think that Carrie is no longer here. She was so sweet, so pretty, so loving. We would always run to hug when we saw each other. I was a little sad, that she passed away just a week before I left for UK.

She has a twin sister, who came to UK for the funeral with her parents and her I cannot imagine how I would have felt if I was there looking at her. Some said it made them feel worse, because it sorely reminded them of the loss of a friend; some said it made them feel better, because looking at her made them feel that Carrie never left.

Sometimes it's hard to understand why God allows bad things to happen. So much theological exegesis could be devoted on this!

Why does a wound have to hurt when you clean it? Sometimes, bad stuffs are allowed to happen so that it can achieve a greater good.

After the funeral, Carrie's parents and twin sister spoke with Pastor D and EugeneKueh to understand why their daughter and sister believed in what she did and to make sure they would see her again one day.

How's that.

If I tried to imagine what she's up to right now, I'd say she's beaming with absolute joy and bouncing around in heaven. She's just an incredibly sweet person.

When I pass away and go to heaven, the first thing I plan to do is to look down at the rest of you folks down here and say... "Hah! SUCKERS!"

And probably get knocked on the head for that.

Just got back from Newcastle yesterday evening. Feels nice to be back to my aunt's place! And to the 'warmer' down south.

The bus ride down wasn't all that bad, except that of all the seats I could have chosen, I sat next to a... urh... very zealous Italian/Spanish person for God. I think the giveaway was when I noticed the picture of Jesus and Mother Mary was a little damp from his constant kissing of it.

When he couldn't kiss it anymore, he used the pictures to blot the oil from his face.

When all the oil from his face disappeared into the pictures he kept abusing himself by poking himself in the form of the cross, or whatever Catholics call it. I thought he was seriously going to injure himself from his excited poking.

After a while he grew tired, and sobered down a little. There was another Indian dude sitting nearby who would keep looking over and grin a knowing smile, which I didn't deign to entertain. Despite the Italian/Spanish guy's over-exuberance, I will never stoop to laughing at or mocking him.

When my cousin and family picked me up from the bus station, we went to Pizza Hut for dinner. My youngest nephew of the two, Brenden, is a little shy and largely ignored me throughout the entire car ride. But when we got down to go to Pizza Hut, he got out of the car and ran around it to grab my hand to hold. *Awwww*

I was his best friend! For about half an hour until his grandpa came, then I joined the insignificant rank the family shares when his Grandpa John is around.

I unfortunately left my camera cable at Jessica's place, so will have to wait for her to mail it to me before I can upload any pictures.

Oh yes, and yesterday, a big huge fly found it's way into Jessica's house and was annoying me as best as it could. Today, when I open to unpack my luggage out it came buzzing. It must love me. I killed it of course.

Before I came up to Newcastle, I had to find a place to stay. Without thinking, the first people I turned to were the folks from the Newcastle Chinese Christian Fellowship. I didn't realise it until I came up, but there is really such a strong sense of family within the fellowship, and from it an incredible amount of support given to one another.

Am up at Newcastle at the moment to visit the church I used to attend, Jesmond Parish Church, and friends... after 4 years! It was surreal, after arriving and seeing all the familiar things through changed eyes.

As I walked back to my friend's house, I somehow took a different way from when I walked to church and before I knew it, I was approaching the accommodations I lived in when I was a student! My feet somehow remembered the way better than my mind did.

Spent the last few days catching up with friends and had some time with folks from the church on certain things. It has been a very good time indeed. I spoke to a number of people from the church, and really took back certain things from each of them.

What struck me most is what one of the ministers, Jonathan R. said, "There is a need to be more intentional in what we do." For whatever reasons there may have been for me to have come up to Newcastle at this point of time, it is undubitably one of God's doing. And I am evermore convinced that one of the reasons is to remind me to be intentional with what I do for the time when I do enter into a full-time capacity of serving God.

And to my non-Christian friends, no, I'm not talking about being a nun you dolt.

So yes, if anything, Newcastle feels like a hometown of sorts. I have my friends, family and church here, and it makes it so inviting to slip back into the life here. Some of them have been urging me to find a job in Newcastle, but I feel my heart tugging towards London for whatever reasons there may be. We'll see what happens.

Michelle and Hui Min at Michelle & YeeKiat's place, preparing for dinner.

Hui Min, not amused with my picture taking skills

Chinese takeaway. Oh, for Malaysian food again.

YeeKiat & Michelle

HuiMin (lala mui not so lala already) and myself

I joked with a few people that during the 10 hour transit at Dubai, I spent the time meditating on the topic, 'How can an all loving, all powerful God allow suffering?' The findings of my meditation? That God sometimes allow us to suffer so that a greater good can be achieved. In my case, a good night's rest and woke up early in the UK morning nice and fresh. Doesn't feel like I would experience much jetlag, which I dearly hope not.


The weather is relatively warm, it still being summer. But as the afternoon draws closer, the dark clouds are also gathering. Will be going out with my aunt later to get some errands done, like health insurance and getting one or two things bought.

A view of the back of my aunt's house. She had it renovated and extended, with some really nice sun roofs included!

And I also helped my aunt pluck plums from her ripe plum tree! My mom won't have to worry about me not eating enough fruits that's for sure.

I'm a happy person. My cousin has an x60s ThinkPad in his mom's place. Yay! And my aunt is letting me keep it in my room. YaaaY!

More updates tomorrow.

I might not be blogging for a while, and not sure when I will be able to again because in a few hour's time, I will hand over my beloved ThinkPad to HR.


I got fired.


Hah! As if. My company would never fire a workaholic like me. But I did resign and today is my last day.

What happens after this?

:)

Chapter 6 of my life.