What a Whopper!!

Look what we have here! A Burger King Double Whopper Meal!! What a change to my usual dietary habits eh! Lol! Aye, I had a sudden urge for 'last junk food meal' of 2009 as I don't plan to have anymore fast food in 2010.

But even though I had this meal, I was careful not to go "full out" and go for a soda. Instead I had a hot tea, because I did not want to solidify the fats and oils with a cold drink. Haha!

I had this meal with Ming at the Buchanan Galleries food court. The place was busy as it was lunchtime for all those post-Christmas bargain hunters. I had forgotten how good a fast food burger tastes like actually. I had thought of going to McDonald's for my 'last junk food meal', but then Cat reminded me of the fries in Burger King. Yes, those King fries which are different from McDonald's or KFC fries in that they have a crispier skin which keeps them hotter as well. So I went for the Double Whopper as that has more meat. Yum!! =9

Last week I looked through the videos I had uploade on Facebook in the past year and came across this one taken from McDonald's in May. Yes, fun can be had at fastfood joints. Haha! Maybe I'll have another Whopper one day! Haha!


(Video was recorded in Cantonese, May 2009)

(6180)

Last day off work

Had a day off work today, in place of the Boxing Day which fell on a Saturday this year, so the public holiday got pushed to the next available working day - today =)

Spent most of the day with Matt my driving instructor friend who showed me around the training areas for Shieldhall test centre, Paisley test centre and parts of Anniesland test centre. We covered a lot of ground and there are lots to take in, so I will need to sleep over it and let it all sink in. After which I will need to go back and visit certain areas as I prepare myself for taking on three more pupils in January. Challenging yet exciting times ahead =) I am thankful to God for Matt's kindness in offering up his time to help me and show me around (for nothing in return!) when he could be spending time with his family at home.

After we finished up I went to the gym and attended my first Body Combat class. This is the third class I've attended in Greens and I'd have to say it was not very challenging compared to Body Attack (tired me for four days!) and Body Pump (almost killed me as I had done a weights workout beforehand). This class I expected something similar perhaps, and so I only did some warm up stretches before going in. I was the only guy in the class!! Haha! So I went over to talk to Angela who has been in each class I've been to so far. She's hardcore man! Almost attends every classes every day! Been a gym member for three years she says. Anyway, it was better to train next to someone I knew rather than feel like a lamb to the slaughter! Haha! The 45mins wasn't very tough and before I knew it we were stretching off and I headed in for a shower and came home for lovely dinner. More turkey and rice!! More protein and carbs!! Yummy ah!!

I am working a full day tomorrow, as a favour for my team, to cover David's annual leave. After work I will go to my first spinning class (fast cycling on stationary bikes in a studio). The receptionist whom I spoke to last week said she tried it once and couldn't sit down for two days!! Lol! That intense meh? Haha! I hope not la! But at least it'll be a great cardio workout and the following two days I will focus on weights training only. I really need to bulk up man. An auntie from church told me yesterday that I looked slimmer; that my face looks thinner but that it was good-looking. I thanked her for her compliment but told her I'd rather bulk up. Haha! It's true! That's the second Sunday that someone in church said I looked thinner. I don't want to look fat, but I want to be more muscular. I don't want to look srawney and weak. I want to look powerful and strong and look like A MAN!! Haha! =D

Boyakasha!!

(6148)

Boxing Day!!

As the above picture shows, I went to the Next Sale at 7am this morning. It was my fourth Boxing Day visit and was Alfred's third visit in four years. It has become somewhat of a tradition that we go to the Next Sale, but this year Aaron and Charlotte were not out with us. Me and Alfred drove from the east and the west of Glasgow and parked at Buchanan Bus Station whilst we shopped for a little over an hour. Bumped into Epon as well. The early bird catches the worm they say. And I managed to grab a few bargains :) After we got our stuff Alfred and I went to Costa for a drink and a wee chat. Cheers for the creme brulee latte, bro! :)

Parted with Alfred and I went home to unpack my shopping and had some lunch. It was whilst trying on the stuff I discovered two things: one of the zippers I bought in medium was a bit tight around my shoulders, and the zipper I bought still had the electronic tag on!! Haha! No wonder we still beeped when we left Boots! However, I don't remember beeping on the way in though! Weird!! Anyway, I definitely had to get the tag removed lest I'd set off all security alarms each time I go into shops. Lol!

After lunch I drove back out to Buchanan Galleries. This time through the snow and managed to return my medium zipper, got the electronic tag removed and guess what? Whilst in Next I ended up seeing and liking another three items so ended up getting them too, which brought my total tally to ten items. I then went to the Springburn driving test centre and drove around the surrounding areas taking in the different roads in the area that I might be teaching in one day soon. Last Wednesday a colleague from the office asked me to take her for driving lessons starting the last week of January so that's another pupil count. Just hoping the weather will have improved by then =)

I took a half hour nap before I put the turkey in the oven for tonight's dinner. Within two hours I was eating again! Haha! Oh yeah, immediately after I got up from my nap I actually had a bowl of cereal. Felt peckish but didn't want to snack, so cereal was the healthiest option :) And for the rest of the night, well I had planned to do some reading, but for the third night in a row my hands didn't even pick up the book. In fact, my eyes didn't even look at the cover! Haha! So... unproductive in that sense, but at least productive points of the day were the ten items I got from Next and also allowed mum to watch more episodes of "Still Game" on dvd and I played some online games on Kongregate. I like puzzle games. =)

Time for bed real soon. My throat is still sore and whilst typing this my left nostril is blocked and to just breathe through the right nostril is really painful. Does anybody else get that? And yeah, I have now gotten myself more hot water after my honey lemon finished. When will I be back to full health? =S

Click on the Next Sale picture to see more pictures added on to my Christmas pictures on Facebook :)

(6098)

It's Christmas!!! =D

Merry Christmas to all my readers out there! Whether local, national or international I hope you all had a joyous time in this blessed occasion and remembered our Lord Jesus Christ =) And Jesus, Happy Birthday to You =)

So this morning I woke up at 10:30am. Quite late compared to usual as I slept pretty late last night as I stayed up setting my computer back up to the way it was: installing programs and also getting used to Firefox as well. So far so good. And I have 66GB free out of my 100GB hard drive. Yeah, 100GB is not much nowadays, but is enough for me to carry out my necessary duties. If I need anymore space I will always have my Western Digital 1Terabyte hard drive. Not very convenient as it is powered by mains, but at least it has all my movies, Chinese dramas, pictures and music. And I have millions and millions of space left to backup anything else I want :)

Although there was no snowfall today, the snow from previous days was still around and this was the whitest Christmas I have seen in many years. Haha! I opened my presents at midday today. Was an exciting time for me. Hahaha! Wanna see what happened? Here's the recording I made of this "special moment". The main focus was not just on opening presents, as that would be quite sad, but in fact it was it gave me a chance to make recordings using both my usual Canon IXUS 860 camera and my new Logitech C250 webcam which I bought two weeks ago. I had always wondered what it would be like to do video editing from two different angles, and this morning I was in a position to try it out. So there was my chance to be director and editor for myself! Lol! Here goes...



Editing of the video took just over an hour. It's not easy, but is certainly fun. Though I can see flaws in it, I think I've learnt lots from doing this short ten mins clip. Role on camera three!! Haha! Soon time came for me to prepare dinner. The turkey went into the oven first and whilst that cooked I went on the PS3 and downloaded some more game demos to try out and also made a call to Hong Kong as well. Then Cat came home and opened her presents. She was also quite chuffed with the presents she received this year as well. Both from her Secret Santa and also from other friends. Dinner was served just before 6pm and by then I was sooo hungry!! =D

We thoroughly enjoyed dinner and after that we sat down to watch a movie from Youtube. It was an old Cantonese movie called "聖誕快樂" (literally translated to 'Merry Christmas'). Haha! The film was a 1984 comedy had a B-listed cast but provided lots of laughs. Haha!

Both mum and Cat are preparing for bed now as they both have to work at 8am tomorrow. Whereas I, I plan to be at the Next Sale for 7am sharp tomorrow, which means my alarm will be set for 6:15am so I will have time for breakfast and prepare myself to go out and get a good parking space close by Buchanan Galleries before I join the early birds in the queue. Ok, I better go now and make up a shopping list for tomorrow. Already have in mind roughly what to get. Might have to do a few shoulder tackles to fight the competition away. Lol!

I leave you with some pictures that I've taken over Christmas thus far. Will update as the next few days come along. God bless!



(6056)

One day till Christmas!!

It's Christmas Eve today! Just twenty mins to go till we arrive at Christmas morning. All children should be in bed. Some might leave out milk and cookies for Santa's arrival when he drops presents. Me... it is 11:45pm and I am still awake. I am waiting to catch a glimpse of Santa. Hahaha! Lol! That would have been me when I was seven or something. Haha! In actual fact, I don't think I've believed in Santa very much in my life. Maybe because my parents were Chinese and never really talked about Santa stuff. It's quite a 'gwailo' thing. Haha!! Therefore I have never believe in Santa and I have never believed in the tooth fairy as well. When a tooth came off: throw it in the bin! Don't keep it under the pillow! It'll rot! Hahaha!!

Anyway, this year's Christmas Eve was very very cold! The bed for some strange reason felt extraordinarily comfortable! And I accredited the extra 20 mins of lying in bed to being tired from the gym. But when I stepped out my room, my goodness, I could feel the chill in the air!! Must have been my body's system wanting to avoid the coldness. Once I got outside the streets were partially covered with overnight snow but everything was frozen!! I took a few pictures of how icy everything was. It wasn't until I checked my trip computer whilst defrosting the windscreen that I discovered the air temperature was -6C!! My goodness! That is the lowest temperature I remember experiencing in Glasgow!! Ever!! =O Driving was not too tough as the snow had melted from the busy roads. But once I got to park on the tighter streets, extra care had to be taken especially when stopping on a slight downhill and then watching my clutch when reversing back. There were only two of us in from our team today. Myself and Eileen. The shift seemed to drag on as everyone was looking to finish for Christmas. Finally 1pm arrived and I was freeee!! Popped into BP garage in hope of getting a carwash, but guess what? The carwash had been frozen in!! Lol!! Ah well, I drove my dirty car home. =P

Had lunch at home, watched some tv and went online. Played this game on Kongregate. Game was controlling traffic lights at busy junctions and letting cars go through without causing any accidents. That took up like over an hour of my time! Haha! Had hoped to do some reading as well. It wasn't long before Cat came home from work and prepared dinner. By then it was soo cold in the house that I turned the heater on full and I had to wear my longjohns too! Haha! The double layer of protection came in useful when I went to pick mum up from work at 7pm. Mum's not feeling well you see. She has developed a bad cough and blocked nose, but still struggles to work. I think I get the tough fighter genes from her. =) Anyway, got mum home, then she had dinner. Mum brought home with her gifts from her colleague who gave her authentic Spanish nougats from his hometown, and also a Christmas card from another manager. The card had two five-pound M&S vouchers in it to our surprise. Praise God for the various gifts and surprises she has received from colleagues and customers alike this Christmas and throughout the year =)

For the rest of the evening I decided to watch "Still Game" Christmas specials with mum. Whilst watching that I reformatted my laptop. It is something I do on a yearly basis, where I backup all my useful files and then refresh the whole system which frees up all the "lost" gigabytes of spaces and helps make the system run incredibly faster, resembling how it were when I first bought it. Hehe! Since I use my laptop for admin and accounts for my driving instruction business, it is vitally important I don't let my computer get bogged down with junk that I don't need. Subsequently, whilst reformatting I have now installed and began to use Firefox as my web browser. Have heard so many positive gains of using this over Internet Explorer. So I will take time to get used to this new browser as well as retrieving my previous settings. :)

So there you have it! That is how I spent my Christmas Eve! At work then at home. No other plans for tomorrow except maybe watch more tv with mum, having a simple lunch, then prep dinner for the evening time. Won't stay up that late as I will have a very early wake for another annual event - the Next Sale!! =D

p.s. Thanks for the hamster's message asking for today's blogpost. A nice surprise to find somebody literally following my blogs :)

p.p.s. My health... about 80% full health now. Can even sing! Haha!

(6026)

Two days till Christmas!!

Today was dubbed at the busiest shopping day of the year as was the last full day that shoppers could use to go out there and get all their presents for Christmas. Tomorrow will be Christmas Eve and many places will close early. Transport services will curtail early evening as well, even the 24-hour services like Tesco will prepare for closure on Christmas Day. Christmas is indeed a very big holiday. The whole world celebrates it. No - I take that back. The whole world acknowledges it. Christmas Day is when families traditionally gather round together. When sons and daughters who live abroad return to their parents. When distant relatives whom you have not seen for years get invited over for dinner and you pull crackers together, cut turkey, tell jokes, drink wine, update each other with what's happening, drink more wine. Haha! Is Christmas just about family gatherings and presents? Nah! Honestly, the name Christmas says it all: "CHRIST-mas". Jesus Christ is what it should mainly about. As Christians, we remind ourselves and others of the real reason we treat this occasion with such importance - that it is to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ who came down to Earth as a human baby, who then grew up to be a Holy man and spent His life telling as many people as He could about God's love for man and how to follow God with your heart, your soul and your mind. In the end, He himself became the ultimate sacrifice made to God and that provided man a channel to reach to God without making animal sacrifices or burning stuff at the alter. Jesus' resurrection from the dead provides us the Easter celebration - which is the greatest story a true believing Christian could use to testify how great and awesome and powerful Jesus is :) For those who have yet to know Jesus, Christmas is just a holiday. In America instead of calling is Christmas they commonly wish each other "Happy holidays". How sad. They don't even want to call it Christmas!

Oh another thing. Christmas... is also commonly abbreviated as "xmas", on text messages, on Christmas cards, on slogans, whatever. But why use "xmas" and not Christmas? Maybe it's just shorthand some might say. Save some space on text messages. As a Christian, I would choose to use the full word Christmas instead of "xmas" following the masses. I think the name of Christ is very powerful. The name of Christ can heal. The name of Christ should not be hidden.

Tiredness is kicking in now at 11:46pm. More tired than usual because I was at Body Pump class today after my own workout. Made the class extra tough. In any case, I was very thankful today that the weather was not as bad as yesterday. In fact, I did not see any snowfall today and the snow left on the ground has started to melt and clear away, which is great. It might, or might not be a white Christmas. But one thing is for sure, as a driver, I don't view heavy snowfall as "beautiful" as those who do not drive. The amount of trouble is causes drivers and the deterioration in driving conditions are hazardous. But in any case, snow is from God and I am thankful I have witnessed snow in this country as many countries around the world can only dream of seeing or touching the snowflakes. =)

(6010)

Three days till Christmas!!

Meant to be in bed now, but I got sucked into checking my Facebook and responding to the comments and photo tags in the past half hour. Lol! Must pull myself away as I jot down what I have done today...which is hee-haw! Haha!

I had work between 08:45am and 12:30pm. The shift felt longer than usual. Maybe was because I was hungry by 10:45am and didn't bring anything to eat, nor did I want to spend £1.30 on a simple sandwich from the vending machine. Nah... not worth it. So I just kept drinking my Redbush plain tea, and actually I had a chicken soup from the vending machine. Just something else to tide me over. That was free. Hot drinks from that machine are always free :) Anyway, home time came and I drove home, carefully through the ice, snow and slush, and popped into the local Subway to get a Sub of the Day: Meatball Marina on Italian Herb and Cheese. Had it toasted with peppered cheese and some salad. Felt so nice to eat something warm as soon as I got in the house rather than the usual of having to prep lunch and heat up water etc once I got in. The sandwich lasted three minutes at most and after that I made myself another wee sandwich and two slices of fruit loaf for dessert, a mug of tea with honey in place of sugar. I sat down at the computer and lo and behold Ming was on Skype! We had our first pc-pc webchat!! It was soo cool! I was just thinking to myself yesterday how I might have wasted money buying a Logitech C250 webcam only to put it in the drawer as nobody is online for a webchat. But today I was so happy to use my webcam. Ming told me the picture and audio quality was very good too. Great! Good investment then :)

I had hoped to have got some reading done, perhaps Roadcraft: The Essential Police Driver's Handbook, but ended up webchatting for over an hour then stayed online for a bit after Ming left. The weather turned really cold and dark as the heavy snowfall gathered, but I wanted to go to the gym for Core Stability and Abs classes as well as my own workout. I left the house just before 5pm but traffic was choc-a-bloc in all directions due to adverse weather. Instead of going to the gym I took another turn and went over to Buchanan Bus Station to pick up my mum and sister who finished work, but might have been otherwise stranded along with the hundreds of commuters trying to get home through public transport. The journey towards the bus station felt like agess, but at least I was warm and I was more concerned for the two girls who were waiting for me, so I had to keep them updated with my whereabouts throughout. Going back home wasn't too bad and we managed to find a parking space right outside the house, so at least tomorrow when I use the car I won't have to ice skate very far to reach it. Haha!

Once I got home I decided to just stay in. No point in making the trek back out to the gym now, especially since I would have missed the class by the time I fight through all the traffic. So I had dinner at home - Sliced beef in Mandarin sauce with white rice. Yes, due "adverse conditions" so mum could rest once she got in from work and from the icy weather, we had Chinese takeaway! Hahaha! So my last Chinese takeaway of 2009 happened tonight! Memorable? Lol! I dunno... I really wanted to go to the gym tonight, but hey I think being the "hero" and "rescuing" my family was more important. Definitely. :)

I shall go tomorrow then! Yes, come rain or shine, hail or sleet, I will travel out to Greens Gym at Finnieston just before 5pm, actually maybe even earlier depending on weather conditions, might arrive at 6pm. I will do my own workout then go to Abs class at 7:45pm then Body Pump at 8:15pm. Booyakasha! Then, no gym till the 28th at the earliest!

The gym opens on Sunday 27th, but I will be going to watch "Sherlock Holmes" after church that Sunday. Aiming for 6pm showing that day :D

Goodnight y'all!

(5991)

Four days till Christmas!!

Not long back from the 24-Hour Tesco at St Rollox. The place was surprisingly quiet for only being four days before Christmas. The last time I went for Christmas dinner shopping the place was jam-packed and we found ourselves among the sea of people searching turkey, duck or roast beef dinners; anything we could get our hands on so we could eat on Christmas Day. However, this year the stock was aplenty. I went in with an empty trolley, left with a 'Family Turkey Breast and Thigh Joint', a packet of Schwartz luxury bread sauce and two packets of Quakers Oats So Simple porridge oats. The last two items are not dinner related as they are my normal breakfasts. Lol! So, Christmas dinner is sorted for another year. So far we know Cat will be at work on Christmas day but will finish around 4pm. Lunch will be just me and mum having something simple for lunch, then in the afternoon I'll start prepping dinner for three of us. Not sure if Cat would be able to stomach all the eating as she is expecting a luxurious Christmas breakfast and Christmas late lunch in her workplace. Haha!

Anyway, as mentioned in my previous post I worked 8:45am-10:30am this morning. The two hours just flew by very quickly. I packed up and headed home with a list of "to-do" items which included: taking stuff to the Salvation Army, a call to check on delivery status of my exercise mat (that early Christmas present I mentioned on Facebook which is STILL not here yet!), a call to check on delivery status of the new kitchen extractor fan and of course, to hoover the house and of course to have lunch. Lunch was a simple sandwich and a tea. Salvation Army was a quick ten minute round trip. The house is much cleaner after a good hoover. My exercise mat is confirmed to arrive on Wednesday! (fingers crossed!!) and DHL delivered the extractor fan around 2:20pm! Great! Time to get working!

I stayed in the rest of the afternoon putting the extractor fan together: read and re-read the instructions and tried putting parts together etc. This extractor fan unit did not come with an electrical cable to plug in for power, so I thought I'd remove the old one cable and re-wire it into the new unit. Sounded simple enough right? It wasn't until I removed the old unit and checked out the power connection that I realised the old cable only had two wires through it: live and neutral (blue and brown respectively). However, the new unit required a connection of the earthwire (yellow and green). After making enquiries with friends and technical experts I decided to go buy new cable from B&Q. So I went down to get 3-core flex 5m and came home to wire up the unit and wired up my own plug as well. That was my first time wiring a plug from scratch, not only that, at the same time I wired up an extractor fan!! Praise God for giving me eyes to read, good hand-eye co-ordination and of course, Google! Haha! =D After almost four hours, which included a trip down to B&Q during rush hour, I managed to install the fan onto the window, throw away the old one, tidied up AND started to cook rice for dinner. Once mum came home from work she was well impressed with it all. I am the man of the house and we cannot expect the women to do all these sorts of labour work. I found and contacted the Expelair company, queried then ordered the fan then fitted it. I thank God for helping me through it though it all. Even the fitting was not easy, cos the window was so high up and it's one which folds towards you and I had stand on my kitchen unit to fit it and make sure the back part did not come loose and fly away! Lol! Anyway, it's all over now and we can finally get some ventilation in the kitchen without opening the window and letting in the icy cold air! Haha! =D

I was hoping to go to Body Pump today at 6:30pm, but by the time I finished with the fan there was no way I could have made it, so just decided to stay home for dinner and then go to the gym in the next couple of days. So I think tomorrow I will go to Core Stability at 6:30pm then Abs at 7:15pm. Yeah, I'll probably do some workout for an hour or so before the classes then focus on the core. What about Wednesday? I should finish 12:30pm and then come home to receive my exercise mat from DPD =) Since the gym closes early the next day on Christmas Eve I'll go to the gym on Wednesday as well: Abs at 7:45pm then Body Pump at 8:15pm. That'll be my last visit until the 28th of something. Haha!

Oh yeah, my sore throat. Yes, still sore. Actually the pain comes and goes. However, my voice, I would say it is about 70% better. At least my workmates this morning could understand me, albeit giving me sympathy, telling me I should be in bed. I told then I had a even worse weekend and this is considered "better" now. My nose has started to block up now and again as well. Grrr!! Ok, I'm gonna finish off my honey lemon then get ready for bed. Goodnight!

(5966)

Five days till Christmas!!

What a day! Woke up in the morning feeling more energetic than yesterday morning, but when I went to speak it as hoarse again! Sigh!! Coughed a few times, had a protein shake, then my usual morning porridge oats to warm my throat up. Did ironing and shredding confidential paper. Showered and shaved before lunch then packed up my Secret Santa present before going to church. Didn't really talk to people much today because voice was so rough and sounded horrible. But few people jokingly told me it sounded "sexy", "deep" and "husky". Lol! Thanks!

First thing before I sat down in EM a Sunday School kid from middle class came up to me and gave me a Christmas card! That was very sweet of him. He is a well-behaved kid in class as well and he is already showing respect to his elders. Lol! He has potential! :) At the end of EM I was given my Christmas present from Secret Santa. A nice Santa bag with three presents inside and a Christmas card! =D I was envied by a few people. =) I now know who the person is as she wrote her name on the card. Hehe! Thank you KT!! I haven't opened the presents yet, but I will be so excited come Christmas Day! =D

Went to Henry's birthday dinner at Di Maggio's restaurant. The place was busy busy with mostly Christmas dinners. But we were celebrating the Twentieth birthday of our wee friend. Henry seemed delighted with all who attended the dinner, showing him love and support and he was definitely surprised when the TWO birthday cakes came out after we had our main course! =D It was good to see Henry enjoying himself so much and I hope everyone else at the dinner did too =)

Once I got home my throat got really "cold" and dry. My voice was husky-ing again and breathing really pained my nostrils for some reason. Like my sinus area. I had to quickly make honey lemon and starting sipping away at it. Phew!! Helped a lot! Time is now 11:39pm and I am finishing off this post with a refill of hot water into my massive Starbucks mug. Will look through today's pictures and decide which ones to put on Facebook then get to bed. Work 8:45am - 10:30am tomorrow... yes, finishing two hours early as the office gives Christmas half-day off, and bring part time that gives me 2hrs! Not bad eh! I'll just go in, hopefully voice will be much better, sit and work for two hours and then offskis back home! Lol!

Goodnight everyone and God bless!

(5944)

Six days till Christmas!!

Had a bad night of sleep last night. Felt very hot and flustered at various times through the night. Throat was dry, nose was blocked. It was horrible. Each time I turned I felt my tired muscles ache from the Body Attack class, which was fine cos those muscle aches are "good" aches and is my body responding to the "attack" it was under. However, each time I turned I was aware that my inhaling through my throat gave a funny noise, like there was phlegm there, and swallowing got harder as well. Sigh...

Got up before my alarm went off and after my morning pee it was confirmed that I was sick!! Couldn't even say good morning to my mum without having to clear my throat a few times. And even then the effort to say Good Morning came out feeble and rough. Argh!! Really dislike it when that happens! I've not fallen this sick for a few years now. Back then the GP would diagnose me as having "a virus" and that it would clear after a few days and that antibiotics would not help much. I think it used to be roughly every winter I used it get this virus, but the past three to four years I've been fine, praise God. =) This year, well, not this year then.

I had to make a call to Boon just after 9am to tell him the bad news, that I was unwell, could not sing but could play the guitar still. Boon told me to rest and that they'd sort something out. That was a tough call I made. I felt so bad for letting Boon down. Cos last night I was still hoping I'd be well enough today to attending worship practice and serve God. But sitting out this time would be the better thing to do as viral infections are infectious and I wouldn't want to pass it on to anybody else.

So... a day of being stuck at home. I got so bored I thought I'd keep a note of how I would spend a whole Saturday at home. Haha!

0840hrs - had one bowl of porridge oats with banana. This warmed my throat a bit for the phone call at...

0902hrs - called Boon to let him know the bad news.

0928hrs - logged on computer to do some admin for driving instruction, drank hot water, again to help warm my throat up.

1150hrs - after spending some time rolled up bed checking out Facebook and texting I decided it was time for lunch. Had tea with honey in place of sugar, spicy falafel wrap, veggie sushi and two fruit slices. Felt better after food. Felt warmer too. :)

1400hrs - Made big mug of honey lemon (mum came back from ASDA with two big lemons for me!!) and I was so bored of daytime Saturday tv that I decided to watch "Twilight" from Megavideo website. Throughout the film I had a few top ups of hot water into my huge Starbucks mug. I did dumbbell curls whilst watching the movie. Haha!

1740hrs - got really hungry and had dinner once Cat got home from work. Whoo-hoo! Had two bowls of rice and also had a mango to finish it off.

1930hrs - watched "X-Men 3: The Last Stand" on blu-ray. Wanted to watch this blu-ray version since May when I had some guys over to watch the first two instalments but we ran out of time for the third one. The film was good and once again I enjoyed it having watched it once at the cinema years ago.

Now it's almost 2200hrs. I have put on the "Laughing Gor" movie for mum to watch. I can see she is dozing off a little though. That can happen at times. Whenever I see her eyelids close I just give off a whistle and she stirs and watches a little more, before the eyelids droop again. This can go on for a wee while before either mum or I decide yes it's time to shut it off and go to bed. Lol! It's still early right now though and I have not thought of bed time yet. However, since I am sick I should try to get more sleep.

Tomorrow, I REALLY hope I can be well enough for church. Will need to settle the New Year Retreat stuff on it's closing date, as well as bring Secret Santa present in to EM, collect my Secret Santa present and then later attend Henry's birthday dinner. Really hope I can go. Will need to sleep soon after my shower.

Goodnight folks!

(5928)

Seven days till Christmas!!

Wow!! Christmas is exactly a week away! It is 10:30pm right now. I wonder what I'll be doing this time next week? I wonder how I'll be feeling?

Right now I still feel ill. A tad bit worse than yesterday. Yesterday my throat was a little sore when swallowing. Today I feel my throat has clammed up even more making swallowing even harder. Strepsils have not helped much, unfortunately. My nose is blocking up a bit too. (Currently inhaling is mainly done through the right nostril! How annoying!!) Feeling a bit cold as well. Yep, I know the great outdoors is freezing right now, and is forecasted to be around -5C to -7C in certain parts of Central Scotland - great! =O

Well today after work I came home and had lunch. Took my time with it today as I did not have a driving lesson in the afternoon. In fact, I made my own fried rice! Have not done that for a long while! Whilst having lunch I watched a video that was recommended to me, on Youtube. I shall share the link with you all. Watch it if you have a spare six minutes. Believe me, it'll be worth it. Without spoiling it for those who have not watched it: what I saw really touched me, especially towards the end. One word: Sacrifice! It made me recall how great a sacrifice He made for me, how he took all bad things upon Himself, so that I can be "born again". Yet so many times I fail to remember that and find myself "taking on" more bad stuff, more evil stuff. That only hurts Him and that brings sadness to me.



In the afternoon I went back to Greens gym. First visit since signing up on Tuesday. I got myself a black velcro wristband instead of the green one. As black represents anytime access, whereas the green was for off-peak only. I warmed up on the rowing machine, stretched off, tried the Power Plate, then did some weights before attending my very first Body Attack class. The class was not busy today, I think twelve people max including the instructor, and I was the freshman among them all. I felt everyone was so fast at the start, but I managed to keep up and gradually got coordinated with the steps ok. It was very very tiring and I only managed to follow around 80% of the whole thing. As the hour-mark approached I was sweating like a pig! Big pig!! Felt a relief it was over and was told I done quite well for this being my first time. =) After that I decided to go down to the jucuzzi, sauna and steam room and spent about half an hour in relaxation. I am very pleased with the overall facilities, the space and the cleanliness of Greens Gym and I am glad I signed up. I have four "One Week Trial" offers to give anybody who would like to try this gym out for a week - no obligation! Let me know alright? =)

Anyway, I had hoped sweating it out in Body Attack and in the sauna and steam room would help me get better soon. Maybe it will...maybe it won't. We'll find out in due course I guess. For now I have started coughing infrequently. =S Worship practice tomorrow at 10am!! Oh dear...

(5912)

Eight days till Christmas!!

Gonna be a short blogpost tonight. Got a bit of a sore throat developing today. Woke up feeling a little groggy, kind of blocked up, but not too bad. Just initial signs of falling ill. So the antidote for that is plenty of fluids and plenty of sleep. Ok, it's gonna be a short blogpost tonight.

So today, went to work after a day off yesterday. The shift went by quite quickly. I was looking forward to the clock reaching 12:30pm because I had plans to go watch"Avatar 3D" at 1pm. Had not been to a lunchtime movie for ages. Even the occasional Saturday cinema visits are in the afternoon after the gym etc. Still had to queue for about ten mins or so because it was "Avatar 3D" official opening day so was busier than usual. The film was quite good, albeit a bit long. 3D film... not very 3D again like what you might get at an IMAX 3D feature. But still enjoyable. However, I was surprised there was still a charge of £1.30 to watch the movie. I thought bringing my own 3D specs would have made it much cheaper, or better yet, free!! Anyway, I think that's the only 3D film I'll watch in Cineworld for a while now. Not very worth it, not 3D enough. Haha!

Felt blessed today as well. Blessed is he who is given Strepsils when he has a sore throat. Blessed is he who is given a Christmas card and present. =) Blessed is he who returns home from frosty cold weather to have a warm fillet steak dinner! =)

Logging off here. Will check out my Facebook pages and then get ready for bed. Night y'all!

(5892)

Nine days till Christmas!!

Those of you who follow my Facebook status might have read that I won a watch at the office Christmas night out last Friday. The Christmas night out took place last Friday at Hilton Grosvenor but I did not attend. I went to the gym instead after giving a driving lesson. We were all informed there would be a prize draw for all members of staff regardless of attendance, but I had not expected anything out of it at all.

Monday morning I was congratulated for winning a watch!! Haha! At first I was not sure what sort of watch it was. However, I did hear that there were other prizes like £300 worth of holiday vouchers, a Playstation 3, £40 Marks & Spencer vouchers etc and the lowest of the prizes were £10 vouchers. So my watch was listed around the top eight in value order. I was pretty surprised to see it was a Ben Sherman's watch when Fiona from the social committee dropped it off at my desk this morning. I am wearing it as I type this blog post. Just wanted to try it on. Haha! =P

This is totally God's blessing for me. Not luck, not chance, but God's grace. Grace is when we do nothing, yet God gives us something. Each and everyday we are surrounded by His grace and it is sufficient for us to live in. Just like we discussed over dinner tonight with two friends - we are indeed very fortunate to be where we are today. Each of us warmly clothed, sitting in a Chinese restaurant consuming Chinese food, drinking Chinese tea, having a laugh, sharing a good time. There are many people who are homeless, many who may die from the freezing cold weather. We might complain we are poor sometimes, but in fact, we actually live in abundance with what "little" we have. We should appreciate each and every thing we possess. We should learn to accredit it all to God above. Nothing we have here is ours, but is blessed by God. Even this watch! :)

(5883)

Ten days till Christmas!!

Wow!! Been a very busy few days for me leading up to Christmas this year. It's not that bad, really, but I just feel I run out of time to do stuff so quickly!

So what has been happening? Been so busy with working part-time at the HR job, finishing 12:30pm each weekday. Then I give driving tuition usually from 2pm. Tonight I had a driving lesson at 7pm-8pm!! This morning I changed my gym. I finally decided to make a move and leave Glasgow University Gym, Stevenson Building, for Greens Gym at Finnieston. Sure, the monthly fee is a lot higher than the Uni gym charged, but for the extra £11.15 a month I get access to free parking anytime I attend the gym. I get better opening hours that does not run according to term time. I get access to many more machines, weights and equipment which means I won't have to queue to wait for my turn. Cleaner lockers and showering facilities and also poolside jacuzzi spas!! Ooooh!! Have never been in one before! Might have a shot before trying the hot tub in the English Ministry New Year retreat! =D (P.s. did I mention, by me joining Greens now, I don't have to pay any monthly fees until 1st Feb! Almost two months free use of a gym!!)

Yesterday I went Christmas shopping after work. Went to get a present for the person I drew out of the Secret Santa hat. No - he is not my Secret Santa, as my Secret Santa is the person who picked my name. Dunno why, but there is always confusion when people ask, "Who is your secret santa?" and the answer usually given is the name of your "target person" whom you're buying for. Nah, get it right people! You're Secret Santa is the person buying you the present! You shouldn't know who it is, or else...where is the fun in that?! Lol! Anyway, I hope the person who I bought the present for likes the thing I bought :)

I also went to get birthday present and birthday card for next Sunday's birthday dinner at Di Maggio's for Henry Woo's birthday. He'll be 20 and he is pretty excited about having his first birthday dinner in about five years. Hope it'll be a gooood one for him! Di Maggio's will be mobbed with Christmas dinner patrons, but hopefully our birthday celebrations will crowd out the Christmas dinner people, especially when we sing Happy Birthday to Henry!! Haha!!

Yeah, so lots of birthday presents to get, dinners to attend. Kerry's 21st birthday dinner was on Sunday, twenty-four of us went to celebrate with her at Duck Bay Marina restaurant in Loch Lomond. The drive through the fog wasn't easy, but the celebration made it worthwhile. Kerry was happy and appreciated everyone's presence :)

So plans for tomorrow... Work till 12:30pm. Driving lesson 2pm-4pm. Out to town for a while. Dinner and catch up with friends at China Blue 7:30pm till roughly 10pm I think? Then home to snoooze, I hope!

Thursday... Work till 12:30pm. "Avatar 3D" right after work perhaps? The movie is about three hours long inclusive of trailers. After the movie I'll probably do some reading in Starbucks again. Or maybe just a library instead, which opens till 8pm on a Thursday. Will try to save my pennies now as all this going out, socialising and shopping is damaging my numbers. Lol!

Friday... Work till 12:30pm. Driving lesson 1:30pm-3:30pm. Gym at 4pm, hoping to attend Body Attack class at 5:30pm for an hour, then might jump into jacuzzi for a wind-down! :D

Saturday and Sunday will be busy too. I'm expecting worship practice on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday I'll be playing guitar for Boon in EM for the EM Christmas Carol service. The Sunday School kids will join us too, so it'll be extra busy and we hope it'll be very entertaining. After church - collect all remaining New Year retreat camp fees from people! Then there's Henry's birthday dinner at Di Maggio's, booked for 6pm!! Oooh!! What will I wear? =O

(5862)

Three weeks till Christmas!!

I find it hard to believe that there are only three weeks left till Christmas, well twenty days to be precise. Where has the time gone?? It's almost time to look back at the previous year and count upon all the blessings that God has given me. The up's and the down's, the good and the bad. I won't have time to review everything tonight as it is 7:40pm on a Saturday night and tonight I want to spend time sorting stuff out with my notepad and arranging the publications and magazines and re-organising my life basically.

So much has been happening since my last post on the 28th of November. In fact, that "Lanty David" actually contacted me through Google Talk whilst I was at work. It came through on my phone and "he" (I actually thought it was a she from the xxxxxxx left at the end of the emails) persisted in asking if I was interested in going ahead with the deal (re. "Beware the launderers!" post). I told him I didn't want a bankers draft, but would much rather a personal cheque or payment through Paypal. He said he didn't have those alternatives. I told him that there was a lot of money involved and that I did not feel comfortable with it considering all the news about money laundering. The result - he went silent. And never chatted back!! Lol!

So...back to square one. The car is still parked on the street not from my house. The new tax disc came though - £82.50 bought me vehicle duty until 31 May 2010. So basically I have taxed my vehicle for nothing but simply to put it on a UK road. It's unfortunate I do not have my own driveway or an off-road carpark, otherwise I would declare my vehicle SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification) for 12 months and save myself some money. My Autotrader advert runs out this Monday (7th December) and I don't think I'll renew it. Has caused me more problems than I anticipated - funny phone calls, weird emails etc. Just crazy and more hassle than it's worth. Autotrader advert was £35!! Paid that and it has bought me nothing! No progress whatsoever!

Ah well, at least the driving tuition business is going well. So far so good. Enjoying myself and it seems my pupils are having a good time too. Took on my fourth pupil this morning. Not a complete learner. He is experienced in manual and automatic transmissions. Initially had thought it would take a while to teach the clutch, but surprisingly he did quite well, especially in finding the biting point and we didn't stall once! :) After the lesson I went to Tesco, grabbed breakfast oats and some lunch. Then went to church meeting after that and came home around 6pm. It's time to unwind, since it's a Saturday night. But no. I have stuff to do. Must get on with it.

Tomorrow... gonna wash the car, take mum Chinese shopping, go to church, go to the gym, then chill ooot! Finally! =D

(5734)

Beware the launderers!

I should be in bed now, but thought I should warn you all of something first.

I advertised my Ford Focus on Facebook, on this blog and on Gumtree. All for free, and all with no response from any interested parties. So I thought I would try Autotrader since that is a big name in the vehicle sales industry, both private and trade sellers use this to advertise on it's magazine and website. The advert cost me £35 and would give me one week in Auto Trader Scotland magazine and two weeks in the Auto Trader website. I paid for this last Sunday (22nd Nov) and hoped for the best.

Monday lunch time I received a missed call from an 0208 number and so I called it back. Turned out to be "The Motorist Guide" who saw my advert on Auto Trader and offered to send me a magazine through email which will give me tips on how to sell my car etc. So I said yes and gave him my email address as it was free and there is no ties involved.

That afternoon I received another call, this time from an unknown number. The caller was a guy who said he saw my car was for sale and said he was interested in it, but the price was so high. I mentioned to him that the price had went down from £4000 to £3500 and that I spent a lot of money getting the body work touched up etc. He said the price was still too high and that he only needed the car for one day. That he only wanted the car for a hit a run. To play his game I said to him that it would take more than a day to get all the paperwork sorted out. He said again that he only needed the car for one day, for a hit and run, then said, "Bang! Bang!" and hung up!! How crazy was that?! After the call ended I just sat down and prayed to God, asked Him to protect the sale of the car as there are many dodgy people out there.

Two days later, 24th November, I received this email:

"Goodday,My name is Lanty David,
I will like to know if your car is still available for sale..i am okay with all informations posted with the ads..but i will like to know the followings..
1,the present condition of the Car?
2,your reason for selling it?
3,Your final asking price ?
I will like you to get back to me so that we can proceed with the transaction..i wait your reply soonest..Regards.Lanty xxxxxxxxxx"

To which I replied:

"Hi Lanty, thank you for your interest in my car. I have a question to start with though. Where did you see my ad? Now to answer your questions:

1) Present condition: Excellent condition, but WET! It has been parked on the street under the Glasgow rain! I spent £600 getting the body work touched up at the Car Care Centre three weeks ago. And bought four new tyres from Costco, costing £228. Have all receipts with it.

2) Reason for selling: I am a qualified driving instructor with the AA and have been given a tuition car with my franchise, therefore I do not need this car anymore as I'll use that car 24/7.

3) Final asking price: £3500, originally £4000 after I spent so much money on it. But had to drop it down due to lack of interest. I feel if the price is any lower it would do this car injustice if you check out the condition of it.

If you're interested we can arrange a meet up for you to check it out? Let me know if you're still interested. Cheers, Gordon"

The next day, 25th November:

"Hello , Thanks for getting back to me,and am very happy that you still have it for sale.
This car is what I have been searching for quite some months now before I finally got yours.Regards the price,i will offer you £4,100 for it and i will like to know much about the car. So i will want you to please email me it's full details and the reason why you are selling it,also when is the m.o.t expires.
Please i will want you to get back to me with these answers so that we can proceed from there.. Really I based Kompehenger here in Denmark were i work as a Mechanical Enginer but originally from Wales(My Dad is from Wale and mum from Oslo Noway).
If you can get back to me as soon as possible i would be glad to wrap everything up in a short while so that i can take the possession of the Car .I will be willing to pay you with a Uk banker's Draft which will clear between 3-4 days in any Uk bank of which i have a shipping company that will come for the shipment of the Car .
So if you are ok with this kindly get back to me so that we can conclude the transaction on time. Best Regards.
Lanty xxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

To which I replied:

"Dear Lanty,

As I mentioned earlier, the reason for selling this is car is because I am a qualified driving instructor with the AA Driving School and have been given a tuition car with my franchise, therefore I do not need this car anymore as I'll use that car 24/7.

If you were interested in buying this car, £4100 sounds like a very good offer. However, I have never used Bank Draft before. Would you be able to pay me through Paypal instead then? There is more protection through Paypal for both you and me.

Also, what information are you looking for about the car?

Silver Ford Focus LX
5-Door hatchback
Registered July 2003
I bought it on 14th June 2004 after one owner
Has now done 28,000 miles
1.4L Manual Petrol
Full Service and MOT history
Brand new Michelin tyres
No Pets, No Smoking

(Taxed till Dec 2009, Service due May 2010, MOT due July 2010)

Please get back to me about payment. Thank you.

Gordon"

The final response from Lanty...

"Hi,
Thanks so much for your kind of lovely mail and As for the payment i will ask my Bussines Accosociate to issue a Certified Uk Bank Draft of £9,500 and once u get the cheque u are to get The Cheque deposited into ur bank account and once it clears u deduct the cost of the Car which is £4100 u deduct £200 am willing to give u for ur efforts and the western union fees.U are to help me wire the balance inform of a cash via western union the same day u get the cheque to my shipper and in just 2 or days after my shipping agent will come down to ur location for the pick-up right thre at ur location.

Pls i will need the following ful datas from u.
Name....(to be on the cheque)
Full Address.....
State....
Postal Code....
Country.....
Telephone number...(Cell,Office,Home,)

Pls i will really be glad if u could get the balance wired the same day the cheque clears ur account cos am highly sure that once my shipper get the balance from u is going to come down to ur location in just 2 or days after for the pick-up.as soon as you provide me your info i will give you a call on your number so we can talk better.

Thanks"

Well well well! After reading these emails, what are your thoughts? So dodgy, right? Totally crazy!! Do they think I'm some sort of ignorant guy who is money-hungry and will do anything for lots of money AND help them with criminal activities too?? I mean, all these signs shows something dodgy is going on. First of all, the grammar is horrible. "Lanty" if that is their real name is in Denmark where they drive on the opposite side of the road to us. So why would they want my right hand drive car? Secondly, throwing in random information about parents from Wales and Norway wins no favour from me as "Lanty" did not even answer my question of "Where did you see my ad?". So yes, the biggest sign of dodgy business was when I said my final offer would be £3500 and I was then offered £4100. Not only that, but then later told I would receive £9500 in the form of a UK Bankers draft of which I would deduct £4100 for my car, then a further £200 for my troubles and transfer the rest of the £5200 to another account for them. Like NO WAAAY!! Fortunately as part of my work at HR I have had training on fraud, money laundering and how to spot the signs of it happening. And if this is not a clear sign, I don't know what is!! I mean, even Western Union has been in the news in recent years of having being used for money laundering and illegal activities by criminals. Hence the reason I suggested Paypal instead as that is more highly regulated and is a safer way to make transactions with protection.

So, I imagined to myself, what if I agreed to this. Gave "Lanty" all my details, waited for the Bankers cheque, cashed it in, deducted my share of the money, transferred the rest to the "shippers" then sit and wait for them to appear at my door to pick up the car. I think if that happened, the people who turns up at my door will not be "shippers" but will be like police or the FBI or Interpol! Hahahahahaha!! Picture that! Your friend, Big G, on BBC 24 News, on local newspapers, on the internet! Name black listed amongst the financial industry for money laundering. Who would believe me for that I was an "innocent party" eh? Lol!

Take care guys, especially when selling things online. It has not happened when I sold things through eBay before, but this time weird stuff is happening. What's this world coming too?

(5641)

I'm a slob!

Due to recent busy-ness in preparing to start up my driving tuition businss, to going down to Leicester for the AA induction to actually starting my business, I realised I have not been to the gym in almost THREE WEEKS!! Oh my goodness! How horrible! I think my weight has gone up for sure, and it's not the "good weight" from muscle and mass. It's from FLAB which is nasty. I feel sluggish and not as nimble as I usually do, but that's because I devote my time to my business now, reading stuff, thinking about marketing and advertising, lesson planing etc. Don't get me wrong, I have no regrets about any of this. I really enjoy it and I am so glad I'm finally starting up. However, at the same time, my other passion in life - fitness - has started to suffer.

Obviously, missing the gym alone is not enough to just cause weight gain if my food intake rate is equal to my metabolic rate. However, my food in take is similar to when I was still in training, and that could only spell disaster. I get called a pie for eating so much, and not exercising enough. I just remind myself that I have gotta hit the gym and burn it back off and not only that, but to bulk up even more. When I was told I looked fatter, that really hit the nail on the coffin! Can't take it anymore. I really just get a move on! There are two passions in my life. My career (which is starting to take off, thank God!) and my health/ fitness. Being told that I'm fat is like being told that I'm a bad instructor, and that hurts. If I'm told I'm not a good instructor I will then seek ways to improve myself, analyse my teaching techniques and look to deliver lessons of a better standard. Being told I look fat, well that will mean I am definitely doing something wrong and I will have to bring back the eating discipline and definitely will make time to go to the gym. Ideally I'd like to go to the gym as and when I like, even during day time. However, for Glasgow Uni gym there is no free parking during day time!! The car park does not open for public use until 5:15pm or 5:30pm. Sometimes the barrier arm does not even lift at all! So parking is gonna be an issue if I want to go during the day.

Yes, this is my rant over. Back to work... for another half an hour!

(5542)

Pictures from AA Induction

Click on picture for link to gallery to my two days at the AA induction and of course to check out my new car!! :-D

(5493)

Close call!

Sitting on the Virgin train backward facing, going down to Birmingham before I change trains for Leicester. Train departed Central Station at 10am sharp, and guess what time I woke up? 8:23am!! =O I remember hearing mum close the main door as she left for work, probably just after 6:25am for her 7am shift. So I thought to myself that I’d have a while yet until my 7am alarm. But my alarm had never ever went off! And on each occasion turn on the bed I would expect the alarm to go off ‘any moment now’. Then finally I decided to get up out of bed and check my phone and guess what? It said 8:23am!! Alarm didn’t even go off! What’s wrong with it?

Man, was such a panic! I had a moment of just standing on the spot for five seconds where all my perception, thoughts and senses came flooding back to me and I realised what I had to do and what time I left. My train departs Glasgow at 10am, fact! I want to leave the house 9am, fact! I had between 8:24am – 9am to get things done: Pack, check my tickets, make lunch, shower, shave and have breakfast!! My goodness, what a rush it was! In the end I chucked everything I needed into my sports holdall (I think I’ve got everything!). Had a five mins shower. I did not shave. I didn’t not make my sandwiches for lunch, but just brought the sub rolls which Cat got me yesterday. Guess I’ll eat them dry after I finish typing this up. I bought other stuff as well including snack a jacks, crackers, Nobby’s nuts and some fruit pieces and of course water!! All that is for my train journey. I plan to buy food once I arrive at Market Harborough : ) Anyway, once I packed all my stuff, including flip flops for the hotel room, I dressed in shirt and trousers, put my shoes on and still had ten minutes before I left, so had a banana, said ‘Good Morning’ to Cat, prayed to God, then had to scoot out to the bus stop across the road from my house. Had my laptop with me too.

Was hungry was breakfast. Bus got to city centre so early due to post-rush hour traffic, so I had lots of time to spare. Went into HMV to look at stuff and ended up leaving with the Black Eyed Peas albums. Didn’t have to pay for them as I used a gift voucher towards it and still have £4.01 left on it apparently. : ) Then I popped into McDonald’s for a Sausage and Egg McMuffin and a tea. The tea was free with a hot drinks voucher ;-) Quickly munched on the McMuffin then headed across to Central Station to get my train. The rest just went fine as I got on the train, and the usual stuff. But what a rush it was this morning!!

You know how it’s one of those moments where I thought what if I missed the train? What if I had to take a taxi? What if I missed the course? What if I didn’t shower or shaved and rushed down to Leicester just as I was? What if? What it? It’s not a nice feeling, but I truly thank God for giving me a calm heart, clear mind to think of what I needed to pack. And I thank God for making me a guy so I wouldn’t have to pack so much stuff, like hair dryer, shampoo conditioner and lots of clothes. I just wore a shirt, brought a spare shirt, socks, boxers, pyjamas, toiletries and that’s me out! Oh, and of course food! Who can live without food?!

(5443)

If you're not fast, you're last

This time tomorrow I will be on the train down to Leicester. About two hours into my journey to be precise. I wonder if I'll be hungry around that time as I would normally have a mid-morning teabreak. Just like this morning I had tea with a coconut ring cake thing and a banana. Today is my second-last full day shift in this office. I will be on leave tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday. When I come back to work on Friday, it will be my last day of full-time work, after which I will start part-time. I'm getting excited about it now!! In fact, I was quite stressed about things last Friday when I felt I did not have enough time to prepare for teaching, and did not have enough time to read everything I wanted to read before getting my car etc etc. However, thank God the weekend was more relaxing than I expected.

Spent Saturday driving around extended test routes in Springburn as well Anniesland. Later I drove up to Edinburgh with James and Roxane to attend the Coffee Night in the Chinese church. Night was pretty nice and relaxing. Met some new faces as well as caught up with old friends. Got home around 11pm, but was so hungry! Haha!

Had a fairly busy day yesterday. Exercised in the morning before having lunch, then at church I helped with transporting PA equipment, and with Sunday School and later with PA training as we got a new piece of equipment for the English Ministry. After my Specsavers appointment I decided to be spontaneous and accepted Vong's place to hang for a bit. Saw Oswald there too and we chatted for a bit. But Oswald left to go home for dinner not long after. I tried a few events on the Wii Resorts game on the Wii. My favourite is the slicing game! Such fun! And apparently I'm quite good at it for my first time =D Went home for dinner shortly after.

The title of this blogpost: "If you're not fast, you're last", refers to when I found out yesterday that a potential pupil is no longer a potential, but has chosen to start driving tuition with another instructor. This person had been very eager to learn to drive for a while now and was always asking me when I'd be getting my tuition car to start teaching etc. Maybe I was taking too long to get started. Maybe was too eager and wanted to start developing his driving skills. Maybe he was offered a better lesson price. Whatever the reason, it was still a little sad to hear the news and it brought me to new reality. That this is a competitive world. Nothing is for certain in life. If you want something, you have to work for it. If you want something, you have to fight for it. In this occasion, I could not have done anything any different because of the timescales I was offered due to going part-time at this job etc and getting my badge and did I mention the Royal Mail postal strikes that delayed applications etc??! Sigh... I was frustrated at the time it has taken for me to get started, but now there are just a few days to go before I get my tuition car and I will be working to attract as many pupils as possible to get my business going. =)

(5430)

Last weekend of freedom!

Yes, this is my last weekend to enjoy myself, relax before I go down to Leicester for my AA induction and come back with my new tuition car. So what will I be doing this weekend?

Tonight after work I will go for a few farewell drinks with my boss who is leaving for Australia. Then I'll be going to watch the latest disaster movie "2012" at 8pm. Man, I can't believe this will be my first visit to Cineworld since 21st October when I went to see "Couples Retreat". Almost four weeks ago man! That's disgraceful! I usually average once a week. In October I saw six movies. In August, ten movies. So I'm definitely NOT getting my money's worth this month. Reason for this? I've spent so much time on preparing for driving tuition: reading books, publications, talking to instructors. As well as attending church meetings etc. I have no more social life. No more time of leisure and it's sooo sad! Really! This morning I woke up and I asked myself WHY I have to be so busy? WHY have I not been to the gym? WHY can I not get to lie in in the mornings? WHY do I have to get up early again tomorrow? WHY WHY WHY? Yeah, you can tell I was a bit peeved off this morning. Things have settled down a bit, for now.

But seriously. This ain't easy man. I have so many things to read: finish off Instructional "Techniques and Practices" as well as reading new magazines that the Driving Instructor Association has sent me as part of their welcome pack for joining. Need to check driving instructor websites to keep myself updated with changes to the instructor world. Need to familiarise myself with test routes and areas of teaching, especially in Springburn area and the south side. I am familiar with east end with, Baillieston test area and I know enough of the west end, Anniesland test area to get me started teaching there. But south side I have no idea where to go and what to do where, and that's gonna be embarrassing! I only have one south side pupil for now, which is good. So will have to discuss with them what to do. Let's learn together! Lol! Joking aside, Saturday morning I will have to wake up early and go driving around two test centres and follow my printed out test routes from the DSA website, in hope of remembering where I should go to teach pupils in Anniesland and in Springburn. I'll start with Springburn as that is nearer my house. And nearer Costco. So after spending the morning in that area, I will pop into Costco for lunch then drive to Anniesland for an afternoon session, BEFORE going to Edinburgh church Coffee Night for 6pm. So you can imagine, by the end of the night I'm gonna be knackered. I don't hope to get back from Edinburgh that late. Event should finish 9:30pm and then there's the 45mins drive. No - I don't speed anymore. Need to watch what I'm doing as my career would be on the line!

Sunday... Sunday morning I think I will sleep in a little bit. Till 9am or something? That's considered late for me! How pitiful eh? Will probably get some reading done and might get to do some exercises at home. Won't go to the gym as I'll need more time for that and I am helping out with transport of PA equipment this Sunday as well, so will have to be at church for 12:45pm. I will be assisting Sunday School class during service. After service there will be a PA and Worship Team technical training session which I arranged, between 3:30pm-4:00pm. Then I will have Specsavers opticians appointment at 4:20pm!! Only around 5pm will I be free!!! But again, I don't know what I will do with that free time? Meet up with people from church and hang out for a bit? Do some more reading in my favourite Starbucks Borders till closing time of 7:30pm? Go home and make Japanese jelly for mum? Catch up on Flashforward online before the next episode comes out? The gym will close at 5:30pm. Argh!!

Then there's Monday, my second-last full day at work. I will finish at 5pm and then will be free. Then again, the above questions will come out? How do I spend my last free time?! More reading? Go to the gym? Go home to chill? (waste of time in my opinion) Or go to Tesco to buy food for Tuesday's trip to Leicester? I'll be taking the 1000hrs train from Glasgow Central on Tuesday, so I will need to pack on Monday night as well. I will bring my laptop down with me, not really for work, but so I can upload any pictures that I take and also update my blogs with what's happening. The AA have given me two night's stay in Hothorpe Hall as opposed to the standard one night stay, due to the fact that the course starts 10:30am on Wednesday morning and I would not make it down from Glasgow in time on Wednesday. However, for Tuesday night, only the room is provided. I'll have to provide my own dinner! Ooh! Maybe I will learn hunting and gathering skills and capture my own dinner! Or maybe roadkill! Maybe English rabbit will taste different from the Scottish lemon-baked rabbit I once had in Skye! ;-)

Anyway, yes... this weekend is gonna be busy busy and as long as it does not rain, it should be ok. If rain comes along, then my my, it's gonna be sooo bad!!

Here's the link to the conference hall where I will stay and attend the AA induction:

http://www.hothorpe.co.uk

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**Car For Sale**

(click on car for more detailed pictures)



I'm selling my Ford Focus LX as I prepare to start my driving tuition business and will have another car to teach with.


This car was registered July 2003 and has done less than 28,000 miles in it's lifetime.


Ford Focus LX
Silver
Registered 2003
Mileage 27,979 (VERY LOW!!)
1.4L Petrol
Manual Transmission
Five-door hatchback

I am the second owner


Very well looked after under my care. There are plenty more years left in this faithful hatchback. Suitable for all age groups: student road trips or family grocery shopping. Five doors give ease of access to the back.

Service and MOT carried out annually with all receipts and garage stamps.

- Bodywork has been touched up this week

- Brand new Michelin tyres today (7th Nov)

- Road Tax will be renewed in end of November

- Service due May 2010

- MOT due July 2010

Asking price - £4000 ONO

Interested or have any questions? Contact me to discuss. :)

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On new terms

I signed new Terms and Conditions for my current job this morning which will halve my hours and salary when I go part-time. Starting Monday 23rd November I will be working weekdays 8:45am and finishing 12:30pm, which leaves me the rest of the day to give tuition. I am look forward to this change as going part time means I will have time to build up my driving tuition business as well as still have some steady income coming in for dig money and other bills and direct debits etc. When I was signing the agreement HR asked me how I will be looking to balance my workload. I told her I will give tuition in the afternoons and Saturdays. Hope to take Sundays off as a day of rest. Once tuition gets busy and I feel I need the free up the mornings to teach too, especially for pupil tests etc, then I will arrange to finish off here completely and go into full time tuition. I thank God for giving me this opportunity to do these two jobs during this transitional period. =) Now just have to wait till 17th November to travel down to Leicester for my tuition car!

I look forward to this coming weekend. Gonna be busy as I hope to pick up my car from the Car Care Centre. Hopefully it will be all ready for pick up when I call later this afternoon. They've been working on the bodywork since Monday. Fair do's, I did tell them they can take their time so as to do a better job. So yeah, hope to take some nice pictures of the precious before I sell it on =) Will then have early worship practice with Boon at the Church Centre. Then take mum for weekly shopping. That should take about 2hours or more as I intend to have lunch with mum as well and we'll go to Costco and Tesco for our groceries. Might go back to the gym to attempt the '300 workout' again. Well, half of it anyway, '150 workout'. After my first attempt this Wednesday my abs still hurt when I sneeze! Lol!

Ok, must dash! Ciao!

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Hallo-weekend

Pumpkin Party

Ah! Had another eventful weekend, full of food and laughs.

Saturday I went to the Car Care Centre to get an estimate for work to fix the bump, scratches and tipp-ex marks on my current car. Over a year ago the local Ford garage, Reg Vardy, had quoted me around £1100 to get the work done, minus the tipp-ex marks. I took the estimated costs sheet and said I'd call to book the car in for the job when I want it done. I ran away and never ever went back. I just continued using the car as it was. And though it was not aesthetically pleasing, it was a very healthy car, with less than 28,000 miles on the clock to date. Being an -03 registered vehicle, it is a very low mileage car, with an average of only 4666 miles a year. With the date of me getting my tuition car drawing closer (19th November!!), I thought it was about time to get the car fixed up and looking pretty so I can sell it once I get my instructor business running. There would be no point in keeping, insuring, taxing and fuelling two vehicles. What's more, there are limited parking spaces spaces outside my flat, so why add to it? =P

After leaving the Car Care Centre with an agreed three-figure cost, I went to get my hair cut at See Woo. Then I drove around the southside of Glasgow, leaving from Shieldhall test centre and visited the nearby surrounding areas, taking in the different roads that I may be teaching in and having a better idea of where I would be teaching particular manoeuvres etc. Only saw three other driving instruction vehicles in my 2+ hours drive. South side is just huge! Decided to pack it in after 3pm and head to Tesco for a pumpkin. Pumpkins were sold out!! =O Since this was my first time going to a pumpkin party and potentially carving pumpkins, I had no idea they were so popular or that they would be sold out. Morrison's had none. ASDA also had none! Booo! I guess it is like looking for a chocolate selection pack on Christmas Eve, or even Christmas Day itself. NO CHANCE! Ah well!

The Pumpkin Party took place at Roxane and Yin Ru's flat. Though guises where not the main point of our gathering, where two or three Chinese people meet together, there will be food!! We had a wide variety of food to enjoy: crackers, cheese, pasta, salmon, Jaffa cakes, chicken, ribs, rice, pumpkin soup and dessert was toffee cake, toffee and chocolate apples, pies and ice cream! [No, this time I did not have a taste of everything! Haha! Back to more healthy eating approach now.] Had a good time meeting new people as well as catching up with older faces from Edinburgh (William and Alan came to visit). Played "seven level pig" card game which was fun as well as 'challenging' in the fact that you have watch who you speak to. Haha! As for pumpkin carving? Gordon Li carved the big pumpkin with only small cutting knifes. The pumpkin was alight with a tealight candle and burnt throughout the night. Wilson Siu later carved the smaller pumpkin which arrived later on in the night when some visitors popped by. Here is the picture of the father and son pumpkins. Haha!



James' birthday

Yesterday was James' 26th birthday and he was wanting dinner at Nando's restaurant at The Quay. Dinner was at six, so we hung out at Ming's place first before making our way to the restaurant. I dropped my car off at the Car Care Centre on my way to Ming's place. Cat gave me a lift which was cool, cos the persistent rain was not stopping. There was an estimated 45 minutes wait for a big table in Nando's, so the seventeen of us went over to the bowling and arcades part of the leisure park. Few people played bowling, DDR, shooting games, basketball as well as those robotic arm machines where you win prizes. And I managed to win a HUGE Chupa Chup lollipop! =D The wait for our table didn't seem so long whilst we played our games and before long the seventeen of us were squeezed on our extra long table with our lovely HOT HOT food! Extra Hot chicken for me! Ooh la la! After the half chicken I was still hungry, so ordered another half chicken. This time Mango and Lime to give my tastebuds a rest. Haha!

I didn't take that many pictures through the night cos was busy stuffing my face and hands were a bit dirtier than usual. However, Henry and Ming quite a lot, so you can see them through their Facebook. We got James surprise cakes for his birthday and it felt like the whole restaurant was singing Happy Birthday to James as there was long another table nearby who were celebrating a girl's birthday. We were so noisy at one point cheering and shouting etc the manager went up to the other table and said they were to keep the noise down as there were other customers. Lol! I could see the manager stressed from the extremely busy day. =P

Had a great laugh and was good to hangout again after church =)

This week

So this week I will be car-less for a few days and will rely on public transport. In fact, I have bought myself a one week bus pass for £10.25 which will last till next Saturday. With a single bus journey at £1.15 a shot, I will have to take nine journeys to break even and start to really get my money's worth. That will come in handy as I plan to continue going out to Starbucks to read after dinner on week days. And I'll have a Core Team meeting at church tomorrow as well. As for the gym... well maybe a visit on Wednesday. Will be inconvenient to get to the west end on buses, so may arrange a ride from Cat, or just go back to Starbucks to read instead. Hope to finish reading the Highway Code tonight and continue reading Instructor Techniques and Practice on Wednesday or Thursday. Gonna be a busy week this week. Looking forward to a less eventful or at least less costly weekend next weekend. Will need start saving my pennies again, especially after the car repairs =)

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Pictures from Manchester

Click above picture to view my Facebook gallery of pictures from Manchester trip :)

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Manchester visit

Mum's birthday was on Sunday (25th) and our family travelled down to Manchester and spent the weekend eating, walking, shopping, eating, shopping and more eating! Haha!

The weather wasn't bad overall. I recall two moments that it rained on us as we navigated our way around the busy city with Google Maps on paper and through my HTC Magic phone. The food was goood! We only had Chinese cuisines whilst down in Manchester. Mainly for mum to try out different Chinese food that we don't have here in Glasgow. Saturday evening the three of us had a four-persons set dinner which had soup, scallops and lobster for starters, then the mains were tofu dish, egg and clams dish, chicken dish and veg dish. For dessert we had sago and oranges. We were truly stuffed.com! =P The four star hotel room was very nice. The two double beds and double sofa bed provided us with a good night's sleep AND we had an extra one hour added on to our clocks which was a bonus! =) Before going down to Manchester I had decided and said to Cat that I was gonna let myself go during my time down in Manchester. By that I meant eating anything I want - no holds barred. After Saturday night's feast was well and truly out of my system, I looked forward to the buffet breakfast on Sunday morning. My goodness! What an eye-opener! Here's what I ended up gorging in my biggest breakfast ever!:

Had all the above to myself and after almost an hour and a half of stuffing my face I was well and truly about to burst!! Lol!

Visited the Manchester Chinatown which spanned over a few blocks rather than just the wee warehouse we have in Glasgow Cowcaddens area. Went into the supermarkets and wee shops that sold cd's/ dvds's and stationery etc. I didn't get anything Chinese for myself this time. Felt rather uncomfortable lugging so many bags around after we checked out of the hotel but I kept it to myself as it was mum's birthday weekend and that was the most important point. :) The train home was crap. Didn't get our reserved seats due to overcrowding. Was so glad to be home nice and relaxed on Sunday night!! :) Mum seemed to have really enjoyed herself this weekend and that was mega cool. She truly deserved a break from the norm. =) Had such a laugh on Sunday morning - check out my Facebook video if you're my Facebook friend =D

Business trip

And now it looks like no more travelling for a while. Actually, I have another train journey to take as I go down to Leicester in a few weeks time. This one is for business, not for pleasure. Haha! Today is Tuesday... which means in three weeks time I will be heading down to a wee town called Market Harborough for an AA conference where I meet all the other new driving instructor franchisees AND I get to pick up my brand new Ford Focus 1.6 Zetec tuition car! Whoo-hoo! My official start date with the AA will be Thursday 19th November, when I drive the car up to Glasgow. Journey is estimated to be around 328.6miles and will take 5hrs 32mins - according to AA Route Planner. This journey will give me the chance to familiarise myself with the powerful car and will definitely put my TomTom IQ Routes to the test. I look forward to seeing all the different motorway lane images appear each time I'm on the motorway, telling which lane to go on etc. It's so cool! =D

I have three weeks left till my start date and I will be using these three weeks to finish off reading four books.

.

Almost done the yellow book, tips about general communication with friends, bosses, strangers, making impressions, how to win people over etc. This book I started reading since April 2008!! Haha! Never quite got to finish it as I don't read a lot, but almost there now and the previous few chapters have been very interesting indeed. I will need to refresh myself on the Highway Code as well, remind myself of the rules of the road as well as best practice tips for driving in UK roads. Will be useful when I'm answering pupils' questions about theory etc. Driving the Essential Skills is known as the "bible" for all of Britain's drivers and the benchmark which the DSA driving examiners work from. Having this book provides detailed information on all aspects of driving, from care of car to control of car, from how to perform a manoeuvre to what to do in an accident. Finally, the Instructor Techniques and Practices. This will be most useful when I'm in the passenger (instructor) seat, as I guide my pupils through their lessons and make their lessons as informative and as enjoyable as possible so we increase their learning capacity.

These few weeks are gonna be busy busy! =D

(5180)

AA start date

Just off the phone with the AA. Denise confirmed she received my franchise pack around midday. Great news! Whilst on the call with her I checked the Royal Mail tracking site which said my package was still getting delivered! Lol! Ah well, it got there anyway!

So, I paid my deposit and an admin fee and I am now booked in for the AA instructor conference on 18th and 19th of November. Because I will be travelling down from Glasgow, and the conference starts 10:30am on the 18th, there is no way I could make it down on the Wednesday morning to start in time. So they have arranged for me to stay another night at their assigned hotel, which is most likely to be the Horthorpe Hall where the conference takes place too.

The website for the place is http://www.hothorpe.co.uk/ and first sight it looks quite plush! =D

For Wednesday and Thursday I'll have all meals and lodging provided. For the extra Tuesday night, I'll only have lodging provided and will have to sort out my own meals! Gong jiy mein!! Haha!! Nah, most likely gonna have meal in hotel or something and claim that back through expenses. I'll need to sort out train travel as well and Denise mentioned a short taxi trip from Market Harborough station to the place. So exciting!

I wonder if it would be easy to travel to Leicester Cineworld from my place of stay? =P

(5124)

Tracking a promise

I posted my franchise pack to the AA Headquarters in Cardiff, during my lunch break yesterday.

It cost me £4.95 and guarantees delivery by 1pm today. I just checked the tracking code online and it said:

They have less than two hours to fulfil their promise!! =O

(5121)

They are here!!

In my blogpost from 6th October titled "Wait wait wait!" I complained how frustrated I was being delayed in progressing with starting up my driving tuition. Two weeks down the line and I can finally report that there has been some progress! So I ended that particular blogpost with these two lists:

Still awaiting:
- Alliance & Leicester account details
- Mattress
- ADI badge
- Present



My mattress arrived on Wednesday 14th Oct. My shoulder was sore that day, but I managed to slowly replace my former Silentnight Miracoil mattress with a Rest Assured mattress which weighed at least another 5kgs more than the former. The mattress has provided me with great sleep thus far! :)


My Approved Driving Instructor badge arrived the next day, on the 15th! With the badge here, all I had to do was wait for bank details before I sign up for my AA franchise.

Well... this morning my Alliance & Leicester bank details arrived too! Yes!! So tonight I finished filling in my AA franchise application with my bank details and I will send it away tomorrow Special Delivery for delivery on Thursday. Yep, here is me talking about the Royal Mail strikes again. By now I'm sure almost everyone in the UK will know about the proposed two day national walkout planned to Thursday and Friday this week. The Royal Mail website said it will still deliver Special Deliver mail on Thursday morning, but anything sent on Thursday or Friday will not be picked up or delivered. So tomorrow lunch time, I will be jostling with all other local east end residents in pushing my franchise application form through to be delivered. Let's hope I make it there and back within my one hour lunch break!! So... I have a planned start date with the AA - Thursday 19th November. Why so far away? I shall explain a little later.

The final thing I'm waiting for: Present. There is an expected date of arrival of 5th November. We hold on tight! =P

Things yet to be done:
- Confirm franchise with AA
- Choose accountant
- Hand in notice
- Join D.I.A.
- Register for Pass Plus
- Read up on Licensing laws (foreign/ provisional/ UK)
- Learn test areas and routes
- Inform HMRC of self-employment

As I said, I am sending away my franchise application tomorrow. I also met my accountant yesterday after work. The guy will do my sums for me at the end of the tax year and he will liaise with the HMRC on my behalf and tell them of my change to self-employment. All I have to do from now on is to start keeping all my receipts as I can get tax relief on my franchise fees, fuel, training aids, phone calls, association fees etc etc. Lots of things that I 'output' for my business. I was glad to meet with John who explained the tax deadlines to me and it sounded much easier in English, rather than technical talk on websites and publications.

Last Friday my manager Bob asked me if I would consider changing from full time to work part time in the office. Bob is leaving Hewitt at the middle of November and is now training a replacement. Suzanne is starting maternity leave in a few weeks. There will be a replacement needed too. And if I leave too, well, needless to say, it's not gonna make things any easier for our wee team really. Taking up this offer would benefit two parties: they will keep my experience for a while longer and I will keep some steady income whilst my business establishes. So this morning I submitted a letter to my manager stating I'd like to take up the offer of the part time role. And my proposed idea is to work five mornings a week, doing 8:30am-12:15pm. Finishing at that time will mean I can start my first driving lesson at 1pm. :) I think this will be a good start for me as I enter self-employment. I have a few people who are genuinely interested in taking lessons with me, and a few more whom I will need to clarify if and when they want to start. So when my client base builds up and I need to free up my mornings too, I will submit my one month notice to Hewitt and leave then.

I thank God for giving me the opportunity to go part time. That was not something offered to me at the start when I first informed my company of my plans. So, I believe God provides and he protects. His plans are to prosper me and not to harm me. :)

So now!! What's left to do?

Decide which association to join: Driving Instructors Association or The Motor Schools Association of Great Britain.

Register to teach Pass Plus.

Familiarise myself with training areas and test routes for Springburn, Anniesland and Shieldhall test centres.

And pick up some Provisional Licence (D1) application forms for potential students.

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