Day Thirty

Snowfall continued throughout the day here and it was another day off work.  It has not felt good being trapped at home not being able to work and in fact losing money as the franchise still comes off me as well, which is one of the biggest reasons why I am looking to leave the AA Driving School and become indepedent in the springtime.  Don't want to do it now cos in this weather it would be foolish to start up anything new.  I'll use the time from now till around March to decide which direction I will head in and which route to take =)

So bored

Was so bored at home all day.  Fortunately Cat came back from Birmingham last night and was here to keep me sane.  Here's what I was up to between 8am till now (almost 10pm).

Got up at 8am to call the DSA Springburn Test Centre.  They confirmed the driving tests were off today, even some examiners couldn't make it in to the test centre, so no chance.  Then I called my pupil whose test was at 10:44am to inform him of the news and rolled back into bed.  Whilst wrapped up in my cooled down covers I downloaded some new apps for my phone (HTC Magic).  I got a Lighter app, a Basketball shooting app and the ever popular Paper Toss game.  Each app was free from the Android Market so that was good.  The Paper Toss game was the most interesting one.  After getting my high score record of 12 shots in a row I went to have breakfast.

I had a Skype chat with Nick and got to try the new webcam on my new laptop.  Nick said it was pretty clear.  That's good.  Totally didn't feel like going out in the snow but I had couple of things I had to do like go to the post office and drop off some donations to the Salvation Army charity shop.  Did that in about half an hour and came back to have lunch.  I made char siu and egg fried rice and had that with leftover roast chicken and made hot gravy for it.  Yum yum!  =9

The World's Strictest Parents

Time went by so slowly guys.  I was so bored at looking out the window and seeing flurries of snowflakes pass by the window.  It was so cold outside I couldn't even be bothered scraping the snow and ice off my car cos I wasn't driving it anyway.  Will probably do it tomorrow morning if/ when I go to the gym.  I watched Taken on dvd then had dinnner after mum got home from work.  Then... back on the computer again and watched Don Juan DeMercado TVB drama and then watched an episode of The World's Strictest Parents on BBC iPlayer.  Now this programme was very interesting.  It followed two wayward British teenagers from the UK who travelled to Holland to live with a family with very strict parents.  They had to leave behind their debauched lifestyles of alcohol, sex, drugs and parties etc and live a week of house rules, discipline, chores and trust!  Now that was interesting to see how these two teenagers (16 year old boy and 17 year old girl) adapted to their new environments where everyone was focussed on education, discipline and self-control.  Their peers drink but don't get drunk and all want to get a good education for a good career in the future and they laugh at the idea of just wanting to "go out and get drunk with my friends and having fun."  Sure they know how to have fun, but they all seem to have much more self-control and don't live their life for partying all the time.  The culture difference was hard for the kids to accept but it was good to see that in the end the kids changed for the better.  The once spoilt girl who hid behind makeup and fake tan and had no respect for family actually learnt to cook for twelve members of learning difficulties group and helped them out with housekeeping.  And the young lad whose role model was gangster rappers and who was always angry and smoking marijuana has learnt trust and respect for his family and to be a role model for his siblings.

Although the programme is called "The World's Strictest Parents" the guardians from Holland were not unreasonable.  They just lived with rules and conditions that made life better for their kids.  Above all, the most important point they lived on is Trust.  "Trust brings freedom" the father guardian told the show, which I think is true.  If you can gain and display trust and respect from people around you, you will be able to do more and enjoy more freedom.  It's the same with us living as Christians.  Can God trust you with little things?  If He can trust you with little things He could then trust you with big things.  With all things, however big or small, you should do with all your heart and be focussed on it.  Even setting up chairs for a Sunday service.  Don't just lay chairs out without thinking of the layout and spacing etc.  Set them up properly and people will be able to worship God in a more comfortable environment.  Use your heart and God will acknowledge it.  =)

Behind all the rules and discipline the parents are actually very nice people.  Especially the mother who spent quality time with the boy and then the girl alone and got to know them deeper inside.  She found out why the boy was so aggressive and why he wanted to take cannabis all the time.  By talking to the girl she found out why she always avoided going out into the public without any makeup on and was obsessed with her looks etc.  I won't give away too much here in case you are planning to watch it.  Behind all the rules and discipline the parents had a lot of love for the kids.  Rules and discipline may not seem nice at the very start.  Very restrictive perhaps to those who like freedom.  However, if you step back and look at it, you will see the rules are generally there to help people live harmoniously and to try and keep things in order.  As for discipline, that is out of love.  Parents discipline children when they do wrong, but this is out of love as well.  Chinese parents may express this love out of smacking with flip flops or whipping of the chicken feather duster.  For the record, I no longer get smacked by my mothers flip flops or the chicken feather duster.  This reflects my very good behaviour at home.  =P

Hebrews 12:6-8

"...because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.  Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?  If you are not disciplined — and everyone undergoes discipline — then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all."

Think that's me done here.  Gonna get ready for bed now.  Hope to get up early tomorrow for the gym first thing in the morning, hopefully make it in before 7am after removing the snow from the car.  Hopefully the overnight snowfall will not affect the roads that much.  And THEN once I have my breakfast etc, it will be time... a special time for me... time to... can you guess??  =P

Day Twenty Nine

Spent most of today snowed in, trapped at home.  If it weren't for going to the gym first thing in the morning, I would have home bound all day.  The snow was still pretty much everywhere around here.  On the roads the kerbs were still not very visible and that took away any chances of doing manoeuvres.  All four driving lessons were cancelled either by myself or pupils.  My 7-9pm pupil told me she slipped on her way to work in the morning and dislocated her knee.  OUCH!!  Felt so sorry for her when I heard the news.  Let's hope she will be better and well enough to drive next Monday.

Samsung

My new laptop arrived this afternoon, around 12:30pm I think.  Had to run down to get it because the courier couldn't find get a parking space on my street.  The snow mayhem did him no favours either.  This new Samsung laptop is pretty cool.  Runs on the latest Windows 7 which I have a bit of experience with through the church EM laptop, but I'm sure I'll get to know it a lot more here.  Currently have to get used to the new keyboard cos the querty keys are set slightly more to the left side, and there is now a full number pad on the right hand side.  That will come in handy for when I do my sums and admin etc.  =)  Have yet to try out the dvd or blu ray capabilities, but might leave that till tomorrow.

Tired out

Pretty tired right now after a day of gym and tidying up, hoovering and clearing out the living room.  Have really tidied up the whole living room and hallway.  Wanted to make myself useful whilst being at home all day, so shortly after I got my laptop I began to move and hoover behind my computer desk, the surrounding chairs and sofas all were moved and hoovered underneath.  There was so much dust and junk hidden under.  Sorted out all the bits and bobs lying around in piles and arranged everything to make it all look so much neater and smarter.  Finally plugged in my new laptop just before dinner.

Personal record

At the gym this morning I achieved my own personal best on the standard deadlift.  I did two sets of four at 100kgs.  Was a little surprised at myself, considering I had only went to the gym once last week.  Oh yeah, the weather really affected gym attendance this morning.  When I went into the weights room after my cardio warm up, there were only seven people in total there.  One was myself and another was a personal trainer.  Felt like I had the whole gym to myself, my own big personal gym.  Haha!

Day Twenty Eight

I've just added a new webpage onto my Bookmarks: BBC Weather for Glasgow.  The longer this cold winter weather continues the more often I need to check the forecast.  So far it has been very accurate in it's predictions of snowfall in Glasgow.  Yesterday's snowfall resulted in my first driving lesson being cancelled.  I did not feel the pupil was at the level to handle such conditions on the road.  My afternoon lesson 1-3pm was more local and he was at the level which I could let him drive slowly and carefully on the main roads.  Manoeuvres were totally out of the question as we just could not see the kerbs properly to perform safely.  Then the overnight reign of snowfall continued through to this morning and the snow was so thick the Chinese Church services were cancelled.  Rumours were there were only two gritters out putting salt onto the roads of Glasgow as they had not foreseen this amount of snow. Ouch!  For most of the day I felt stranded at home, unable to go out in fear of slipping, falling, skidding of tyres or getting hit by snowballs.  Haha!  After the snowfall ended and I finished tidying up the living room and spent time with God, I decided to go out to watch Unstoppable with James.  The drive out to town was delayed after clearing the thick snow off my car.  Fortunately I bought a squeegee some time ago to help remove excess water from the car, so thought using that would help move the snow off.  It worked a treat!  Managed to get the car running in ten mins!  =)  Journey to cinema and back was quite easy as I drove on the main road throughout and the snow was all melted.  Prayed to thank God for safe journeys.  =)

Have faith

Feeling a bit better today compared to yesterday.  It's a strange feeling really.  Had expected to feel better perhaps after a certain meeting, but in fact after it all ended and it had time to sink in, it had kinda made me feel worse.  It's my own doing really.  I know at the end of the day, it was my choice whether to meet up or not.  Truth be told, my expectations were not met.  In fact I was a little disappointed at the end of the night.  But I know it is my shortcomings that I need to sort out first and foremost: impatience and insecurity are the top two.  I know I need to walk on God's path, however that might not always be easy.

My devotions reminded me to have faith.  Keep faith in God even when times are tough.  Even when you see no way out of your struggle.  Keep believing in God.  God won't always save you from your troubles right away.  Even when you pray to Him, He might answer 'Yes', 'No' or even 'Wait'.  So patience is the key, and perserverance.  Both will eventually pay off.  God will not give me anything beyond what I can bear.  But when something does get too difficult, He will come to our rescue.  1 Corinthians 10:13 reminds me of this and I believe it applies to hard times and struggles as well.  I need to draw strength from God =)

Day Twenty Seven

Don't feel like blogging tonight.  Not in the mood for it.

Some people are "不知所谓".

Nothing I can do about it.  Just close my eyes, bow my head, clasp my hands... and pray.

Day Twenty Six

Now is 10:45pm and I got home about half an hour ago.  Work finished at 6pm for me, but then went to meet workmate Bryan to chat about his forthcoming ADI check test. We met at 6:30pm for dinner at Morrisons and it kicked off from there.  We discussed what he was gonna do and how he was gonna prepare for it then we went out for a drive to the site where he would carry out his check test on the day.  At the start he was quite nervous, as I was back in July this year, but at the end of the night he said he felt much more confident with it and thanked me for my help.  I told him I didn't do anything, however, I totally understand how he feels cos I went through the same thing back in July and he was there to help me too, being my guinea pig as I tried out techniques for the parallel park manoeuvre.  So tonight has been quite beneficial for the two of us cos whilst talking to another instructor we get to bounce ideas off each other.  We learn new things as well as ask questions that only another person in the same trade will understand.  Haha!  I look forward to meeting up with Duncan and Ann who are also fellow instructor friends, both preparing for their check tests in December and January respectively.  Out of the lot of us, I find I have the best 'advantage' if you can call it that.  And that is I have God in my life.  I have the peace of God in my heart each day, knowing that He is watching out for me, keeping me safe, keeping me and my pupils from harm.  I gave thanks at EM last week because it was my first year anniversary working as a driving instructor and I thank God for His protection throughout.  A few weeks ago, a driving instructor was knocked down whilst crossing Anniesland Road in the west end of Glasgow.  This 47 year old man was a fellow AA comrade.  Though I haven't met him before, it is sad to hear this news. (News story can be read here)  It reminded me that life is short and we have no time to waste.  We really should appreciate and treasure each moment we have.  I wouldn't say we should party and go wild everyday, or 'live life to the max' or 'live like its the end of the world' which is the sort of attitude people seem to have these days.  But if you count your blessings that God has given you, you will find peace and contentment and there should be less 'need' to chase after the things of the world.

Happiness

Talking about contentment: yesterday on the radio I heard a programme discussing the Conservative Party's plans to measure the UK's happiness level as well as GDP.  They feel the need to find out how the nation is feeling is as important as finding out the economic growth of the country.  The radio show invited a guest Ruth Dugdall a writer and probation office who helps people feel positive about themselves.  They invited listeners to call in and answer four questions to help Ruth gauge how happy they were out of a score of ten.  So here are four questions asked:

1) How loved do you feel?

2) If you could change your life in one way, what would it be?

3) When you wake up in the morning, what is your first thought?

4) If all material things were removed from you, what would you left with?

These four questions were thought-provoking and I tried to answer them when listening whilst having lunch.  Here's my response to them... Don't laugh now, they are from my heart.

1) How loved do you feel?
Quite loved, honestly.  I have a very loving family, my mum and sister are very dear to me and I know for a fact they would do anything for me.  We care for each other very deeply and hold each other together.  We hardly ever argue and there is a lot of love and grace within our family.  I feel loved by my friends too.  I know there are people who appreciate me and are willing to be there for me in times of trouble as well.  Mostly these are friends from church whom I am grateful to God for, without whom I may have not have so many friends.  Ultimately, God's love plays a big part of my life.  Gives me the sense of security and inner peace inside each day.

2) If you could change your life in one way, what would it be?
I would change the way I handle relationships.  I admit I have made many stupid crazy mistakes because I jumped into relationships too easily, and hurt people.  Although I talk about a sense of security from God, I often feel that which is unseen is not enough and I seek a more security in 'physical form', that I need a person in my life in order to make me feel safe, secure etc.  However, I know ultimately this security should be from God, all from God and I have chosen to walk that path now.  To go back on the path with God and walk His way to await the right one from Him.  My mind may sometimes wonder, 'What if God doesn't have anyone for me?  Or wants me to be single??'  Then I remind myself of the verse in Jeremiah 29:11.

So one thing I'd change in my life would be my love life.

3) When you wake up in the morning, what is your first thought?
This I hadn't really thought of before, however, after reviewing when I get up in the mornings, I think most mornings my first thoughts are: "What muscle groups am I going to work on today?" or "How can I improve myself?" or "How many days have I not been to the gym??".  Not sure what Ruth would make of that if analysing me, haha! but at present health and fitness plays a bit part of my life.  Maybe I am not good at many things, but if building muscles and keeping fit is one thing I'm good at then I will stick with it.  In this unstable world where things can collapse any moment financially or emotionally or whatever, I know keeping myself healthy is something that I can keep for myself and if I work hard I gain hard.  As with all things in life I suppose.  It depends what you invest your time and efforts in.  I know if I work hard on my body I see results.  These are the days to do that, because once I have my own flat and/or my own family then I might never get to time to care about my health again and might turn into a fat blob again!!  Lol!

4) If all material things were removed from you, what would you be left with?
Well, if all material things were removed from me, I would be left with the things that matters to me the most: family, friends, my faith and my fitness!!  (Notice how Facebook is not on my list?  =P)  I know the things I listed money can't buy.  These are the things that matter to me the most and keeps me sane.  I am grateful to God for leading me through the bestest of times as well as the worse of times.  "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger" some people say.  Well I personally agree that once someone experiences something good or bad they learn from the experience and it adds another chip into their character model which is developing every day.  Bad experiences are the once that really chip our model like an ice pick on an ice sculpture.  I know each day God is with me wherever I am, even on they days when I go silent and don't talk to Him much beside giving thanks for my meals.  I know He loves me a lot and always want my attention.  I know I will always have Him in me and with me.  I know I am not to abuse Him as well though... :)

So... to analyse myself I'd give myself a rating of 7/10 for happiness.  I find greatest happiness and contentment with my family and friends and when life gets stressful I get stress-relief through my workouts which I gain from ultimately.  God and fitness are important to my life as well and definitely helps me through my job whenever that gets tough.  Generally I am quite a happy and content person, though sometimes my happiness zaps away when people remind me of my past mistakes etc and that makes me unhappy again.  Part of life I guess.  The past will always come back and bite you in the ass some day.  Lol!!

Try asking yourselves these four questions and see what answers you might have.  You might be surprised!  =)

p.s. it is snowing heavily in Glasgow right now!!

Day Twenty Five

No time to blog tonight.  Got home at 9:30pm and did admin then spent time Youtube'ing (issat even a word??) for Chinese Christian songs.  They helped me give me a sense of calm after I came home quite frustrated after unexpected diversions and lessons over running that meant I couldn't go to toilet from between 4:30pm till 9:30pm.  Grrr!!  I thank God for sustaining me throughout the evening lessons.  Not nice I tell you.  Here's a song that I listened to that brought a smile to my face.


The song is called 這一生最美的祝福 which literally translated means "this life's greatest blessing" and the lyrics describe how great it is knowing Jesus Christ.  How He is always with us, how His grace is there for me during our darkess times etc.  It is a such a nice song =)

After the song finished the related links/ recommendations at the side propped up a personal testimony by Ada Choi 蔡少芬 a well-known TVB actress.  I found out in recent years that she was a Christian but this was the first time I heard her testimony which was very interesting and very encouraging.  Well, as with Youtube one video leads to another and so I found out that her testimony was part of an evangelistic event where four TVB Christian actresses shared their testimonies as well.  The church hall was filled with many people who seemed so interested in what they had to say, several other actors/actresses among them too.  So mum and I listened/ watched some of their sharing and it was nice.  It was very nice to see the famous actresses so down to earth and sharing their personal encounters with God.  Truly this is one true God whom nobody can deny.  This God is THE God over all other idols and "religions".  I want to share the first part with y'all and you can connect to the other three parts yourself I'm sure =)

I'm off to shower now.  Be blessed!




P.s. Video is in Cantonese and Mandarin, sorry if you cannot understand Chinese.  Just watch the video =P

Day Twenty Four: Part Two

Wow, end of the night already.  How time flies eh!  One more week to go before I log on to my Facebook account and check out if anybody has been contacting me.  How many emails in Inbox?  How many notifications?  How many event invites?  How many wall comments?  How popular am I?  Haha!  Nah, the last one is definitely not one I question.  I don't think I'll miss Facebook that much if I were to go another month without it.  I've been like totally fine without it.  Guess I've found another outlet to express myself.  Here!!  Haha!

Phone covered

I have an item of thanksgiving to share.  Yesterday I thought I lost my phone cover for my HTC Magic.  It seemed to have disappeared since after a driving lesson with a pupil between 4pm-6pm.  I looked all round the car for it though it was dark and I used a torch to shine around the seats and footwells etc.  Nothing.  I drove back to the alleyway where I were remembered last holding the phone cover before my pupil came out.  Nothing.  I looked around the house and searched my jacket pockets.  Nothing.  So I resigned to label myself as being careless for losing such important part of my phone, which helps protect it from dust, scratches and general exposure.  However, something was still niggling inside me and didn't want to give up the search.  I wanted to look again in the morning where hopefully proper daylight would help me see better in the car.  So this morning when I got to the car the first thing I did was go on "hunt mode".  As soon I sat on the driver's seat I looked through my steering wheel and saw my white phone cover lying flat behind the steering wheel and under my instrument cluster and the dials etc.  And cos yesterday the sun set around 4:15pm it made it very difficult to see it was there as it did not obstruct the lights on the dials etc so I couldn't see it.

So I really thank God for keeping the phone cover safe for me.  Honestly, I had no clue where it was cos when I was calling the 4pm pupil I left it on the passenger seat.  When he came to the car I remembered I gathered my stuff together for him to sit and it could have dropped out of the car when he opened the door.  I drove back to that dead end where I met him and shone my fog lights and main beams in hope to find the white phone cover but saw nothing.  I knew looking around in the dark was hopeless.  It wasn't until God's natural light shone around me that the phone cover appeared in front of me.  The lesson to be learnt from this is, not do anything in the dark.  We as Christians are light of the world and salt of the earth.  We should love the light and dislike the dark.  For myself personally I find I make the wrong decisions when late at night.  I find my senses are dimmed then as well, along with my logic.  After midnight is when I generally get tired and grumpy.  It is when I am most prone to arguing etc.  That's why last night I stopped myself from making that purchase of the Samsung laptop (but I actually really purchased it properly this morning along with a copy of Microsoft Office 2010 for half price!).  It's after midnight when self-control becomes laxed as well and I am more prone to sexual tempation online (something that I've quit for a while now which is good!).  So do things in the light.  Make important decisions in the morning.  Sleep over it.  Pray over it.  But leave it till the morning.  Most things we feel "passionate" about on the night actually feels "ok" the next morning.  Ever get that?  Even anger is the same. 

Midnight

Talking about midnight.  This is something I have be much more disciplined about.  I want to get to bed by midnight the latest every night.  I need to get to bed by midnight every night.  This is because my regular weekday alarm goes off at 6:10am and I get up and ready for the gym.  Getting to bed midnight would mean I have at least six hours of sleep each night, providing my mind is not over active and not want to settle.  However, these few weeks my averaged bedtime is 12:45am or so due to blogging or surfing Youtube or shopping etc.  I just use up too much of my precious sleeping time on something like the internet!  The internet never sleeps.  What you wanna do now you can do tomorrow I'm sure.  So if you find it hard to let go of the internet at night, especially just before bed, just close the lid of your computer or turn off monitor of your computer and just go to bed.  Really.  You will not regret it because the extra time in bed is essential, is priceless.

I have to be disciplined to get to bed before midnight every night and will try to go back to the gym at least three times a week kinda thing.  Maybe that will be my December challenge: to avoid being online after midnight!  Ooooh!

Day Twenty Four: Part One

It's 9:20am right now and I am still at home.  Which can only mean one thing... I didn't go to the gym today.  Noooo!!  The alarm went at it's usual time of 6:10am and I had my usual 'five mins' lie-in.  Was fully conscious of the need to get up and get out of bed and head to Finnieston, possibly to meet Sean and James.  However, I was just so tired and I gave in.  Not only that, whilst turning off my mobile phone alarm I read an email from Laptopsdirect which informed me they received my order for a new Samsung laptop which was strange, because I was on Laptopsdirect site last night after blogging and looked around comparing prices with the likes of PC World, Play.com etc and found them to the be cheapest.  However, I wanted to check out delivery costs and VAT etc which would make the total price a lot different from this price tag they were showing.  I found out that getting a Recovery Disk with the computer actually costs an extra £12.97 which I had thought was already inclusive with all computers since I had it with my Packard Bell pc and later this current Toshiba laptop.  Anyway, the total cost including recovery disk, delivery and VAT etc came to £783.29 which is a saving of £6.70 compared to the likes of Play.com. I wasn't so keen anymore as the savings aren't that great overall, so I clicked on the payment choices and was given a choice of paying my credit card (0.95% surcharge involved), debit card or Paypal.  I logged in my Paypal account through that link and it took me to my page.  I checked my card details were still correct, but then I decided it was far too late to make any sort of big purchase so I just closed off the windows and shut down the computer and went to bed.

You can imagine the surprise I got this morning when I read the email on my phone saying the order went through and should be dispatched by Friday 26th November!!  Lol!  I messaged them around 8:30am to request cancellation of order and that wasn't enough, I called up customer services and explained to Jonathan that I didn't complete the order, was merely checking out all the details to see what total cost would be but did not confirm order with Paypal.  He was nice enough to cancel the order for me and now I don't have to worry about buying something against my full willingness.  Haha!  True, it is a very nice laptop and if I get it I will get to watch nice movies and dramas on it.  Even Youtube would be much more enjoyable.  Mum would certainly appreciate the bigger screen when I show her photos etc.  However, I want to spend more time reviewing and looking around first.  If I were to make a purchase I'd definitely do it before end of the year when the VAT increase comes through.  I'm also thinking of getting a nice speaker set as well.  Again, need more time to look around, investigate and know what I'm getting first.

Oastso sweet

Just had my breakfast and I find my current boxes of porridge oats far too sweet.  A couple of weeks back I was at the new Maryhill Tesco and I got two boxes for £3.  The Winter Pudding and Honey & Almonds were new editions to the popular Oatso Simple range so I wanted to try them.  Ten packets in each box.  Shouldn't be a problem to finish if I have a packet every weekday morning, with a banana.  But for some reason, I am finding these two boxes of oats very sweet.  Finding it hard to eat now.  I am trying to cut down on sweet stuff now.  Trying to avoid putting too much sugar into my body as it is not good for you and can so easily be stored as fat around the body.  Nooooo!  Right, I will finish the remaining nine packets and then return back to Original which when have it feels much healthier as well.  No more crunchiness of the sugar the bottom of the bowl when mixing.  Lol!!

Shall blog later.  Ciao!!

Day Twenty Three

Today is Jack Chu's birthday, 23rd November.  Jack was a guy from Hong Kong who came over to Glasgow to finish his degree in Optometry in Caledonian University back in like 2004 or something.  I remember he joined the Cantonese service in church and later came to play footy with us when we played the uncles etc.  It was a frosty evening after church and I remember Jack had a Manchester United top on.  He asked if he could take my place in goals as he found it hard to breathe so much of the cold frosty air.  Haha!  Jack then became a friend of my mum as well after meeting her through Chung Ying cash and carry during her short stint there.  It's amazing how God works and brings people together, letting them meet and share special seasons in their lives.  When we visited Hong Kong in 2008 he was very eager to play host and took us around Causeway Bay, Wetland Park, Ocean Park etc.  Met his then girlfriend Avis as well and went to their church.  Jack is a cool guy.  Still is I'm sure, just that we have not been in contact for a long while.  Well since 2008 really when we came back.  He does speak to mum now and again through the phone.  Just thankful for friends around the world tonight.  =)

My first driving lesson is at 3pm tomorrow.  Morning lesson cancelled, so my working hours are gonna be a cushy 3pm start, 7:30pm finish.  Less hours means more rest, but also means less money.  Hmm... ah well, enjoy the rest while I can.  Might not be able to rest that much, especially if I want to go to the gym tomorrow to do cardio, shoulders and some abs.  Might even pop into the sauna and steam room at the end of it.  That actually makes me tired sometimes. Like the body wants to stay relaxed and then you doze off.  Haha!  Not in the steam room of course!  Maybe a couple of hours afterwards.  So I might nap at home before heading out for lunch with a brother in the west end.  Gonna go for dinner in the evening with another brother.  Special offer with a Spree Book.  =)  Night night!!

Day Twenty Two

It's so late already!  I got home around 9:25pm and went on the computer to look at my driving lessons, sort out admin, counted money, ate some banana and walnut loaf which Cat made yesterday and then went online looking at shoulder exercises and also watched the Lifehouse Everything Skit.  Not my first time watching the sketch, but each time I watch it it really moves me, especially the salvation part when God bears it all on Himself.  You'll get what I mean if you watch it.  Do watch it all though.  Of all the different versions I've seen this is the most dramatic one I feel.  =)

Day Twenty One

Had a really nice day today.  Nothing spectacular, but indeed very heart warming and very comforting.  I find peace in my heart tonight.

EM

At English Ministry service we had assistant pastor of Findlay Church, Peter Collinson, speak to us from the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand and also Peter walking on water.  The main points I took away from that were that we are to have faith in God even when things seem impossible.  And is it only when we dare to take the step of faith (like Peter stepped out of the boat into the water) that our faith and trust in God gets stronger.  If we fully trust in God, He will never disappoint.  =)  Before the service we also had Holy Communion and that gave us a reminder of Jesus' sacrifice for us.  How He bled and died on the cross so our sins are washed away and we can be right with God.  We were given time to confess our sins to God before partaking the emblems.  This was important for me.

After the service I did the usual tidying up stuff along with helping with refreshments.  When that was done I had the chance to talk to Pastor Pan.  It was an amazing chat with him, updating him with what's been happening with my life, in particular of the past few months.  Pastor's care, his love and patience was very Christ-like and I truly felt very comfortable speaking frankly to my God-appointed shepherd.  I confessed many of my wrong doings and wrong decisions to him and also thanked him for the care and support.  In the end we prayed together and we submitted it all to God.

From today I leave all these things behind me.  I lay them at the foot of the cross and I repent and turn from my evil ways.  I submit everything into His hands and offer my life back to God.  I have been lost for far too long and things started to get out of hand.  I repent and I want to walk right with God again.  I feel so stupid for all this, and I now feel so free.  May I never return on that dark path.

I want to say once more and hopefully no more: Sorry.

As I recommit myself to God I want to share a song with you all.  This is an old song by Don Moen, it is called I Offer My Life.  The lyrics are amazing and really speaks of how I feel right now.



Verse
All that I am, all that I have
I lay them down before you, oh Lord
All my regrets, all my acclaims
The joy and the pain, I'm making them yours


Chorus
Lord, I offer my life to you
Everything I've been through
Use it for your glory
Lord I offer my days to you
Lifting my praise to you
As a pleasing sacrifice
Lord I offer you my life


Verse
Things in the past, things yet unseen
Wishes and dreams that are yet to come true
All of my heart, all of my praise
My heart and my hands are lifted to you

This song resounds in my head.  As I was praying with Pastor I was envisioning how great it would be to wait upon the Lord.  To dedicate my life to Him and live to chase after Him rather than to chase after the desires of my heart.  My desires may not be His desires and if I make man-made decisions they are prone to fail.  If I try and test my future decisions with the Word of God and listening of the Holy Spirit, things will work out perfectly.  I have to patient and fully trust in God.  No point in saying that and not doing it.  That would be hypocrisy, right?  So let this blog post be a reminder to me that I shall not chase after anything or anyone without first consulting God and seeking His approval =)

Other changes

After I left church I had a good time in fellowship with brother Richard.  We have not had a catch up since the summer I think.  Conversations were interesting and when we talked about my work a  few things popped up that we felt I need to address.

* Time/ lesson management each day, in order to schedule in a better eating time.  Currently whenever I finish 9pm I don't get dinner till roughly 9:30pm and that's not good because I need to leave time for digestion and that means I cannot get to bed by my target of before midnight.  And next morning I usually get up 6:15am for the gym.

* Drink more water: have been dehydrated for a while now.  Didn't realise until May when doing a check at Greens Gym.  I fear rushing to the toilet in between every lesson, or even worse, during lessons!  So I keep water intake to a minimum during office hours, but body has gotten so used to it that I hardly have fluids even after work.  Not good!

* I need to be more stern/ strict with Chinese pupils.  The majority of my Cantonese-only speaking pupils are older than me, so I find it hard to speak strictly and sternly with them when they do something wrong and/or dangerous.  Being younger I feel they are more "superior" and I should respect them so have to be extra soft in my approach to them, even when they are wrong.  However, I know I should not be like this, because as part of my job I need to give them professional and accurate advice and tell them off if necessary.  I need to toughen up and also not feel embarrassed or scared to follow the afore agreed Code of Conduct with cancellations as well and not let anybody take advantage of me.  Sometimes I feel I am too nice and in the end it is me who suffers =(

So these three starred items above are things I will be reviewing about my working life.  Last Friday was my first year anniversary.  One year since I started working as a driving instructor.  I received my free fleece jacket from the AA yesterday too!  Haha!

Day Twenty

Going to bed right after this.  Really tired.  This morning I went to the gym with Nick and Sean.  We trained together and worked on chest and shoulders.  On the bench press I achieved my personal best yet: two reps of 95kg.  It felt good.  Maybe my one rep max could be 97.5kg?  Or even 100kg?  I will need another really trusted 'spotter' for that though.  For shoulder press I managed six reps of 30kg dumbbells each hand.  Right now my shoulders are so tired, especially after I finished off the shoulder workout with 38kg dumbbell shrugs.  I wanna grow grow grow!  But unfortunately my belly seems to be growing as well.  I really need to fit the flab really soon.  I don't like the overhang on my waist.  Does not look or feel good.  It's only visible to me right now and I don't want it to be visible to others, otherwise that would be a real disaster.  I think I will do more cardio work starting Monday and cut down in eating out.  Gotta watch what I put in my mouth ah!  =D

Three weeks without Facebook now.  Things are going great.  As I said to Alfred this evening, I might even log back on in December to check out my Inbox and reply to anything necessary and might even log off again for another month.  I'm sure I haven't been missing out much at all.  In fact, I have gained a lot more time now.  Also, as per my previous blog entry, I will save myself from potential psychological stresses of Facebook.  Haha!!

Tomorrow is Sunday.  Another chance to worship God with fellow brothers and sisters.  Looking forward to that and also a chat with a top elder.  Later I should be dining with another brother and going to watch HP7.1

p.s. Yesterday was my one year anniversary a driving instructor :) 

Day Nineteen

Have just done my admin for today and sorted out pictures from my memory card to laptop computer.  Should be in bed now but as always, wanna input an entry for my many fans out there.  Haha!  Aye right!  Not that many read my stuff anyway I don't think.  All I talk about is what life is like without Facebook!  Lol!

Btw, I can begin to see life without Facebook as being pretty painless.  In fact, I currently find advantages of not having Facebook.  So far, I find that it helps me save lots of time from looking at people's statuses and checking out walls and the worse time-consumer: photo albums!!  One click leads to another and then you find people you know and then you look at their profile and the locked ones you think about whether you wanna add them or not etc.  Before you know it, that "one click" or "five minutes" turns into an hour or two hours!!  =O  Time flies when you are let loose on Facebook.  It's worse when you are on stalking mode.  See someone you find attractive?  Great, let's look through all their pics and "get to know them"!  After about an hour you will feel like you've "known" them for a while.  You know what parties they've been to where your mutual friends where present too.  You know where they went on holiday and which year etc.  But do you really "know" someone?

I have found that without Facebook I have become more aware of the people around me.  I have become more aware of giving people attention and not just Facebook attention, but face to face personal interaction.  It's nice.  Since 1st November I have spent time with fellow brothers in Christ, helped move house, met up with friends visiting from another city etc.  Have spent nice fellowship with them and got to know them more personally.  For the next couple of weeks I have a few more things scheduled.  Like meeting another brother for dinner tomorrow evening.  Will have dinner and movie with another on Sunday evening.  A lunch on Wednesday and maybe a movie in the evening.  And then maybe a housewarming on the Saturday.  Lots of things happening and it's nice when you get to spend quality time with your friends, close or not so close, and get to interact with them, share with them, support and encourage each other and where possible, pray with one another.  That's what God calls us to do:

John 13:34-35

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Asthma attacks on Facebook

Oh yeah, heard a news article on the radio this morning mentioning that Facebook can bring on asthma attacks.  How?  Cos there was this young 18-year-old asthmatic sufferer who hyperventilated when he saw pictures of his ex-girlfriend on Facebook.  Turns out she had blocked him from seeing any of her stuff but when he logged in with a new username he saw her stuff and had a nasty reaction to it.  The experts says these social networking sites could be a new source of 'psychological stress'.  Hmm... don't think that will happen to me, but indeed I understand where they are coming from.  Some people are just obsessed with Facebook or a particular person or with popularity (checking how many comments they have etc).  I'm glad I am able to remove myself away from this sort of thing and focus on myself and think of God more too.

Full story of the Facebook-related asthma attack on here.

Day Eighteen

Today I was talking to somebody about relationship stuff and the person said, "How about you?  You've had quite a few of girlfriends."  He didn't mean it in a nasty way, but just a comment in passing.  It didn't give me any good feelings but I told him I have made several mistakes myself and that I don't feel I am the best person to give any relationship advice.  I warned him about rushing into relationships without careful thinking, planning and of course seeking God's will.  This time I plan to stay away from all the relationship stuff and settle stuff with God before seeking anything of that sort.  It's time to refocus.  My friend also shared that having a girlfriend can be a distraction from God and that I can agree with too.  And that's why it's even more important to have an other half who is Christian, so you can support each other in your spiritual walk etc.  It will be very difficult when dark mixes with light.  Jesus said we should not yoke.  Whilst showering the following verse popped into my head.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

These things I seriously lack and that's why I am where I am today.  I had these things once.  But I think it will be hard to rekindle.  I have not prayed to God for another partner or anything.  I can't be bothered to be honest.  It takes effort and I don't think I am ready for another relationship, so I'm just gonna enjoy myself just the way I am.  I will start praying for a partner once I feel I am ready.  Also, I know I should be focussing on God and God knows my heart and He will grant my heart's desire if He feels is the right time.

Lyrics from a Christian song: I Have A Maker

...He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
and He hears me when I call...

Day Seventeen

There's something magical about drink a cup of hot tea in the cold weather.  Especially when you are feeling a little unwell.  I had the privilege of such experience today lunch time when I had an hour break between 12pm-1pm.  Sat in my car in Maryhill McDonald's car park I treasured every sip of the hot and lightly sugared tea and also nibbled at the brioche rolls I brought with me as a snack.  The feeling of drinking hot tea, and it helping clear a blocked nose is really nice!  =)  I woke up with a stuffy nose this morning and even my protein shake tasted a little weird.  Fortunately the first driving lesson went quite well, despite one side of my nose started to block up and I couldn't help but try to clear it a little and my pupil, Mr. H asked if I had the cold or "傷風".  I told him I think so, as a lot of people are falling ill at this time of the year.  Oh yeah, suddenly just remembered!!  Half an hour into the driving lesson Mr. H sneezed and cos his hands were keeping the moving vehicle going straight he did not manage to cover his mouth and he sneezed on the steering wheel!!  Argghhh!  It happened at the moment I looked out the window and something and next thing I heard was "A-choo!!" (something to that effect, he is Chinese so was more like "Ha-chi!").  As I had looked away I could not see where the 100mph explosion landed or if there were projectiles however it was definitely towards the steering wheel as by the time my head swung round to look at him his face was pure straight looking ahead.  Lol!  I had to clean the steering wheel with baby wipes after the lesson and of course washed my hands before having that tea break.  Hahaha!!  Minging!!  And no, he didn't apologise for it.  Nor did I mention it.  Yucks!!

Room change

Just received an email this evening informing me that the hotel which I'll be staying in for my trip is facing closure and so the booking for the last week of December has been denied, however, Alpharooms offered to move my booking to another four star hotel.  I had to look at the links of the suggested alternative and guess what I wanted to check out first?  What was I comparing between the two hotels?  Whether it has a gym!!  Lol!  It in fact has a 'fitness studio'!!  Here's what it says on the website:

"After a hard day at work, or even worse a hard days shopping, what better way to relax and relieve all those stresses, than a work-out in our state of the art Fitness Studio.

The [Hotel] is proud to boast a modern suite of cardio-vascular equipment, along with free weights and associated accessories. The equipment includes:

    * Exercise bikes
    * Treadmills
    * Rowing machine
    * Stair climber (step machine)
    * Dumbbells
    * Stretching mats

For your added comfort, the gym is fully air conditioned, and towels and spring water is available free of charge to guests wishing to use the facility."

Ooh yeah!  Looking forward to being able to workout and then go back to shower and eat and nap and shop and sightsee and eat and read and pray and eat and sightsee and take pictures and pray and eat and think and sleep and shower and eat and hopefully come back refreshed and ready to enter into the new year!  I'll be away from 27th December to 30th December.  It's my only proper time of work where I will leave the car (my office) and go travelling myself.  Going somewhere away from home, yet not that far.  At least I speak the lingo!!  =P

Day Sixteen

Just noticed this morning that I have a muffin top!!  Was doing deadlifts facing the mirror and when I stood up I could see the unnecessary bulge at the waistline which was very visible under my training vest.  Not a pretty sight.  How can I get a body like a Spartan if I carry so much excess?  =S  Along with deadlifts I did incline bench press and shoulder press.  Didn't do any ab work.  In fact, my whole workout this morning was not as productive as I would have liked.  Just thinking of things I needed to get done before starting work at 10am and then starting thinking of ways to lose more bodyfat whilst building muscle.

In my last post I talked about thing I could do for my next challenge.  I know think I know what I'm gonna do.  For the month of December I will attempt - note the keyword 'attempt' - to do the 300 Workout every day for three weeks in December.  Either this or every other day, but with other classes in between to keep my cardio work in check.  To lose fat is not going to be easy, especially in this climate where eating anything and everything will gives us that bit of heat and warmth.  However, it is going to a healthy challenge I shall give myself.  I really want to trim the abdominal area and strengthen my core.  I remember last August I had built up a six pack for myself but along with that came loss of muscle mass, hence my blog titled "Pack or Power?".  However, I think I went the wrong way about getting the six pack, by doing excessive amount of cardio which burnt away muscle as well as fat.  This time round if I do cardio I will keep it light and keep the heart pumping at "fat burning" state rather than full blown cardio weight loss state.  I'll also try to keep my protein intake high through foods too.  So I say working out hard for three weeks and not the whole of December because I will be away in the last week of December (destination to be announced later) and won't have access to a gym.  And of course, 25th December is Christmas!!  Guess I won't pig out but will be off training that day for sure.  So... that's what's on my mind at the moment.  I have another two weeks to confirm what I wanna do in December and will make up a plan.  Watch this space!!  =D

He gives and takes away

There is a well-known Christian song by Matt Redman called Blessed Be Your Name in which the bridge sings: "You give and take away, You give and take away.  But still my heart will sing, Lord blessed be your name."  This reminds us that God can give us anything and He can take them away too.  He is pretty much in control of everything: omnipotent.  This song resounds in my heart after what happened during a driving test today.  This afternoon I sat in on a driving test interpretting for one of my Cantonese speaking pupils.  He was a bag of nerves again and though he really wanted to avoid the Left Reverse manoeuvre where he failed on last time, he was unfortunately given that manoeuvre to do by today's examiner.  Now this examiner was a very very very extremely nice lady and by that I mean she was soooo patient with my pupil letting him stop during the manoeuvre and to breathe and relax before continuing.  Now that might be just normal you might think, but listen to this.  Pupil was so nervous that he actually hit the kerb with the kerbside rear tyre.  In fact, he was apologetic about his nervousness and shaking of his left leg (which subsequently shook the clutch pedal and the car) and stopped to open the window for air.  Examiner was nice about it and told him to take his time.  When he continued he scraped the wheel again the kerb again and the car definitely felt resistance as he tried to reverse.  The examiner told him he could stop, catch his breath and think what his instructor would tell him during a driving lesson.  Of course I had to interpret to Pupil.  Pupil then looked at me helplessly and asked in Chinese, "Can I start this [manoeuvre] again?".  I felt embarrassed asking the examiner but really surprisingly she hesistated then said quietly, "Ok, you can move forward a tiny bit." of which I translated for Pupil.  His face lit up and he thanked the examiner and tried his best to move the car forward BUT not just a wee bit, but at least two metres!!  Noooo!!  You know what?  The examiner didn't even say anything to him.  He managed to recover from this damning position and completed the manoeuvre successfully.  Phew!!  After he finished it he even asked if he could step outside as his heart was racing.  The examiner seemed very empathetic and told him to turn off the engine before stepping outside.  He did that and was back on to his test within 30 seconds.  Ok, so the biggest hurdle for Pupil was now out of the rest shoudl be a doddle, right?

Pupil was only less than ten minutes away from returning to the test centre when he tried to squeeze his car through his lane in between a left lane of queueing cars and a lane of on-coming traffic where three cars forced their way through an amber light.  It will be hard to describe through words alone here, but I'll try.  The traffic light he was asked to turn right.  There were two lanes.  The left lane was left and ahead and the right lane was right only.  He was to use the right only lane.  That's fine.  However, this road was mega tight because of parked cars on the opposite side, so the traffic queued on the left/ahead lane and the parked cars made the right lane hard to get into.  The lights were at red as Pupil approached it, but then turned to green as we were about to enter into this tight right lane.  However, from across the road three cars managed to push through the previous amber light and came through towards us making our already tight road excessively tight.  Pupil thought he had enough room to fit through between queued traffic and those oncoming traffic and got the car so close to the queued traffic that the examiner had to pull the steering wheel slightly to make sure ther wing mirrors did not collide.  At the same time she commented how close he was too the cars on the left.  Aw man!!!  As soon as an examiner takes verbal or physical action the driving test is a fail for sure, no doubt about that.  And sure enough when we finally reached the test centre (we were the last car to get back after that long delay at the manoeuvre) she had to tell him he wasn't successful this time and it was because of Adequate Clearance to obstructions.  Argh!!!

We both felt this examiner really helped him so so much.  She took the risk of getting talked about, by letting him hit the kerb twice AND let him move forward during his Left Reverse which he otherwise would have failed if with another examiner.  The test pass was basically handed to him on a plate.  All he had to do was maintain the high standard of driving forward which he had in him.  However, one reckless decision ruined it all for him.  I asked him how he was feeling as it happened.  Was he nervous again.  He said he was fine, in fact quite calm and was certain he'd passed.  And at that situation he felt he could enter the right lane without causing any dangers.  I advised the gap was far too close for comfort and he should always drive to make the examiner feel safe.  Though no cars were damaged in any way by his decision, the examiner had such a fright and could not pass him because of that.  He was disappointed and so was I to be honest.  How amazing would that be if he had passed today.  A sign of God's miracle and mercy.  However, it was not meant to be.  God gave my pupil a great gift.  A test pass.  But because of his ego, his arrogance, his over-confidence perhaps, he made a wrong decision and it caused him the test.  Instead of squeezing through the gap, he should have waited for those last three oncoming cars to clear first before proceeding onto the right lane.

The lesson is never to drop your driving standards or be too relaxed about standards and safety during your driving test.  Be on your toes until the very end when you turn off the engine.  The other reminder is, when God gives you something good in your life.  A nice blessing: job, family, friends, a person, money, whatever.  Don't take it for granted.  Do not think that thing will be yours forever and just let down your guard or whatever.  We should be appreciative of each thing or person He has blessed us with and seek to take care and treasure this thing.  Cos if you don't, you just might lose it.  Or it might be taken away from you.  Today's driving test examiner was a gift from God.  However, my pupil mucked it up by letting his standards drop.  How disappointing but also how good a reminder to me.  Nothing is for certain.  Keep seeking God in all that you do.  =)

Day Fifteen

Wow, it has been fifteen days of no Facebook for me and I've not missed it much if at all.  It's strange.  Had thought it would have been harder.  Seriously.  I think those who think they can't do it should actually give it a go.  Not as hard as you might think at first.  I will need a slightly harder challenge next.  Actually, there's an idea!!  I think I might do a different challenge every month!  Hmm... so I'll start off with No Facebook for November.  What could I do for next month?  No chips/ fries?  No fried food?  No chocolate? Oh btw, I've had No Crisps since March 2008, did I tell you that before?  Hahaha!  That's part of my life now.  FREE from the ties of Pringles, McCoys, Walkers, Kettle Chips!!  Haha!  I have forgotten how to eat crisps now! =P

Or how about, instead of the challenge be to abstain from something, how about to DO something?  Like a 50 press ups a day?  For a month?  Haha!  Oooh!  That would be slightly more challenging.  I think it could be something like 50 straight pressups first thing every morning, before I shower or before I leave for the gym etc.  There's an idea!!  Any other suggestions?

My lessons

Today my working hours were 10am-9pm.  Four 2hr lessons.  Lesson One 10am-12pm: Mr C.  Mr C is Cantonese speaking.  Nice guy.  Eager to learn and it shows, cos he seems to pick things up a bit quicker.  Also, he seems to be the youngest of my Cantonese speaking pupils currently which helps.  The others are mostly middle-aged.  We learned Parallel Parking this morning. 

Lesson Two 1pm-3pm: Mr W.  Driving test tomorrow for Mr W.  Also a Cantonese speaker he will resit his test tomorrow after failing it the first time due to nerves (ran up kerb during Left Reverse due to left leg shaking frantically, and moved too slow after emerging on a main road being over cautious).  Pretty confident he'll do it tomorrow as long as the manoeuvre he gets is his favourite. 

Lesson Three 4pm-6pm: Mr A.  This lesson started half an hour late as I had to get a new tyre from Kwik-Fit after spotting a cut in the tyre wall on nearside front.  Mr A was English speaking and today, to my surprise, brought a friend with him who sat at the back of the car.  I didn't like how he didn't tell me beforehand or even ask for permission.  Not that he was disruptive or that I had anything to hide, but it's just common courtesy to inform me beforehand that you wanna bring somebody with you.  Mr A is eager to sit his test, but he is nowhere near test standard.  Today was his second lesson with me though he had some driving experience from his hometown. I told him at the end of the lesson we have to at least cover all the topics of my syllabus before I can give a faire assessment as to when he should book his test.  At the moment I cannot give anything more accurate than roughly January or February time.  As long as we can regularly see each other that would definitely help. 

Lesson Four: Miss P.  English girl with Birmingham accent.  Test in December.  Has been taking lessons in the dark for a good few weeks now as she works.  We find doing manoeuvres much more challenging but praise God she is getting better at them now through perseverance and repetition.  The lesson ended with philosophical conversation about how to find balance between professionalism and being honest, like how to tell a pupil or colleague off when they've done something wrong and/ or dangerous.  It's not easy eh, but I think I need to toughen up.  If someone is wrong I will need to tell them right away.  No point beating around the bush.  This goes for friends as well as pupils.  I gotta be more honest with myself and with others.  It's time to speak your mind, Gordon!!  =D

Thankful

Really thankful that after a long day at work I get to come home to hot food.  Prepared by no other than my mother!  Tonight I had rice with chicken meat, vegetables, Chinese dumplings (siew mai), smoked sausages.  The food filled me up and to top it off I had a glass of vitamin c, just to keep up my defence =)  I washed the dishes and now blogging before I do my admin for today and prep stuff for tomorrow.  See, I don't know what I'd do if I moved out of here.  It's such a nice place to be.  My comfort haven.  Though I have always longed to move out of here, to start my independence and to show my capabilities, I am not sure how I'd manage with my laundry after the gym sessions, the cooked meals and the housework in general.  Mum still does so much even though we're older and she also has a full-time job as well.  Really thank God for my mum.  I think I should take her on another holiday soon.  Spring next year perhaps.  =)

Day Fourteen

Working 10am-9pm tomorrow doing four two-hour lessons, so will need to get to bed quite soon.  Fortunately there is no gym tomorrow morning, so at least I can catch some more Zzzz's and get up around 7:30am instead =P  Feeling tired after a long day, but still wanna blog to note down what I've been up to.  Doing this for my readers.  Haha!!  So vain, right?  =P

Anyway, this morning I woke up feeling slightly better than the previous morning.  Throat was not as sore, though I was still mega tired.  Alarm went off at 8am and I got up to use the bathroom then sunk back in bed again.  Couldn't be bothered getting up to clean the car and go to the gym, until around 8:50am when I got up to have a protein shake then went down to clean the interior of the car: dusting and hoovering.  Once that was done I went to the gym for a short run before working out on biceps and triceps.  Did pull ups, dips, dumbbell curls, overhead extensions, barbell curls and cable tricep extensions.  By the end of the hour training my arms felt like lead!  Heavy and totally pumped.  Felt like I could not reach my back to clean it during the shower.  Haha!  My arms carried a slight pain throughout the day so I know I worked the muscles properly this time, unlike my recent 300 Workout which, until present, I still do not feel anything from it.  Must up the tempo at my next attempt!  =)

Right, I'm actually quite tired right now.  Shall write more tomorrow evening I think.  Goodnight y'all ;)

tbc...

Thanksgiving at EM

Usually there is a thanksgiving section in our EM service where peopl can share how good God has been to them in the past week.  I had an item to share but the thanksgiving part was not in the service this week.  What I would have shared was how grateful I am for God keeping me fit and healthy despite me being within close proximity of pupils coughing and sneezing during driving lessons.  I've felt a bit unwell, showed symptoms of falling ill, but I'm grateful to God for sustaining me and keeping me standing.  =)

The Mysteries of Love

So tonight I finally finished watching the TVB drama The Mysteries of Love.  I think I started watching the drama back in May or something.  Initially through Tudou but then regional restrictions came in place and it couldn't stream anymore.  Then one of my Chinese pupils downloaded the whole series through Bit Torrent and gave me them.  I started watching bits and bobs but didn't have the time or the heart to watch them.  But the past week or so I started watching an episode a night and tonight was the grande finale, which were split into two parts.  A bit like the forthcoming new Harry Potter movie.  Haha!  I invited Nick up to watch them with me as he saw the penultimum episode and was very interested in how the story followed.  So me, Cat and Nick watched the last two episodes and they were very good.  A happy ending for the lead characters, but not without a fight (not literally) which involved persuasion, perserverance, stalking and lots of crying!  In the end they got back together when the guy admitted he made a mistake.  In fact, his family (esp his mum) also admitted making a mistake.  Yes, people do make mistakes.  That is part of life.  It's what we do afterwards that really count.  When we do make mistakes, we always look for another chance to try again, to prove ourselves wrong, to prove others wrong.

Day Thirteen

Not long back from dinner at Alan Chan's place.  Our family and Nick were invited over for hotpot (steam boat).  It was very nice to visit Alan's place and to get to hang with his family.  The food was in abundance and due to uncle and auntie's kindness I didn't have to do any work but eat eat eat and have a laugh.  Haha!  God bless them for their kindness and love shown towards us =)

Thanksgiving

I received a cheque for £20 from Greens gym this morning.  This was payment as Sarah Li used my name as the referral when she joined Greens a few weeks back.  Greens is pretty good at doing that.  They give incentives for people who introduce their friends to sign up.  Members can collect "points" towards prizes like iPod's or big prizes like a mountain bike etc.  The more expensive the gift the more points you need from referals.  This is my third cheque I received as my first one was when Cat joined the gym and the second was when Ming joined Greens.  Sarah's one was a surprise to me because I didn't expect her to join after my persuasion to her and Shaun about how good Greens gym is.  I've now bumped into Sarah twice at Greens.  Haha!  Think we have another passionate member in town!  ;)  I thank God that I received this money. I shall put this £20 towards the spending money for my wee trip away in the last week of December.  I wonder how many Euros £20 will get me leh?  =P

I also thank God for this afternoon's driving lesson.  The pupil had not taken a lesson since 2nd October due to work commitments and ill-health.  He confessed he had dreaded coming down for his lesson as he believed the five weeks absence would have degraded his driving skills.  But praise God the break didn't seem to do him any harm at all.  He drove just as well as he did back in October and I've really pressed on him the need to get the theory test done asap so he can book the practical test as he is not far off from test standard.  One of his biggest incentives is his company car which is a brand new Nissan Juke which he will get to drive once it's ready after a three month waiting list.  So we both have a target to get him to sit and pass his test for, so he can start driving once the car is out on the road.  He is a very motivated individual and I can see his passion for driving show through in his attitude and also rate of learning.  At the end of the lesson he said he thoroughly enjoyed today's lesson and he thanked me for it.  I told him I enjoyed the lesson too and expect him to book his theory test sooner rather than later, especially if he wants to sit and pass his theory test by Febrary 2011.  I thank God for giving us a good lesson which cheered me up.  When I see my pupil really enjoyed a lesson I always feel so much happier and feel more encouraged.  =)

Tomorrow

Tomorrow my plans are: wake up and have breakfast before going out to clean the car and hoover it. Then maybe pop into the gym to work on my arms and some cardio.  Possibly some core stuff too.  Then will be home for lunch with mum.  She did mention we were getting steak for lunch tomorrow.  Niiice!  After church I will most likely be coming back home to watch the last two episodes of The Mysteries of Love, possibly with Nick.  Will then chill out and go to bed early.  Oh and burn my scented candle through the evening.  =)

Hopefully tomorrow my throat will get better.  I didn't get to rest it much today whilst working.  Will continue to have vitamin C as well as try to sleep earlier.  The more sleep you get the quicker you recover.  Won't be easy, but I will try to be in bed by midnight if possible.  =)

Day Twelve

I should be getting ready for bed I think.  My throat is pretty sore.  It was a bit tingly yesterday morning when I got up and I woke up feeling bit groggy, so it prompted me to drink a glass of effervescent vitamin c.  Had a tablet yesterday and this morning before I left for work.  Basically it is just dissolving an orange tablet in a glass of water and drinking it like fizzy orange, but it is very refreshing as it's in cold water in this cold weather!  Haha!  Hoping the vitamin supplement will help do me good.  I know getting more sleep will help as well.  It's almost midnight and I plan to get up 8am tomorrow for work: just two driving lessons.

In the past week I've had pupils cough and sneeze in the car.  The close proximity of the front seats mean I cannot escape from anything that might circulate around us.  And of course those who coughed into their hands go on to touch the steering wheel and sometimes I forget to wipe it down with baby wipes etc.  Sigh...  I have gotta keep healthy enough to teach.  I cannot fall ill and be off work. Off work means no money.  In fact, it means I lose money cos my franchise fee comes off me regardless if I work 1 hour or 100 hours a week.  It's shocking.  That's one main reason why I look to go independent in the near future.  Maybe I'll rent from another company who could provide a cheaper weekly rate, or I will buy my own car and just start earning from there without paying any rent to anybody.  We'll see where the Lord leads as these decisions should not be devoid of prayers.

Candles

As I spend more evenings at home chilling out, reading, blogging and watching Chinese dramas, I seem to have developed a liking of having a scented candle in the living room.  There's something about relaxing at home and having a warm glow in the background and better yet, the glow gives off a light fragrance around the room.  For the past few evenings I've lit the Febreze candle in the living room and placed it on the coffee table as I read or work on the computer.  The 'Winter Evening' scent transends from the middle of the living room and flows nicely around the place.  As I watch Chinese dramas on the laptop I see a nice wee flicker of it's orange glow at the corner of my eye.  Occasionally I'd still turn to see what was flickering, but then remind myself I lit the candle.  Haha!  Still getting used to it as I've never done this sort of thing before.  As I mentioned, there seems to be 'life' in the candle as the flame dances on top of the wax and works it's way down.  I just blew the candle out a few minutes ago and the bright flickering has now gone and the candle seems lifeless.  I look at it now and it sits steadily on the coaster on top of the coffee table and the colours have returned to blue and purple, but the yellow flame is missing.  I look forward to lighting it again tomorrow perhaps, if I'm home in time.  Once this candle burns out I think I will look for other cool candles and might get a few if the are on offer.  I think I saw Glade or Cussons candles, or was it Wickes?  Not sure, but they were half price at £1.50 each at Maryhill Tesco.  However, I didn't go for them then as I didn't know if I'd like having candles around.  So I ended up getting this Febreze candle which actually cost £6. =P  However the box says burns up to 30 hours.  If that's the case it is only a case of 20p per hour.  Haha!  In fact, I think if I were to get more candles in the future I should a lighter.  One of these longer once with a wee flame that pops out the end.  Cos I've been lighting this candle with matches recently and I know as the wick burns lower it will be harder to light the candle and I might burn myself.  Haha!  Also, matches smell after they get put out.

Why am I talking about candles??  Lol!  No idea!  I'm just tired.  Got up just after 6am this morning made it to the gym through the heavy rain and wind.  Did the 300 Workout again and topped it off with twelve minutes of cardio on the cross trainer.  Came home to a heavy breakfast of... porridge oats with Shreddies and a banana, two slices (four triangles) of toasted brown bread with peanut butter and a tea with some honey.  Felt sooo good after it that I took a quick 30mins nap to supercharge.  Haha!  I then did my devotions and spent time praying to God before a light lunch and heading out to work for 1pm.  Lessons went quite well today despite unpredictable bad weather.  Of the three lessons I had today, two of them were in Cantonese.  Haha!  Not as troublesome today, I thank God for.  =)  Today's devotions keypoint reminded me to Cast all my anxities unto God who cares for me.  Also, another thing I read was it is not a sin to be tempted.  We cannot void from temptation in life.  However, it is a sin to give in to temptation.  That is when guilt appears in our lives.  Jesus was tempted many times, yet He did not give in to temptation.  He lived his life sinless and He did sinless and blameless.  Wow!  What an inspiration!!  =)

Day Eleven

Totally forgot it was Armistice Day today.  A day when people gather to observe two minutes' silence and pay tribute to those who have died in war since WWI.  The silence would take place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month each year.  What were you up to at 11am this morning?  I was sitting in the back of my car observing my pupil on test in Anniesland.  Besides interpreting I wasn't saying anything else, so I kept my silence.  Haha!  Before you ask, no, the pupil didn't pass this time unfortunately.  Was his first shot and it wasn't that bad in my opinion.  Just wasn't enough to pass, so he has a rebooking for a date in December.  Wanna know the date?  Wait for it.... 24th December!!  The DSA has no other earlier date and the next available one would be 30th December!  So Friday 24th December it is then, at 9:37am!  Odd times eh!  Let's hope his second attempt will be a success and we can both have a good Christmas present.  24th will be my last day of work for the year before I take leave until 3rd January 2011!!  Will be going away for a few days in the last week of December.  Destination to be confirmed later on.  Haha!

Mussels

Had quite a nice relaxed day overall today.  Didn't go to the gym this morning as working at 9:15am would mean the gym session would be quite rushed and non enjoyable.  My arms, particularly biceps, were a little sore from Tuesday's 300 Workout, so I decided to rest this morning and return tomorrow ;)  The first driving lesson/driving test was over and I went to Chinatown for tea and some buns.  Whilst eating my buns a Chinese man walked up to my car and asked me for my business card as his wife would be interested in driving lessons.  I introduced myself and gave him my card.  The guy said he'll call in the next few days.  Apparently his wife has taken driving lessons before.  I went to WH Smith afterwards, to look for a diary/ scheduler for 2011.  I currently use the AA diary planner thing which they give us as part of stationery.  However once I leave and become an independent driving instructor I will no longer be allowed to use any AA products.  WH Smith on Sauchiehall Street didn't have anything to my requirements.  The one with the closest match to what I need actually had leather cover over it, and had a £31.99 price tag on it.  No way!!  I'm looking for something less than £15 I think.  Something A4 sized, with weekly view and with time/appointment slots so I can input pupil lesson times.  I then met Ling for lunch at Mussel Inn and we had a nice time catching up over lovely food.  Chatting to Ling made me realise for a while I had neglected some friends due to fussing over stupid stuff.  But I appreciate the friendship we have and hope it will continue despite being thousands of miles away.  =)  It is good to see my big sister Scallop married, settled and happy.  That's what I wanna be like some day.  =)  Maybe God will bless me with a female rosy cheeked gnome as well =P  Actually I don't know if I would like rosy cheeks in a girl.  Soft cheeks would do fine.  =P

Finished off my day with a final driving lesson 4.30-6.30pm and we drove through roundabouts and pedestrian crossings under the rain and in the dark.  Lesson went not bad and much less frustrating than the lessons from yesterday, thank God.  Few moments of stalling just before entering a roundabout but people were nice enough behind us not to toot the horn, thank God =)  I came home for dinner, hung the washing, did admin then after all that was done I lit my Febreze candle again (used it the first time last night, winter's night smell!) and sat down with a cup of tea and my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  I wanted to re-read the book again after sooo long.  Wanted to refresh myself with it before going to see the movie next week.  But reading the first two chapters made my eyes droooop... even getting up to the kitchen for some yoghurt didn't do much to keep me awake.  Not sure if I'll get to finish the book before next week at this rate.  Lol!

Think I'll head off to bed now.  Sean Ho texted saying he'll see me at the gym tomorrow at 7am and said he'll give the 300 Workout a go.  Good stuff.  Better get to sleep then.  Ciao!!

Day Ten

My my!  Onto double figures now, the days I have abstained from Facebook.  So far the only "info" I've gathered about Facebook is that Guy set up a fireworks event last week, Henry set up a birthday event last week, Ming put something on his status about looking for a girl to accompany him or something.  Each time I hear "info" being shared out I remind the person that I'm not on Facebook and shouldn't be even listening or entertaining thoughts of it.  And they kindly stop.  This is mainly my sister, Cat.  Haha!  Yep, so that's how tough I am with staying away from Facebook.  With the time I've saved I manage to get my admin work done quicker each night, and of course I can blog to my fellow readers as well.  Haha!  I believe self-discipline is very important in achieving your goals, no matter if is it going to the gym or abstaining from Fb or in making time to spend with God.  The latter I am not disciplined enough unfortunately and I will need to put in more effort.

Drawing the line

I am a good actor I think.  I hide my feelings well when required.  I smile when I am sad.  I sound positive when I am frustrated inside.  I give praise when on the inside I wanna scream out loud.  Yes, I am talking about the "perks" of my job as a driving instructor.  Sometimes I feel I cannot truly express myself, ever.  Even on my blog, in "fear" that the information 'falls into the wrong eyes' so to speak.  Mainly the fear of pupils or potential pupils reading about the moans of my job, kinda thing.  What would they think of me?  I am not really one to mind what people think of me in general, however, because it is business related things are different eh.  I feel I can no longer rant about my work like other people can, cos my work is so close to him as well e.g. certain pupils are also good friends.  So... where do we draw the line?  Lol!  I guess we can't.  Nobody else is in my shoes really.  No one in my circle of friends anyway.  There are no more driving instructors out there whom I hang with, besides two potential instructors Ho Yan Cheung and Ting Tung.  I do hope they qualify soon and we can form a wee group of Chinese instructors and take over Scotland!  =P  Maybe with more instructors together we can understand each other more.  Btw, I am not saying I do not have driving instructor friends.  It's just I am not that close to them as I am with my other friends =)

So, hiding my feelings eh.  Tonight I will not hide them anymore.  Cos I had a crap day today.  The very early morning driving test that I woke for ended in a fail.  The following driving lesson, which is the lesson before tomorrow's driving test, went crap as well.  Argh!!  People can be so inconsistent!  This guy has his test tomorrow yet he somehow conveniently forgot he was to give way to his right at roundabouts and ended up stopping in the middle of a mini roundabout in Anniesland when he saw a car on the left of the roundabout.  What?!  His Show Me Tell Me answers are "half bucket of water" (Chinese direct translation) as well, and since he doesn't speak English he will be answering in Chinese and I'll need to interpret for him tomorrow.  I just really he doesn't give a crappy 2/3 word answer in Chinese and hope I will interpret the whole answer for him.  That would look TOO dodgy!

Also I find it really hard to shout at my pupils.  Ok, not shout, cos that's scary.  But even to express my frustration at what they've done.  Like the roundabout inside.  It was very dodgy indeed!  I thank God for keeping us safe and no other cars entered the roundabout when they saw us stranded there.  However, after we moved away safely I just said to him calmly, "We are meant to give way to the right, remember?  Don't worry about the left, ok?" and he just smiled and acknowledged what I said.  But it makes me wonder, does he really get what I said?  Will it happen again some day in the future?  When another stupid incident happened in the same lesson, to express my frustration I, this time said in the most forceful yet calmly way, "Hey, you're meant to sit your test tomorrow man!  You can't be doing this.  Oh dear!" to which he just laughed.  =(

Whenever I'm in these situations I find it SO hard to have harsh words with my pupils.  Sometimes we have to be cruel to be kind, right?  I remember getting told off by my L-test instructor and my ADI instructor when I did stupid or dangerous stuff.  And it helped me understand the severity of the incident.  So why am I tip-toeing around my pupils now?  Even a teacher shouts at pupils in the class if they've done bad.  Why do I still use a soft calm voice on the outside when the inside is boiling up with, "What the heck were you doing??  Are you blind??  Couldn't you see that car??  Why did you stop here??  Do you want to get us killed??  Do you want to pass your test tomorrow??  Oh my, you have no chance la!!!"  (Not in the same sentence of course, and preferably not to the same pupil either!) But I just can't seem to get those kinda words out of my mouth.  They just seem to circulate around my head whilst I get fuming inside.  Is that healthy?  I think not.

I think there are two reasons that hold me back from really expressing myself.  One is my green ADI badge.  I know there is a code of conduct to adhere to as a driving instructor.  I don't want to appear unprofessional in anyway.  I don't want pupils to feel scared when they enter the car with me.  I don't want them to tell their friends I shout.  [Hey, btw readers, just to set the records straight I do NOT want to shout at every lesson.  It's only these really crappy and frustrating ones that seem to bring the worse out in me.]  So yeah, professionalism is one reason.  The second thing which is the most important one I feel is that I am a Christian.  I think most if not all of my pupils know I am a Christian and I keep my Sundays off and I mention events I attend etc.  So if I shout or say or do something negative it might affect they way they view Christians?  Hmm... it's difficult you see.  Again, where do you draw the line?  I definitely need to find a way to express my frustration and the severity of what the pupil(s) has done and be strict when I need to be.  I get lost for words when I get angry in Chinese you know that?  When I get raging I find it hard to find the words, especially technical words to express the driving routine or whatever, and I get all tongue tied.  Then at the end of my sentence I often open my window for some fresh air.  Ah!

I need to stick at it.  I need to ask God for wisdom in handling these situations and for better communication skills on my part.  It's the Cantonese speaking pupils that I get difficulties with cos everything has to be interpreted and translated into a way for them to understand.  God can help me :)

Day Nine

Mind a lot clearer this morning at the gym.  Good thing really, cos I really needed the focus and determination to fight my way through the wind and rain storm from east end to Greens at Finnieston.  Arrived to find the place a little quieter than usual.  Not surprised.  Haha!  I had packed my gym stuff last night before bed, so all I had to do was get up, get changed and put on contact lenses and I was ready.  Otherwise, if I had more to do I might have just become another "casualty" from the bad weather.  Haha!  Another good incentive to get up and going was meeting James Sweeney from C7 church.  He said he'd see me around seven, so I didn't wanna let him down either.  In fact, I thank God for giving me these little things to give me incentive or a push at times when it's easy to give up :)  In the gym we did the 300 Workout.  Ok, I did the full 300 Workout and supported James through most of his, but as it was his first time attempting it, he did pretty well.

Three driving lessons today with a three hour break between the second and third one, so I took Cat to Halfords and we bought a few things like car mats, anti fog solution, and chamois sponges etc.  Now Cat has new car mats which is good, especially in the run up for winter and the bad snowy weather we are to expect.  Haha!

Bin

The pupil in the last driving lesson did not perform as well as the previous two weeks.  She mentioned as soon as she got in to the car that she had just smashed a full sized mirror at home on her way out for her lesson.  Whereas I am not superstitious I think it might have affected her and the two hour lesson had some dodgy moments like turning right at a traffic light junction without giving way to oncoming vehicles (which I had stopped), stalling midway through turn in the road (usually no problems with this), running up kerb on the left reverse and last but not least, reverse into a bin on her reverse bay park at the very end of her lesson.  It was just the final moments of her lesson when she was to park between two cars as she always did, but this time the car was too close to the car on the right, so as she slowly reversed in a straight line she looked at her right mirror too long and forgetting to check her back window we had a crunch.  The bin is the square-ish type, and all black with rectangle opens on two sides for putting rubbish in.  It's also has a grille at the top for people to put out their cigarette stubs.  It was 7:58pm, it was dark outside, the bin was black and my rear bumper bumped into it.  No mark on the bin but a small dent on the bumper.  Didn't look too bad from first check but can definitely feel the bump and will have to call up tomorrow to report it.  Can expect to pay £50 or something for that.  Sigh sigh.  Lesson learnt, do not take your guard down when teaching even at the last two minutes!!

Thanksgiving

Without moaning too much I have three items of thanksgiving for today.

1) As I left the house for work this morning, I saw my downstairs neighbour come up to catch his cat which must have escaped when he opened his front door.  So I greeted him then we proceeded to go down the stairs.  I then asked him if he had any plans to remove the rubbish lying outside his door.  He told me he didn't know what to do with the rubbish, that he left rubbish out once and it was taken away.  I told him he had to take his own rubbish through to the backcourt, cos the rubbish by his doorway sometimes stank.  That is quite unhygienic as well as a fire hazard.  It is not appealling to any of my visitors either, not that I have any.  Lol!  But I thank God for providing me the opportunity to speak to the guy instead of chapping on his door and appearing hostile etc.  Btw, I made sure I smiled and appeared friendly when asking him.  Haha!  Update is, the rubbish was all gone by the time I came home today around 4pm!  =D

2) The rain was so heavy when I got up this morning and battered against the car on both legs of my journey to Greens.  However at 9:40am when I left for work the rain suddenly stopped and sunshine came out!  The first lesson was very bright in fact!  Also I saw a rainbow at my second lesson, around 2pm in the Springburn area.  I pointed out the rainbow to my pupil.  Haha!

3) I received great news from a close brother that God answered our prayers about his recent application.  The application was successful and this shows God is the wonderful Provider for us, no matter what our situation is.  We can rely on Him.  This news is encouraging and I hope strengthens the brother's faith in this tough time =)