Meeting the parents

An earlier blogpost tonight.  It's 9:30PM and we've not long gotten home after a day out visiting the wedding reception, the church, the little town called Boston and also dinner with Leanne's parents Norman and Marilyn.

Although I had a good day yesterday I felt today was even better.  Yesterday was chilled and productive as we got lots of stuff for the wedding etc and chilled out to watch TV, ate dinner together and played LOTS of FIFA 12.  Ok, Ian and I played LOTS of FIFA.  I think Leanne got a bit bored.  =P  Leanne likes computer games too, but not football games.  So I think she won't be much interested when FIFA 13 comes out either.  Haha!  Today was a busier day, we done lots more and I also got to meet Leanne's family.  Initially I was a little nervous when Ian told me whilst I still in Glasgow that we'd have dinner with Leanne's mum and dad on Saturday night.  I was wondering what they'd be like, if we'd get on, if they would understand me.  Basically if we'd click.  Being Chinese also, I do have a slight fear of inferiority at times.  It has taken me a while to understand from Ian and Leanne that they do not let my black hair and yellow skin get in the way of my character, my personality and our friendship.  So as Leanne drove to Boston, along the fields and along an unexpected diversion route, I was a little apprehensive about meeting them, yet also excited.  I also felt a little nervous in the sense that it was like a 'meet the parents' situation.  For a few years now Ian and I have been calling each other Brothers, and so I felt like I was 'meeting the parents' too as I am so close to Ian.  The car pulled up at the driveway and Leanne tooted the horn.  I cringed a bit thinking we'd attract too much attention for this Chinaman getting out of her Fiesta and walking up to the house.  Haha!  Mrs Sibley opened the door and greeted us with smiles and good banter.  Everything was friendly and the ice was broken when Leanne told her mum that I was feeling nervous.  Haha!  Guess honesty is the best policy.  And then after meeting and shaking hands with Mr Sibley, everything else flowed.  The conversations were aplenty, laughs aplenty, especially with Ian being there.  I got to meet the two dogs Chloe and Molly.  =)

We went for a quick trip to Boston town centre and I got to visit Greggs for lunch and Wilkinsons.  For lunch I had a Cornish pasty and a mexican baguette sandwich from Greggs.  We went to Tesco also and I bought a few things from there for the train home tomorrow like drinks, pasta and sandwich filler.  Ian offered to make me sandwiches to take on board tomorrow instead of me spending money buying sandwiches from Tesco.  How very kind of Ian.  One of the many things I have discovered about Ian this weekend is how he likes to save money and knows how to. We had dinner together at The Barge Pub and Restaurant and the five of us shared good food in great company.  The conversations flowed along with the laughter.  Tonight I went all out again and had ANOTHER platter sized meal - a 24oz Mixed Grill!!  The grill had pork, lamb, gammon, rump, chicken, sausage, and egg served with chips, peas, mushroom and onion rings.  The whole thing took me around 35-40mins to complete.  I didn't specifically time it, but the timestamp on my before and after pictures give me a rough indication.  Once again I was the last one to finish my meal and I also could not order a dessert from the sweet board.  LOL!  It was a lovely dinner though and once again, thanks to Ian and Leanne for paying this meal.

So this is it then.  I am getting ready to go back downstairs to play FIFA 12 with Ian and before that to look through all the pictures and videos of the last few days.  So far I have 462 items to check out, consisting of pictures and videos.  Total size of my Grantham folder is 15.7GB!  Haha!! Such fun long weekend I could not stop myself from taking lots of pictures.  Finally I can be myself I think.  Doing what I love doing, what I enjoy doing, joking the way I want to joke, having fun the way I enjoy.  =D

Lesson of the Day: Life is too short to be all serious all the time.  Have fun.  Have a laugh.  It makes life more enjoyable!  :)

Follow Up...

Drams and Domino's Pizzas

It had just gone midnight and I have just gotten back into my room.  Feeling quiet tired so I will K.O. quite soon after this.  Today has been a very long day, but a very nice day.  I slept quite well last night on a strange bed.  Usually the first night on a different bed I would not get much rest.  Examples like at church camps and staying over at other friends' places etc.  But I thank God for giving me good sleep and also thank Ian and Leanne for going to so much effort in building the double bed for me and making sure I had enough pillows.  Also, I actually forgot to bring my moisturiser this trip and Ian even gave me his moisturiser.  I mean, how cool is that?!  It's like anything I can think of, they have for me!  Haha!

After breakfast and a shower, we all got ready for going out to the nearest city of Nottingham for some shopping.  We visited places like Hotel Chocolat (super cool!), Paperchase and Debenhams before settling down for some lunch.  We had quite a productive shopping trip this time and the long walks and stuff gave us a very big appetite.  So we went to Harvester at Trinity Square and had a very nice lunch.  The picture above was taken at Harvester just we delved into our lunch.  As you and see from above, the dishes in front of me were quite big.  In my hunger I decided to go for:

Plantation Platter
Flame-grilled chicken wings, boneless BBQ ribs, half a spitroast chicken and crackerjack prawns with
grilled corn on the cob, grilled pineapple rings and sour cream & chive dip.

For two to share, with two
sauces and two sides of your choice
(980kcal. per person.)

It took me almost 35mins to finish the whole platter, with Leanne helping me eat two of the chicken wings.  Yes I will have consumed almost 2000 calories but my goodness it tasted soooo good.  I totally felt my body required the refueling after all the travelling, walking and shopping, and the rest of the day too.  =D  After lunch we went to a few other places and got a few more things.  By the end of the day nobody left Nottingham empty handed let's say!  Haha!  Oh there were some funny conversations had during our shopping also.  Not just wedding related stuff but relationship stuff.  Haha!  Ian knows all about me and my successes and failures in this department of my life and he is very encouraging of me to find the right person in my life.  He again mentioned the important of finding the person we have the right "spark" with.  Because without that "spark", without thinking/ feeling like they are your best friend in life, it would be meaningless, it would not work out, regardless of nationality of the person.  This is very true.  Looks in a person will fade with time.  Money will (usually) run out with.  But the character of a person usually gets stronger as they mature physically and spiritually.  This is much more important.


Drams and Domino's Pizzas

To end this lovely day, we spent the evening chillaxing in the house.  I was hungry again so had some toast and a fruit and nut bar as snack.  Ian and I played Fifa 12 on the PS3.  I haven't had any time to play PS3 for a such a long time.  I think the last time I played was in Raymond's house back in the summer time or just before it.  Therefore tonight I played very horribly and the results were always in Ian's favour, apart from the very last game we played which I somehow managed to win 4-2 after an extra time length match.  Then again, I was using a 5-Star team playing against 1-Star team.  Lol!!

We ordered Domino's Pizza for dinner and munched that whilst watching Eastenders and New Girl.  Was my first time watching New Girl after hearing it was quite good.  In the end I quite liked the humour in it, however, I do not think I will have time to watch any more TV at home once I get back.  Currently I don't watch very much tv at all being so busy each day.  But I am very glad I got to spend this Friday evening so relaxed indoors with Ian and Leanne, watching British and American telly.  On top of that, Ian also let me try some whisky.  We had Jack Daniels with lemonade.  Jim Beam with lemonade and Glenmorangie whisky with lemonde.  Each time the whisky was very diluated, but even then my face's reaction to alcohol in the system is to turn my cheeks red.  But this time it was only every so lightly as it was so diluted.  LOL!

Right now I am not drunk.  Don't worry.  Haha!  Going to fall asleep after this.  Tomorrow we will have a later wake up time but will still have a long day of different visits like visiting the church, the wedding reception and will also get to meet Leanne's mum and dad.  =)

Follow Up...

Christmas 2011: New Year's Eve (Hogmanay)

My last dinner of the year :)  This time next year Cat will be celebrating New Year's in Singapore and it'll come to her before the UK.  This evening mum cooked scallops with spring onions, salmon with spring onions, boiled corn-fed free range chicken, vegetable stir fry and some leftover turkey.  It was nice.  Later on after I washed the dishes we had panettone cake.  It was nice, a wee treat before the New Year kicks in.

Right now "Still Game" is on BBC One.  I've seen this episode before ("Hootenanny") as I own the complete boxset.  There are still good laughs in it.  Haha!  It's gonna be a quiet New Year for 2011.  Cat is away out to friend's place for the countdown.  It will be nice for her especially since she'll be in Singapore next year.  Yup I've mentioned that already.  Lol!  Things will certainly be different when she's away.  I think I will miss Cat a lot once she's away.  It hasn't hit me yet but when I left my mind free to imagine scenarios without Cat and it'll be quite sad.  For example, once she's gone she won't be buying mum clothes.  I won't be very good at that.  She can't be mum's fashion advisor.  I definitely can't step in for her.  She won't be buying lots of bargains from the supermarkets and go grocery shopping with mum on Fridays.  I don't like shopping very much but will have to make changes.  Cat bakes a lot, so we won't have much home baking to eat.  I'll have one less person to talk to about the gym and fitness stuff, one less person to exercise with me at home.  One less person to share laughs and personal jokes with.  Even thinking about it now is quite sad... I think I'll stop here.

There are great stuff to look forward to in 2012 of course.  It will NOT be the end of the world, however, as some people have tried to predict.  I mean, even the infamous "prophetic predictions" of rapture and Judgement Day for 21 October 2011 by Harold Camping did not come true.  I pity the people who really believed him and who may have done what some people typical would do when they know life would end: quite their jobs, spend all their money, live life to the max etc and expect life to end, but then to realise they are still here on Earth after the predicted time, and then have to pick up the pieces.  It is quite sad.  I choose not to believe these things, or such things like "Forward this email to five friends and you will get good luck/ your wish will come true.  Fail to do this and you will die/ someone you know will die in the next few hours".  It is all a lot of gumph.  Nobody has to power to end life through an email nor to predict the end of the world.  Only God knows the return of the Lord Jesus and will decide when the world will end. 

As it says in the Bible: "Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night" - 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2 

I have nothing fear and know that as long as I live each day according to His will, as much as possible, I will not fear the return of the Lord and will hope to hear the words, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

Living a God-pleasing life consistently will be impossible, this I know for sure.  But I hope in the coming year that I will be more mindful of the Lord in all I say and all I do.  Do my best not to grieve the Holy Spirit within.  One of my spiritual goals for the New Year will be to keep up my devotional time with the Lord.  It will mean early morning wake ups as I prefer to read the Lord's Word first thing in the morning before my mind is crowded with different stuff distracting me.  Last night I was on the Youversion website.  They provide FREE Bible apps for iPhone and Android etc.  I have my free app for my Android already and will need it again once I get my new phone.  There are reading plans on the Youversion site, like 'Read the Bible in One Year', 'Read the Bible in 90 Days' etc.  There are a few other plans to follow too.  I think reading the whole Bible in One Year will definitely be a big big goal for me and I'd like to achieve this one day.  However, it seems the website had reading plans but no commentary materials/ study notes.  Which means I might be reading the five chapters a day and there is no guarantee I will understand what I'm reading and might just read to fill my daily quota.  What I'd really like for this coming year is to really understand the Bible, the different books, the authors, the timeline of the books and to understand what is written in it's context, not just to know certain verses and use them occasionally.  After being a Christian since 1994, I still feel my Bible knowledge is still not strong enough.  I do not think I know enough to use the Word of the Lord for

"teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness..." - 2 Timothy 3:16

So in yesterday's blog post I commented how I am not satisfied with my physique and noticed certain areas that need improving/ strengthening: traps, abs and calves.  Well regarding my spiritual health I want to strengthen my knowledge of the Bible and develop a deeper understanding of the Living Word.  I will aim to renew my mind with the Bible everyday.  Spiritual food from God - it can only be good for me and those around me =)

As I end here, I want to wish every one of my readers a very nice new year in 2012.  No matter if you are a believer in God or our Lord Jesus or not, I wish the Lord's blessing upon you and all that you do.  For those who have yet to personally know the Lord like I and many others in the world have, I hope in the next 365 days you will have a personal encounter with God.  I hope when the moment comes that you will let God into your heart and into your life.  You will not regret it.  For everyone else who is a fellow believer in the Lord, let us continue walking in the light of the Lord.  Let us continue to love and support each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.  Wherever you are in the world, we are one big family!  =D

Three years ago

Three years ago I was on holiday in Hong Kong with my mum.  It was exactly three years to date that I had my last crisp!  The crisps were a tube of Pringles, French consome flavour.

It was not my intention not to eat crisps anymore.  In fact, if I knew I'd end up not eating crisps for that long I might have finished the Pringles!  Haha!  The French Consome flavour was nothing special to be honest.  Even now I can't remember anything distinctive about the taste.  I only bought it because it was a flavour that I had not seen in the UK.  And it had Japanese writing on it too which made it more exotic!  Haha!  When I got back from Hong Kong in 2008 I wanted to make it "special" by not having anymore crisps until I go back to Hong Kong.  When I first came back I was very excited to go back again you see.  And had spoken to mum about possibly revisiting within two years (this was backed up by our friends Jack and Avis).  However, lots happened from that time on and three years later we still haven't been back to Hong Kong!  The only holiday I've been on was to Dublin, which I tried alcohol there, not crisps!  Haha!

So, yes, a blogpost dedicated to celebrating three years of abstaining from crisps, poppadoms, prawn crackers etc etc.  One less snack means less oil in body and less 'heatiness' which causes things like spots and sore throats etc.  Also less grease on fingers which is good for my phone, my computer keyboard etc.  Haha!!  Peace out!!  =D

Took the leap

My first Sunday where I was neither playing in the worship team nor doing PA or transportation for the EM Service.  So instead of wasting this valuable spare time I went to the gym for 9am opening time.  Did a fifteen minutes run on the treadmill before stretching and started my workout with deadlifts.  Managed to reach 100kgs for six reps.  Will tackle it again next time.  Then I did chin ups and dips.  Barbell curls and barbell extensions.  Then ended with kettlebell extensions and rope pulldowns.  Got good pump on my arms  =)  Then jumped down to the steam room and jacuzzi for a while and hung out with a buddy.

After careful consideration, conversations, prayers and deliberation I decided to go for the car I saw on Thursday.  Back then I didn't want to rush into making a decision.  Didn't want the salesman to pressurise me into getting the car just because he wanted to make a sale.  I went to Machargs after church service today and after discussion with the salesman and later the general manager, I felt at peace in my heart and took my hand out for the handshake.  The price tag of the car could not come down but I managed to secure some good discounts and freebies and I thank God for that.  Definitely leeway from both sides.  Obviously the dealership will always come out better off but I was glad I managed to do some calculations as well.  Looking forward to next Thursday.  =)

China Buffet King

Went to China Buffet King for Gary's surprise birthday dinner.  He originally thought it was just a casual hangout in town like what usually happens after service.  But we all managed to keep it quiet and when he found out he was very surprised and seemingly very appreciative.  I haven't been in a buffet place for a looong time.  Can't believe the last time I let myself pig out.  I went for the less 'damaging' foods like chicken, pork and mussels etc from the upstairs buffet.  And the hotpot I mainly went for fish balls, beef slices, pork slices, tofu and salmon etc.  Was quite filling but not over full.  Couldn't eat any more in the end because my Highland Spring still water ran out and I didn't want to buy another bottle!!  Sick!  The place didn't even serve tap water to customers.  I didn't want to break my three months avoidance of fizzy drinks so I asked for water and just still water instead of sparkling.  Lol!  =P

Beauty... has to be admired from afar as always =)

I'll never walk alone

Was randomly reminded of JOSHUAB whilst in conversation last night.  It's amazing how appropriate the verse from Joshua 8:1 applies to me right now:

"Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged..."

A great comfort to remember the Lord is with me wherever I go.  Especially comforting when I have made a decision and will take action to make it happen.  It will be a big step, it might be a bit scary, but doing it with God, knowing He is there with me I know I will have the courage to carry it through.  Continuous seeking guidance and sensitivity to the Spirit will be needed during this time.  Am I ready for the big move?  Yes, Lord, I am!  =)

Back to the Gym

Returned to my passionate playground this morning - Greens Health and Fitness.  Was pretty tough getting up in the morning but after rolling about for fifteen minutes after my alarm went off I sprung out of bed and told myself I really wanna go to the gym and get back into training.  Today was the first proper session using weights again after my shoulder injury and last week's frequent late night finishes which affected my sleep.  Praise God this week I'm going to finish much earlier.  Only Friday night do I have to finish 8:30pm.  :)  Much more time to myself and more importantly, more time to get to bed!  That's if I'm not on Facebook eh!  Haha!

I have started my four day split training routine now.  Meant to do two days training, one day off, then two more days before taking the weekend off.  However, because I have a driving test on Friday morning I can't take the rest day, so will hope to do back to back days this week.  This morning was Chest and Shoulders.  Tomorrow should be Back (and I'll do some core as well).  Wednesday will be Arms and Thursday will be Legs.  By Friday morning I should be in agony but of the good sort.  The pain will be my body signalling to me the muscle fibres have been ripped and it will heal itself and grow back bigger and stronger through rest and increase in protein and other important nutrients from food.  I've decided I want to train to get bigger again.  I think the past few weeks infrequent workouts have meant I have lost some mass.  I don't feel the same size as before.  I did hear some compliments from people at the weekend but I know I can do better.  And this morning, although getting up was a struggle, by the time I left the gym I walked out to crisp fresh air and the morning light was out and my day began with me feeling refreshed and healthy and ready to tackle the day!  And I knew the struggle two hours ago was totally worth it!  =)  Roll on tomorrow!!  =)

Food

Along with my training I need to eat more as well.  My body definitely need the body fuel to keep me going.  I don't want to go through this week with any occasions of the stomach feeling empty and eventually cramping because I did not plan my lesson times properly and end up not having enough time to eat or not enough food even.  It sucks!  This machine needs it's fuel and I need to feed it whatever I can.  However, I will still try stay away from fried or deep fried foods.  Went out for Iain's birthday dinner last night at Cafe Rouge.  First time eating out this year! The steak main course came with chips.  I requested mash instead.  I have not eaten any chips this year, nor had any fizzy drinks.  I would say I have not touched sweets either, but then I remember I swallowed a large number of marshmallows whilst playing Chubby Bunny few weeks ago!  Lol!

Drink

The weather was amazing today.  It was a bit breezy but the sun was out and it was very warm in the car.  At the end of the lesson my pupil was walking towards her house and she reminded me to look after myself and to drink more water as well, especially in this warm weather and that I need to talk so much.  That was very true.  I must say, since becoming an instructor my fluid intake has totally fallen down to the bare minimum.  Simple reason is because I do not want to feel I need the toilet midway through lessons, especially when I do majority of two-hour lessons.  I remember the first month I started teaching I would have to dash to a toilet as soon as a lesson ended.  Sometimes it was worse, I'd started feeling the "need" midway through a lesson and still had to carry on the lesson until the end before everything ended, pupil walked away and then I'd make a made dash for the nearest fast food place or pub or hospital etc!  There was a few close calls I must say!!  Hahahaha!!  Ok, too much info!  But hey, I'm just being honest here.  Therefore, no more.  I just drink what I feel I need and I also cease every opportunity to use a toilet.  That way I will decrease any risk of accidents!  =P  What I plan to do is then, when I finish work I should try and drink more water, more fluid intake, be it water, tea, fruit juice, fruits, whatever.  I need to refuel my body with water to help it function properly and of course the muscles need it too!  :)

Resurrected

Think I'll bring this blog back to life.  Been too quiet for too long.  It's not like me.  Haha!  Just been too busy with life.  But have been reflecting recently and hoping things get clearer.  Some things have become as clear as mud.  Lol!

Sitting here in my living room with the X Factor on right now.  The judges are about to make a decision of who to send home tonight.  I won't spoil this for anybody who has not watched it yet.

Tonight I ordered my first ever Domino's Pizza online!  I came home from town just before six and felt very hungry.  Originally mum was gonna go to KFC for dinner, but when she mentioned it around lunch time I was quite against the idea.  More fast food, oily fast food.  But since tomorrow is her birthday I thought it would be ok to go to KFC with her.  However, mum didn't mention it again when we were out town.  Haha!  When I got home I had a sudden urge for a pizza.  So unlike me to have fast food, something like pizza!  But I thought I'd try out the home delivery service and of course try and customise my pizza to something with more meat in it to increase the protein content.  Haha!  Ended up getting a Meal For One offer of 7" pizza which I chose sundried tomato & garlic pizza sauce in place of standard pizza sauce.  I could choose up to four toppings so I had meatballs, roast chicken, steak meat and mushrooms.  A side order of potato wedges and a drink of Diet Coke.  I don't drink fizzy stuff so chose the Diet Coke to give to mum.  =)  My buzzer went twenty minutes after I placed the order and I tracked the order online from the order confirmation to prepping - baking - quality control - delivery.  Overall a very good Dominoes experience.  And guess what?  Delivery was free!!  How amazing is that!  =)

Obviously I haven't just re-opened this blog to talk about my dinner.  I've not been that happy for a while now.  Lots of things happening in my life, lots to think about, lots to consider.  Not sure how things will pan out, but gotta keep my focus on God and try to deal with things according to His will.  One thing is occupying my mind daily and I'm seeking His will about it.  God knows best about what should happen and what shouldn't.  Just gotta be patient.  =)

Final Thursday

Didn't go to the gym this morning, so slept in till 8am.  The more I was in bed the more I wanted sleep.  Had to force myself out of bed.  Haha!  When I got in to work people commented that I was finishing up soon and it made it more "real" for me, that I will be leaving tomorrow!!  Ooh!

At one point I was in the kitchen taking a protein drink and a workmate commented that I am quite cut but not the overly big type.  Was a nice compliment.  =)  We had a quick chat about sports and fitness etc.  Indeed it does take devotion and dedication to achieve our body goals and I am quite passionate about it. =)

I tidied up my desk before I finished work and took home my mug and cutlery, went to Staples to laminate a checklist, then Tesco for fuel before I went home for some lunch.

My 3-2-1 lunch: 3 pieces of chicken, 2 sausages and a bowl of rice

Gave a driving lesson in the afternoon then came home for dinner with mum.  The weather was really bad.  Rain rain rain, but I still went out for a drive around Bishopbriggs after I washed up cos I will be meeting a new pupil tomorrow so wanted to check out their surrounding area and start mentally preparing a lesson.  Came home to tidy up some stuff, update my admin then blog!!

So... tomorrow will be my last day at the company!!  Oooh!  I'm going to go to the gym first thing and work on Back and Triceps.  Then have my last breakfast in the office and do some work whilst winding down and tidying up my desk making sure personal items are gone and leave behind what is useful to my colleagues.  I'm gonna miss the place of nice people whom I've gotten to know in the past few years.  =/

I'm back!

Haven't put thoughts to keyboard for a couple of week.  Since I sold my car really.  Hmm... something has gone wrong with my hit counter. The last time I saw it was 6504, but this evening it has reset to 0007!  Huh?  Ack, who cares!  It's just a counter.  Not all that important when I come to think of it.  Just a way to track how many times people have visited my page.  So in a way, the rise in numbers would indicate how popular my page is.  However, I think I'll just take a look and no record anymore.  Just a weblog at the end of the day.

Anyway, I should go to bed real soon.  Aiming for another six am start tomorrow to head to the gym before work.  I went to Body Pump this morning for the 7am class.  The three-quarter hour class went by quite quickly, though I found myself struggling through the second set of legs workout when there was a combo of squats and lunges.  Must decrease my weight next time.  Also for the shoulders, will take it down to 5kgs each side rather than 7.5kgs.  Morning gym sessions are good as they leave you refreshed before you start work.  There were about fifteen people at Body Pump this morning and more people using the general gym.  Lots of fitness freaks getting their hit to kick start their day :)  I wanna go for my own biceps and triceps workout tomorrow.  :)

Worked three hours overtime at the office today.  It got really busy and hectic with three absences in my team, one of which was my manager.  So therefore I had to do a lot more work than usual and had to train two of the five Polish girls as well in a monthly payroll process.  By 3:15pm I was feeling very very ratty and hungry, but had to keep all the emotions inside as the outside I remember I am an advert of Jesus Christ.  I have to smile, I have to show peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control etc.  Once I got in the house I had to stuff my face asap and satisfy that big void in my stomach that increased in size with every minute passed my usual 1pm feeding time!!  =O

I ate quite unhealthily at the EM Retreat last weekend.  Started the weekend off with Burger King BEFORE I reached the campsite.  Then had bread and butter pudding once I got there.  I don't think I will have any more fast foods for a long while.  Initially I had planned to have my last fast food meal at Burger King in the end of December, then had KFC.  This year I have had a McDonald's visit as well as a Burger King visit.  ALSO Pizza Hut delivery at Jackie's bday party. Ooooh!  Although I want to bulk up, I don't think I should be doing it with junk. More like eat more carbs and protein.  Load up in that rather than fats from junk food!  Excess carbs can store up and be broken down using exercise.  Excess fat takes much longer to burn off.

Ok, better sleep now.

Oh yeah, I am planning to hand in my notice to my HR job next Monday, 1st Feb, then use the four weeks to properly take on as many pupils as I can and fill up my diary and then I will completely focus on driving tuition rather than have my mind and attention split between the both.  :)

p.s. I miss you

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year everyone!!  Wishing all my readers a very happy new year and I truly hope that 2010 is a year of amazing blessings for each and every one of you.  I received a text message from a colleague which read: "Happy new year!  May the best you've seen in 2009 be the worse you see in 2010" and I thought that was really nice.  It took me two reads before I understood what it meant, but yeah, can you imagine that?  The best thing that happened to you in 2009 is the "worse" thing in 2010 meaning what you graded as 10/10 in 2009 will be graded 1/10 in 2010.  That would mean, for example, passing my instructor exam (the highlight of my year!) would be graded 1/10 as there is something else greater and better yet to come!!  Whoo-hoo!!!  =D  So that is what I wish for all you guys out here!  All the very best in your endeavours.  May it be studies, careers, health and fitness or relationships, or all of the above!  =D  God is great and by His grace we have seen through another year.  And my gosh, what a quick year 2009 now was eh?  Does anybody else think so?

The above picture was taken in Kilmarnock, at James' parents' house where I was invited over for New Year's dinner and for Jessica's 21st birthday.  Both mum and Cat could not join us this year, so I attended myself from Glasgow, representing the So family!  Hahaha!  Had a good laugh through the night.  Dinner table conversations included how Lin looks a bit like Cat, how to find the right life partner and witnessing fights on a train journey.  Lol!  Had fun on Singstar as well as playing Big 2 with some new faces.  Overall another good new year dinner - Thanks to the Chung family!!  =D

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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)

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)

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)

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 :)

(5204)

Dinner treat

Prelude:

Marriott UK Payroll Survey we conducted in August

We received a significant 80 % response rate comparing to the 63 % response rate in March 2009.

In summary:

- 100% of HR Professionals are satisfied (Top 3 Box) with the Hewitt Oracle Payroll Support Centre
- 100% of HR Professionals are satisfied (Top 3 Box) with the Hewitt Customer Service Associates
- 99% of HR Professionals are satisfied (Top 3 Box) with Overall Payroll Services.

Our associates have also achieved 100% satisfaction score for:

- Deliver what they promise, when they promise
- Are courteous and polite
- Ask relevant questions




As a treat for our outstanding performance our team of seven has been offered a dinner treat at the Metropolitan Restaurant in Candleriggs, Merchant City in Glasgow. =D

As soon as we heard about this offer, one word immediately sprang into the heads of myself and my workmate, David: "Steaks!!". We guys love steak! Lots of meat puh-lease! Our manager, Bob, makes up the third guy in this team. I think he'll be up for steak as well. Lol! The last work's night out we had, back in January, where we were treated to dinner for good performance also, took place at The Grill at the Corner restaurant. I wanted to be different from everyone and chose the ostrich steak. To my disappointment the piece of avian meat, if I can even call it that, was tiny! Man, everyone else's rump steak or salmon looked waaay bigger than my wee lump of ostrich, sitting there on top of a bed of caramelised onions. The sweetness from the caramelised onions overtook any taste of the bird meat. My side order of mash potatoes and honey glazed carrots were "delayed" for almost ten minutes. I sat there waiting, looking around the restaurant awkwardly trying to avoid eye contact from the ten other diners I shared my table with. Occasionally I'd pick up and sip my fresh orange and lemonade...slowly. Then I'd decline any kind offers of "would you like some of my chips?", "would you like to try some of this?" whilst ignoring comments like, "oh! this tastes lovely!", "yes this is fantastic!". Those comments made me hungry! =O

This time round, I will make sure I go armed and ready to pick the right meal to fulfil my hunger meat! We've already been told what the menu's are gonna be like. There will be three set menu's to choose from. All three menus include steak: Minute steak, (the name reminds me of something small and tiny - no way am I going back to that!), Prime Scottish rib eye (now we're getting somewhere! but still looking for something better!) and last but not least, Prime cut of Scottish sirloin steak! Oooh la la!! Now THAT'S what I'm talking about! =D **mouth watering already!** Yes, the last set menu is indeed the most expensive, at £31.95 for three courses. I've decided what to have for my main course, but what about starter? Not sure yet. Wanna see what else is on offer?

Maybe you can give me some recommendations!


Set Menu £31.95

Soup of the day served with crusty bread

Pan fried scallops, cauliflower puree, diced black pudding, smoked ham and a white wine and chive sauce

Ham Hough and tarragon terrine with a rhubarb and orange chutney, toasted brioche and mixed leaf salad

Wild mushroom and basil risotto with parmesan shavings

~ ~ ~

Chicken breast with savoy cabbage, celeriac and potato dauphinoise, green beans and mustard sauce

Potato and herb gnocchi with cherry vine tomatoes, baby spinach, cream, black olives and olive oil

Whole steamed trout stuffed with fennel & lemon served with new potatoes, green beans and caper, anchovy and garlic butter sauce

Prime cut of Scottish sirloin served with grilled tomato, field mushrooms, rocket salad and Maris piper chips

~ ~ ~

Selection of homemade sweets and dairy ice cream


So... one question you might have on your mind. When is this dinner gonna take place? In a fortnight's time! Roll on Friday the 23rd!! =D

(5040)

The -Ing's

Picture taken during dinner at Ling's place on 6th June 2009.

(left-right): Bing(chao), Ling, (hei)Ming, Ming, Ting and Wing

:)

(3835)

March Plan: Day Four/ Five

I'm reaching the end of my first week of my healthy eating regime, if you can call it that. Well, my March Plan. I've decided not to stick to it as strictly as that. I did my push ups yesterday morning, but not this morning as I was too tired. My alarm went off at 07:00am this morning, as usual, but I ended up sleeping in till 07:30am, so lost lots of valuable time. I slept quite late last night, after 1:00am, reason being I came home so late, 10:45pm and had dinner. At 11:45pm I washed the dishes but still had a full stomach that I could not sleep with. So I ended up playing few games of Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 on my Playstation 3. I used my new-found favourite Chelsea team, beat Tunisia 3-0, lost 3-0 to Newcastle, then drew with Barcelona only to lose two goals in extra time. Haha! I feel I've improved a lot with Chelsea. I used to favour Barcelona but now find it easier to use Chelsea.

I wasn't just playing Pro Evolution Soccer to kill time. It was also to prepare for today after work. My colleague Ian invited me and another colleague Ryan to go to his place for some football action tonight. He stays not far from work, so it basically means I can leave the office and go straight into Pro Evo mode! =D The last time I played Ian was in my house back in January. The time prior to that was in Ian's house in December. Ian did comment on my improved skills when we played in January as compared to December. But we don't know how well Ryan plays. I think I will stick with Chelsea tonight and give it my best shot. Refraining from bad tackles and hacking at ankles will be an improvement for me. And being able to hold on to the ball, keeping possession are things I need to focus on. Currently I have a habit of making short passes each time I get the ball, which means I lose the ball more often and that can lead to breakaways on the counter and worse, a goal for the opposition! =O

Looking forward to dinner at Ian's place too. They're going to great lengths to accommodate my eating preferences too. Ian initially suggested getting pizza for dinner. Nothing wrong with pizza generally, but when I think of pizza, I think of grease. And when I think of grease, I picture it wrapped around my heart. And that's scary. No, I don't have a fear of pizza or anything greasy, but just would prefer to eat healthily if I get the choice. Monday was when we started discussing what food to have. I suggested I could bring up some food of my own, if they didn't mind. Ian then discussed with his other half Leanne and they have now suggested Jack Daniels chicken legs and potatoes and salad. That sounds fab! I appreciate how others can be so nice to cook healthily for me. It's nice :)

Gonna have an eventful weekend. Nothing like last Saturday of course. Won't be fully booked like last week. Tomorrow morning I'm going to give my first driving lesson to Elaam. Prepared the briefing/ lesson plan last night. Then will need to visit Specsavers to sort out getting daily contact lenses, then maybe a quick visit to the gym (just maybe, cos at the time of writing I am not in the mood for it), then study some more and chillax. Sunday I'm going up to Edinburgh to join ECEC for their church service. Will be my first church service in Edinburgh. Then afterwards I should be attending a birthday dinner. Won't say much about it right now cos I don't know much about it, and it might be a surprise so I might spoil things. =P

Finally!

I am wearing a new shirt today. One of the two I bought at the Next Sale on Boxing Day. That was just over two weeks ago, but felt like much longer. After Christmas and New Year there hasn't been much to celebrate, especially since I went back to work as of 5th Jan. However, this weekend was grand! My weekend started from Friday as I took the day off. However, before I go into that, let me recall what happened on Thursday evening at the dinner with Marriott clients at the Grill at the Corner. Everything was on 50% off offer on the a la carte menu, besides the Kobe fillet and the lobster. Fortunately I had the Ostrich steak as back up. That wasn't great though. Let's not talk about the service and bad interpretation of set up of the menu (which resulted in lack of mash potatoes and honey-glazed carrots with my steak). There's something about eating birds. The meat tends to shrink when cooked. And the other steak orders all looked meat-ier and filling than my pitiful ostrich slice. I thought there were two slices but there was only one slice. The bottom half was dark and squigy and sweet. Caramelised onions. Too much caramelising I'm afraid. The sweetness and burnt-ness took away the taste of the meat unfort. At the end of it all, I was left unfulfilled and looking at the leftovers in other plates and questioning why some people would leave so much on their plate. What a waste! I'd happily swap my left out untouched splodge of caramelised onion for their meat or veg! Note to self - a free meal, don't complain too much. Another note to self - don't go for anything fancy in the future. Steaks are the way to go, man!

Friday 9th January
Important day for me this was. Woke up at 0830am, washed, had breakfast, then made my way up to Tesco for a quick car wash, then along to the Baillieston Test Centre. Yes, this was the day for my final attempt at ADI Part Two examination - Advanced Driving Test. Time of test was 1030hrs. I arrived at 1025hrs. The car park was busy, with few cars practicing on it. I reversed parked first time. Good start. Quick word of meditation to God and I went inside to wait for my examiner. Same guy as last few times!! Duncan!!! =D (No, I was not that excited to see him, but me and him do go waaaaay back! Telling me my brake light failed. Failing me for the motorway incident. Telling me my test was cancelled due to ice etc etc). After I signed the declaration we went outside for the eyesight test (no problem). Next was the Show Me/ Tell Me questions. One under the bonnet (engine oil), Four inside the car (indicator lights, handbrake, headrest on seat and tyres tread depth) The test began and funnily enough, I found myself quite enjoying it. I wasn't nervous one bit and even made small talk with the examiner just to ease the tension whilst waiting at the lights etc. Reminded myself to just think of him as a friend whom I'm giving a lift home, that he isn't marking my skills but just directing me left and right to his house. Praise God after 1hr and 10mins I reached the test centre and he told me pull up, turn engine off and relax. Then he asked for a minute for him to finish filling in the test report. Boy was that a long wait. For each scribble of his pen I imagined a mark or score of the faults he witnessed, or even a written explanation of why I failed. Then he said, "Gordon, I'm happy to tell you you have passed this time." I was like, "Yes!!" (and raised both fists up in joy) then muttered "Thank God" as he continued to say, "You did get one driving fault. Would you like to me to tell you what it was for?" I was all ears in listening to that one fault, because in my mind I thought I had scored a few. It was for Use of Speed, when I when around a corner after a low bridge just a bit too fast. Yes, I do remember that. That was one of the roads I have never practiced or driven on. In fact, throughout the test, there were numerous stretches of roads which I had never seen before, but praise God I managed to keep up my discipline and finally I have passed my second test and can move on to my third module - learning how to teach!! That is gonna be the fun part!

So after collecting my pass notes, I texted folk, called folk, drove home to shave and change. Met Mel for lunch, then went shopping for a birthday present, looked around town for Buzz! the TV quiz (special edition) but was disappointed. Had coffee in Costa and sat for a while before meeting Dilane and Roxane to go to Ming's birthday dinner at The Village, curry house.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MING!! Ma bro is a wee 22 years old.
Had a good laugh at dinner. Lots of curry and lots of naan bread. So much meat. I ended up being the only one eating whilst the waiters were clearing the table! Hahaha! We headed to Ming's place to watch some TV and then played a few disconnected games of Mafia. It doesn't quite run as smooth as playing it with the Singaporeans for some reason. We seemed to have lots of hiccups and stuff. Hmm... must look to improve it for the BBC's. I went home "early" as I had the gym the next day.


Saturday 10th January
Woke up at 1100hrs, arrived at the gym around 1245hrs and left at 1650hrs. Dunno how I ended up staying for so long. I guess it was cos I wanted to catch up on what I missed on Thusday. So I worked on biceps, triceps, forearms, as well well shoulders, legs and abs. Even did over 30mins of cardio before heading for the showers. Felt great though. Spent rest of the evening tidying and rearranging my PS3 and Home Theatre system. Managed to connect my PS3 to the dvd system so I have better sound when playing Pro Evolution Soccer and when watching any Blu-Rays. Went to bed before midnight.

One thing is for sure. Going through what I went through to get this pass in Advanced Driving. It really has reminded me how much God is in control. How great He really is! If you read back to how I sat the tests so many times. How I was disappointed with a small fail, a brake light, another fail, then icy conditions. Let down after let down. And even two nights before I sat the test, last Wed, I went out for drive practice, only it to be cut short because of heavy fog. I felt all was against me. But when God says you CAN, then you CAN! We as humans can use all our intelligence, all our skills to achieve the things we want. But if it ain't in God's time, it will not come to fruition. It will be in vain. But when God decides it is time, when He gives the go-ahead, it will happen, even if there is fog and lack of practice! Amen, people!! Hallelujah!

I just hope I can wait upon Him so diligently with regards my love life too.