Missing the times

Looking at the pictures and videos, choosing the ones to upload onto Facebook, I recall the happy times I had over the weekend with Ian and Leanne.  Here's what I particular remember:

"Hybrid"

"MST" - (not be mistaken with STD!)

"Thai bride"

"Flip flops during wedding"

"Oriental style wedding"

"Two person platter at Harvester"

"Locked and Rocked"

"21 compartment laptop bag"

"Bubbles, Squeak and Mr Elvis"

"Size 10 and 11 shoes"

"James Bond / Snooker player"

"Stealth mode inside hotel"

"Ian and Leanne entering station platform to send me off"

These are the things off the top of my head which bring a smile to my face.  And of course one of the biggest highlights of the weekend was getting a bedroom THREE times the size of my current room, with a DOUBLE bed and a window!!  Both Saturday and Sunday mornings I awoke naturally at 7:40AM although alarm was set for 9AM.  Did not know why it happened on Saturday, but on Sunday I realised it was because the morning sun light was shining through the window into the room and it was so nice!  I've never woken up to sunlight before!  =)  In my future home I would really like a bedroom with a window.  =)  So here I put a picture of the lovely bedroom.



Lesson of the Day: Turn off all power sockets when leaving the house.  This reduces energy bills and reduces risks of any electric shortages or fires. - (Thanks Ian bro!)

Back in Glasgow

I reached home back to Glasgow on the scheduled time of 1651hrs this afternoon.  It felt strange to be back on home soil.  The Glaswegian feeling came flooding back.  Fortunately, until now I still carry the positive feelings from the lovely weekend I spent with Ian and Leanne.  Still replaying the jokes and funny moments we shared together.  Looking at the pictures and watching the videos made me smile again.  Even as I shared some with mum I was very excited, especially the wedding stuff and showing her the pets too.  Everything was so nice and I was so relaxed this weekend.  I really do thank God for Ian and Leanne.  I believe God has blessed us to be friends and allow our friendship to develop through time and through distance.  I feel so happy to hear that the bedroom at their place is always welcome for me.  I do look forward to staying at their place again in the future.  =)

Here we have the last picture of the three of us for March.  I will be back in July and look forward to having another blast of a time.  MORE bromance, MORE jokes, MORE FIFA, MORE food and of course THE WEDDING!!!  =D

I'll share more another time.  For now it is time for bed before I get up again, hopefully back to the earlier time of 6AM for the gym and we kick off again.  We all return to work tomorrow and I hope we all carry on smiling and laughing.  God bless y'all.

Lesson of the Day: Beware of first impressions.  They are not always right.

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...

At Grantham!

Hey guys, what's up!  I'm currently sitting on a brand new double bed with memory foam mattress in a bedroom that was decorated and put together especially for me.  This was done by no other than my uber cool hosts Ian and Leanne!!  They are the reason I am visiting Grantham!  =)

So didn't want to work today.  Just wanted to chill out at home, take my time packing and then head down to see Ian and Leanne sooner.  But eventually had to settle for getting my train at original time of 5:15PM.  Had about twenty minutes of "transit" time at Edinburgh Waverley Train Station in which I had difficulty getting around in.  The place looks so messy with all the construction work etc.  Fortunately my Edinburgh to Grantham train had reserved seating.  And what was even better was I had two front-facing seats to myself AND a power socket all to myself so I could feed my phone and my laptop!  =D  I shall not mention anymore about my cool laptop bag, but that it is such a good travelling companion!  =P

I reached Grantham about fifteen minutes later than scheduled.  This was due to congestion at some point of the journey and later disruption caused by 'trespassers'.  LOL!  In the end I was glad to meet Ian and Leanne as I walked towards the exit.  They had to wait for me to for long!!

Man I am sooo impressed by this place.  As soon as I walked into their house it was very warm and cosy.  Not like what Ian said to me earlier that they keep the costs down so don't use heating.  Haha!  Bit like our house.  =P  There are like three levels here: ground, level one, level two.  Everything has been provided for me: my own bedroom, with DOUBLE bed, drawers, lamps, a bathroom to myself, shower gel, towels, LOTS of food also!  I asked for muesli and banana for breakfast.  I got not only that but they bought lots of food in the fridge and cupboards full of snacks AND alcohol too!  Haha!  I said to Ian their kitchen is like a mini ASDA or something.  Haha!  My goodness, it feels like royalty here!  I am very much looking forward to spending this long weekend with Ian and Leanne as it will be good fun hanging with them and getting to meet Leanne's family too.

So far on the agenda for the weekend it's something like: visit Nottingham tomorrow, have a nice lunch together, suit fitting, whiskey drinking, PS3 games time, dinner with Leanne's family and lots lots more.

I've brushed my teeth and washed my face.  It's time to close off once I'm done here.  Alarm is set for 8AM tomorrow.  Yee-haa!  Catch y'all later!

Follow Up... 

One in, one out

I found the above delivery card on the kitchen table when I got home after work this evening.  At first I was not too sure who would have sent me something through Hermes.  I had not heard of Hermes before, nor could I immediately recall if I were expecting any deliveries.  Then after a few moments, I remembered I had ordered a new laptop bag for my Samsung laptop.  I will be going down to Grantham in Lincoln to see my good friend Ian and his fiancee Leanne this Thursday.  Will be away until Sunday.  I am planning to bring my laptop with me for this trip as I will be going down to discuss their wedding plans with them and meet Leanne's family.  I think I will need the laptop because I will be taking photos and videos and most importantly will be making notes and plans for my role as the Best Man!!  Oh my goooodness!!  Can you believe it?  Ian asked me to me his Best Man for his wedding in July the 7th!!  I was and still am very honoured, however, the thing that scares me the most is the Best Man Speech!!!  =O  7th July.... today is 6th March... Wow! Just four months to go!  Then on 16th July it'll be Cat's wedding!  ANOTHER speech!!  =O 

Anyway, back to the laptop bag.  If you click the picture above you'll see the Swissgear laptop bag I got for my 17" Samsung computer.  I still have the 15" bag which I put my old Toshiba in, but putting the Samsung in does not give it any protection and it is very umcomfortable as it is the single strap shoulder bag type.  Far too obvious that it is a laptop bag and is not easy or convenient to carry around.  This laptop bag looks waaay more comfortable and has so many different compartments for me to store stuff like my other gadgets, important documents etc.  One great thing about it is, it has a stabilising design which keeps the bag upright so it does not fall when put down.  Good stuff!  I find sagging bags quite annoying, like something that does not have any backbone, forever crumpling.  Lol!  This looks like a bag to last a long time and I'm glad to pay the price.

So, I missed the courier twice apparently, but this was the first card I saw.  So I got in touch with "Alan" and asked him to deliver between 8AM-12PM tomorrow.  He said he will come by then.  Great!  That is the time I will be home tomorrow... because... the plumbers are coming!!  =D  Sooo looking forward to meeting these professionals!!  So looking forward to having a "normal" bathroom/ toilet.  Will update y'all in due course.

And finally, as my title suggests, I want to share some good news.  This morning I had a pupil Nelson sitting his driving test.  As we approached the test centre I got a text message from a new number.  She is called Ellen and said she was referred by my friend Esther for driving lessons.  I was joking to Nelson in the waiting room.  I told him "See, a message asking for lessons with me.  If you pass, I'll have room for her.  If not, she'll have to wait."  This was a friendly yet positive push for Nelson.  I was feeling positive about him and his test and was also quite glad with the examiner he got.  So off he went to sit his test whilst I waited in the waiting room, said a prayer for Nelson and later calling Ellen to discuss her requirements etc.  Again I told her the same thing, when my pupil passes I'll have space for her and will make arrangements.  Nelson came back about 40 minutes later.  I approached the car and I saw through the window the driving examiner was writing on the blue driving test pass certificate!  Whoo-hoo!!  Amazing!  Thank the Lord!  So happy for Nelson and he was so glad to pass too!  =)  What does "one in, one out" mean?  Well, I believe the Lord definitely provides for every single thing.  He knows what we need and knows just when to give it to us.  "One in" would be Ellen coming in.  "One out" would be Nelson leaving after he has passed.  I was originally going to title this post "One out, one in" as that is what usually happens.  However, this time God blessed me with before I was without.  Hallelujah!

Lesson of the Day: The Lord gives and takes away.  In any order He pleases.

Gone Platinum!!

First day of March and it went off with a good start, weather-wise at least.  For the first time in a long while we had an afternoon of sunshine and I actually felt like I was teaching in a nice summer's day.  It was very indeed.  I cannot remember how many degrees it was outside but my jacket was off and the windows were down.  My pupil was amazed at how nice the weather was.

This day also marks the day I upgraded to the 'Platinum Membership' in Greens Gym.  What this means is, I pay an extra £10 every month on top of my membership fee.  For that extra money I get a whole range of benefits including:

* A complimtary towel each visit of the gym
* One free guest pass each month
* Complimentary personal training session every three months
* One free coffee each month
* 10% off Costa Coffee within Greens

I reckon with the £10 extra, if I visit the gym ten times a month I will at least break even as the towels are £1 each.  I usually bring my own, but now once I finish with their towel I just put it into the towel bin and won't have to carry it around with me if I were not going on.  It also means I can take random visits to the gym purely for a quick shower and head back out.  This will be especially useful in the hot hot summer days that Glasgow will soon be getting, so therefore, I get more much more value out of this.

The free guest pass per month is also very good offer.  I have signed friends in before using their promotional guest passes which they issue each Christmas for use in December and January months.  However, without vouchers, guests are signed in for £10 each time.  Again, just bringing a friend once a month makes the extra money worthwhile.

Free training session every three months will be useful when I want a break from my usual training program and can have someone check my form or give me more advice etc for an hour.  Guess I won't have my first session until June perhaps.

Previously they gave out sunbed vouchers to Platinum members.  But the girl at reception told me today that since Nuffield Health and Fitness bought over Greens they took away the sunbed vouchers and replaced it with a free coffee instead.  Not a bad idea as I would have NO use for any sunbeds.  Haha!!

10% off Costa Coffee is something I will probably use more often.  Though I don't do many coffee shop visits, but the occasional catch up with friends is nice and makes a change from Starbucks anyway.  Plus this place has free parking which not many other places can offer ;)

So there we have it.  I am officially a Platinum Greens member, after being a member since December 2009.

Lesson of the Day:  More like a quote here - "If you keep doing what you're doing, you will keep getting what [results] you're getting.".  It's time to turn up the heat!

Re. Phone Hospital

Last week I posted about my new phone, Samsung Galaxy SII, having gone in to the phone hospital for repair.  People were hearing loud echo-ing each time I called them and used the microphone, but things were ok on speakerphone.  This only affected my outbound calls.  Incoming calls were fine.  It was very strange indeed.  So the phone went into S3 Interactive last Monday and I got it back Friday afternoon, around 4pm just as I was on my way to take mum for a carvery dinner.  I was so happy to get the call from Chris who worked there informing me it was back from Dundee.  I plugged in my sim card as soon as I got the phone and called my mum.  Mum was waiting in the car and said everything sounded fine.  Excellent!  Off I went back out and went to carvery and grocery shopping full with joy cos my phone is back with me AND is working!  I spent rest of the evening setting my phone back up logging into my Google accounts and other customised settings etc.  It was so cool to get back my Whatsapp, my Words with Friends and of course my Facebook.  Most importantly, I could view/ plan my lessons with my Google Calendar and my Gmail accounts.  =D

Saturday morning I called Kwik-Fit to check availability of a new tyre.  As soon as the guy picked up I spoke and the guy at the other end said he could not hear me.  Uh-oh!  No, please no!!!  Yup... the problem came back!  I had to complete the rest of the call using speaker.  I felt like a bombshell dropped.  No way!!  I did further testing calling mum on her mobile and our landline.  Same... Wth, do I really have to go back to S3 Interactive on Monday?!  =((

The bittersweet feeling of having my phone back stayed with me throughout yesterday and today.  And I was complaining to everyone about my phone having to go back for repair.  People suggested I get a new handset, which I wish I could but cos I passed the 'seven days after purchase timeframe' all faults are dealt with by manufacturers guarantee which means it gets repaired. I called a few people in church and they also heard themselves echo back and they could not hear me either.  How terrible.

Then tonight, just before going to bed, I was on the phone for a little while.  I was using the speakerphone and had the handset on my table.  Randomly I clicked on my Options and it brought up a few things including one saying "Noise Reduction - On".  I clicked that and it said, "Unable to turn on Noise Reduction when speaker is on".  So I then turned the speaker off and noticed a zig-zag looking icon with a line through it appear on the screen.  I brought up the Options and turned the "Noise Reduction - Off".  Voila!  Instantly the caller said they could hear me clearly and properly.  I asked whether they could hear any echo-ing.  No more!  That's fantastic!!  It seemed that the "problem" was so simple to "fix" in the first place, but I didn't think to push so many buttons, test so many options etc (guess in fear of making it worse).  But the worrying thing is, why did S3 Interactive not advise that such noise reduction could cause this interference?  On Friday they advised they "fixed the microphone support and performed software update" but had no mention anything was wrong or right with it.

I was sooo happy after that call that I called TWO more people and told them the same thing, about the Noise Reduction.  One person is actually an owner of the same phone.  They tried the Noise Reduction and it didn't cause any problems.  But then again it was I who called and not the other way round.  Nevertheless, I am right now delighted I will NOT have to take another trip to S3 Interactive in Clydebank.  It is not the most convenient of places to go to and definitely not a good use of time!  Whoo-hoo!!  I am so happy and I thank God for sudden urge to play around with the options, the itchy fingers and curiosity to try things out.  =D

Lesson of the Day:  There is no need to go straight for repair if you have a fault.  Try to find ways to fix it yourself first.  The problem may be easily rectified without wasting more precious time =)

Phone hospital

My phone is away for repair.  I put it into S3 Interactive in Clydebank Business park this afternoon.  What's wrong with it?  It took me long enough to find out, cos it wasn't that obvious.  Basically everytime I make an ordinary outbound call and talk into the microphone, the person on the other line can hardly hear me.  I've had a few people comment that I sound "far away/ distant and very quiet".  I had no idea why, and thought it was reception issue so moved around the house in hope of 'improving signal' but to no avail.  Once I made a call in the car and had full reception, yet the person said they could not hear me at all.  Another thing was, when I did some testing at home and I called mum, she said each time she spoke she would hear her voice bounce back.  I checked it and it was true.  Weird.  However, whenever I received an incoming call, we could hear each other no problem.  Whenever I made or received calls using speakerphone, again, no problems.  I don't make that many outbound calls, or at least not often enough, so could not catch this problem until over 7 days after I initially bought the phone, so cannot return to seller and have to deal with Samsung.  Therefore I located this Samsung approved repair specialist.  In fact, I have been here before once, with my Samsung laptop.  the left speaker gave off a crackily sound in higher volumes and this annoyed me.  It went in twice, but came out none the better.  So... I guess Samsung and I don't really mix well eh!  =(

Now I'm feeling a little incomplete without my phone because I am so used to having the important features like Google Calendar, GMail along with Whatsapp and Words with Friends.  Not to forget my 8MP camera and Facebook.  But the last two items are just extras.  Not essential.  My schedule is much more important.  Even important emails have to be read after work when I get home now.  So hopefully nobody will try to contact me in these few days.  Estimated time of getting phone back: Friday.  What the heck!!  "Really busy, with long queue of repairs" I was told.

Pending...

So that's a new thing on my Pending list.  The first thing that was pending from before was the plumbing.  Our toilet has had intermittent leaks/ flooding for the past few months.  By intermittent it was like once every 3-4 weeks where we flush and some water would leak out of the out pipe, seeming like a blockage was there or something.  Some "advice" we recieved said it could be the main street pipe was clogged up and that backed up the water.  Plumber One came up and helped up seal the "gap" where the water was flowing back out and said hope it helped.  It worked for a few days then the flooding got a bit worse and pushed out of the silicone gel thing he used.  Clearly that was not good enough.  He came up to inspect again and there was a leak as well now.  Mum thinks was due to the out pipe being moved when the silicone was applied the first time.  Plumber One denied it and then gave the number to Plumber Two who was the original guy who installed our bathroom for us.  Plumber Two came, witnesses the backflow of water and regurgitation through the bathtub plughole.  But it only happened once.  Then after further inspection and flushing lots of loo roll down the toilet the blockage seemed to have cleared.  There was no more back flow and no more sound.  Phew!  That was relief.  However, the small leak was still there, though very small now, but still there.  He said it will stop once the blockage is gone.  Mum was adament it was still there and wanted further attention to it.  However, Plumber Two said the pipe is not wet anymore and what mum saw/ felt on the pipe must have been the condensation from the water tank.  And not to worry.  We did not argue with him anymore as we were both mixed with relief that it would not leak anymore but also disbelief.

After Plumber Two left, we found the leaking continued.  Mum was fuming.  She really questioned Plumber Two's professionalism and vowed never to use him again.  We had numbers for two other plumbers we used from long time ago.  I called one: took my number said he'd get back to me in twenty mins, but never did.  The other plumber's numbers were both disconnected.  Guess he must have retired.  So... what now?  Leave the water to drip slowly and hope it ceases itself?  Mum was already very anxious and had lost hours of sleep over this.  I had lost sleep and had to reshuffle lessons to meet the mentioned Plumbers, but all to no success.  Mum spoke on the phone to church aunties and one suggested getting the number to another friend's plumber.  (You can see how things were getting a bit complicated here.)  In the end I decided not to call so many people.  I thought of asking a church brother's advice, see if he knew of any reliable plumbers who can do the job properly for us.  He gave me a number to call but advised against calling him out weekends due to weekend premium.  I advised I would arrange for Monday visit (today).  Called about six times over three days, left three voicemails and a text message.  Nothing.

When I was about to give up I got a call after leaving S3Interative (thankfully I plugged my sim into the K810i - very old phone but very RELIABLE!).  Plumber Three called back and said he was away for the weekend and left his phone at home.  He said he saw my messages and called me back straight away.  Sounded quite friendly and said he'd call me after 6PM this evening to arrange to have a look at the toilet.  I was really happy.  Was all ready for him then got a text message about 5:50PM saying it'll have to be tomorrow as something has just come up.  I asked him what time, asked if it were ok to be after 4PM, or else I can make sure I am home between 12-1:30PM (meaning I reschedule another lesson at last minute!!).  He said it's hard to say, but he'll contact me through the day tomorrow.  WHAT THE HECK!!  Plumbers are usually self-employed people.  At least these ones are.  I am a self-employed person, I would never do that to my pupil or potential pupils - arrange something, promise something then postpone like that.  Even if so, at least give a call to explain through the phone, not hide behind a text.  Arghhhh!!!!!!

So, the toilet case is dragging on for at least another night.  I really really really hope that Plumber Three can make it up to check the toilet between 12-1:30PM cos I'll be home for him and if he is not I'll be very very disappointed.  If this goes on like this I might just go crazy and call up a very expensive plumber coming like JH Horn Plumbers and I'm pretty sure they'll get the job done very professionally with invoices, possibly guarantees etc and at a time/ day that it suitable for both parties.  Sake man!!  Money I have, but time I don't have any to waste.  I have a life to live here guys.  I don't want to think about toilets all day.

I always remember Rene Descartes' philosophical quote: "I think therefore I am."  Oh dear...

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

Christmas 2011: Inbetween Days

Last gym session of 2011 today.

Treadmill: Intervals of sprint and walk for 12 minutes.
PullUps - Deadlifts - Bench Press - Box Jumps - Thrusters - Rolling Dumbbell extensions - Plyo PushUps with Dive Bombers to finish off.  Was pretty good workout and certainly broke a good sweat out of me.  I still didn't feel 100% today but better than yesterday at least when I was coughing and it sounded pretty rough that even Caroline the PT said "Oh that doesn't sound too healthy(!)".  I laughed it off and said, "Yeah trying to fight it here!"  =P  Got a compliment from a guy at the gym when I was at the cardio suite.  Went over to shake his hand (as you do when you greet buddies and wishing a good Christmas and New Year) and he said he had been eating everything this Christmas and will want to head back to full training again from January.  He commented that I was looking good and look leaner compared to when he last saw me in the gym (just a few weeks ago).  Must be the top I was wearing.  Haha!  Anyway, yeah, I am glad that I started the ATHLEAN-X training program back in May this year.  It has certainly helped me lose lots of bodyfat whilst building and maintain muscle mass.  It is generally each to do both at the same time, hence bodybuilders go through the "bulking stage" when they pump iron whilst eating lots and lots and get big (gaining lots of muscle and fat along the way), then they go for the "cutting phase" and do lots of cardio in place of eating lots and hope to lose the bodyfat, revealing the muscle they built up during their bulking phase.  It sounds easier than in reality as the bodyfat will never be shifted away completely or the level we'd like, at least not naturally.  I've been through that stage of the game before and I can say it was fun whilst it lasted but now I train in a much more smarter way, training like an athlete, lots of bodyweight exercises along with free weights and generally get more body parts involved to increase anabolic and metabolic rate and the results speak for themselves.  =)

The above picture was a random idea when I was in the changing room getting ready to leave.  I had my shaker cup at hand whilst mixing my protein supplement after my shower.  I took this picture because I wanted a record of how I look at the end of 2011 and I want to use this to better myself in 2012.  I have great aims for 2012, spiritual and physical goals.  Talking about physical goals, I don't like the picture above: I would like to build up my trapezius muscles, they look pretty flat compared to my shoulders.  Also there is still too much bodyfat around the waist and I need to do more to burn away the stubborn layers.  (Doing ab exercises alone will NOT do anything btw, that is called spot reduction - does not work!).  Cutting away sweet stuff (apart from my supplements and stuff like yoghurts) and lowering carbs in the evenings will help too.  So when it turns 2012, in less than 48hrs, I will be lowering my sugar intake whenever possible.  I will still have my vitamin c drink of course (orange taste), but will be abstaining from sweet empty calories like sweets, chocolate etc.  Please, do not offer such things to me.  I will let myself some freedom when it's Cat's wedding (July/ August) and really celebrate then, especially in Singapore!!  =D  One final thing, I want to build bigger calf muscles.  This one I am NOT looking forward to, even as I type this, I would rather work anything else but these stubborn stubborn muscles.  But I know if I want bigger calves to look better in my kilt then I better get to work.  Lol!  So again in January I will start training the calves specifically.  There are so many different exercises and believe me, these weak muscles will always ache the few days after the workout.  LOL!!  So these are the three physical goals I have for the new year.  I will share my other goals next time :)

Last day of work tomorrow (Hogmanay!).  Three lessons: 0930-11AM, 11-1PM then 330-5PM and then I'll be done!!  Off work for a whole TWO days!!  Haha!!  Not sure what's happening for New Year yet.  Might be a very quiet one this year =)

Bus journeys

This All Day bus ticket (now costing £4) was my travel buddy today.  I took two buses to get to church and two buses back.  So each journey was a Pound.  Worth it?  Hmm... not really.  Didn't like how I hit my left elbow off the metal arm rest at the very back of the bus (there were no other seats left).  Didn't like how I got off a few stops too early in fear of the 41 bus going a different route and ended up walking from George Square up to Watt Brothers on Hope Street (about 4-5 blocks away) whilst looking over my shoulder every so often in case my next bus arrived.  Didn't want to run or rush cos didn't like to get all sweaty and stuff before arriving at church.  Managed to arrive at bus stop across from church at 1PM sharp so got to do my PC/ Projector duty much on time.

After church service and later the meeting at church centre I waited at the bus stop on Gt Western Road for about fifteen minutes before a bus came that took me to town before I got off and onto a different bus (41) which took me home.  The 41 bus from Odeon was the first stop, so the bus sat there for about six minutes before it started it's journey.  From previous experience of taking the bus I remember it being common courtesy to leave the front few rows vacant for the elderly and mothers with prams etc.  So I sat on the second row behind the open space.  However, I must have grown some more since the last time I was on the bus.  Because my knees seemed to have felt squashed behind the seat in front and I had to sit slightly turned to the side.  LOL!

I almost got off the bus about three stops early because I started smelling cigarette smoke coming from the back of the bus.  The smoke is is something I definitely do not miss about public transport.  Yucks!!

Tuition Vehicle

My new car which will be used as a driving tuition vehicle around the east and west end of Glasgow.  No more using a lease vehicle from a national franchise, so will no longer have the back up of a national driving school.  I am truly "independent" now.  No more franchise fees to pay - Yay!  No more reporting mileage to head office weekly - Yay!  No more free tyres from Kwik-Fit for punctures - No!  No more new car every 32 weeks - That's ok la!  No more livery/signage all over the car - Yay!

Truly my own boss.  Only accountable to the DSA (Driving Standards Agency) and to God.  Here we go!!  =D

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.  =/

Final Wednesday

Back to the blog just in case somebody is reading.  Haha!

Went to the gym in the morning and worked on shoulders and abs.  Made it into work right on time to log on at 0845hrs then went to the kitchen to make my breakfast.  Nothing in particular stood out today apart from my workmate Caroline bringing in two boxes of cakes for our team: box of cream filled yumyums and a box of cream donuts.  She said she brought them in cos I'm leaving soon so that was "occasion".  Haha!  So kind of her.  It wasn't the first time she has spoilt us with her nice treats.  In the end she even gave me the three spares ones to take home so mum and Cat could have some too!  I praise God for people's kindness towards my family =)

After I had my sandwich and the yumyum at tea break I could not manage the banana so left it on my desk.  I also had to leave space for lunch with my colleagues later =P

So at my usual finish time of 1230hrs I went to Cafe Sejuiced with my workmates David and Caroline.  Had expected more people to come along but some had to postpone till Friday as they had a client meeting to attend.  The three of us went by my car (yes, Cafe Sejuiced it very close to my workplace but the sleet and snow was hitting us from all angles!  Haha!).  I dropped them off first before I parked up.  When I joined them at the queue they had already decided to treat me to lunch and did not take my money.  How very nice of them!!  =)

I had ciabatta bread with chicken mayo filling, coleslaw and side salad, with a bottle of water.  It was nice to have something different from the usual soup and sandwiches which Cafe Sejuiced is famous for.  Nothing wrong with soup and sandwiches in general, but I would prefer more meaty food and something more filling.  This time I was more full than previous visits =)

My lunch =9

We were allowed an extended lunch for this occasion, anticipating long queueing time since it was at peak lunch time we arrived 1240hrs.  However the queue was short and we managed to get a good table for comfortable for the three of us.  At the table we chatted about recent developments in the transition between Glasgow office to and Krakow, Poland.  Also talked about smoking, holidays and other random stuff.  At the end, I said a goodbye to Caroline as I will not see her again as she is next back in on Monday and I'll be gone by then.

At the dinner table =P

In the afternoon I gave a driving lesson in the sleet / snow and then came home for dinner.  After dinner I had two telephone conversations which resulted in two more new pupils from referrals.  Amazing!  Praise God for His provision.  As the days of full-time self-employment draws closer, I am reminded that pupils are the lifeblood to my livelihood.  The more the merrier.  All good things come from God!  Hallelujah!  =)

Off to bed now as my eyes are drooping.  Will get a lie in tomorrow.  Possibly to 0730hrs as I am not going to the gym.  =)

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)

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Boxing Day!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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!



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Nine days till Christmas!!

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

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

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

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Pictures from AA Induction

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

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