I heart raisin scones!

Basically I heart anything with raisins, eg: raisin bun, raisin bran, walnut bread that contains raisins, raisin stick or just raisins on their own! Anyway the other day I bought raisin scones from Cold Storage (which I also heart!) and put loads of marmalade jam on it and then ate it for supper (din have time to eat dinner cause busy with props) My housemate WZ noticed that I put a lot of jam, and she had that "dahsyat betul budak ni" look. And then I explained to her one of life's principles:

If you must put jam, put ALOT of jam!

True right? =D

Don't have a picture because I was super hungry and I finished the scones (2) before I could take a pic =P

Busy busy busy!

Wah...I've so busy these few weeks helping out with props (I sampatly volunteered to help and elected myself props advisor :P), decor and dunnolah what else. I wonder if there's enough publicity...I think enough la...with the posters and banners....if someone comes up to me and says "but I din know about the event also..." I am so gonna smack them. Means the fella din pay attention to the environment la so din bother looking at the posters. Or never went for class. Anyway we're also having a Charity Booth to raise funds for Stepping Stones Living Center. Visit our booth if you can! =)

Flyer:


Still haven't done my Christmas shopping...sigh...must finish shopping by this week!! What's worse is I have no gift ideas for my beloved housemates!! It's gonna be our last Christmas as housemates here! Anyone got any ideas?

Even the planets are smiling...

I wonder how many of you saw the planets Venus & Jupiter + the Moon smiling at us on the 1st of December. It was simply amazing. After French class at COIT (yes, I'm learning French =D) I was walking towards my car when 2 classmates were taking pictures (or rather, trying to) of the 'smile'. Stood there for a while admiring the view and then went on with my life. A week later I surf the net and find out that its a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing! If my classmates did not try to take some pictures I might not have noticed it! You can read more here and here.

Lesson of the day: Look up towards the sky more often, you never know what you'll see (let's also hope that bird poop doesn't land on you)

Secret Santa

Article from Heartlight.org



Don't Just Wish It!, by Ron Rose


Preparation

There IS a "Secret Santa." Perhaps you've heard of him. I got an email from him last year after I shared the following story.

This real guy walked into the local thrift store and stepped in front of a fella who tried his best to move out of the way. "I'm Secret Santa and I want you to have this," the stranger said as he handed his victim 2 hundred-dollar bills. "Merry Christmas!"

This anonymous Santa is a businessman from Kansas City. His plan is to cross the country, going into dozens of thrift stores, laundromats and bus stations, and walk up to hundreds of strangers who seem like they could use a Franklin or two and light up their lives.

By Christmas this stranger will have given out $75,000. "Is this for real?" the victim asked. "It's for real, buddy," Santa said. "And I can keep it?" "It's yours and you can keep it." "God bless you. I was down to my last 20 cents."

The current Secret Santa made a promise to Mr. Stewart, the original Secret Santa, that he would keep the Santa thing alive. Mr. Stewart had invested the last 25 years of his life giving away more than a million dollars -- one Franklin at a time.

I think there really is a secret Santa in each of us -- it's just a matter of letting him out. God put the spirit of giving in us long before anyone heard of Santa.

Inspiration

Larry had been out of work for months, and in early October his home went into foreclosure. He withdrew $300 from an ATM to use as a deposit on a rent house and put the ATM receipt in his shirt pocket.

With everything happening around him, he forgot the withdrawal. A couple weeks later the bank sent a letter reporting over $1000 in bounced checks along with the NSF fees charged by the bank.

Embarrassed by it all, Larry and his wife kept it to themselves. Both took on part-time jobs. And with Christmas just around the corner, they decided this year would be something small for the girls and nothing for each other. They felt alone and powerless.

It was their secret.

Then in mid December Larry found a $400 check in his church mailbox with a note, "From Your Friends. Merry Christmas."

"To this day, we don't know ..."

A couple weeks later, on Christmas Eve, the family was watching TV when the doorbell rang. Outside on the porch they found sacks of groceries, a complete Christmas dinner, dresses for the girls, and a shirt and tie for Larry. "To this day," Larry says, "we don't know who made 3 dresses, and gave us so much at Christmas. It was a defining moment when God reminded us that HE provides."

Motivation

You don't have to have a million dollars to be a blessing to others. But it would be a great secret calling. There are people all around us who need a bite to eat, a cup of coffee, a smile, a conversation, a kind word, a blessing, a prayer, a gentle lift. Do you see them? You've still got time.

You have something very valuable inside you ... a treasure ... the calling to make a difference in someone this week. God has put it on you ... to give to someone in secret.

Don't waste your time wishing for Santa to come to your house, make a secret trip to a house that needs what you have. Ask God to put you in the path of just the right person this week, the one who needs a visit from secret Santa and then discover the joy of the secret.

Don't just wish it, do it.

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Have a blessed Christmas! =)

Transform Us

Here's the design for this year's Techflow T-shirt (08/09) It's very late, I know. It should be less than RM20. Anyone interested to order please comment here or email me your name & size & contact number k =)




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Back

Bonjour!

Good morning! Oh my, it's been quite a while since I've updated!

Was so tired after CPR (Committee Planning Retreat) at somewhere near Kuala Selangor (or rather somewhere near Kapar Power Station) and so slept early last night (around 10pm?) and then woke up early today (8.40am?) even though the weather is cold and nice and I really should have slept in till it becomes hot. Probably cause I got used to lack of sleep and getting up early. =( We took longer than usual to get there, because we didn't know the way! Should have asked WZ la..she always passes that way when she balik kampung...haha wasted lah!

Anyway CPR was fun, all 13 of us + our advisor went in 4 cars (one had to go back early). I drove my awesome Citroen ZX! We had discussions and planned on how to conduct some of the activities. On Friday night, we had a sharing by our advisor and then we reflected on activities we did last semester. Everyone was tired and we finished quite late. Unsurprisingly, most were very awake after discussions ended, and some even went to the 'beach' for a while! All 13 of us squeezed in one 3 bedroom apartment! It was quite decent, and at a reasonable price =) Unfortunately the place has not been spared from people who do not know how to park properly, as shown in this picture I took from our 7th floor apt (see if you can spot my car):





On Saturday for lunch, we cooked our own meal. We had spaghetti, mashed potatoes, watermelon and mango. Thankfully it was not a disaster, and everyone finished everything (I think its because they were starving...i dunno if it was actually good!) It's also very pressuring to cook in front of 13 starving people! haha! In the afternoon, we went to see fireflies (kelip-kelip) at Kampung Kuantan. They're so pretty!! It was like looking at Christmas trees! =D 5 of us went in our advisor's new Toyota Rush (fuiyoooo!) and kecoh-ed! (4 girls sitting at the back and syok sendiri..taking pictures and laughing...loudly! Luckily we were not thrown out of the car!) We also had an interesting discussion but what happened in the car stays in the car so...there's nothing to report here other than it was fun and we learned some parenting tips and more =P

On Sunday morning we went to Klang to attend church, which was Sheela's (my fellow Chindian who's been hiding from us) church. After church we had Bak Kut Teh (wahhhh!) We sat in 2 tables, one the seniors (with Sheela & Josh Kong) and one the juniors. And then I found out....Sheela has been stalking me thru my blog!! And I thot I knew who my readers are! Haha! So now I'm stalking her blog!

Kapar is kinda dusty and now car is super dirty. Anyone wanna wash for me? If I was at home it would be so easy to wash...but here...no long rubber hose! And no car shampoo...hmmm...also must go check the exhaust part...before it drops off somewhere! Poor ZX!

Here's a cute cat pic for the day =):

more animals

Christmas is coming soon! =D So is Christmas Night! If you haven't RSVP-ed for the event on Facebook, please do so here. =D (It's not compulsory, just cooler to RSVP =P)

Hope you're enjoying the public holiday!

Nope it wasnt finalized...this one is!

So it turns out after getting approval from HEP we have to add UNITEN's logo to the poster and banner...kacau daun saja...anyway had extra photoshop-ing to do so here are the results. Not bad eh, clicked here n there, tried this n that and then it worked! wahaha...photoshop is fun! (I know some of you are thinking "duh!!")

Poster:



Banner:


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Big

Ain't it pretty?? Not bad for someone who has zero knowledge of photoshop eh..Haha...but the more I look at it the weirder it looks...

Hopefully finalized...

Hopefully this is the final poster...and here's the banner:

Pain!

Played badminton for almost 2 hours with William yesterday morning, and today my whole body is aching. Reminder to self: next time warm up properly and don't try to play like a pro. It was fun and it was a really good workout! I didn't know I had that much muscle until now...when they're all aching! Can't even walk properly! hahaha...good thing im on holiday =)

This morning washed my car, it was so dirty! The last time I washed the car was more than a month ago! Sorry ZX! And then I washed the City also, cause it was parked next to my car...haha...washing the car when your whole body is aching is not a very good idea, but i'm crazy like that! hahaha!

So my dad got a new toy, a DSLR camera. He got the Nikon D60. Chunted lah! its so cool when it makes that sound when taking a picture! I am such a geek! Will see if I get any nice shots and then post it here =)

More photos!

Had to edit the poster and banner so here's the final designs:





Whaddaya think?

Anyway I am very angry because some people just don't pay attention! When I say "please check all the info etc and let me know if there's any mistakes" please please please check properly lah ok! Shouldn't have taken up this post la. So unsuitable for the job. Anyway it will be over soon...

Phew!

I've been tagged recently but then I don't think I wanna do those tags, so sorry to those who have tagged me =) Jangan marah ye...hehe =)

Today I spent my day learning how to use photoshop. It's so useful! (you probably know that by know, duh!) Especially the clone stamp tool! Wahahaha...Experimented here n there, clicked here n there, used so many programs and finally managed to do the banner =) I never learn how to use a program formally, usually I use trial and error (or rather the undo button =P) Looks pretty decent, hope its approved by everyone in the Christmas Night committee...Anyway here's a picture of the poster (which was done weeks ago and the picture taken off the net), if anyone is free do come ok =) Will put a pic of the banner soon!


Should have enough info on this poster...if not...I fail!

Homeeeee!

Yep finally back home. Came back on Sunday, wanted to update my blog but somehow too lazy to do that! Reached home at around 3.15pm, was super hungry because had breakfast at around 10.30am at KLCC because I had to stop by there to get my mom's birthday present (will update that in another post) and then window shopped for a while (flat rate for 3 hours of parking, so might as well hang around a bit!) William followed me back so he was stuck with me window shopping at KLCC! Hahaha! Anyway we went to the Galeri Petronas where they had an exhibition titled "Imaging Selfs", portrats by Soeaya Yusof Talismail (it's free =P). Had loads of black and white photos using various types of print for photo representations of around 80 people in the artistic scene in Malaysia. Quite nice, although I wouldn't know how to "see" art, so I was just looking at the pics =)

Gotta go to the Janamanjung Power Plant for a visit related to FYP - just to learn more about the plant, nothing more. Hope I actually learn something there...so its back to Sitiawan for a daytrip! =)

Shepherd's Pie

So most of my friends are blogging about their love life, their marriage plans, fashion and makeup, their emoings or random stuff and here I am, blogging about food! Oh well...food's more interesting! (I am SO gonna be fat in no time!) I do think I spend most of my money on food...hmmm...

I have been watching FRIENDS and I saw that episode where Rachel was preparing dessert for Thanksgiving and she wanted to prepare an English Trifle but the pages of the recipe got stuck together and she ended up with a half English Trifle-half Shepherd's Pie! And then I remembered how good Shepherd's pie tastes and so I Googled the recipe (I will also die if I am cut off from the internet for too long-most people would die from dehydration first but I would die from being starved of the internet!). So here's the recipe, looks pretty simple =)

Easy Shepherd's Pie Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs ground round beef
• 1 onion chopped
• 1-2 cups vegetables - chopped carrots, corn, peas
• 1 1/2 - 2 lbs potatoes (3 big ones)
• 8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 cup beef broth
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• Salt, pepper, other seasonings of choice

Method

1 Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes).

2 While the potatoes are cooking, melt 4 Tablespoons butter (1/2 a stick) in large frying pan.

3 Sauté onions in butter until tender over medium heat (10 mins). If you are adding vegetables, add them according to cooking time. Put any carrots in with the onions. Add corn or peas either at the end of the cooking of the onions, or after the meat has initially cooked.

4 Add ground beef and sauté until no longer pink. Add salt and pepper. Add worcesterchire sauce. Add half a cup of beef broth and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes, adding more beef broth as necessary to keep moist.

5 Mash potatoes in bowl with remainder of butter, season to taste.

6 Place beef and onions in baking dish. Distribute mashed potatoes on top. Rough up with a fork so that there are peaks that will brown nicely. You can use the fork to make some designs in the potatoes as well.

7 Cook in 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown (about 30 minutes). Broil for last few minutes if necessary to brown.

Serves four.

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It's making me hungry! Must try to make this sometime during the break. MmmMmmM =)

One more paper on Friday morning and I'm done for the semester!!

New layout

Suddenly I had the idea to rearrange the furniture in my room (in uni hostel). I guess I was bored with the current layout and also the fear that from the arrangement of my speakers it might be too loud and disturb my housemates (no complaints tho =))So after Principles of Management paper yesterday I did a massive rearrange and cleanup (lots of dust under the bed!) So here's the pics before and after.

Old layout:


New Layout:


Whaddaya think? It's like an office with a bed! hahaa! It's so cool! When anyone comes in my room I look up from the screen and go "yes, may I help u?" Hahaha!

Ok..gotta continue studying Power Generation now...

Hooray!

Petrol price reduced! So must go pour petrol tomorrow! =D

Top Gear will be back on Sunday night (in UK)! Yay!!! Can't wait to watch Top Gear again!! =D

Those are great news. Unfortunately, the weather has been really weird lately. First, a few weeks ago, it kept raining every few hours and the weather was gloomy and all. Now, its so hot I can't study! =( Even when it gets cloudy there's no rain! =(

Too much rain, feel like sleeping. No rain, hot weather, cannot study. =_="

Some pics of clouds to brighten this blog: