Philippians 2:1-11 ~ Serious Situation Needs Serious Solution

Christmas was only about a week ago and is often an annual highlight for many, be it for the festive joy of carving some turkey and ham with family and friends or listening to soothing carols or opening presents wrapped in red and green underneath the Christmas tree or ... Has Christmas lost its true meaning over the years?

The story of Christmas is not an urban myth of the heartwarming tales of human generosity but a true story of a serious solution to a serious situation. Christmas celebrates the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. What kind of serious situation would require God the creator becoming part of creation where the almighty God transforms into a helpless baby? It is none other than the serious situation of our sin itself where we reject God as our ruler.

Charles Gajus who preached to us the Sunday after Christmas gave us this illustration: Imagine if you've committed a wrongdoing and have been penalized with a fine (be it a library fine, a parking ticket, etc.). If the fine is small enough, we would have no qualms of paying it. If it was a lil burdensome, we may ask family or friends for some financial assistance. But what if the fine is so huge that it is just impossible to pay off? Would you not fall on your knees, acknowledge your mistake and beg for mercy?

Similarly, our sin, deserving of punishment and death, is akin to that of this humongously unpayable fine. But God, in His loving grace, has provided us a way out. The serious solution to this serious situation? A Saviour.

Matthew 1 tells us who this Saviour is. His name is Jesus for he will save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21) and He is also known as Immanuel, meaning God with us (Matthew 1:23), for that is how Jesus saves us - by being the God who is with us by becoming human and living as a human.

Philippians 2:5-8 should remind us that what follows the actual Christmas day is not Boxing Day sales or a return to selfish lives but Jesus' obedient humility (taking the form of man) to the point of death on a cross for the sake of us sinners. Christmas day is a reminder of God's serious solution for our serious situation of sin. Jesus is therefore the worthy Saviour deserving of the exaltation of the highest glory (verses 9-12).

Will you then take the Christmas truth seriously? All this calls for is submitting to the Saviour and serving one another. Admit that you're a sinner and accept the solution that God provides. Acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Christ and respond by serving one another in love. After all, Christmas day ushers in the gift of a Saviour and the gift of a new life without sin...

Leviticus 23-27 ~ Let's Party!

This last section in Leviticus looks at the different feasts celebrated by the Israelites such as the Passover (a reminder of the plague in Egypt to rebuke Pharaoh), Feast of Unleavened Bread (to remember the hasty escape from Egypt), Feast of Firstfruits (how God has rescued them to the land of plenty), Feast of Weeks (another agricultural gratitude for the first harvest), Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Feast of Booths (an appreciation of God's rescuing them out of Egypt).

Colossians 2:16-17 tells us to let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath for these are a shadow of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Ultimately, Jesus is the Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7).

But what about the Sabbath? Do we still need to observe it? While Colossians 2:16-17 has made it clear that it is not to be made legalistic, Deuteronomy 5:15 informs us that the Sabbath day serves to remind us of God's rescue work while Exodus 20:10-11 and Exodus 23:12 encourage us to be like God, in taking rest that we may be refreshed.

Feasts and festivals aside, some of the Levitical rules mentioned are still noteworthy. For instance, the act of blaspheming contravenes the Lord's prayer opening line of "hallowed be Your name". The "eye for an eye" rule was in place to minimize retribution and revenge but not a strict order to retaliate. Instead, Matthew 5:38-42 teaches us not to exact revenge but to do good. Leviticus also goes on to teach us to deal kindly with the poor in Leviticus 25:23-28 and Leviticus 25:35-37.

Blessings for obedience are also discussed in Leviticus 26. It is an encouragement in light that all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12). On the other hand, disobedience deserves punishment. That said, such disciplining serves for our own good that we may share in His holiness as portrayed in Hebrews 12:7-11.

We are also commanded to keep the vows we make, especially those with God, in Leviticus 27. Matthew 5:33-37 discourages us from swearing falsely or even taking an oath at all but simply let our 'yes' be a 'yes' and likewise, a 'no' a 'no'.

At the end of the day, we still have much cause to rejoice in His holiness and in what Christ has accomplished on the cross. Praise the Lord indeed for His goodness!

Ps. Heartiest congratulations go out too to a dear brother David and a dear sister Mandy who exchanged wedding vows today and graciously invited me to share in the joy of witnessing their union before God... ^_^

She's Out Of My League (Review) + Vote for Jane to win $9000 private party!

Thanks to Contagious Network, I had the privilege of watching a free preview screening of She's Out Of My League at Event Cinemas, George St last Thursday with Evelyn. This romantic comedy tells the story of airport security officer Kirk who meets "the perfect 10" Molly (who falls for Kirk) but lacks confidence in pursuing the relationship further as his friends pointed out that he is only "an average 5". I shall not post any spoilers here but it suffices to say that the entire cinema was constantly in stitches, laughing away. Apart from your usual dose of American cinematic vulgarity and several scenes that could have had better script written, I give this movie a thumbs up for solid effort and award it 6.5 stars...

Ok, I'll be a little more generous and round the figure up: 7 stars.

Still unsure if this movie is your cup of tea? Here's a video clip of the official trailer:

Also, do vote for me (JANE) at http://www.shesoutofmyleague.com/getyourrating.com.au/?dl=6ade4fd7969af1f506549e0c12bdf817 (my profile should be listed as the featured user if you follow the given link - click on my photo and vote by clicking "digg", thanks) so I stand the chance of winning an awesome private party valued at more than $9000 and invite you along to it! I'm currently ranked 2nd but I need to be top-ranked to win the party - no prizes for 2nd place... You can vote once per computer per day so do vote for me daily ya?

On another note, I'm looking forward to church camp this coming Easter weekend - my next blog post will probably be all about camp when I come back... Stay tuned! ;)

Australia Day 2010 with Stan Walker

Hehe, this post is long overdue but nonetheless one that deserves its own blog post... Thanks to the awesome slogan competition organized by Darling Harbour, I won the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring along 3 other friends to share dessert with last year's Australian Idol winner, Stan Walker, on Australia Day itself! What a great way to celebrate my very first OZ Day seeing this is the first time I stayed back for summer hols...

In case you're curious, I was supposed to tell in 25 words or less why I love Lindt chocolate (the dessert with Stan was of course held at none other than the world-famous Lindt Cafe itself! ) . My entry was:

Fine chocolate of royal gold,
Like Stan's music, Lindt's food for my soul,
Smooth perfection that melts worries away,
Truly ataahua in every way!

"Ataahua" means "beautiful" in Maori language and is also the word tattooed on Stan's neck, in case you didn't already know... Anyway, here are a few shots from the night:

Stan and I posing in front of the golden engraved sign inside Lindt Cafe

Stan drizzling hot liquid chocolate over my white choc ice cream waffle - Lindt Cafe manager was kind enough to let me keep the choc pot that Stan used as a personal momento! *grin*

Stan and I with our reverse peace signs and juju lips... To the lady in pink behind: Yes, your boyfriend's right, it's Stan Walker in the house! (Lol, couldn't help overhearing her boyfriend's not-so-soft whispers!)

A group shot with Stan and my 3 new awesome friends from Stan's State Fan Forum (SSFF) - L-R: Linda, yours truly, Stan, Renee, Simo



A shot with sweet Mikey (Stan's brother + guitarist) - he came too (as well as Stan's backup singer, Ashley, and manager/agent)...

No doubt this was one Australia Day that I'll forever cherish - what more can one ask for when there's such great company and good food? All of us had a good time chatting that night (way too many details to list them all here) and if not for the manager/agent who kept pushing Stan, Mikey and Ashley to leave (thanks to the growing number of restless fans who spotted Stan), we would have had more time to spend with these wonderful down-to-earth artistes (neither of them wanted to leave either!)...

For a video of Stan serenading us with Smash Into You (ignore the fireworks going on in the background), check out this video:



You've gotta love Stan... ;)

Happy New Year 2010!

Whoa, still can't believe it's already the first day of the year 2010!! How did you usher in the new year? Well, Pete, Janet and I drove up to Gladesville Bridge (one of the vantage points) to view the fireworks display at Sydney Harbour Bridge. Oh yeah, nothing like viewing the fireworks at a bridge from another bridge eh? ;)

The colours were magnificent, the patterns were astounding, and the accompanying soundtrack music was splendiferous - matched well with the tempo and rhythm of the fireworks itself. Missed out on this great event? Fret not, here's the complete 12-minute plus video of the new year fireworks at Sydney Harbour Bridge:

May all of you have a wonderful 2010 blessed with joy, happiness, and good health! ^_^

Ps. If you notice carefully, I've purposely selected to blog this post at 01/01/10 (signifying the wonderful start of the new year) at 12.31PM (analogous to December 31st - farewelling but not forgetting to cherish the wonderful memories that 2009 brought us)... ;)

Tassie & ICE!!

Just returned from a fantastic 6-day roadtrip around Tasmania (will be uploading photos soon, I hope) and also a quick note that I've passed my ICE exam and am moving onto 5th year come January!! Praise be to Him and also thanks to everyone who's been supportive... To the Tassie gang, thanks for making the last 6 days a wonderful lifetime memory for me... ^_^

Countdown

And the countdown continues - one more week to ICE! Can't wait for it to be over and then it'll be summer break, which means "Tassie, here I come!"... Oh, not to mention all the room packing of 4 years' worth of stuff before I move out of college - aiks, don't wanna think about it but I guess it has to be done sooner or later... Anyway, time to hit the books again! ;)

My friend passed away on my birthday... :(

Sad... So sad...

I was checking through Nuffnang Analytics and found it amusing that someone actually arrived at my blog while doing a Google UK search on "jane gun shih ying". Thought it would be interesting if I replicated the search myself to see what came up. One thing led to another and before I knew it, I came across an old newspaper article:

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2004/3/26/features/7615465&sec=features

It was written by a dear old friend, Leonard, whom sadly has passed away just a few months after writing that article. Reminiscing about that moment 5 years ago, I decided to Google "wong siang hume" to see what came up. Somehow I must have missed out on this article when it got published:

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2004/8/27/features/8744143&sec=features

Yes, back then I knew he passed away in August - I was traveling back home after class when I received a text message from a fellow Scrabbler and read the shocking news about this sad demise... but imagine my bigger shock when I found out just minutes ago that his passing away happened exactly on my birthday!! So while I was celebrating the day I was given the breath of life, another soul has just ceased...

Dear Leonard,

You have always been a great inspiration to me. Some people think it strange that I'm friends with someone more than thrice my age but age never really was a barrier, was it? I thank God that He has blessed me with the opportunity to know you and call you my friend. Thank you for imparting your wisdom on life. Thank you for the many delightful conversations we shared. Thank you for your wonderful friendship. I know that you've returned home to the Lord and am assured by it... When I blow out the candles on my cake each year, I'll remember that the many years of life experiences I have gathered are made richer because of our friendship. Thank you...

Reminiscing our friendship forever,
Jane

Happy 7-Eleven Day!!

7-Eleven Day is fast approaching!!

Every year, on the seventh day of November (i.e. 7/11), check into any NSW, VIC or QLD 7-Eleven store and yell out "Happy 7-Eleven Day!" to receive your free slurpee! And this year, they're also running a contest where you and your mates can take a photo or shoot a video of posing with the slurpees in 7-Eleven colours i.e. red, green, and orange for your shot at a year's supply of free slurpees - that's a whole lot of brain-freezing action!!

I don't know about you guys but I know that just like any other year, I would want my free slurpee tomorrow!! ^_^

Updates!

Firstly, my apologies for not updating my blog for about a month now... Been keeping myself busy with research, outings and meet-ups... There was the sushi outing with my Bible Studies group, the post-exam hangout with the Lukas girls, the Collaroy-Narabeen trip with the IBF Malaysians, Ivy's birthday surprise, meet-ups with Jon (Melbourne), Shir Li (Melbourne) + Siew Sian (Auckland) + Marie (Auckland), and William (KL), World Youth Day (just viewing the fantastic sights from the college balcony), Bondi-Coogee walk, etc. Some photos...

The Lukas-ers - hanging out with my Bible Studies group at Darling Harbour...

One of the picturesque sights during the Collaroy-Narabeen trip

Happy birthday again, Ivy dearest!

Retail therapy! Went shopping when Shir Li, Siew Sian and Marie at Market City - got myself a new pair of boots and tights, a new handbag, some stationery and a "Tiger" necklace... Heaps of items were on sale! *grin*

The Waverley Cemetery is one of the sights you'll see if you do the Bondi-Coogee walk - one of the must-do outings when you're in Sydney...

Ok, that's it for now... Have to wait for my friends to pass me more photos first before I can post up even more interesting ones... Hint: upcoming photos include one where I'm in a Ming Dynasty costume, hehe... Ta!

It's over!

As the title implies, it's pretty much self-explanatory... =P

Fingers crossed that I pass all my exams. Rumours have it that results will be out next week - Voice in head: So fast? That's like barely a week after we finished exams. Yikes! >.<

If all goes well, I'll be starting ILP next week. Also, except for extra-faculty courses, assignments, projects and portfolio essays, there will no longer be anymore written papers for the rest of my undergrad MBBS at uni. It'll only be OSCEs and VIVAs, which so totally makes sense since we'll be clinical-based eventually in real life. Can't waste time thinking too long (which happens in written exams) while your patient is literally dying right under your watch, can you? Anyway, below is my schedule for the rest of the week:

Monday - OSCEs' over so exams are over too! =)
Tuesday - Went to DIAC office to get my working visa label, headed to Kinokuniya for a one-hour training session for my one-day casual stock-take job later this month, Basser Under The Stars later tonight
Wednesday - Skipping MedSoc's End-of-Phase 1 Party to attend our very own (mostly the Malaysian/Singaporean gang) end-of-phase celebrations (as well as Leon's birthday) at Cheryl's place; I expect it'll be the wee hours of the morning by the time I head back home
Thursday - Participating in the Pearson's Language Test (did it before last year) to earn $100 for 3 hours of my time: extra spending money, lol... =D
Friday - IBF (International Bible Fellowship); coolness to be reading His Word with my fellow bros and sis-in-Christ!
Saturday - Outing with Dian which entails Coogee-Bondi walk followed by a seafood lunch with fried Mars bar then shopping at Bondi Junction and lastly dinner at Hurricane's Grill... whee...
Sunday - Church and fellowship over dinner after service

Haha, so yeah, even though exams are over, Jane Gun is still as busy as ever! =P Ta for now!

Ps. Thanks to everyone who gave me encouraging messages throughout the exam period - really appreciate it... ^_^

SOOV'D

SOOV’D = Singles’ Outing On Valentine’s Day

That’s exactly what I did yesterday with both Nat and Stef. We met up in KL Sentral (Nat’s from Seremban while Stef’s from Subang) and Nat was sweet (as ever) to present us gals with a single rose each. We hopped on the LRT – our first stop: KLCC.

How’s this amateur shot of the nation’s pride taken with a mobile phone 2.0MP camera? =P

Bought tickets for the very first screening of Jumper (opened in cinemas yesterday) but much to our disappointment, the high-impact movie was disrupted half-way by glitches like upside down images, voices being played rewind, disappearing images and disappearing voices. Despite the cinema staff working on the problem for half an hour, the problem repeated itself and we were finally directed to the counter for a full refund. All three of us agreed that this is probably one of the most memorable Valentine’s Day for us – I can safely say that not many cinema-goers would ever chance upon such a viewing experience, lol.

The single’s trio camwhoring away in the dark theatre while waiting for the cinema staff to fix the glitch

We finally decided that instead of getting cash return, we asked for Kung Fu Dunk tickets – the movie was entertaining – lame, yes, but funny all the same. We also strolled through KLCC Park. Lunch was at Madam Kwan’s while dinner was at the food court. Met up with Stef’s dad (he works in Petronas) who whisked us to our second stop: Midvalley Megamall. A little more walking here and there (with the occasional glances at couples wearing matching T-shirts and extravagant displays of choc/teddy bear/flower bouquets) brought us to our third stop: Gardens KL. By the time I got back home, it was nearly midnight. Whoa, 3 malls within the same day – how many couples actually accomplish such a feat on V Day? Cheers to the singles! =D

Happy Chinese New Year 2008!

An advanced greeting...

To everyone whom I hold dear
May the Rat bring lots of cheer
Good news aplenty for all to hear
A very happy Chinese New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Celebrate the birth of Christ our king,
Who came to wash away our sin,
A joyous moment for us to sing,
Merry Christmas to you and your kin!


God bless always! ^_^

Pictorial Updates...

Ok, I realised I haven't been blogging lately - anyway, here are some pictorial updates in chronological order...

Basser now has Foxtel! It's something like Astro for those of you back home in Malaysia... I hope I don't get addicted to it...

Red Frogs Australia visited Basser before the mid-year exams with free coffee and hot choc, sold Krispy Kremes at an amazing $1 per doughnut and lent us the latest Nintendo Wii to play! It's so cool - you can feel the remote vibrating when you hit a ball across (using the remote itself as a racquet!) just like you're playing real tennis!


Post-exams lunch @ Seoul-Ria (Korean restaurant in the city) - fantastic food (cold noodles, unagi, BBQ, seafood pancake, etc.), free flow of side dishes (including spicy potato, kimchi, pickles, lilybuds, konyaku jelly, etc.) and great service (there's a tiny button at the side of the table that you can press and the waiter will come right up - very useful when we want to refill the free side dishes, hehe)! The ambience of the setting was really warm and cosy - above's a photo of mainly 2nd year med students from Malaysia and Singapore...


Mervyn, Eunice and Jess had their housewarming the day after exams. Had an early birthday celebration for both Mervyn and Tsang Yew, both 22 this year - we got them to strike this rather gay pose for the camera as they were cutting the cake...

Attended the District 70 Toastmasters District Officer Training Day and Changeover Dinner - I'm currently Area 24 Governor (NSW suburbs under my charge include Kensington, Randwick, Coogee, Maroubra, Rosebery, Mascot and Eastlakes) for the term 2007/2008... Above is a photo of the 4 generations of Area 24 Governors linking arms together after the dinner - my predecessors include Helen, Ross and David...

My shiny new Area Governor badge awarded to me at the dinner... This year's theme for District 70 is "Respect Responsibility Rewards"... I still can't believe that the district's colour for 2007/2008 is purple (my favourite colour)! Must have been fated... [grin]

A shot taken @ The Cell (Zi's place) after Linda's farewell dinner with the rest of my bible studies group. Dear sis, all the best in Malaysia and God bless always! Looking forward to your graduation in August!

My little "gallery" - the wall space allocated to me to paste up some of my works for one of my winter gen eds (Drawing the World Within Without) @ COFA (College Of Fine Arts) on assessment day... I've spent close to $100 just on art materials! The bottom middle piece (in case you're curious) is an ink painting done on 3 A1 cartridge papers (or you can use 3 A0 litho papers) taped at the back together - that's the size of 24 A4 papers (even taller than myself)! Above it is my abstract self-portrait... Had lots of fun in COFA for the past 2 weeks - imagine drawing 20+ items without looking down on the paper, then drawing the same stuff but this time with the other hand (if you're ambidextrous, you use your mouth!), then drawing the same stuff from memory - all these in 3 minutes each! I also had to sketch Catherine's portrait in 2 minutes without looking down on my paper - luckily the face I drew was still recognizable! And what about those 2 minute sketches of my classmates posing on the cube blocks?

My final drawing based on some structures placed in the middle of the art studio - the items are either metal stuff or mirrors or have smooth surfaces so we have to draw the reflections and lustre as well... It's a black and white colour pencil drawing on an A2 sized mid-tone neutral-coloured Canson paper... Took me more than 6 hours just to complete this drawing (I left COFA that night at 9PM eventhough class was scheduled to end at 5PM - some of us tend to stay back to complete the drawings) but it's worth it - Kurt (my lecturer) was right: I would never have imagined that I'll be able to draw something like this! 2 weeks of intensive drawing really does make one improve, especially an arts noob like me!

Another one of my noob drawings - it's a compressed charcoal plus willow stick drawing on A1 cartridge... My hands were all black by the time I was done...

The conceptual performance space model I built for Baz Luhrmann's "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet" (the one starring Leonardo di Caprio and Claire Danes) in my other winter COFA gen ed, Design in Performance...

I'm officially done for my 12UoCs (units of credit) of gen ed requirements by the end of this winter - no need to worry about it for the rest of my uni years - yay! Wonder why I'm so gung-ho to finish them off so early when I have up to the end of my 4th year to do it (general education are like electives; med students do them starting from 2nd year to 4th year - I completed mine in only half a year, muahaha!)...

Exam results were released yesterday - I achieved better than expected since there were so many changes to the format of the paper... Really happy and pleased with my results - it's all thanks to God! ^_^

Less than a week left for my winter break - hasn't really been that much of a break for me, has it? Especially with 6UoCs of COFA gen eds - picture me being artsy from morning to night every weekday during the hols, lol... I shall relax a bit more this week before HM-B (Health Maintenance B) kicks off next week! Ciao!

Buzzingly busy... =P

As the title suggests, I've been busy (as usual lerr)... So, I apologise for not updating my blog as frequently as I should... Here's some news of what's happened in the past few weeks...

TKC's medicine+science academic dinner & Ruth Wheen Cup table tennis finals
Pang Ping (my pet sis), me, Lou Lynn, Jane Lim, Will (he's the only non-med in this pic - he's a nanotech guy) and Paul posing next to the flower ice scuplture after this year's academic dinner. Kumar sat at our table and we certainly learned some pearls of wisdom from this infamous pathology lecturer of ours...

After several play-offs, I was selected to represent Basser in the table tennis doubles girls' team. In the Ruth Wheen Cup finals, Rue and I smashed Goldstein 2-0 (there wasn't even the need to go into the 3rd set). However, we had a tough fight with the Baxter gals - we won the 1st set while they won the 2nd, so it all came down to the last set. The crowd support was huge from both colleges as all the other matches (singles -guys and gals; and doubles -guys) have ended. We lost out in the end (18-21), but it was a good competitive match - my first ever! Anyway, I'm still glad we came out 2nd overall. No photos taken (since we forgot the camera)... Thanks Rue for being such a great partner and thanks Pang Ping for lending me the Basser sports shirt (I'm still waiting for mine from the office)...

Fishmarket & Paddy's trip with my bible study group

My bible study group posing at some stairs on the way to Paddy's Market & Marketcity from Fishmarket... Thanks for all the sharing and encouragement all these while, my dear bros and sis in Christ... =) [from highest to lowest --> Nat, Meiji, Min Hui, Mich, Kaijiun, Zi, Stef, Sze Wen, myself, Dedrick]

Group project and individual assignment

Alicia, myself and Amy - thanks gals for being such great group members! Ludi (sorry you weren't in this pic coz you couldn't make it for this meeting), it's nice to have a first-year like you on-board... =)

We had to produce a booklet targeted at parents, dealing with teenage homosexuality issues. Here's the contents page of the booklet (the layout of which I designed) - nice? not nice? P+ grade, hopefully? ;)

Then, there's the individual assignment - I did the one on Cushing's... Was really stunned to discover that Harvey Cushing and I have a lot in common (personality traits, that is)! >.<

Birthdays and dinners

Happy birthday, Ben, Porshee and Wei Bin! ^_^ Great dinner at Honey Wok (Chinese restaurant in Kingsford - 16 of us Malaysian/Singaporean med kids occupied the room upstairs for a few hours and created lots of noise - thankfully the owner was very understanding), boysenberry cheesecake and black forest cake for everyone, plus Claire brought Pink champagne and Malibu coconut rum to go with the Coke that Tim brought! Hehe...

Winter has kicked in

Winter chills with pouring rain have arrived again. The merciless winds have tumbled down this tree at our library lawn over the weekend - some workers had to come and saw it into smaller portions... poor tree...

Ok, I guess this is more than enough rant to compensate for one whole month of silence... Gotta go do work - au revoir! ^_^

More on Table For Two...

Haha, after reading Michelle's blog, I felt like I need to update my "curious" friends with the newspaper links since not everyone will be laying their hands on a copy of the papers today - come on, admit it, you guys are busy collecting ang pows, eh? :p

So, here's the link to yesterday's news: "When StarEducation plays matchmaker"

And here's the link to today's ones:
"A dip into romance" and "Of choc and chat"

Ah, I guess these 3 links are more than sufficient to keep you all occupied... :)

Table For Two

As some of you may have known, I recently took part in Star Education's "Table For Two" contest and was selected as one of the winners for a blind date on Valentine's Day. The date was in Chocz, KLCC where 10 of us (5 guys and 5 gals) were treated to chocolate fondue. We started off with a round of speed dating where the poor guys have to shift from on table to the other every 5 minutes. At the end of it, we were then told by The Star's staff as to who our date of night is, which is followed by the date itself with the chocolate fondue that lasted about an hour or so. When it was finally over, everyone exchanged gifts and contact details, not forgetting to capture shots... Speaking of which, here are some for you to peruse...

My date, Ahmed, and I

The question slips that the Star provided in case we ran out of topics...

The chocolate fondue with fruit platter

Valentine gifts from Ahmed...

Lian Meng, my senior from high school, was selected too!

Quan Ming's from DJ too! Small world, eh?

Lol, Jan Leong, you should have gone to study med too instead of underestimating yourself! :p

Michelle and Serena, it was great knowing you gals!

All 10 of us! ^_^
(Gals: Masami, Serena, Michelle, Joo Lee, me. Guys: Ahmed, Lian Meng, Quan Ming, Lead Choon and Jan Leong)

Interested to read more? Why not check out what Star Education wrote about us? Check it out here... And if you're still curious, go get the Star this Sunday (1st day of CNY) - I wonder what the journalists wrote about us... Hmm... <staring blankly ahead while mind wanders off...>

MFest 2006

This year's Malaysia Fest (16th anniversary) was held on 3rd September in conjunction with Merdeka Day on the 31st August. It was a super sunny day in Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour, where the biggest Malaysian event in Sydney was run by the 4 Malaysian Student Organisations of UNSW, USyd, UTS and Macquarie Uni. Here are some shots at what happened to refresh your memory or simply to invoke the feeling of regret in you if you've missed it! :p


The crowd...




Persuaded this guy to give me a pose while lining up in the super long queue to get some good lunch...




The loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong queues at the stalls...




The food... (Yummy!)




The ulek mayang




A scene from Puteri Gunung Ledang




The Asmaradana dance




An Aussie enquiring at the Tourism Malaysia counter




The MASCA Idol 2006 serenading the audience




A lucky raffles draw winner...




More dances... This time, it's the joget...




The colourful costumes of Malaysia as paraded in the fashion show




A participant having a go at guessing the weight of the durian




Guess what the winner walked away with? :p




"One festival, many faces, a world of excitement!"



Viva MFest! ^_^