the fifty-second week of the year

Week 52 - This week in brief: My brother is back in town. I've been eating a lot of leftovers. Been hanging out with my cousins and my siblings quite a lot this week... it has been lots of fun (ie: playing Risk/ Guesstures/ Articulate, snooker & pool, celebrating my gong-gong's 89th birthday, shopping for my brother's boxing bag, lunch, lunch and more meals, etc.)

My Top Ten Memorable Firsts for 2005: (in no particular order of importance)
1. I completed a graduate diploma in primary education.
2. I got my Ps so I can now drive myself around town. (yes I was a slow learner)
3. Met the most amount of Canadians outside Canada.
4. Had uni friends from my Melbourne days visit me.
5. A family member passed away (my Malaysian grandmother in March).
6. Travelled to Kunming, China and totally loved the city.
7. Developed a curious interest for current HK movies.
8. I taught my first Mandarin lesson.
9. Ate the best sushi ever (in HK with ChibiKimmy).
10. Celebrated Christmas in Perth with my family (bonus my granddad is here too).

There are obviously lots and lots more firsts for me this year but I just decided to list some of them out... and it was good to look back and even give my brain a good squeeze to help remember what actually happened during this amazing, crazy, sometimes sad, sometimes hilarious, beautiful, and intense year.

And here's a random video of a seal and a polar bear (sent to me from ChibiKimmy)

as christmas nears

BOO: I haven't quite figured out what I'm getting my family this year (there'll be fifteen of us in Perth this year... argh!)... I've been going to the shops for the past couple weeks window shopping and found no inspiration... sigh! Will just have to keep on trying & also try to find a civilised way to shop just days before Christmas.
YAY: I've been helping Clare with painting the set design for the Christmas production, and I have to say it's coming along very nicely. We've been singing merrily along to various Christmas carols and getting into the swing of the festivities ourselves! haha... I've been taking some pictures of the progress, but I won't spoil the fun by posting it before the production actually begins. Looking forward to the Christmas programs this year at church. (For more information about Riverview Church's Christmas programs CLICK HERE.)

being wow-ed by nature

I've been really inspired and encouraged by this month's theme at Riverview - Childlike Wonder. And I agree that in order to live life to the max, sometimes it may mean taking more chances, risks, and stepping out a little bit more. I've been learning a lot from my gong-gong (my paternal grandfather), he's 89 years old this year and he's still ever so curious about new things ie; playing with the kreepy-krawly in the pool, using all the TV remotes (he uses them better than mom!), goes to the shopping centres with us and carefully observes the items in the shops, etc. I hope I don't ever become content with what I know, but to be constantly exploring and challenging things I haven't yet tackled.

It's almost Christmas, and the memories of past Christmases just flooded my mind, and made me crave for a cold festive season (no fake snow and songs that don't really correspond to the Southern hemisphere season in December etc)... but nevertheless I'm determined to look on the positive side and make Christmas this year a good one... it'll definitely be special as my family will be spending our first Christmas together in Perth (Moses will be flying in from Sydney to celebrate with us - yay) and we'll also be spending it with my gong-gong and lots of relatives - so it'll be lots of fun not to mention copious amounts of food.

On a more perkier note... I've been enthralled by the magnificent foliage that has been exhibited around town these days... sometimes I'll be driving down the road and go pass a blossoming tree and just be in awe of its beauty... how awesome is God for creating nature with such amazing colours (I'm a sucker for colour).

w.a. christmas tree + kangaroo paw

my fishies + jacaranda

passionfruit flower + chilli padi

poor cinders (erynne) cleaning up at church after Youth's House Party

splendor on the grass

It was the Young Adult's End of Year Bash on Saturday night at the Mosman Park Bowling Club. I had lots of fun making paper lanterns with Jemima during the week for part of the evening's decorations, though it was a bit difficult transporting them to the venue as they were super crushable. I was a little apprehensive about the lanterns burning down, but with the help of some sand (thanks Jemima, Julie and the pots) and strategically plopping them in windless locations, they all survived the evening! As for the actual function - well it was a blast! A bubble machine blew strawberry scented bubbles to welcome the guests, and there were a few fans who headbanged infront of the machine to soak up the bubbles and its ambience. Lawn bowling was the highlight of the evening, and it was great seeing elegantly dressed up men and women sans shoes on the lush lawn bowling. The DJ played awesome music too, so there was lots of dancing! Anyway here are my pictures from the night - below are just a couple but CLICK HERE for all the pics!

the chickens were in town!

Sounds Like Chicken were in town last week. Joel, Nat, Nyall and I used to be part of Students For Christ (SFC) at Monash University, and I remember going to their shows when they first started out in 2000, back in the days when I was studying in Melbourne. I hadn't seen the boys since probably the end of 2000, so it was really great to be able to see them again. They were in town last year, but I didn't drive in those days and I didn't really know anyone either who would want to go with me to see them, so I didn't manage to meet up with them then. It was all God's timing too I now realise. The past week was seriously amazing being able to spend time with the band (Dave, Joel, Nat, Natalie, Nyall and Mike - their bass player couldn't make it so Paulo from Brainhorn helped out). Don't think I've laughed so much in a long time (I'm sure Samn would agree with me - ie: paper plates and self portraits). Thank you Chickens for being such a blessing in my life! oxox

Here are a few pictures of the week's happenings:

Sarah and I combined our pictures - CLICK HERE to check them out! Check out Samn & Annette's blogs for more pics of the SLC happenings in Perth.

it's party time!

I finished my last exam on Monday... what a sigh of relief! To celebrate, a bunch of us went to South Beach and had a chilled out afternoon cooking meat on the barbie, chit-chatting on the grass, played boulez (aka botchi), strolled down the beach, etc.

Today, well technically yesterday, was my birthday, and for the longest time I just didn't want to do anything special for it. I guess I had a lot of insecurities, doubts and just issues in general, but God really just showed me in the last few days just how much He loves me and how much my friends and family love me. My magical twenty-sixth year began at the beach today soaking in some sun rays with my sister and Clare. After much persistent persuasion from my Canadian classmates on Monday I decided to have a luncheon in Freo. I didn't realise it was going to be such a huge affair... ended up lunching with twenty-something people! In the evening, Samn and I watched the end of the soccer match between Australia and Uruguay (yay Australia finally gets to play in the World Cup after a thirty-something year drought!) then hung out with Elizabeth and Conrad before we all cruised over to Mt Lawley for coffee with my cell group. Ah, I have to say I had such a wonderful day, it's just been a real blessing to me, I felt very pampered and honoured to be in the company of such amazing people. Thank you God for everything, and thank you everyone for remembering my birthday and for all the lovely and thoughtful SMS, emails, phonecalls and presents! Thank you, thank you, thank you! oxox

Anyway here are some pictures taken in the last two weeks...

jono in charge of the barbie at the movie night + gabe and his waffle cone ring

vote which movie to watch + at the movies

cott beach + glenn and kelly after darlene zschech's concert

salv the birthday boy and kelly w. + sara

playing boulez + lighting the sparklers on salv's cake

my classmates at south beach + my birthday luncheon

the capper girls + lollies from alice

Currently loving and listening to: Tom Read's latest song "I Will Be Still" (click here to download) & the chorus and bridge of Chris Tomlin's "How Great Is Our God" (the excerpt below)

How great is our God
Sing with me
How great is our God
All will see
How, great, how great,
Is out God

Name about all names
Worthy of all praise
My heart will sing how great
Is our God

no more classes, tonnes of pictures

Finished my last assignment and last class of the course on Wednesday... now I have to get myself into the zone to revise for my final exam that's worth a whopping 50%. Anyway thought I'd just post the happenings taken from my camera in the last few weeks... Think this post might be the most mahussive post I've ever entered...

The Night Out in Fremantle: Started at the Sail and Anchor for dinner, then went and watched Paul Hardy and his band play at the pub, headed over to Benny's where we were graced by Simon and Jay and later Matty J and Matty G, then went to the Newport before declaring it a night. (For more pictures, check elranchorelaxo and Andrea's blogs)

Samn's birthday: Coffee and cakes at Cafe 130, Leederville... highlights of the evening - Samn having to pick up the contents in her bag that spilt underneath the table, and later got wedged between the table and seat in an attempt to return to her seat; Clare was given a mini tape measure in the city and decided to measure everything in sight; roaming around the bookstore... (and a few random photos from other events)

samn stuck under the table and seat + checking out the tape measure

sarah + chantelle

clare + the birthday crew

samn trying to crawl back onto the seat + measuring how far clare was to samn

samn the birthday girl + ann's fringe is back

lunch during the rise conference + kip, deb and napoleon at ampster's party

Rachel Dyer's 21st: We celebrated this bubbly and awesome woman of God's birthday at another friend's house... the garage turned into a disco complete with black plastic sheeting to cover the brick walls to create the ambience, and strobes and smoke machine. Oh and it was wonderful hearing all the classic Rach stories!

birthday cake + the cake ceremony

everyone listening to the speeches + samn sharing stories about rach

jess bryce ann + cathy karina aimee

shazza + jemma bryce jess cherece

rach and marje + ann te-neele

samn writing an essay + sarah melissa grace

the boys competing + clare

coon-ed + candice peeking through the side

Halloween at Capper: My Canadian classmates threw a Halloween bash at their house... they even carved pumpkins and squash to make jack-o-lanterns... decorated the house with spooky spiders (just ask Brandon how spooky!)... and there were some very funky and creative costumes... Had to watch Grey's Anatomy before I headed over to the party (I still don't know how to work the VCR at home... pathetic!) Anyway, I wore the 80s the dress I wore to the YA Retreat disco (it actually brought back memories for one or two of them too! haha) CLICK HERE FOR THE PICTURES.

Spending a day out with Cam and Andrea: My ex-flatmate Cam and his girlfriend Andrea came over to visit Perth from Sale, Victoria... after more than 3 years we finally got to meet up again... it was a lovely day to hang out in Freo, we ended up doing two back-to-back tours at the Fremantle Prison... what a relaxing touristy sorta day!

Clare's birthday dinner: The birthday girl cooked and entertained a bunch of us at her place last night... yummy Thai green curry and really delicious stick date pudding (is really was really really good... darn I'm drooling now!) Some of us hung around until past midnight when it was Clare's actual birthday and surprised her with a cake and flowers...

samn jess andrea + delicious sticky date pudding

adrian + sarah samn jess

paparazzi + clare the chef and birthday girl

enjoying the dessert

is it a sticky date or a cockroach + andrea and her date

clare blowing out the candles

yellow flowers + a tired samn