Saturday, December 31, 2005

2005: The year that was (Part III)

2005: The year that was in pictures...

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Why oh why purple? Apparently the company colour used to be red but the director's wife likes purple so they changed it. What the?!?!

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First timer to KYC and MYC...

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Phone upgrade. After 3 years with the Nokia 8250, time for an upgrade (the old one was playing up anyway). I got myself a Sony Ericsson J300i. No camera, no radio, no worries. And yes, that is a Firefox wallpaper... :P

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RICE! Both the Big Day Out and RICE Rally rocked! So encouraged to see the message of the Gospel delivered to the high school kids around Sydney.

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Totoro soft toy

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Thursday night basketball. We did alright in the first season, just missing out on the finals. This season however, we are on a 6 game winless streak going into the summer break...

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Julie and Carol's 21st. Theme was 70s retro.

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The Quantum crew 2005. Yeah Yeah!

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TCI Christmas party. I'm now officially an unemployed uni bum :P

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It was such a privilege to help out on a special day like this one :)

2005: The year that was (Part II)

A broken heart. No one likes it but some people experience it. I did this year. What happened you might ask. I wish I could provide you with an answer but really, I don't know myself. Certainly the months leading to that day in September led me to believe something was possible. Was I serious about the whole thing? Of course. So what happened? I DON'T KNOW!!!! All I know is that it happened at a very bad time - It was the start of 4 weeks of uni assessments. My mind was NOT focused (duh).

Now 3 months later, I'm moving on. Memories still linger from time to time but I think the best way is to just forget and move on. No point looking back cos it hurts too much.

In terms of Christian growth, 2005 was wonderful. I attended my first KYC and MYC and they were both great. Both events gave me the chance to chill out from the day-to-day busyness and be focused on God's Word. I'm really looking forward to do it all over again next year. Church-wise, I've been involved in a couple of ministries and although it was tiring at times, God is really building me up to carry out his works and plans. I enjoyed working in the kids fellowship group even though some of them are naughty as!! Of course there were obstacles too. My bible reading wasn't as consistent as I hoped and I definitely need to pay more attention during talks (funnily enough, reading Hebrews now and chapter 2 warns about paying attention to what we have heard so we don't drift away).

I wonder what God will bring in 2006?

2005: The year that was (Part I)

Wow, 31st of December ALREADY?!?!?!?

Alright, room cleaned (not really, just a bit more tidier), desks wiped and rearranged. Bring on twenty-oh-six :P

So, the year that was...2005 was big in so many ways - I got a job, juggled that job with uni and church activities, met people from all ages and different background at various events, a death in the family and one broken heart.

I secured my work experience placement at TCI in Feburary and it was really by God's grace that I got it. I had been trying towards the end of 2004 to find a place that would take me but without much success. Then during the summer break, someone from EFC Livingstone visited us and we became quite good friends (Thanks Jack!!). Turns out he does Telco Engineering as well and been working at TCI for a while. So he passed on my resume to his boss and about 2 weeks later I got a call for an interview. Yay!! Because they said they were looking for people I thought the interview was just a getting-to-know-you kind of meeting and went home waiting for the call telling me when to start. But I was shocked when I got an email telling me they don't need people anymore. WHAT THE?!?!?!? They didn't even have the balls to call me?!?! I was devastated and was preparing to go back to uni when they called again early Feb saying their other project is looking for people urgently and that's how I got into the Vodafone 3G project.

Now I'm the first to admit the pay was low. On a hourly comparison, my pay was slightly more than the 'lollypop people' (those who carry 'stop' signs around primary schools during school hours) but when you work for 10 hrs a day, 5 days a week, it was still substantial from my point of view. Besides, it was my first time working full time so it was good seeing the bank account increase every month even if the increase was jack-all. This low pay was offset by Vodafone's treatment of their partners. We were SPOILT. Weekly Friday afternoon tea (more like dinner), monthly complimentary massage, VIP functions...it was DA BOMB!!!My first five months there were awesome. The next five weren't as bludgy. I had to mix it up with uni and given a few sites of my own to handle, had to go to differnet places so overall it was pretty demanding. I am now done with industrial training so no more massages, no more afternoon teas and no more pay. Must go back to stingy spending (That will be a challenge for 2006).

On a sad note, my grandfather passed away this year, a week and a bit before Christmas. He was diagnosed with cancer in Feb and doctors only gave him half a year. I went back to HK twice to visit him but they were contrasting visits. In July, I took two weeks off to see him. He lost alot of weight and hair from chemo but not the humour. We spent alot of time together and he was still very active so that was pretty cool. November though was different. He went into a coma at the end of Oct and mum and I rushed back to see an old man all wired up with a breathing machine supporting him. How things can change so quickly in a matter of months. We went to the hospital everyday, calling him, hoping he would open his eyes and wake up again...

By the time I left, a week before my exams, he was still in what the doctors called 'critically stable'. I observed something in all of this. Twice the doctors underestimated how long my grandad would live and I think God is the only one who call the shots on how long a person would live for.

Then one sunny December morning, my mum called me at work saying grandad is no longer with us...

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Binge Gaming

I spent the majority of the Christmas weekend gaming and it's showing no signs of slowing. It all started on Christmas Eve when Richard, Chris and I went to Albert's place for LAN. It was my first time "LANing" so I'm not the hardcore gamer that some believe. We played a bit of Diablo 2 and then Pro Evolution 5 on PS2. PE5 is so much better than the FIFA series I'm contemplating whether I should get it but two things are stopping me: the $80-$90 price tag and the fact my computer will need upgrading (RAM and disc space for starters). It seems most games these days require at least 512-1Gig RAM and 2+ GB of hard disk to run :(

Then on Christmas Thomas who works at EB Games brought me Diablo 2 that I've been eyeing for some time. I know the game is old but I still enjoy it after years of playing (was playing a dodge copy before). I got it for a pretty good price too. Cost just under $50 originally but after EB sale and staff discount, paid $28 for it.

Another game I am playing is NBA Live 2004. It was a gift from my cousin when she visited us last year. I spent most of Boxing Day evening modifying the team rosters to reflect the current season and at the moment playing as the New Orlean Hornets. Just as they are crap in real life, we're 1-5 after 6 games...

Surprisingly I haven't been playing much of Championship Manager 01/02. Well I did for a while just before Christmas as manager of Marseille but got the sack in less than a season. I had no money to buy players... :(

Then there are online games like Euchre, Pool and Spades on Yahoo! games, Solitaire Showdown on MSN and of course Stickcricket.

My eyes are going square... 8)

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Merry Christmas!

Wish you all a Merry Christmas! Remember, without Christ, there is no Christmas :)

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Oh yeah, and don't drink and drive :P

Monday, December 12, 2005

How much is my blog worth?

Pinched from Sam & Vincy's blog...


My blog is worth $1,693.62.
How much is your blog worth?

Friday, December 09, 2005

Go to work but nothing to do

Got to work at 8:30 this morning and had absolutely nothing to do. Internet, MSN, email work spam etc filled my day (how geeky). Then at 4:30 in the arvo I had my first task of the day (I had almost given up and was thinking about leaving early).

Boss: "Jeff, go to the nearest bottleshop and get me a carton of Cascade Premium and a bottle of chardonnay please. Here's $70 and ask for a receipt."

Now I understand why during the interiew they asked me whether I drink beer.