Story in progress...

I have been thinking a lot lately; what I really want to do....and where am I going in my life.
Well, it's probably just a spur of a moment kind of thing but I think talking to a good friend had helped in opening my eyes to some wider world perspectives and that's exactly how I recalled all my visions and dreams that have been been at the back of my head for some time now.
I am currently back to my writing; doing some interesting at the moment and yes, I am writing a story.
I have written a couple of stories before; but this time, I wanted this story to be somewhat special:)
Anyway, here goes the driven and powered little missy with her mightier than sword pen :)

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday fell on the 4th day of CNY this year and therefore, I went to the church with Daddy and bro in the evening.
We went to the church of Immaculate Conception in Pulau Tikus (our usual church whenever we come to Penang). The mass here was half an hour earlier than the church I used to go to (Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Greenlane).
We had dinner in Pulau Tikus; Lok Lok....haha...interesting story to be shared later:p
Ash Wednesday marks the commencement of the Lent season; a time of repentance and reflection and also abstinence over a 40-day period to remember Jesus who sacrificed for us. That is the gist of the meaning of Ash Wednesday.
We get the marking of the ash (burnt ashes of the holy palms) on our forehead to remind us that we originate from ash and unto ash shall we return.

Wealth and Brightness

Hehe....my little cousins; both their Chinese names actually contains auspicious meanings and putting the two of them together basically means Wealth and Brightness :D
So, wishing you a year full of wealth and also brightness!!~

Lion Dance

As usual, each year, granny will invite a lion dance troupe to perform at her house; it's been an old tradition since last time in the old house in town.
This year; there were 2 troupes even; and a total of 3 lions performed (1 lion from the 1st troupe and 2 lions from the 2nd troupe).
I don't have most of the pics here with me; some are in bro's disk; will get that from him later :)
We even took a video of the lion dance :D
Anyway, this was the troupe for the first lion dance; mostly youngsters and they were pretty much amateurs in this fine art:p
They were even talking and nudging each other during the performance. Aunt later explained that they are hiring youths these days due to the cheap labour and the allowance varies for the performers and team followers. For instance, the guy who performs the lion head gets the highest pay compared to his other peers.
No wonder they were nudging each other; guess they all wanted a go with the lion head....haha:P


And these 2 lion heads were from the 2nd troupe (one which my young cousin bro worked part time for:)




Stay tune for more pics and video on this!

Welcoming the New Year!!~

2nd Day of Chinese New Year is also known as Hoi Nin (Start of the New Year...back to normal).

The first day is more of an observation and solemn day; rather quiet and due to its significance as the first day of the year; there's also typically more taboos and rules to follow on that day which will be out of the norm.

On the 2nd day however, everything resumes to normal where you can sweep and clean the house already:)

Also, most of the married daughters return home to their families for reunion; bringing their husbands and kids along.

Thus, Cantonese often term this day as Hoi Nin as in the real start of the new year and welcomes the new year:)

Granny herself is of Cantonese origin and thus she was also busy preparing for the 2nd day; lighting joss sticks to worship all the deities and pray for the entire family.

Look at granny; so busy lighting all the candles and joss sticks.

5th aunt helped out in setting up the altar for prayers...

Oooo....and the table is set up for steamboat for reunion with all my aunts later:D

And these are not to be eaten; meant for the deities' worship and also probably a round of lion dance later? Hehehe:)

2nd Day of CNY:)

Good morning!!














So soon; already 2nd day of the New Year......
went to Fort Cornwallis in the morning after breakfast....
















Look at the nice ships there...sailing....













And me; hehe.....with the ship behind me...
Wishing you a smooth year ahead...in Cantonese; "Soon Fung Soon Sui"
"Yat Fan Fung Soon"

My favourite Orange Cup cakes

Couldn't resist posting on my favourite little cup cakes; orange flavoured:)

These are really hard to find; harder than the pink cup cakes.

They call this the Westernised version of the fluffy pink cup cakes (Ang Moh Huat Kueh:)

And this originated from Ipoh; don't know how true that is:P

Found this on Chinese New Year eve....loads of kueh for the 1st day of CNY; this is Penang mar; so most of them use the kuehs for worship purposes.

Love them:)

Visiting 5th Aunt

After lunch, we headed to 5th Aunt's place as she invited us to her house to chit chat with Mummy who was her big sister:)

View from Aunt's balcony.....facing the coastal highway and sea....

There was a new addition to her family; a little Pekingese type of dog which was cousin Sis's Xmas present from her boyboy:D
Introducing to you....little Jojo...only about 2 months old:D

Almost everyone owns this type of dog nowadays...wonder what's the craze about...

In fact my neighbours in KL both own this dog and they mime and whine to the dogs all day long...haha....

It's actually quite adorable anyway and cousin sis mentioned that it costed about RM600-700 for her boyboy to get this dog. Phew....that must have costed a young guy like him a bomb...heard he was rich though:p

Look at cousin sis playing with him

5th aunt cooked Maggi mee and loaded seafood stuffs for cousin sis, Daddy and also bro....haha.

Cousin sis said her mum always love to bustle about whenever there's guest and that was a norm to her:P

Had a long afternoon chatting there.....

Me and cousin sis

Vegetarian Day

Mummy and granny are vegetarians on the first day...so we had vegetarian food as well :)
Went to granny's place and received my angpow from granny, Mummy and Daddy:)
Granny cooked the special sweet dessert drink every year and everyone gets a cup of it to drink with some well-wishes.
The drink consists of red dates and longan...just a simple drink...and the youngsters should serve this to the elders with a few verses that granny taught me before; in Hokkien

Red dates symbolize a good year every year (Ang cho ni ni ho)
Longan symbolizes a good future (Ging ging ho puay keng)
Something along that line lar...I also can't remember very well....
But nice drink :)

1st Day of CNY

Finally, the FIRST day of CNY:)
Woke up and wished Daddy then went to church...Cathedral of the Holy Spirit for an early morning mass...Chinese New Year mass.
Everyone was dressed up in new attire if you turn to look around in the church; and most of the Chinese folks were in red or bright colours.
Even people of other races were wearing Shanghainese collared attires ( Cheongsam-like) in conjunction with the festive mood.
In fact, the priest for that day was also wearing a red cloak:)
And Father Anthony was trying to mimic Chinese wishes to wish all the Chinese parishioners:)
Mass ended with the English version of Gong Xi Gong Xi.....such a happy and nice song with beautiful lyrics:)














Oh ya, and not forgetting the distribution of the oranges to all the parishioners:)
~Happy Chinese New Year 2007!!!~

Goodnight to Doggie Year :)

After dinner at granny's place, came home and prepared myself for my sleeping hours...hehehe, bedtime for me:)

Tiring and long day dy....

Changed into my little pyjamas....kinda big for me:p

Time to sleep!!

Happy happy me:)

And my star star....

Goodnight, Doggie Year is over.....will wake up to Piggy year:)

Reunion Dinner

Rushed over to grandma's place and we had a quick reunion dinner at 9pm...

It May be late

I May had gastric

But it's worth the wait

and let's lift our chopsticks

and hold your plates

As we welcome the pigs!!!

Happy Reunion!!

I may be upset, down and frustrated that I didn't manage to go back to KL first for CNY...and I know how everyone thinks that it is not such a bad situation since I have relatives here in Penang.
But they do not understand the fact that KL is my home; my Home Sweet Home...nothing can compare to that...so, not being able to go back IS a big deal for me....
However, as I reflect further and also deepen my thoughts on this, I start to see that it is not such a negative thing and that I can learn to see this in a different light.
God probably wanted me to value my family....in the midst of my busy working schedule...
I was truly touched by the fact my family was willing to come up despite the last minute notice that I was unable to go back. Mummy has already prepared all the food for reunion and even on Friday...where I was supposed to be home. Imagine the major disappointment they had when I had to call and tell them I couldn't make it that day.
However, they did not even utter a single word of complaint or grunt and never did they reprimand me for this. All they could think of is how can I get back and be safe. They forbade me from travelling alone; driving on my own all the way down to KL.
They also do not want me to spend a bomb on flight tickets (although it's Air Asia) to fly back; with the reasoning that they will be coming to Penang anyhow.
So, Mum and Dad came up with a counter proposal; that they come up to Penang first to celebrate with me and granny and then if I want, I can follow them down to KL.
I was unhappy; but there does not seem to be a choice.
I badly wanted to go down to KL; reunion with my dear family and also my favourite uncle aka Ah Pek and family, and there's Nick and Alwin (who came back from England) whom I really want to meet up and catch up with...and now all that wouldn't happen.
I reluctantly agreed to the plan and reminded them to start early.
Words can never describe the anxiety and anticipation I felt while awaiting for them to arrive in Penang. In fact, I started even the night before....I really felt so miserable after work (I got off at 7pm!!!)...went home to an empty house and realize that everyone is already on their way or have already reached home.
Then the next day, my family delayed their journey...major disappointment for me as I was expecting them to start early. Then I understood that there was a major downpour in KL since early morning and there is no way they can travel under such drastic weather.
It was the longest day in my life...and I was anxiously waiting and praying for their safe arrival.
Mum and dad prayed hard for a safe journey as well.....
Waited on both sides....constant messaging(praise whoever invented SMS) with Bro on their updates; there was a massive traffic jam and a slow crawl from KL all the way heading northbound.
I couldn't believe it when they told me they only reached Tanjung Malim after 2 hours of travelling.
I was starting to worry that they may not be able to make it for reunion.
4p.m: Bro texted me and told me they will be late....not sure what time they will reach. Have not even reach Ipoh yet:(
Waited waited waited.....
6pm: They already reached Jelapang and estimated time of arrival will be 8pm. Reminded me to take something first in order not to get gastric.
7p.m.: Took my bath and dressed up...waiting patiently....had a bad bout of gastric pain suddenly:(
7.30p.m: They already reached Penang bridge
8.00p.m: They were finally here!!!
Sharp on time; Daddy's estimation has never been wrong:)
I was totally loss at words....cannot describe that joyful feeling at seeing my whole family; and most importantly, they were safe and sound.
Thanks and praise the Good Lord!!
I could not hold back those feelings of joy (almost cried) and all those anxiety disappeared along with those questions I wanted to throw at them on why did they start out late....NOTHING matters anymore...as long as we are all together!!
To me, this may be the most memorable and definitely unforgettable Chinese New Year....because I am truly thankful to God for blessing me with such a wonderful family who did not grumble despite travelling so far and stuck in traffic jam to see their daughter:)
We truly experienced and understood the true meaning of reunion and as Daddy says, we now empathize with those who travelled far just to make it home for reunion.
We have always only heard this on the news but now, we truly understand it.
Thank you Daddy, thank you Mummy, thank you Bro....I really LOVE all of you very very very much!!!
I do not know what I'll do without all of you by my side....
Lord, please bless our whole family so that we will all stay together and be happy forever:)
May we have a wonderful Chinese New Piggy Year!!!
God bless all of us:)