Sew What!

My sewing endeavours...

Mt Gambier 2009 - Road Trip!

We had a wonderful 3 days and 2 nights going to Mt Gambier. Stopped along little towns like Robe, Kingston, went through Coorong National Park, Nelson (Victoria), Port MacDonnell, Coonawarra, Murray Bridge. It was quite beautiful. Really, as much as I'd hate to quote cliche, but it wasn't the destination but the journey that counted. We had so much fun taking pictures everywhere. Thank God for the wonderful company I had in Lillian and Melissa my housemates. We had a little surprise for Lillian as well in the motel as it was her birthday. Brought paper lanterns to play with (Chinese Mooncake Festival) but was too afraid to because there could've been restrictions. Didn't really feel like burning down Mt Gambier on our first road trip. Well, at least not on our FIRST road trip. Haha. Note to CFA: ONLY KIDDING!

Thank God the Blue Lake was blue! It was only due to turn blue in November but praise God it was blue when we went there in October. Really, the trip to Mount Gambier was to see 3 kinds of 'holes' : Hole in the mountains (cave), hole in the ground filled with water (crater lakes) and hole in the ground (sink holes). But it was a good trip altogether.

SKIRTO!

My first attempt at sewing skirts. Baby skirt for year-old abigail. For myself, found some cloth in the remnants bin at Spotlight, so I impulsively decided to make myself a skirt as well! Just simply hentam cut and sew only (the adult skirt).

Melbourne 2009!

Had a great time. Was there for the weekend with my colleagues (Alison and Vanessa) and Vanessa's husband. Apart from the whole Tiger Airways trauma/saga (flight cancellation, stranded in Melbourne for 24 hours, forking out extra money etc), the trip was great. Some of the highlights were: going to the theatre (Shakespeare's Pericles) which was surprisingly delightful, visiting Salvador Dali's exhibition (nice but weird. plain weird.) and SUSHI HUNTING! Took some pictures with my new camera, so enjoy!

everything in between

Work for the past few months has been great. I really thank God for the opportunities He's given me. I enjoy what I do a lot and I guess I never got around blogging about what I do at work. It would probably bore you if I talked about pumps and compressors. But amongst the interesting things:

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1. This has got to be the most interesting one as I was asked to represent our company for this photoshoot for work. It was weird because they had me standing close (REALLY close) to this guy from another company in all the shots. Apparently we had to be in close proximity in order to get a good picture. I hardly knew him! We had to point at machines and pretend to be in deep conversation. Heck, I was just staring at his teeth in all the shots. Couldn't bring myself to 'look into his eyes'. I may want to reserve that pose for someone special right? Hehe. I may never see the poster in my lifetime but I sure hope they won't use it to wrap nasi lemak!

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2. "Confined Space Training". It was a 3-day course to learn how to work in confined spaces and use breathing apparatus (BA). Got to use a safety harness which even the smallest size was too big for me. The instructor struggled to find any equipment that fit me nicely. He said I was the smallest person he had ever trained! Don't know if it was a compliment or insult. Hehe. We had to be hung over this large hole and work our way through the dark confined space. Pitch black. I felt like Darth Vader when they made us put on this breathing apparatus. The oxygen tank I had to carry was practically dragging on the floor as I was vertically-challenged.

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3. Travelled to Moomba and Whyalla a couple of times so far. I have always enjoyed my trips there as the people are quite nice and the food is good. I personally prefer Whyalla as it is a little town by the sea. The sea breeze blowing through the processing plant can easily make me fall asleep there! But travelling on those turbo-prop planes to Whyalla is deafening! SO noisy those machines.

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4. Got to bring a high school kid around at work for half a day. Had to 'inspire' him to become an engineer which is supposed to be the 'awesomest' job in the world :-p. That was nice. I would've thought he was cute if I were a high school girl.

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5. Other stuff: Enrolled in singing classes starting July! Almost finished decoupaging a table Lillian and I found by the road. TOTALLY addicted to Star Trek Voyager.

live today like there's no tomorrow

Picture courtesy of watchingmewatchingyou on Flickr!

There's really many equivalent lines that say the same. Sieze the day. Carpe diem. Don't worry. Be happy. But my personal mantra is: Life is short because we might die tomorrow. So live.

You may laugh but it's true. Ever since experiencing death in my family, I came to realize that every day is precious. Have you got a passion? DO IT! LIVE IT! Don't wait till you are free, or till you retire. Because before you know it, you're dead. And I mean it in the nicest possible sense.

Bought a new dress? WEAR IT the next day! Why wait till there's a special occassion?

Been given new cutlery and chinaware for housewarming? USE IT for tonight's dinner. Don't keep it on display!

Been dreaming of making that pilgrimage to your favourite sporting club? START SAVING and go ASAP!

Thinking of taking up French lessons? Tap dance classes? Want to know how to make wax candles? ENROL yourself right now!

Dare yourself to do crazy things. Live life to the fullest. Because we might be dead tomorrow. Sounds morbid I know.

And most importantly, honour God in all you do :-)

Matthew 6:34 -Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

the engineer goes to a dentistry scientific meeting!

Okay, you know how lazy a blogger I have been lately. But what happened today was just too funny! Here goes:

Basically, I had a training session for work at the Hilton today. Right across my training room was a huge dental expo thing going on. Apparently, upon googling them up, I realised it was the "14th Australian and New Zealand Academy of Periodontists Scientific Meeting". Like I know what it means! Let's just call it 'Dentist Expo' for now.

I had a bit of time in between training, so I thought, 'Why not hop on in to see if I can get some freebies?' (as you do, at all expos!). Being the polite gate-crasher I am, I asked the lady at the entrance if I could enter, since I wasn't a participant. She said 'Sure!'. Or at least that's what I thought she said, because the things that ensued later on sort of indicated that maybe I had mistaken her.

So there I was, the engineer amongst all these snotty-primly-dressed dentists (if you're reading this and you're a dentist: I'm only kidding). I tried hard to lift my head up high as a mechanical engineer. We're not that bad ok?

People were loitering around with their wine glasses, chatting, laughing and eating their tiny little fancy finger-foods. I was navigating my way through, ignoring all the non-relevant stalls (selling dentists' instruments) and headed straight for the Listerine booth.

The lady tending the Listerine booth started talking to me. The conversation went something like this:

Listerine Lady (LL): Hi, would you like to try our new floss?

Janice (JK): Erm, sure. (feeling a little apprehensive, knowing that she might have mistaken me for a dentist)

LL: Here, have a feel. (hands me the floss and encourages me to have a pull. She continues to talk about the fibre...or something....or it being the improved floss...or was it a super floss? Didn't matter, all I wanted was her to give me free floss)

JK: Hmm, yes it's pretty strong (pretending to pull the floss in all directions, as if to test the structural integrity of that floss, as all engineers do!)

LL: Would you like to try some floss?

JK: Sure! That would be great. (takes the big pack of super-all-new-and-improved floss)

LL: Would you like to try the new Listerine as well? (points to the purple bottle of Listerine)

JK: Oh yes! I've seen this in the market (trying to sound like a dentist but secretly remembering thinking this purple Listerine looked gross the first time she saw it on tv)

LL goes on to explain how this purple Listerine was also an all-new-and-improved mouth wash. The crux of it was I managed to walk away from the Listerine stall with an all-new-and-improved bottle of Listerine and some packet of super-floss. She later gave me a CD and book on oral hygiene (which mind you, was apparently very good. Oh bless her soul).

After bidding goodbye with my new-found Listerine-lady-friend, I trotted off to the Oral-B booth. Straight away, the OB lady asked me if I had seen 'this' magazine before (pointing to a colourful book in her hands). I said I hadn't, and she went on to explain how great this magazine was. Here's the conversation:

Oral-B Lady (OBL): This book is pretty good, you can use it to explain to patients what they have, instead of over-simplifying the matter. (she flips the book back and forth)

JK: Hmm yes, looks like a very good book (pretends to flip the book back and forth. I then flipped to the front cover to find out it was a Scientific American special dentist edition, and thought 'sure! I don't mind one!')

OB-L: You should keep one at your practice. It's really good. Here, have some floss and tooth brush as well!

At this stage, JK freaks out at the mention of her imaginary 'dental practice'. But silently nods and keeps her calm. She took the free floss and brush of course! In fact she's been meaning to buy a new tooth brush! What better timing? The worst came when OB-L's colleague, Oral-B Lady Two (O-BL2) comes to me.

O-BL2: And where do you practice?

JK now wishes for the fancy Hilton carpet to swallow her up. PRONTO.

JK: Erm......(long deliberate pause)....erm.......actually, I'm an engineer. Not a dentist.

You could literally see O-BL's face drop and O-BL2 looked like she was ready to pounce on me the lowly, dentist-imposter engineer.

O-BL: I'm afraid I will have to get the book back. We want to give it to dentists (promptly takes the book from my hands and places it back on its shelf).

O-BL2 to O-BL: Yea, you should be careful because some of these people who dont' have tags didn't pay to come in.

Now, JK quickly says thank you and quickly walks away with her new Oral-B floss and toothbrush, Listerine mouth wash, Johnson & Johnson super duper floss, and some lecture CD on oral hygiene.

Who's laughing now, Oral-B Ladies? Take that!

Disclaimer: Although yours-truly admits this was a truly cheapskate thing to do, it was quite fun! And I never once claimed I was a dentist! They just assumed I was!

easter

People around me say they know the real meaning of easter. Maybe they just wanted to 'nicely' let me know that they weren't interested. Hard for people to realise that they are the very reason why Easter happened!

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In short:

We, who are sinful, are separated from God. And because God so loved the world, He gave His only son, so that whoever believes in Him shall have everlasting life (John 3:16-ish). Jesus died for our sins, so that we can have a relationship with God. On the third day after his death, Jesus rose again, meaning that He had defeated death. That's when Easter Sunday is.

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The relevance of Easter for us (everyone):

By having faith that Jesus has washed away our sins, we are able to have a relationship with God. Not just any relationship, but an intimate one, where you put your hope and faith in Him. It's really a wonderful journey to walk in, with God holding you while braving through the ups and downs of life! Really thank God He found me.

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He's knocking on the door of your heart always. It's only a matter of whether or not you're letting Him into your heart.

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Happy Easter!

Sewing projects

Recently bought a sewing machine with my first pay. It was only AUD$199. The RRP was $300++ but it was double-reduced. I love my sewing machine. Here's some of the things I sewed recently. Don't look too close! My handiwork is not perfect as I have only started sewing 3 weeks ago. If you want, you can buy cloth and I can sew stuff for you (simple ones first!). Don't feel bad because I want to practise! And yes, I will do it free for you!

Pictured here also are our sushi train outing. They had their annual '$3 for everything' promotion. We had 43 plates amongst the 6 of us, which is an okay number. Was excited beyond comprehension! Wasn't even THAT excited when I graduated/started work.

Notice that the sushi photos are all without food in them. Obviously we were all too busy eating and not taking photos!

a new life

What a few weeks it has been! Started work, Mummy went home to Kuala Lumpur, established a whole new group of friends at work, experiencing a different lifestyle altogether! Work has been great, it's challenging for myself, but I guess that's the fun part. I've worked out that as a mechanical engineer, I'm really like a detective trying to piece together information from everywhere and everyone, then diagnosing what's really wrong with a piece of machinery. Of course, too bad it's not as easy as it sounds. People at work are really nice and friendly, and especially patient as they don't mind spending time teaching us newbies the ropes. The best thing is that there is even a bible study group at work! It's great to know that God can use us anywhere, even at the work place, to touch the lives of others.

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Being involved with the Discovery Group in OCF and New Life program at church has been a blessing as I enjoy very much spending time with people who are seeking God and wanting to know more about Him. To be in the midst of so much hunger for something more (God) is quite refreshing and astounding!

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Of course, earning my own money has been, to say the least, liberating! Been easing out of the 'multiply by 3' mode slowly. Y'know, since I don't have to feel guilty about spending my parents' hard-earned money in Malaysian Ringgit! It's good to remain thrifty as well since we're now in the GEC (Global Economic Crisis).

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Life as a 'single and available ' again is quite challenging. Don't worry, I'm not hanging on to the past, in fact I very much look forward to the future. But it takes some getting used to. I guess now the focus is to learn to grow deeper and deeper in love with God, and not boys! To seek Him first in all I do and to be rooted in Him. Only God knows how much I would love to have children of my own (which necessitates the need for a husband *ahem*), but that grand plan will have to wait :-)

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Invested in a sewing machine recently and am loving it! I am learning to sew simple things like bags, scarves, aprons, whatever that doesn't need hours of work. Perhaps I should post up pictures of my handiwork.

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Am planning to visit Tokyo and New York in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Have to start saving, and think ahead! Hopefully with my new life ahead, I will do things I have always dreamt of like buskering in the streets, travelling, being part of a musical, and of course, continue to serve God faithfully.