'i do not believe the church is filled with perfect people. instead, it's filled with the most broken people you can find, because we all pretend that we're okay.'

food for thought. what is my brokenness?

cmcckl gala dinner

this felt like long ago. hope i could still get my facts right. here it goes...

the gala dinner was part of cmcckl's long term plan of raising RM20mil in 10years time. each table cost RM7k. and if you're wondering how we lucky people got to dine in free, because we were helping out as ushers that night. the dinner was in sunway resort hotel grand ballroom. molto grande~ everyone was so dolled up! including the guys. it was like a red carpet event.

there was a cocktail reception before people started to flood the ballroom. slight confusion with the seating arrangements as everyone wanted to sit with people they're more familiar with. hence changing seats here and there. kept having people coming back to the reception stating their table is full. -.- 

the organiser also engaged in a few performances for the night. dancers from urban groove, dr joanne yeoh on the violin and juwita suwito. great lineup! dr joanne yeoh is really really good! she performed in various world class stages and some concerts *heard from my sister*. liting was in awe! motivation to practice violin, liting! :p juwita suwito left me in awe! hearing her sing live is like wow!

liting came to help out as well. :)

told you it was grand.

our 1st dish. 

dancers from urban groove.

the amazing dr joanne yeoh. :)

ballroom dancers dancing gracefully on the center stage.

the toilet lightings damn nice!

ms woo, my conductress dressed up so prettily!

THE highlight of the night - juwita suwito! ♥

her dress was really shimmery.

group picture! :)

thank you leeyng for asking us to help out that night. it was a great night! :)

symphony of praise

another successful concert by the PJYO and grace note choir to raise funds for a nepalese fund to help them live a better life here in malaysia. a good cause by the church. the concert was held in first baptist church, pj. i was astounded by it's huge stage and awesome surrounding system. even though we weren't playing on a grand piano as per previous concerts (it was an upright piano this time), every mistakes of ours could be heard clearly right at the back of the hall. that raised our hypertension level by a tad bit. just a LITTLE bit. i kid you not.

i played He. again. i'm pretty sure the audience are bored of me by now. seeing that i've played the song again and again for the past few concerts. :p despite playing it for several times, i still manage to creep in a few mistakes here again. how typical of me. gladly to say that not many people notice my shortfalls. if you don't count mr lam, the WHOLE orchestra and well maybe my fellow solo pianists performers. :p

the concert went on smoothly. grace notes were awesome as they always are. love love love their harmony! every hard work they put in was worth it. as for the solo pianists performance, we did okay. yuesum blanked out for a few bars but manage to get it back right on track. now that's something worth applauding for. kaier had her fair share of mistakes and making the orchestra chase after her 'rushed' timing. overall, it was a fun night and i was happy to finally strike that off my calendar. mission accomplished!

pianists waiting to perform

the awesome people for the concert's success (:

p/s: this was what kept us entertained during rehearsals. monopoly deal! :p

myf #1

a truly inspirational encounter with the ladies. inspiration to do good and not otherwise. somethings are not worth trying. we all know that. but it was from talking to them that i truly realize it. it's easy to get hooked onto it but it's not easy to get rid of it. family plays an important role but for some, their families don't even wanna have anything to do with them.their friends do not know of their problems. so who else can they depend on when it gets rough and tempting? nothing but god. they can't even depend on themselves because the desire is too strong. only god. i pray that He will continue to be their strength and guide throughout their lives. because it's a constant battle that's hard to win.

glad i went with the myf people. truly an eye-opener. and the girls are nice! (:

time for family, friends and HIM :D

i made a promise to myself. that i'd post all 2010 events in 2010! oh well, i'm no good in keeping promises apparently. even those for myself. tsk tsk.

christmas was the same as every year. morning service in chin woo stadium. christmas luncheon is to be skipped for family lunch at aunt's place in puchong. and dinner at another aunt's place in taman tun. a day full of singing, presents and of course ,wouldn't miss it for the world, MAKAN! :p

went to chinwoo early in the morning for band practice as i missed it when i was in thailand. got there around 7.30am i think. feeling awfully sleepy early in the morning. took sometime for the muscians and PA team to set up the place. started practice at about 8.30am. paul ng the clown manage to chase away my sleepiness with his lame and dorky-ness. :p regretted for leaving my slippers behind that morning. it'd make arranging the chairs easier. mind you, we had ROWS and ROWS of chairs to arrange. dusty chairs but we didn't have the energy to wipe each and every chair there was. so there you go.

christmas service was it's usual christmas-y self. about jesus, his birth, his mission to save mankind, his love and his passion for sinners. well, you get my drift. it was AFTER service where we had fun. pictures and presents and MORE pictures! adding fun to it all is the new dslr that makes people camwhore even more than usual. yeap, cmcckl-ers are born camwhorers. don't mess yo!

then it was makan time throughout the day. from lunch to dinner. 1 house to another. puchong to taman tun. non stop eating. i've gained pounds just in that one day! *nom nom nom* awesome!

1st stop - aunty mary's house! :D

AWESOME mash potato with bacons and sausage!

dessertssss!

sleeping with its head held up high. ego much!

the dog was eyeing my sis' mandarin orange. -.-

2nd stop - aunty jenny's aka 表姨妈 house. :D

i feel so hungry looking back at these. -.-

chocolate coated cherries. YUMMMY!

massage parade.

baby jaine cheeky as always.

baby jaide so cute with her tumbler! :D

the old cousins. still going strong.

music with a big M

my 1st to teach a choir. also another 1st to teach an average age group of my age or older than me. i've only gone through the songs a few times. *gonna add it into my playlist and listen to it till i sing in my sleep* and i don't know how to teach warm-ups. *sin yun, paul, HELP!* enough said to explain the stress i was in. and the fact that joanna would not be joining our practice until delivering her baby was no good to my stress level. thank god for awesome friends that came to my rescue without much hesitation. heart you guys. :D

i know i'm not a good teacher. too impatient to help people understand. always rushing into things and babble out whatever that comes into mind. i guess that's why i was picked for the job. to help them learn and also to help myself

to learn to listen. to be patient. to be responsible for my acts and words. to understand and help.

greatest satisfaction of all when they sang together in unison and harmony. music is so simple yet beautiful. even with just our voices, it is enough.

despite all things, i still hope sunday will take its time to arrive. stress!

catch-up if you can

i wanted to post my pending-for-so-long thailand post first but i don't seem to have the mood to complete it, yet. i don't have the pictures from thailand and apparently a friend of mine said i have too many words in my posts. hence, no pictures = pending post till undue future. if that's a good excuse. but i promise you, it'll come. don't roll your eyes at me, I WILL POST IT!! :P

so it's already the end of january 2010. well, almost. the major happenings of the month :

- my friend is now officially dating my other friend. weird but we all saw that coming, didn't we? wish you guys happiness in the many years to come. just don't make me choose sides when you 2 are on the brink of war. i might just kill both of you.

- i'm gonna miss the myf retreat. not that i don't wanna go, i just can't! had to go back malacca to clean our apartment. mum's orders. dang. it's a really good chance for me to get to know more about the myf-ers. i'm closer with the younger ones but i guess it's time i mix with the older ones as well. someone kidnap me to the retreat pleaseeeeeee.

- i'm undergoing a super HUGE project with someone.can't say much about it so yeah. let's work hard on it together. determination!!

- just started ACCA for a few weeks and i'm starting to hate it already. oh goodness.

- the new car is here!! sold off our kenari for toyota vios. the car was just delivered today. i guess i'm not gonna drive much for now. new car = new toy. parents gonna be super protective over it. me driving = reckless driver = probability of accidents increase up a few notch = definite no no. oh well, it's nice to have people driving me around.

- results are coming out in FEBRUARY!! omggggg. you think taking the exam is stressful. checking your results is wayyyyy more stressful than the exam itself. no joke.

- there were some changes. and more changes to come. there's only 1 thing i have to say, you need to grow up and stop blaming people around you. enough said.

p/s: this is my 2nd post for 2010. slacking much.

EDITED;

- has anyone watched avatar? it's the bomb!! like seriously. those who haven't should just book the tickets right now. go for the 3D version. it's worth every penny. definitely the most outstanding movie of the year. the work crew on avatar set such a high benchmark for the rest, it's gonna be a stressful year for the movie industry. well, competition is good. at least we have high standard movies to look forward to in the near future.

a week of christmas

this is so overdue. everyone's doing their new year resolutions or recap of 2009 or some sort. and here i am posting about christmas. december has always been the craziest month of the bunch. too many things to do, too little time. albeit all the hassle for christmas, it always leaves me with the best memories. :D

1st stop: caroling!!

out of a sudden cmcckl decided to have a change this year. no more visiting 22 houses in 3 days like we did last year. it's 7 houses in 4 days this year. it was part of the church's plan to boost the attendees of parish groups.

everyone went to datuk tay's house the 1st night. and the remaining 3 days we were split into 2 groups. which means i only sang at 4 houses this year. 4 houses in 4 days. plus all the mad people weren't around to help bring the house down. rachel and peaypei were in australia. valerie and ben were in hongkong. the rest were just too old or busy for caroling. -.- kinda killed my christmas spirit to be honest.

despite it all, we still had a fun time forcing all the food down our throat and singing our hearts out (especially at the last house. last dy marr :P). i just hope next year's caroling will be back like usual. miss those times a lot.

2nd stop: christmas!!

church service was 10 am at chin woo stadium. dad was in charged of parking and mum had rehearsal. so we were there by 8.30am. sleepy sleepy.

valerie that woman wore a dress that day. hahahah. everyone was like 'WOWWWWWWW' and making a whole lot of unrecognizable noises when she walked in. centre of attention yo. ben asked me to wear all black for christmas. so sad right. like funeral only. i thought the stadium would be hot so i didn't. but the air cond was so cold. luckily there's ben, the heat generator. :P

as usual, camwhore camwhore and more camwhore. with dslr some more. woooooooooooot. but i can't seem to find those pictures anywhere. boon ho, upload!!!! :P the highlight of the day was definitely the carolers singing on stage. fun!! only at that moment i could really feel that 'this is christmas!'. kinda ironic isn't it. i could only feel christmas after the church service and caroling and everything.

didn't stay back for christmas luncheon this year. had family gathering over at my aunt's in puchong and another dinner gathering at my cousin's in taman tun later at night. the day before that, christmas eve, we went to dad's old classmates house for a reunion sorta thing. so it's eat eat eat and more eating. i swear i've gained extra weight through the festive. but you must agree with me, what is christmas without turkeys, cheese cakes, shephard pies, salads, carbonara and omg the list is endless. and to think of it chinese new year is only 2 months away = MORE eating!! hahaha. this is part of our chinese culture. so embrace it people.

got loads of presents this year. THANK YOU, LOVES~~

p/s: pictures credit to val and tim.

eat, laugh and be merry

the miaf had steamboat dinner together yesterday night. we all had to bring our own bowls and chopsticks and spoons. there were tons of food and 4 electrical steamboat pots boiling on separate tables. around 50 people turned up. everyone was walking around with their bowls in hand. and taking food from whichever pots they like. it's easy to know which pots are boiling as you can see from the people swarming over it. then ben and the rest will start running to those tables. it's our job to steal food from their bowls. sharing is caring. :P

all in all it was a good time of fellowship and tons of funny moments. though everyone left kinda early but i enjoyed it much. :D

the nerds!!!!! crazy funny. xD

zhiyuan so fatherly. awwwww.

that's my bowl. T_T

crazy people high dy.

leeyng had too much soup. :P

photos by valerie

we had another round of steamboat after church today. apparently ben's parents bought RM200 worth of food EACH. aunt felicia bought some too. pretty awesome that we managed to finish everything. though it took us 2 days. :P i'm not gonna eat any more steamboat for the year. kinda scared of it dy.

p/s: HAPPY RAYA to those celebrating. and HAPPY HOLIDAYS to those that are not. i only have 2 days off. pfft.