The world of JULIANA

Hello there everyone! It’s Friday today. Yippppppppppppppieeeeeeeeeeeeee! Ah, the sheer joy of waking up on a Friday morning, knowing that it’s the end of the week and the beginning of the ……….weekend! This w’kend, it’s made extra special ‘coz of the string of public holidays in conjunction with Chinese New Year. Perhaps some of you already have plans of goin’ out of town for a mini-break, whilst some would prefer to laze at home or leisurely driving, enjoying the quiet roads in town.

Hope this week has been great for ya all ! Nothing all that fantastic took place all of this week. It’s been a rather uneventful week, I’m afraid. Had to attend a string of rather major ISO-related meetings at work. Ah, apart from the core jobs that I do at work, ISO ’s been heaps of fun! Auditing, documentation,etc.

A’ight, enough said ’bout WORK! In exactly 45minutes’ time, my lunch break begins. Just two days ago I pampered myself to a lovely relaxing pedicure over my lunch break. I slept quite late the previous night, hence somewhere along the pedicure, I actually FELL ASLEEP right there! ! ! Ha ha . . .thank heavens I had picked the colour prior to havin’ fallen asleep. Imagine my horror if I were to wake up to find my toe-nails painted some fancy gothic black colour or somethin’ ! For the record, I picked a pretty purple shade with a pink-glitter finish. Looks pretty! *grins. I used to be obsessed with takin’ pics of my freshly-pedicured toes, just ‘coz the nails would look so healthy and varnished. These days, I could hardly be bothered to take pics of somethin’ as trivial as that! I’ve always wanted to get one of those hi-fi SLR cameras,tho’. Problem is, some months ago, Robz and I spent a good 35-40 minutes at a digital camera shop, tryin’ to familiarize ourselves with a rather high-end Canon SLR camera. Ultimately, we realized that by the time we got the settings right and took a decent photograph, it might just take months, if not years. So for now, I’m going to have to settle with my humble 10MP Canon digicam instead. Ummmm, not that I’m complaining, as this lovely gadget takes absolutely lovely pics,too!

So many friends have had birthdays this month. I once diligently kept a B’day book and I’d have all my loved ones and friends’ names in it. In the beginning of the month, I’d flip the pages to find out whose b’day fell on that particular month, so that I could purcase pressies in advance. Nevertheless, these days, Facebook only shows reminders ON THE DAY itself. Which is great if all you wanna is throw a sheep, or poke the b’day girl/boy! I think Friendster still sends a reminder for the month or somethin,’ doesn’t it?

Ah, here I go again. Typing out every random thought that’s flyin’ across my mind right now. Speaking of birthdays, the girl whom I’ve been guiding at church at the organ, Jessica celebrates her 18th birthday later this month. She’s a talented young musician and just needed a lovely mentor (yes that’s me! *Grins) to guide her and motivate her to play at church. A year down the line, she’s confident enough to play a string of hymns during service and whenever I’m not around , I can safely entrust the responsibility of managing the music for a church service to her.  This year, out of the blues, I decided to surprise her with a pressie. Bought her a li’l chain set with inter-changeable stones, which I figured she’d like ‘coz she’s always in various coloured accessories that she tries to match with her outfits. She ’s probably inspired by her lovely mentor’s sense of fashion (aww come on, everyone’s entitled to a minute or two of vanity moments!). Anyway, in addition to the pressie, I decided to make her a card,too! Ah-huh, a handmade card, specially from yours truly. See, years ago, I enjoyed making hand-made cards. I’d spend hours designing cards, and I figured it made a far nicer gift than one of those high-end cards you purchased at the shelves! Havin’ given her the card and the pressie at church last Sunday, she seemed rather taken aback. When I’m at church with her, I’m a VERY stern lady. One of those no-nonsense girls that strictly means business. If she hasn’t practiced a song, she’d hear me nag nag nag. Hehe… So imagine her utter delight when her ever-so-strict-mentor gave her a pressie and a hand-made card for her b’daY! Five minutes later, she walked up to me and sat next to me. Tears welled up in her eyes as she softly said, ” Sis ….. nobody has bothered to show this much kindness to me. You’ve truly touched my heart. Thank you so much” .  All I did was give her a gift. I didn’t think much of it. Heck, everyone gets b’day pressies, right? Yet …to this tender young girl, it meant a world . She was so elated, that tears began rolling down her cheeks. I gave her a warm hug and told her to wear her pressie to church so that I can admire it on her! *smiles. Oh well, that sure was a very rewarding moment. Sometimes, we take somethin’ so lightly, almost takin’ it for granted, not realizing the impact we have on others’ lives.  All I can say is, whatever that you do, do it with a sincere heart, and make it a point to make at least one person happy in a day. It’s absolutely amazing to be able to put a li’l smile on someone’s face, and to brighten up their day, with our mere presence, actions, or words . On that note,I’d like to wish all my CNY celebrating friends, GONG XI FA CAI !

T.G.I.F ! Ah, the sheer bliss of waking up on a Friday morning, knowing that you’ve just got a day of work before it’s the ……………. w e e k e n d !

*leaps up for joy*

I don’t know ’bout you, but even if I don’t have anything planned out for the w’kend, the idea of a w’kend comin’ up always puts a smile on my face! So, what have you folks planned out for the w’kend? Anythin’ exciting ? Technically, this would be the 2nd w’kend now that we’re almost done with the 2nd working week. Gosh, I’ve to stop being so anal ’bout digits…

I’ve got a wedding to attend, for which I’m the organist. Ah, it’s always nice to begin the year with a happy occassion ; my first wedding (as an organist) for the year. The wedding rehearsal was on Wednesday and we had loads of fun . In this particular wedding, I was given the freedom to pick songs which I liked, so that I’d be able to give it my best shot on the organ.Truly a dream for all musicians to be able to pick their own favourite songs for others’ weddings!In addition to that, the family from church whose son’s getting married, even got me a saree for the wedding! Now, that was touching . Whenever I help folks out with their weddings (and at times funerals,too ) to play the organ, I don’t expect anything in return at all. I do it purely ‘coz of the deep satisfaction and happiness that it gives me. I’m sure they had many other expenses to look into and yet, they took the trouble to pick a saree for me. It’s a very serene green colour for which the blouse is ready. I picked matching bangles to go with the saree. Oh wait, haven’t I talked ’bout this saree story in one of my previous blog entries? Ooopsie . . . I do not wanna sound like a broken record player. Once the wedding’s over, I’ll blog ’bout it, and I’ll certainly add in a picture or two of that much-talked-about green saree!

This week has been another energetic exercise-filled week. According to my New Year exercise regime, I’ll be attending dance classes on Tues and Thurs and I’ll work out at the gym on Mon,Weds and Friday. So far, it’s been goin’ on well. Nevertheless, lately, I ‘ve been feelin’ rather breathless. Robz is concerned that I’ve been over-straining myself. What, with the congenital hole-in-the-heart, parents & Robz always get jumpy whenever I get a tad bit breathless. Then again, I’ve always been a fighter. Back in school, I hated it whenever we had physical examinations by the school nurse and visiting doctor in primary school. Invariably, I’d be pulled out , and labelled as the “girl with the funny heart sounds” . See, ‘coz of that tiny tiny tiny hole-in-the-heart, I’ve got what medical folks would term as a ‘murmur’. Hence, whenever a doc puts a stethoscope to listen to my heartbeat, there are these additional sounds. They aren’t as loud as they used to be. But, back then, I was always labelled the’ sick kid’. Nevertheless, being the fighter that I was, I refused to accept the fact that I can’t over-strain myself or I’d collapse,etc. Instead, my parents sent me to tennis and swimming classes as they wanted me to have as much exposure as possible, when I was young. I went on to play tennis competitively, representing Kuala Lumpur in tournaments when I was in secondary school. Oh, guess what? At Form Five, which is the final year in high school (for the benefit of non-Malaysians who read my blog) , I was even a cheer-leader! *grins*.

Oh well …… that’s a li’l story on the Sporty Jules. Now, another li’l story on the Churchy-Jules. Yesterday, we had our monthly Leaders’ Council meeting at church. Robz is the People’s Warden, who literally runs the administration of the church, hand in hand with our church vicar. Speakin’ of our church vicar, the blessed man got infected with chicken pox and has been ill at home. I’ll be 29 this year and I have never been infected with chicken pox. I’ve taken the vaccine for it , yet everytime I hear of it, it sends shivers of fear down my spine. What if I get it when I’m 40!?!? Oh heck, you can’t keep worryin’ ’bout these things, can you? You either get it and recover gracefully from it, or you just don’t get it!The church leaders’ council meeting went on peacefully ; lotsa new upcoming projects to discuss ’bout. Being the Young Adults’ Fellowship President and also the Choir Leader at church, there are a string of responsibilities to shoulder in church. Every year, we have various projects and ideas and with the teamwork and co-operation of all our committee members, we always manage to come up with somethin’ fancy. Hmmmmmmmmm, this w’kend, I’ll be meeting my committee members. There’ll be a line-up of events to plan out for the year 2009. How exciting ……….. *smiles

I don’t wanna be rambling on too much in this entry. Do have a lovely w’kend, folks! For those who’ve got fun-plans for this w’kend, do have a fabulous w’kend! For those who merely wanna rest over the w’kend, well, have a restfull w’kend! God Bless.

Greetings, folks! Before I proceed, let us all give a pat on each other’s backs ‘coz we SURVIVED Monday! ! We successfully beat the Monday morning blues, after a restful w’kend, and here we are, at the end of the dreadful Monday! 

*breathes a sigh of relief*

Hopefully all of you had a great start to this week. My day went past quite quickly. This morning, it was my duty as doctor-in-charge at the staff clinic. Sometimes, whilst runnin’ around doin’ all that administrative & paper-work pertaining to medical research and training, I almost forget that I’m a clinical doctor! Hence, I look forward to these clinics and locum sessions in the evenings as I get a chance to practice my clinical skills! Had a line-up of staff who were feelin’ under the weather. Generously wrote ‘em all MC’s as they really were quite ill! Then, had to pick up two saree blouses which I had given for stiching at b’fields. Lately, I’ve developed a fascination for matching bangles. These bangles are quite reasonable and my favourite bangle haunt’s located at Bombay Point, B’fields. Those who know me well would already know that I usually speak very highly of the selection of bangles in Bombay Point! This time, I went lookin’ for green bangles. The saree’s a pale lemon green colour. Not a colour that I would’ve picked off the shelf but ‘coz it’s a gift, I’ve to wear it. Oh well, that’s when accessories come into the picture, to try and spice the pale colour up a li’l! Had a sumptious banana leaf meal and assured myself that I would burn all those calories later this evening at the gym. Over the last 2 1/2 months, I’ve become rather health and calorie-conscious! All thanks to Robz, who has already reached the level of diet & calorie-obsession. (Thank heavens Robz doesn’t read my blogs or he’d be fuming if he saw how ‘fondly’ I speak of him in e’re!)  *chuckles

Once work was over, I excitedly drove to the gym. I’m going thru’ a patch right now. I’ve called it the “weaning myself off the dependence on my personal trainer” at the gym. See, over the last 7-8weeks , I’ve had the luxury of personal training, and by far, Ray , my personal trainer is the best thing that happened to me , from a fitness point of view! Ray’s very patient and taught me how to do a lot of workouts that were suitable and appropriate for my fitness level and stamina. Alas, the 12 sessions were over and I was on my own. On the last day, the 12th session, I remember feelin’ quite depressed ‘coz I knew that after that session, I’d be left all alone in the sea of super-fit men and women who worked out at the gym with utmost confidence! I’m quite happy doing my 20minutes of cycling, which I usually do quite religiously each time I go to the gym. Same goes for the super-easy abdominal crunches which I love doing. I’m a li’l obsessed with abdominal crunches and usually do ’bout 150-175 abdo crunches in the mornin’ before I have my shower *Grins* . It’s the weights section that I’ve always found rather daunting. At the gym I go to, the weights section is always filled with very virile, macho men who always seem to be panting and puffing away carrying 100kg weights! Even looking at them sends shudders of fear and anxiety down my spine! Since that last session with Ray, I’ve tried my best to muster as much courage to go up to that highly male-dominated section of the gym to attempt carryin’ weights. Yet, I always end up chickening out. Today, I told myself that I’d get over this fear of the WEIGHTS section, so off I went upstairs, bouncing happily with an air of superficial confidence, assuring myself that it would be a breeze doin’ those weight workouts, just as Ray had taught me. Coincidentally, Ray was with a client , training the dude up when I tried a machine just next to his client. Ray and I exchanged smiles and off I went onto that machine . It’s one of those fancy gadgets that helps with the lower limb weights. When I sat at the machine, I knew something wasn’t quite right. Yet, I tried to fidget with the weights. Ray gave me that , ” girl, you’re doin’ it wrong!” look and I knew I had messed up. Ray gave me 1/2 a minute before comin’ over, with a rather sympathetic look, and helped me. Oh well, apparently I had gotten the angle of the foot bit of the machine wrong. Once Ray adjusted the machine, I was fine. Did my usual sets. Then, I figured I’d try somethin’ for the upper limbs instead. As I walked across that highly-scary area, I’m not sure if I was just paranoid, or it felt like all the strong weight-lifting men from around Klang Valley had landed onto that weights-section. Felt like a mouse amongst the elephants in the wilderness. I reminded myself that everyone has to start somewhere and I’m sure all these very strong men were rather apprehensive, just as I was, when they first started lifting weights! My next feat was the upper limbs machine. I adjusted the weights according to my abilities to carry, and began carrying. PROBLEM. One arm would lift, but the other side just jammed up. It was so very embarrassing sitting there, gathering every ounce of energy left in my body to try and lift that dreadful Right arm portion up. Again, a rather sympathetic trainer walked over and tried to silence a giggle as he explained that I had completely forgotten to adjust the weights on my Right portion, and turns out I was tryin’ to carry a 60kg weight !!! How do people even carry 60kgs?!!?!? *sigh*. Oh heck, I offiically screwed up. Maybe I was too hard on myself. Maybe my expectations were rather high. Either way, I had decided that perhaps it would be wise to call it a day. Besides, I was already on the verge of collapsing from the rigorous cycling, abdominal crunches and weights. Before I left the gym, I bumped into Ray and told him how miserably awful it was , now that I had to do all these weights myself. Being the sweetie he is, he has promised to write it all down for me so that I’d have a guide or two the next time I try these exercises! Oh well, in retrospect, I’m proud of myself for having attempted the rather overwhelming and terrifying weights, in that horrifying weights-section, filled with those scary  men! Perhaps when I return to the gym on Wednesday, I’d be a lot more confident, with the li’l notes Ray’s goin’ to write for me. I was reading thru’ an article on New Year Resolutions and ways to cut down on the spending. One of it rang loud bells for me. It went along the lines of, ” you don’t need a personal trainer standing right next to you as you workout in the gym. once you learn the regime, you can very well do it yourself, as oppoesd to relying on a personal trainer, which costs a bomb”. OUCH.  So yeah, one of my New Year resolutions for this year , is to be consistent with workouts in the gym, and most importantly, to attempt these workouts by myself. Slowly but surely, eh? Tomorrow, it’s Poco-Poco dances after work. I’m sure I’ll have a new set of stories to share with you at the end of tomorrow. 

Once again, as all of you are probably preparing to go to bed shortly, do have a goodnight’s rest and have a pleasant week ahead.

I shall sign off for now, ‘coz my body’s so very fatigued and I could do with a good couple of hours of rest.

zzzzzzzz…….

Ah, it’s the first w’kend after the first working week! *Giggles*. I might’ve gotten a tad bit carried away with the FIRST week, FIRST w’kend concept

It passed by quite uneventfully. On Saturday mornin’, Robz and I went for our usual b’fast haunt ; a local Chinese coffee-shop, where we invariably have our favourite Yong Tau Foo! Did the monthly grocery shopping. I realized that I hadn’t indulged in some snacks in awhile, so picked a few favourite cookies and chocolates for the home! After an afternoon siesta, took a drive down to Amcorp Mall,PJ . Last w’kend, we were at the Curve, and we enjoyed ourselves doin’ some window shopping at a bazaar located just outside the Curve. They had some pretty fancy stuff e.g handbags with floral motifs, funky t-shirts.  We had some mouth-wateringly delicious food at Amcorp Mall , at a restaurant on the lower ground floor. Spicy prawns, ginger chicken, egg fu yong & a couple of spoons of rice ; mmmmmm. delicious indeed !

Today, spent the first half of the day at church, as usual. There’s a wedding comin’ up nxt w’kend, and I’ll be the organist. The rehearsal’s on Wednesday. After church, drove down to B’sar Shopping C’plex, the mall nearest to our home. Robz was still held up in church, looking into the Administrative isuses. My favourite shop in there is the TIMES Bookstore. Got myself two novels. (Harry Porter & the Half-blooded Prince and a Nora Roberts’ novel). I used to enjoy renting books from the Book Rental Centre in B’sar. However, lately I’ve been havin’ trouble finishing the books within the stipulated time and I usually end up forgettin’ to return it! So I figured I’d be better off starting a li’l collection of my own books in a bookshelf. Somethin’ I can pass down to my daughter years down the road. I’d like to think of it as a long-term investment, just as I do with my handbags, accessories and shoes! Goin’ by the evolution of fashion and trends, these items will probably be back in fashion years down the line anyway!  Whilst strolling around BSC, bumped into Robz ‘coz coincidentally, he was there to pick up my watch (which had gone dead after I ‘accidentally’ wore it whilst 6metres underwater, walkin’ on the sea-bed in Sabah!). We had a light lunch at Dome.  My all-time-favourite dish is their chicken pie !  Back at home now, and it’s almost 4pm. How did the entire w’kend fly past so quickly? Oh well … I’m all set for a fresh new week at work , anyway. Stayin’ at home for too long (over the Christmas holidays) can be a li’l nerve-wrecking ‘coz I begin gettin’ fidgetty and restless and usually end up takin’ a drive to the nearest mall and I’d eventually land in a lot of impulse purchases! *sigh*

This evening, we’ll visit my sis-in-law and family, just as we do every Sunday evening. Oh gosh, this blog’s so boring. I’m just tryin’ to  maintain a momentum here, and hopefully at some point of time, I’d actually find somethin’ interesting to blog ’bout, instead of doin’ a narration of my daily activities!

Till I blog again, have a lovely week ahead, friends! 

Greetings, folks! Firstly, Happy New Year! The first (working) week of the year has already passed by and it’s the w’kend now! Time’s flyin’ past so quickly already. I heard that Friendster had added some fancy stuff to their blogs and hence, I remembered that I ONCE had a blog in ‘ere. Upon checking the history, I discovered that I haven’t blogged since April 2008!!! Before giving my poor blog some breaths of life ,I figured it would be best to beautify it a li’l, so that it would be pleasing to the eyes of the reader! After having obsessively gone thru’ each theme, and each design, painstakingly trying it out on my blog, this is what I’ve come up with. I like the choice of colours as they’re very serene and calming to the eyes. Apart from that, it is my hope that the facelift to my blog would help inspire me to come up with some posts for this year! 

The second half of last year had been most stressful for me, particularly in my careet. To cut a long story short, I had obtained a seat at a university in Scotland to do my Masters in Occupational Medicine (which is what I desire to do!) and I was soooooooo close to going. Yet, the Ministry of Health in M’sia were concerned ’bout the syllabus taught there, and its relevance to our local setting. Their advice was for me to do it locally instead! At that moment, it was extremely devastating as I was in the midst of preparing for my visa, etc. Yet, months later, now that I’m out of that sad phase, I’m able to now look back and reflect upon the month’s events. If everything had worked out well, as I wanted it to, I would’ve left in September 2008 for a year. For starters, I wouldn’t have been able to help out in my dear cousin Jeyanthi’s wedding, for which I was the organist and also the emcee. Apart from that, there was also a rather major conference at work and I’m glad I didn’t miss it. Then, there was Christmas and New Year.

Essentially, this was the first Christmas and New Year for Robz and his siblings without both their parents as my father-in-law passed away in March 2008. If I had gone away to the UK to pursue my career, I wouldn’t have been there for Robz when he needed me most, particularly during the festive season. Late father-in-law literally ran the administration of the church and it is now that we realize how much Uncle had done for the church. At least, with me being around, I’ve been able to help Robz with all our church work activities. If I had gone away to the UK, I wouldn’t have been able to help out with the Christmas Carols 2008 at church! I had chosen a lovely material during Hari Raya sales at Kamdar and bought 60metres in  bulk . Back then, it was in the faith that we’d manage to gather 30 carollers. Previously, we’ve only had 20-24members. Months later, as the practices begun, we had exactly 30members and we stiched lovely outfits using that material. So many families were thrilled so see us in matching uniformed outfits ,singing Christmas Carols till the wee hours of the morning. This time, we moved around in a bus, so it was so much more fun travelling all over Klang Valley in a group. Then, there was Christmas service & New Year service. It is always a joy to attend midnight services, followed by a feast at church at 2.30am! We tried a different caterer out this time, thanks to a contact I obtained from my cousin Anne. The food was delicious and everyone loved it!

All in all, the whole of 2008 had been quite a whirlwind, yet when I sit back and ponder upon it, I realize that our desires of the heart are sometimes worlds apart from what God’s will is, in our lives.  Perhaps it’s God’s will that I stay right ‘ere, in my home sweet home and continue to progress not just in my career, but spritually, and with the family,too! I’ve applied to the local universities and keeping my fingers crossed, hoping that I’d get a seat this year! These days, with the advancement of technology, whenever it is the festive season, we rush to send friends and loved ones forwarded emails and msg-es wishing them. In the midst of all that sms-exchange hustle and bustle, one of my favourite texts comes from my beloved Daddy, and he said, ” Happy New Year to my beloved daughter Julie ….. May the year 2009 be the best year of your life” .

With that, here’s a toast to the year 2009 and may it, indeed, be the BEST year of all our lives. Happy New Year, friends!