The New Year with multiple twist to the plot

I got distracted that I forget to organise Run Of The Year. But I'll also like to say perhaps I have lesser possibility of getting anyone to run on new year, now that a lot of my friends have upgraded their status to mothers and fathers already. Can't just abandon the child and run with me right?

Run of The Year this year is just myself at Mac Res but I still kept the tradition alive. Lets hope next year I'll be more diligent in persuading others to join me. 

At noon, I met up with my girlfriend and 4 other brothers and sisters for lunch before we make our way to Sungai Buloh to enjoy the nature. Today is more than a nature walk outing. My buddy has plan to ask his gf to marry him. Needless to say, I was so excited. But we don't have a detailed plan, I was told that he will find an opportunity to propose at sungai buloh. 

The first 1 hour was fun! The 2nd hour was fill with anxiety. The 3rd hour was filled with impatient, bewilderment and anger. I am so anxious I felt my heart is jumping out of my chest. " is he ever going to propose?" By the 3rd hour, we've already almost tour the whole nature reserve and we're back at the entrance of Sungai Buloh. Finally my buddy suggested we rest at the visitor. I took that as a cue that he'll be popping the question. Nami and I were pacing around the place and finally decide to sit down. I am resolved, if it happen, it happens. 

Then came the twist, I tot at a glance, I saw my buddy and the rest walking toward my direction with a candle in his hand. "what's happening. Pls don't tell me they want to celebrate my spiritual birthday" and so they did. I was speechless. The level of surprise is 10/10. I tot this is not my day, it's suppose to be the proposal! Alamak, aiyo...I nearly got a heart attack and faint. 

The moment then came, he took out tbe sandwich and pass 1 to each couple. It took a couple of sec before my buddy's gf found the ring in the sandwich. He went on 1 knee and she said yes. And I let out a big sigh of relief. 

I just want to thank my gf for being with me on new year. It's a very special day for me as I turn 15 years as a disciple on new year's day. Can't imagine spending the day without her. 

Very grateful I can be involved and present at my buddy's proposal. I didn't know the plan was to celebrate my spiritual birthday as a decoy. On hind sight, I was touched that my buddy still take time to celebrate my spiritual birthday despite him having a mission on his own!

Besides the great nature, now I love sungai buloh even more with all these unforgettable memory. 

Above all, thank God for everything. 

New Year 2013

I usually don't like to be with big crowd, depending on the occasion and who I am with. This year, I went to church for the year end count down with my girlfiriend Nami. It's special because it's our first time spending New year together.

I think coming together for new year celebration is not about how entertaining the performance. As a disciple, I don't believe in getting myself drunk silly. Together as a church we have clean fun and entertainment. It's also about creating shared memories together. Like what my friend said, it's great to start of the new year greeting your close friend and wishing everyone well.

Also special mention about the band who put in so much effort. They perform a range of songs from the different time to suit to the different age gap. I especially like Gigi performing I will survive. She's a star! I grab Nami's hands and we went near to the stage to enjoy the song. It was a great experience.

I think prayer prior to new year is also a great tradition and we should do it new year.

11km 01/01/11 Run of the Year

 
My beloved running mates. This is our yearly traditional run. Start of the year on a healthy note.

11km 01/01/11 Run of the Year, originally uploaded by Jerry Tok.

Lunisolar New Year.

Call it Chinese New Year, Lunar New Year or Spring Festival. It's referring to the same day as this day is celebrated by so many culture. To call it Chinese is a little too specific. I prefer to call it the Lunisolar New Year, because really, the calendar is based on the moon phase and solar years. Here's my 9 days of long celebration.

Saturday

Doing my annual Spring cleaning. Funny how we call it Spring cleaning when there's really no Spring in Singapore at all. It's therapeutic to throw a lot of old and useless stuff. As I go thru my stuff, I wonder what prompted me to keep these stuff in the past. The only thing that I would keep is personal cards written to me. Hopefully they'll be with me till the day I die. Then my children and grandchildren can have a glimpse of who I was when I am younger. I think I need a bigger box. The current one is almost overflowing with cards.

Reunion Dinner

This year, it's me and Mom and Dad. All my sisters are married (Jasmine being the most recent) and have their own reunion dinner with their husband's family. I am not so good at creating atmosphere over the table. At times like this, I wish my sisters are around to make noise around the table. Maybe next year I can organise a steamboat dinner and invite my sisters and brother-in-law back to have a noisy dinner together.

Late nite communion at Eric's

Since the 1st day of CNY is on a Sunday, church has decided to conduct services in the homes, and the time and day to be determine by the groups themselves. We took communion after a sharing from Eric.

1 day of New Year

Lots of house visiting with my relatives.

Dinner at the Loo's

2 day of New Year

More house visiting.

I decided to open up my house and invited friends over for steamboat dinner. Steamboat dinner was quite a success because we manage to finish up all the food.

After dinner, the house was reconfigure for Mahjong and other games. I was playing BANG! At about 12 midnight, some of them decided to leave. There were 5 brothers who stayed. And we played BANG!! till 330am.

3rd day of New Year.

Slept in till 12pm. Today is gathering at my sisters place. THis year, the centre of attraction is Charmaine and Louis newborn baby girl Zhuo Xun. Sharon is in Melaka celebrating her own birthday with her family, so she miss out this year's sibling gather. After Charmaine and Louis, we hopped over to Jocelyn and Kim place where the mahjong game starts. I took over Kim for a few games. Luck was coming my way, I won Wu Tai Zi Mo (max win). That was exciting.

Secondary School Classmate gathering.

Yishun initiated a gathering this year. Since she is a mother of 1 girl and due for delivery in a few month, I suggest to gather at her place. I was a small gathering but it was good. I haven't seen some of them for a decade. I had a great time reconnecting with my good old pal especially Guohui and Fucai. He didn't change a bit!! Scary isn't it, come to think of it. Well, he made the same comment about me too. But I don't think that is totally true. I know I look alot more mature now.

4th Day of New Year

Today is Daddy's day. I spend the morning checking out the newly open Dairy Farm Nature Reserve with dad. It is connected to the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. That's my favourite way to get time with dad.

Dad grew up in a Kampong so he is very familiar with flora. He can recognise a lot of them. If you walk along parts of the nature reserve especially on the cycling trails leading to the rock climbing cliff, most of the flora you see are "kampong" vegetation. Dad said most of these are planted by previous residence. Meaning to say that the trails were previously part of a Kampong.

I think I can recognise tapioca and rubber tree. I also know how to spot the leaves use from wrapping rice dumpling.

On the ride home, we were talking about the concept of currency exchange. I remember when I first learn about the difference in currency, I was quite clueless. Why is it that my 1 SGD when use in China becomes 5Yuan. One more amazing fact I learn from dad about Sing Dollar and Malaysia Ringgit. Do you know that as late at 1986, the exchange rate from SGD to RM is 1 for 1? I thought there was a disparity soon after Singapore gain independence and produce her own currency.That was only 24 years ago. Imagine someone who parked 100,000 SGD in Malaysia can now withdrawn 240,000RM. Check that out.

Another trivial here. Sing Dollar and Brunei Dollar is interchangeable.

Fifth Day of New Year

Slept in again. Then went to pick up bus ticket from Transnasional offiice on Lavender St. Spent a lot of time packing my stuff. Later on, met up with Zach and Victor to depart for our trekking trip to Berkelah Waterfall.

Turning 31 with joy!!!

Writing is therapeutic for me. And at this point of time, I’m in the mood for writing.

Yes, I am turning 31 years old!! That is incredible. I am grateful for my life, the family I was born in, the people who loved me and the people I loved, I am grateful for most of my life experiences. The uncertainty of life has it’s positive side and I kind of like it most of that time too. I mean I don’t know which airline am I going to work for and when am I going to get a job after I graduate. I don’t know if I will stay single my whole life, if not when will I get married and to whom, and will I have children, which part of the world will I be living in? A part of me like to be able to know the future, a part of me likes the suspense of not knowing what God has in store for me in the future.

So much for uncertainties, is there anything in life that I can be certain of, like solid rock certainty? Yes, I can be certain that there is a God. He is the same millennium ago and will be the same millennium later. He will be faithful at all times, regardless if I am faithful or not. I can be certain that ALL things will pass away, even the things I treasure so dearly like my family and my best friends, the place I love like the Himalayas mountain, my favourite food.

What is a resolution? And why do we need to make them? And why at this time of the year? I believe in making changes, being better, wiser, more loving and etc. And so my argument is that you can make decision to change or to make resolution (which ever you like to call it) whenever the need or situation arises. It doesn’t have to be the beginning of the year.

What is important to me? I need to know that am I a good son to my parents, a good brother to my sisters, a good uncle to my niece and nephew (Now there’s 4 of them), a good friend to my friends, and above all else, a son pleasing in the eyes of God.

Having said that, there is so much I can do this year, I shall not list them here.

What do I look forward to in 2010? Certainly, I dream of graduating!!!

Reflection on Chinese New Year

Everyone seeks to find an identity of their own. Today I want to share about my identity as a Singapore Chinese simply because I just had a great CNY celebration. A festival that amplifies and shouts loudly that I am a Chinese and a Singapore one.

For the record, I've celebrated CNY 28times. Do the math and you'll realise it doesn't tally with my age! Yes, I missed 2 years of CNY celebration in 2007 and 2008. I think it's good that I missed those 2 years. Because of that, I find that this years celebration was especially sweet.

My family CNY traditions are these-
1) We overhaul the house AKA Spring Cleaning. This year as I was in Melaka most of the time, I only clean my room. Mom and Jasmine did the rest of the cleaning

2) New year new cloths. Yes, wearing new cloths is a must, undergarment included.
Side track a little, Fang and Dionne accompany me to buy a pair of pants. Under their persuasion, I bought a pants which is slightly tight. Thinking that I have a month to lose weight. Lo and behold, to my disappointment, it was still as tight as ever. I still wear them anyway. Thruout, the day I didn't feast on the snack as there were no more room for expansion.

3) Reunion dinner. New tradition this year. Traditionally, reunion dinner will be held at home with all my married sister and their respective husband and children. This year, reunion dinner was me and my younger sister Jasmine, and mom and dad. All my married sisters have reunion dinner with their own family. Instead of having it at home, Jasmine found a restaurant at Suntec City. The food selection was not bad. After reunion dinner, I brought my family to Marina Barrage. We love the city view from the barrage. Dad shared stories on how he witness Singapore transforming from a Kampong to a world class city. All in all, it was quality family time. I really cherish the time we spent together as a family.

4) Ang Bao. (Red packet). In singapore, Children and the singles received Ang Bao from the married. From my family alone, I've already receive 4 (Parents and 3 married sisters). As I get older, I felt less and less excited about receiving them, it just reminds me how single I am.

5) House visiting and games. Besides visiting my uncles and aunties and meeting all my relatives, I also visit friends and they came over to my parent's house too. New game introduce this year is BANG!!! It's a hit among my sisters, brother-in-law and my bible talk. Thanks to the disciples from Vancouver church who introduce this game to me. I miss them actually.

Sidetrack again. For the first time in my life, I visited Fang at her place. Together and Dionne and JT, we gatecrash her house. Using JT as a decoy, I told Fang that we will gatecrash JT's house at 8pm, however by 7pm, JT, Dionne and I were already at her void deck. I call Fang to tell her I need to use her toilet. It didn't take long for her to unveil the decoy.

I wish to write more but I have to go. Talk to you later....

10 years old

It's been so busy lately, I hardly had time to prepare myself for the new year. Traditionally, I like to take time out to reflect on my life, count my blessing, remember people, evaluate on mistake and lessons learned. I also think about how I would move forward in the new year, make resolution, set goals and etc.

Today, I turned 10 years old as a disciple of Christ. How can I let his significant day just pass like that? Firstly, I started my day by waking up early for the Run of the Year, together with most of my running kakis. While Dionne, Fang, Anna, Siew Lay and George did the regular 11km round MacRitchie Reservior, Jason and I did a run from Bukit Timah back to MacRitchie. We left our belongings in Dionne's car. After the run, Jason and I went for the 1st Prayer of the Year. We then took the 1st shower of the Year, follow by the 1st lunch of the year at Upp Thomson on so on and so forth.

I want to spend some time with God and so I drove to the Sembawang Beach by myself. 10 years... I thought of a few question. Have I change for the better in my character. Am I more spiritual (Loving, patient, righteous, obedience). Have a been a good son to my parents, a good brother to my sibling and to the disciple. One thought stands out from the rest- Are you proud of me, my Father? I think this is the most important question for me. Silly me wants to hear from God himself that He is proud of me but I know it is not possible. Sometimes I really wish I could have a face to face conversation with God just like Adam and Moses. I thought of my best friend Raymond. Is God proud of him. Yes without a doubt. Why? Is it because Raymond has a stable career, a great marriage, a loving wife and Russell, his incredibly cute newborn son? I think God is proud of Raymond for the above mentioned but more than that, God is proud simply because Raymond is his son. I find comfort in realising that God also love me simply because I am his son.

大年初一 First day of Chinese New Year

After observing the tradition all my life, I woke up this morning wanting to change into new clothes. It's new year- new shoes, new pants, new shirt and new underwear. I was brushing my teeth and realize that I didn't buy any new year cloths this year. Also, there is no one here to visit and 拜年．Reality sets in. I am not in Singapore and Chilliwack is a 'white' town. It'll be surprising if anyone know it's Chinese New Year.

But I did receive 1 Ang bao this year. My worst record was 2007 when I was in Korea. Zero Angbao. This year 1, still better than yesteryear. My classmates and I went to 2nd floor (where my boss stay) to 拜年． He was expecting us and we receive our first and last Ang bao for the Rat year.

The rest of the day are uneventful, went for class from 6pm to 9pm. No Bak Kua. No new year goodies. But also no one to ask me the same new year question "when you getting married huh". So good luck for the singles out there. For those married without kids "when you going to have baby huh?" And the married with kids "when you going to have more kids huh?'

新年快乐 Happy New Year

發啊! 大家發啊!!

Chinese New Year AKA Lunar New Year or Spring Festival is celebrated by Chinese all over the world. Koreans called it Sollal. I just learn from my Bhutanese friend that they celebrate lunar new year too. Others culture include Vietnamese, Nepalese, Mongolian and formerly Japanese.

I wish everyone

恭喜發財
歲歲平安
年年有餘

And prosperity in every area of your life, especially your waistline!!

Oh, almost forget. I accept e-Angbao (e-红包), you can transfer to my UOB account.

康定 Kang Ding

What a special way to spend my new year eve. I'm sharing room with my tour guide Mr Guo. I miss home. I miss being part of the party in Singapore. Jonathan and I have this custom on Xmas and New year eve- I'll stay over at his place to play Risk or some other boardgame till the next morning. To a certain extend, I wish I was missed in Singapore... Jonathan is such a great brother to me. On the day I depart (it's a Monday morning), he took time off from work to sent me off.

So back to the important question. Have I spent time evaluating my life in 2006? How about 2007? What will be my direction and goals? Most people know me as someone who have a direction in my life. I think I know what I want too. In the process, I lean on God's guidance. I really hope that I'll get into OBS as an instructor. Even for a short 3 years career, I believe I can benefit alot for the training and experience. I believe that thru that, it'll help me to be a better and more mature adventurer. (God help me to love my job too!).

In short, this is my direction in 2007.
1. Career in OBS
2. Find a girlfriend
3. Help my mom to be Christian
4. Love God more daily 每天爱神多一些