Globe-trotting Plans

OK, I have decided to suspend my looking backwards and decided to look forwards. As of now, 2009 looks set to be a year of much travelling! I can't believe how much of travelling I'm going to be doing! Here are my travel plans for next year -

• Feb 2009 - I'm going to Melbourne to settle R in and then to Sydney to attend D's niece's wedding. Yay!
• May 2009 - D and I are going to the US to attend J's graduation. Another Yay! I am also planning to visit my niece in Florida and my brother in Wisconsin. Also hoping to see New York and Washington.
• June 2009 - weekend trip to Bangkok to use up my credit card rewards before they expire in Aug!
• July 2009 - 2 weeks in London to celebrate my sister Su's 60th birthday + my niece Vid is getting married! I get to see Maya and Rohan again too!
• Aug 2009 - a short trip to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat if J's friend is visiting :)
• Sept 2009 - Hong Kong during the Hari Raya weekend with my BOWALA gang to visit our dear Carol with the express purpose of crashing at her pad to drive her nuts :)
• Oct 2009 - to KL for Vid's Indian wedding ceremony.
• Nov 2009 - my long awaited, much hoped for tour of Israel. My friend Dot and I have put our names on the tour list and we are waiting for the pastor organising it to confirm the tour.

So there you go, my long list of to-dos in 2009. I'm so excited just thinking about these plans. The BIG question is, where oh where am I going to find the money???? Anyone interested in contributing to the kitty??? :)

A Mood Piece

Is it just me or do other people get melancholic towards the end of a year too? Well, melancholic, reflective, you know the kind of feeling that leaves you feeling a little sad, but not weepy or bawl-your-eyes out kind of sad. I have had my mid-life crisis so I know it's not that :) But the weather also turns wet and grey at this time of the year and then I begin to mentally tote up the year into my pluses and my minuses and me being me of course my minuses seem to outweigh my pluses... It's at times like this that I wish God would give me a peek into the next year :) But even as I write this I am reminded of someone who told me a few months ago that she did not think there was anything for her to look forward to. She only saw for herself an escalation of problems with little end in sight. I felt sad then and I feel sad now thinking of what she said. But melancholic though I am now I have a quiet peace inside me that my tomorrows are in God's hands. I may chafe now, I am restless, wanting I know not what. But I also know that despite all the ways I have messed up my life, despite all the wrong choices I have made and all the times I have failed to live up to His expecatations, God has forgiven me, God loves me and even if every friend I depend on leaves me, He will not let me go.

Older and Rounder...

Well, the birthday did seem a little tame at first after all the excitement of last year.... But I definitely ate more this birthday than last, thanks to all those who took me out for birthday meals. And it seemed like I was celebrating my birthday over a few days as the celebrations started on the Wed before my birthday and ended on the Tues after my birthday! Here is a pictorial journey through all the meals eaten and cake indulged in....

The first was dinner with my young adults cell group from church on Wednesday, 2 days before my birthday. We went to Crystal Jade in Holland Village to eat hand-made noodles and the first of many cakes. It was a lovely chocolate cake.

And then on Thurs I had a lovely surprise - these lovely roses J and R sent me.... thank you darlings. :) Did you know they are my favourite flowers?

Then on my birthday, WY sent me this indulgent picnic hamper and flowers. I especially liked getting a delivery at the office.... of course everyone just assumed it was D who sent it. Hahaha.

Dot, Flo and Angie took me out to lunch at Rocky Master, and drat I forgot to take a photo. Chocolate cake again :) In the evening, it was dinner with Durai at Amici in Holland Village. His sister and bro-in-law joined us for dinner - Italian food with yummy tiramisu for dessert.

The next day, Saturday, it was a Mexican lunch at Cha Cha Cha with Sham and Mini, with a sinful Kahlua chocolate mousse for dessert.... mmmm...



In the evening, we went over to D's sister's place for dinner and the in-laws had a cake for me too... more chocolate. Sadly, sadly, by this time I was really beginning to have enough of chocolate. I really MUST be getting old :)

Sunday was a quiet day and on Monday we had a birthday celebration at the office after all the PW people came back from their external work. Tiramisu!!!

In the evening, it was dinner at Swenson's with friends who have to remain mysteriously anonymous as it is crucial that their identity be protected :) No cake this time but ice-cream!!!

And then stuffed with all that food and cake, the festivities finally came to an end on Tuesday with Thai food with Johnson and Yvonne!



Looking at all these photos I swear I can just see myself growing fatter and fatter from the pic taken on my birthday to the pic at Thai Express!!! Yikes!!! Time to hit the gym and that 4-letter word!!!!

A Song

Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday to meeeee
Happy birthday to me! :)

How is My Hand?

Attended a talk on 'Ecclesiastes' on Sunday and the speaker gave an illustration that made me think. He said we need to go through life with open palms and not clenched fists. We usually think of clenched fists as being stronger, because you think of boxing, the force of hitting something with a clenched fist. An open palm, on the other hand, is a sign of surrender and weakness. But, he went on to say, it is the open palm that is stronger - for you cannot carry anything with clenched fists. It is open palms that can carry, lift a heavy box, for example.

To me, a clenched fist also suggests closed-ness, a refusal to admit vulnerability, hoarding, a refusal to let go. Made me think - what hands do I have? Am I going through life with clenched fists? Refusing to let go, hoarding, refusing to be vulnerable? Or do I have open palms? Have I given, have I admitted my weaknesses, have I surrendered? I don't know.