2 Bible Readings I Chose for My Wedding.

Philippians Chapter 4

Always be joyful, then, in the Lord; I repeat, be joyful.

Let your good sense be obvious to everybody. The Lord is near.

Never worry about anything; but tell God all your desires of every kind in prayer and petition shot through with gratitude, and the peace of God which is beyond our understanding will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, let your minds be filled with everything that is true, everything that is honourable, everything that is upright and pure, everything that we love and admire -- with whatever is good and praiseworthy.

Keep doing everything you learnt from me and were told by me and have heard or seen me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

Matthew Chapter 5 

You are salt for the earth. But if salt loses its taste, what can make it salty again? It is good for nothing, and can only be thrown out to be trampled under people's feet.

'You are light for the world. A city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden.

No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house.

In the same way your light must shine in people's sight, so that, seeing your good works, they may give praise to your Father in heaven.

Asking better questions...

A skill I thought of getting better at.
Huffington Post shares interesting articles I read. Today's one was about asking better questions in a relationship.

When did you feel loved today?

When did you feel lonely?

What did I do today that made you feel appreciated?

What did I say that made you feel unnoticed?

What can I do to help you right now?

Prolly make that one of my New Year resolution?

23th December 2013 <3

I get to choose my husband.

For that, I am grateful.

The voices inside my head are killing me.

Since I started this blog, I tried to keep things in this blog positive, uplifting, peaceful, just general good vibe.
But right now, I want to remind myself, that even when I believe I am exactly where I need to be right now, the 'right now' can still suck. A lot.
It is paralysing.

The voices inside my head are of no help at all.
Not to mention my head is throbbing, this headache of unknown origin is happening.

The voices are telling me-
you can't do anything right.
not even planning something that is supposedly so joyous, so wonderful...
supposedly what everyone seem to make a big deal...
... you can still make it so full of tears
- of loneliness
- of helplessness
- of guilt
- of pain
- of frustration
- of fear
... how is it possible?
I thought the despair and agony was supposed to be over and that nothing can be as bad again.
The emotional roller coaster this year has been challenging.
Right now I feel paralysed. Also I don't know what I can do... the thing is, if it is so bad, what can you possibly do to make it any worse, oh but the fear... the fear of possibly making it worse, is paralysing.
Tomorrow will be a better day, and things that are supposed to happen, will happen.
Breathe.

Beauty of life.

1. Prayers for JL. Hearing of her emergency was a heartbreak. Thinking of her heaps. However serious, i'm sure she will pull through. And everything will be ok in the end.

2. What a work day. Hope Aki can recover. Need to learn BAL, and make sure she makes appt tmr. No dramas and relatively eventful day. Tasks completed well. Some tasks to improve on.

3. Time with HM. Dinner. Yum. Sushi. Hehe. Shopping for new flat - fridge and washing machine, wardrobes - check. Alrdy have sofa and mattress. Woohoo.

4. Joyce doing well in Canada. Woot. Annejo recovering in NZ. Brother watching out for property. Everyone progressing along.

5. Drafted email yesterday evening. Edited last night. Waited for one sleep to reply Ma. Hope that's constructive rather than damaging.

Quite overwhelmed!

*** 6. Working on guestlist! WOA!!!

Sex, marriage, and fairytales

I did fine this a wow vid.

What forgiveness isn't...

Interesting things I learn... Just thought I shall note it down somewhere to remind me later on, somewhere down the line I may need these wisdom.

What Forgiveness Isn't...

Forgiveness isn’t an instant cure.

While forgiveness will remove the barrier that hurt or betrayal has created, there are misconceptions about the feelings and results that come after the decision to forgive.

First, forgiveness does not destroy our memory. We’ve heard the phrase “forgive and forget,” but most of the time, that’s just not humanly possible. The human brain records every experience, good and bad. A memory of the event simply means that you are human and remembering a painful experience.

Second, forgiveness does not remove the consequences of the wrong behavior. All of our behavior has consequences, and forgiveness does not change that.

Third, forgiveness does not rebuild trust. When trust is destroyed in a relationship, it can only be rebuilt by a change in behavior over a period of time.

Fourth, forgiveness does not always result in reconciliation. While the possibility of reconciliation is fostered by forgiveness, reconciling a relationship requires time, conflict resolution, and teamwork.

Forgiveness may not be an easy fix for a relationship, but it is certainly the first step to healing.

A touching video.

love :: mojo

love is a decision.

北海道雪洞洞 Hokkaido Kamakura Dining

relationship

- there is no relationship if there is no trust and respect

曬命事件簿 ... n-th post~

Two wonderful days off...

Thurs:-
lunch with HM's grandma and rellies
swimming at kln park
hairdo - had company and even played a couple of games of carcasonne :P what luxury!
dinner at home, with two men i love.

Fri:-
gaming morning (hm played dota, i played d3.)
lunch - japanese at cwb
hm accompanied me to shop - eyeliner for ma, my swimsuit, socks... visited sogo + bookshop, uniqlo, muji...
afternoon tea - @capstone in cwb played zooloretto, HF joined too~
dinner at lee theatre - tasty vegetarian healthy food.
theatre night - red. mark rothko
bus home...

really two perfect days off.

HM

@HLY gang dinner

Je t'adore.

曬命事件簿 II

<3 HM did a surprise visit to maritime square. had dinner together.

Japan 2012: Nagoya + Shirakwa-go + Takayama

A wonderful trip with my dearest Ho Mei, and his bandmates, beautiful Iris, and very cool Kwong.

Thank you to Kwong who helped booked the flight and hotel, and information on the minshuku (民宿) and coach bus to Shirakawa (白川鄉).

Day 1: HKG-NGO, Fushimi, Sakae, Nagoya, CoCo Ichibanya

Flight HKG-NGO, dep 1020 31/3.

 

Arrived Nagoya without dramas, quick plane ride and a movie and we arrived. Took the train on the Meitetsu Line 名古屋鉄道 to Nagoya city. Got to Hotel Wing. Cozy, clean, small room, with easy access from Marunouchi station (丸の内). 

  

We arranged to meet up with Iris and Kwong in the evening, had a bit of time before redezvous, roamed around a little bit~ 

NB: Canon did not pay me. (they should)

The many sides to my dearest... 

Silly+cute:

 

  Cool dude.

 

 Walked towards Sakae, and came across a cute mailbox...

 Sakae Sunshine

Marunouchi station (丸の内), whilst waiting for the cute couple. L: ticket and fare adjustment machine, with Japanese man looking like he's doing a no. 1. R: cute courtesy umbrella stand. 

 We proceeded to getting the tickets to Shirakawa (白川鄉) at the Nagoya Bus Center. After that we were hungry! Had dinner at CoCo Ichibanya Curry House. It was YUM!

Day 2: Cafe de Crie, Nagoya Castle, Higashiyama Park, Onmyo-za

Breakfast at Cafe de Crie, simple tasty breakfast. Little versions of everything with plenty of packaging, even had little pot of lemon juice in case you want to make the tea into lemon tea...

 Lovin' my "deer-in-headlight" look!

All posters/ads/notices are quite cartoony. This is one of them we passed by on the way back to the rendezvous with Iris and Kwong.

 Nagoya Subway Map. (I did a similar photo at BCN, no funny facial expression though!)

Meijo Park, Nagoya Castle.

Plum blossoms. We were a little too early for cherry blossoms. Still, loved it.

 Street performer, doing tricks with diabolo, and solving rubick's cube behind his back in 2 mins... very entertaining and impressive! :D

Inside the keep, Honmaru Palace:

Other happy snappy's around Meijo Park...

 I particularly found this flower interesting...

Zodiac pix.

 Ad for peach-flavoured canned drink? :P

Nomnom... ^^

Snacky after morning stroll~

View along walk back to subway station - City hall

 Interesting subway station design~

 Sakae station - underground shopping malls.

Yummy lunch! Huge pieces of fish, proportionally less rice compared to sushi train in HK. R: menu - these sushi has functions, beautify skin, relieve stress... etc...!

Top train: foods; bottom train: tea cups and soy sauce dishes; table: aftermath.

Next stop: Higashiyama Zoological and Botanical Gardens

Absolutely beautiful flowers at the greenhouse~

Yummy Sakura-flavoured ice-cream! :D

Subway towards 中京大学文化市民会館 for Onmyoza concert. Females only car - to avoid 痴漢

 Onmyoza concert. Absolutely awesome.

Day 3: Shirakawa

Bus departs at 9am, so it was an early morning... HM getting brekkie for us... ^^

 Meitetsu bus center.

 Coach rest stop.

 Shirakawa!!! Absolutely beautiful scenery, gorgeous weather.

My v. cool bf.

Lunch~ Yum!

Sightseeing around Shirakawa: (fr top left clockwise: before+after renewing the roof of these 合掌屋,  cute cookies, "you and those figurines look alike", 坑渠蓋)

 

[hm's pic]

Back at our minshuku...

 

Dinner after going to the nearby bath house~ 

 Oishi-desu!

 - the evening ended early, but it was a quality evening <3

Day 4: Takayama (day) + Nagoya (night)

Breakfast at minshuku, so delicious!

Very helpful lady at the information centre helped us cancel our ticket to Nagoya from Shirakawa, so we could spend a few hours at Takayama because there's actually not too much to do at Shirakawa, and it was pouring down that day!

 

Takayama. Lockers for my luggage (note to self: please pack lighter next time, Japan is very civilised, no hot water bottle necessary).

 Lunch. Yummy local place. Plenty of different locals having lunch off work.

BUNNY SHOP!!! Very excited Karen around this shop. It's absolutely awesome. Didn't end up getting anything because it was difficult to choose! Went back twice to admire the cuteness though. :)

My uber cute bf. Raar~

Dango~ nom nom

HM @ turtle house.

Around Takayama...

 Hida~! Takayama~!

The rainbow after the rain, on the way back to Nagoya.
"If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain."

 The original tickets were cancelled and the helpful lady at Shirakawa information centre arranged for us to get our refunds back. YAY, got budget for ____ (pick one: food, souvenir, ... JAZZ at livehouse...)

 the B Nagoya - nice lobby ^^

 As it turns out, HM found out that there's a livehouse near by, asked if I would like to go for jazz. "Sure!" was my answer... and off we went.

 

It was HM's second time there... my first time. The food was much better than I thought. (we knew that they served pizza and pasta...) The place was cozy but professional (imo).

The music was FUN! Particularly love the pianist, vocalist, and the drummer.

 After set 1 HM had a chat with the pianist and I asked the vocalist for an autograph (I had a marker with me!). They found out we were visiting from HK... and they were such fun musicians, and asked HM to play the drums after their second set. IMO he should've (he's awesome drummer imo) but I guess perhaps next time...! 

A photo with the musicians (minus the bass).

HM got a CD from the drummer, it's a NEWLY released jazz cd that the drummer and his brother recorded with other musicians. Naturally we asked for his autograph too, and had a look, it was Ghibli jazz! Calculated probability.
Photo of a happy chappy HM. :D

Day 5: Last day in Nagoya

Breakfast at IRIS conference room. (This trip: Hotel Wing, Iris conference room. Destined to be Zodiac related...)

 the B, street view.

 

So, story goes, jazz ended up pretty pricy, and we ended up spending the refund we got from the bus at Doxy, (granted, it was well worth it!!) The morning we had to hang around Sakae because we pretty much juz had enough for the train ride to the airport! We went to Nagoya Park, which isn't really a park but a shopping mall. We indulged ourselves with the Japanese products, and concluded they are SERIOUS about EVERYTHING, nothing is JUST an anything. There isn't just a lunchbox, just a cushion, just a cleaning product...

 Street view, beautiful weather.

 Coffee back at the B to collect our luggages... free coffee...! HAHA!

 Scenery along the way to the airport... such beautiful weather... sad to go!

 

 Centrair. Doesn't this airport resembles HKIA?! Well they must've copied us because ours were built first! Also very cute Japanese mascots for the airport. I particularly like the clouds - there's a normal cloud and a storm cloud!

 

 Sky deck, solar panels.

 Nagoya from the air...

What an amazing experience for my first time on Honshu! Music and food were the highlights of the trip, and the sweetest photo taken (yet)!

I am the luckiest girl in the world with the bestest bf!