The Last Lecture - Prof. Randy Pausch

"Your last lecture" if you are a lecturer and were given a final chance to deliver just one last lecture, what will you share and tell your students? I remembered hubby once downloaded this video and asked me to listen to it but I was not able to do it then, this morning I stumbled upon it while doing my daily devotion over the internet. I downloaded it and thought that anyone out there may learn something out of Prof. Randy Pausch's final lecture. You will hear that in one of his final comments, he stated that he believe in Karma, as a Christian I do not believe in Karma but I do believe that we will sow whatever we reap according to Galatians 6:7-8

Some notes that I personally jotted down:
When you do something wrong and if there's someone to tell you off or criticize you, it means they haven't given up hope on you..

What are the dreams you have? Walls are there to see if you really want that dream bad enough to achieve them..

When you want to pass the baton, pass to someone better than you

The best thing a teacher can do is to get your students to be self-reflective

To achieve your dreams or to become the person you are capable of being rest in the people around you, your parents, mentors, friends, colleagues, students...

Final note that stick into my mind - Do not focus on yourself but on others... Philippians 2:3-4

Most of his notes I can relate to dedicated bible verses.. may you be encouraged.

Cameron Home Stay at Ah Mah's Place

Here is the long overdue posting of our recent trip to Cameron Highlands. The trip was our 3rd one, first one when Michelle was about 9 months old, second trip was when Michelle was 4 years old and Emily was 2 and now our third trip, the girls are 8 and 6 now, so I guessed when Michelle is 12 we'll make another trip (we even can called that Camerolympic, a four yearly affair).

What's so special about this trip is the place that we put in. We went with 2 other families and some church youths (they were there for a camp and we thought of taggling along). Normally we would booked the hotel/apartment ourselves but this time round we passed the baton to a friend, little did we know the surprise that we were going to get.

All that we know is we are going to stay real near to Brinchang town where it is real convenient, to the night market, places of attraction, a lot of convenient stores etc.. So after our afternoon tea, we went straight to check in with hubby's car leading the way, hubby mentioned the place is called Holiday apartment. So we turned in Brinchang town and all of us busy looking for the signage to our apartment, this is what we saw!!


We could not believe our eyes and hope to spot another signage with the word "Holiday apartment", but there was none. OK, now that we have arrived, hubby suggested that we went down and investigate, we don't even bother to take our luggage because deep inside us we do not want to accept the reality that this is where we are going to spend the night in.

Hubby found a place to park, the men went down to check while we wives were still in a daze and try to talk ourselves out of the situation. OK, hubby went in, showed the fax to one lady, the lady who look like a typical "pau chou poh - rent lady" got the key, opened the grill door and lead hubby up. We waited anxiously for hubby to report the situation, hubby said "Yes, this is the place, OKlar not that bad... we can take our luggage down already". In me I was like thinking....oh boy, aren't this going to be interesting, my other friend still couldn't accept the fact but the children were like so looking forward to it.

We climb the stairs, a living hall awaits us, pity we didn't take any pictures but I'll try to picture the place to you as vividly as I could. In the living room there is a set of rattan sofa, a small TV with lots of notices pasted on the wall, one of the notice reminded us, the tenants to keep quiet after 12.00 midnight (can you believe it??) Next the rooms, wooden beds with cartoon bedsheets (the girls just love them), the dressing table is older than my late grandma's. Okay the best part are the switches, they are those way back black round bulky type mounted onto a wooden plank. Can you imagine the place?? Wonderful isn't it?

Well after coming to our senses, we might as well make the best out of the situation right, forget about self pity, we were trying hard to figure some of the good points, well the place is pretty clean, the heater works, the toilets are clean too, the bedsheets look new, it's a walking distance to convenience and best of all the kids love the place.

Well, slowly but painfully we learned to accept the reality and it was not that bad after all, we enjoyed the fellowship and time spent together in "ah mah's place". We actually experienced a truly authentic home stay.

Emily, the super CARE BEAR

Last weekend we made a stop at Kampar on our way down from Cameron Highlands (will blog about it later), so we stopped by at one of the coffee shop for our favourite “loh she fun”. Seated near to our table, there was this old lady (probably in her 70s) sitting alone, she looks healthy and bubbly except that I think she had difficulty moving around as I can see her leg looks a bit swollen. My assumption was she must be a relative of one of the food vendors in the coffee shop. Well, little Emily also was aware of her presence, in fact during the whole meal she kept on observing her and asking me questions like “who is the lady, why is she sitting there, where does she stay”. I answered her questions to my best ability/assumption made about her.

After our meal, we made our move and as I was holding Emily and walking towards our car, Emily raised some questions again, this time she asked “Why the lady is still there, where do you think she’s staying?” and I could see her eyes were red and she was real concerned on the welfare of the old lady. Immediately I could sensed that Emily in her very caring nature was worried about the lady, I assured her that she will be fine and there is somebody who will look after her, she doesn’t look like she’s being abandoned or homeless (Well, I hope I’m right). By now her tears began to drop and I continue with my words of assurance.

By then Michelle and daddy caught up with us (they stopped to buy some snacks) and asked why Emily is crying, I explained to them and they were quite surprised but not me, somehow I could sensed that Emily really was showing her genuine concern for this stranger, called her emotional if you want to but she’s really a care giver, something unique that God blesses her with.

Well lil Emily… mummy prays that God will use you in His own ways to touch and care for others. You are a very caring girl.

Skype with the girls..

I cannot imagine that I'm able to do this with my daughters, with the spread use of internet. You see they have been playing guided and screened computer games online for half an hour daily since last week. They call up to ask for permission everytime they wanted to do so. I took the opportunity to check on them, below is our conversation:



What's next, we will be friends on Facebook :)

Michelle is 8! Time for her first cinema show!

Michelle's birthday falls on the 11th June 2002, last Friday marked her 8th year in our beloved family. To celebrate my "1st painful delivery experience" and "her joyous entrance into our family" I took a day off from work and we planned for something simple and fun for the girls, I could not possible left Emily out in the celebration as she is very much a part of this triangular love affair, daddy left us alone for some girls time.

I bought tickets for "Shrek Forever After" a couple of days back and it was their first cinema show. To ensure that all of us really get to enjoy the show, I logged into the internet, browsed the preview and sypnosis of the show, briefed the girls, gave them first hand information on what to expect, went through the list of dos and dont's in the cinema etc..... You see this mommy is really paranoid.


Below was an abstract of our conversation (after we were seated in our seats, we were the 2nd group to arrive).

Michelle: Wah... the TV is so big
Emily: Wah...very fun lor
Me: No need to whisper yet, the show haven't start, can talk as usual
Michelle & Emily: Oh OK
Emily: When is it going to start?
Michelle: Will there be a sudden loud noise when it starts?
Me: I'll tell you, don't worry (in mind I was like thinking - two "san pah poh" - katak di bawah tempurung leaving their village for the first time), blame it on mummy lar.
Me: Come take the popcorn...
Michelle & Emily: Mummy, later cannot talk ar? When I'm scared how?
Me: Hold on to mummy's hand
Emily: Wah later the characters jump out from the big TV.
Me: Don't be silly..
Michelle: Giggle... why so long haven't start?

After much FAQ (frequently asked questions), finally they are airing something on the "big TV", they commented that the next show to watch is Toy Story (because of the preview)... (there goes, they now know how to demand already), there were some "ooh ooh ah ah.." and finally the show began.

I would say all went well, of course mummy's arms were pulled on both side for certain scenes and the girls even shed tears at some point where there were touchy scenes, I was glad that all goes and end well. We all enjoyed the show and can't wait for the next one...

After the show we went for ice-cream, did some window shopping and headed home. We thank God for blessing Michelle for the past 8 years, we pray that Michelle will continue to grow into Christ likeness and in His words.

Our 11th Anniversary - 05.06.2011

We left the house at 4.30pm after much protest from the girls. Hubby was very secretive this time round, we drove all the way to Batu Feringghi and he made reservation at this place, a really romantic place indeed, we had a lovely evening and of course his pocket was busted for the occasion, we took a stroll at the famous Feringghi pasar malam, did some window shopping, drove passed Gurney Drive and headed home. I thank God for blessing our marriage for the past eleven years and many more celebrations of the day to come. To my honey bee... "Thank you dear for the splendid night and love you dearly"

"Printer" date

Coming this Sat, 5th June hubby and I will be celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary. He dropped me an e-mail this morning officially asking me out to shop for a printer on Sat evening. Yeah you read it write, shopping for a printer, you see this is the same tactic that he used more than 15 years ago to secure a so call date with me. Well, we bought no printer on that day but ended up in the cinema, shopping and dining instead. The printer was just a plain excuse from a kampung boy who wants to tackle a kampung girl... LOL. I'm not sure about this "printer" date but sure sweet of him to ask me out after 11 years of being married to this kampung boy. Kampung boy has turned into a kampung uncle now but love is still very much in the air....