What a great way to start the new year. A ‘new’ addition to the family. Somewhat of a surprise but…..in a way, I guess it was just a matter of time. :hehe: With baby healthy and growing strong, I’ve been thinking of creating a page just for Junior [Reminds of me the movie 'Junior' I watched last night - the one with Arnie and Danny Devito. I've got to come up with another nick!!]. I’m planning of documenting as much as I can about him/her so that I can threaten show him/her what I went through. Good idea eh? :devil:

Setting up the page is simple but I’ve been having loads of trouble trying to find a suitable baby WP theme. I’ve searched and till now, nothing’s come up. So I’m here turning to all you fine people out there that if you know of or if you have a suitable baby WP theme, please let me know. :praying: I want free download wan arr….. [A bit kiamsiap/stingy lar ....] :smug:

Anyways, Ted and I will be at Prince Alfred Park [nearby our unit] for the New Year’s Eve celebrations. I’m not too sure if my camera will be able to capture the fireworks but I’ll try my best to get as much as I can. Hope you’ve got something exciting planned as well. Have a good time and HAPPY NEW YEAR!! :party:

A bit blur I know but it’s the best I can do for now.

Today is Christmas. How time flies and it was only months ago when Ted and I were talking about how exciting it’s going to be to finally be able to celebrate Christmas together after all these years. And finally, the day has arrived and what a wonderful day it has been!

The morning started off a little dull but it soon bringhtened up as it was present opening time!! I must have been a really, really gooooooooooooooooood girl  coz I got a pressie from Ted and a sack full of goodies from Santa.

See my huge Santa bag??

Inside was a whole load of goodies!!! :dancing:

I bought Ted 3 DVDs, all of which he liked – thank God! I got him the original Mad Max, Enemy At The Gates and a double DVD of Bourne Identity and Bourne Supremacy. Then it was time to get ready for lunch at my in-laws.

What a surprise I got when we reached there!! MIL had certainly kept herself busy with the wide spread of food!! I respect to the lady of the house…that woman can cook!!! :drool:

The setting……

The food!! :drool: :drool: We had ham [sorry about the non-halal item], turkey, potato salad, rice salad, bread, tabuli [a Lebanese salad which is somewhat similar to our kerabu], hummus and of course, beetroot.

It was quite a spread and I must say that I’m totally impressed. We were done by 1.30pm and we hung around until tea time and then the plum pudding was brought out. :drool:

OOoooo….this is best eaten with cream. But I was such a pig that I had to it with both ice cream AND cream. Now I know that cream is a better choice or least my preference. It was the first time I ever ate pudding with ice cream or cream. I normally have my Mum’s special fruit cake on its own which I totally adore. The difference is pudding is steamed and fruitcakes are baked. In any case, I love ‘em both! :drool:

The other foiled cake tin contains my brother in law, Bill’s favourite cake – cheese cake. I hope there’s still some for me left tomorrow!!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas! And if you don’t celebrate Christmas, happy holidays!

I promised Ash that I would try and get some pictures up regarding the types of decorating that some people here do to make it all the more festive. Ted, being the sweetheart that he is, took me all around a couple of nearby neighbourhood on 24/12/2006, hunting for houses whose homeowners took the effort to decorate their homes. There were so few that these were pretty much all that we managed to get! Even so, Ted’s efforts in showing me and taking the time to drive me around in search for these decorations are very much appreaciated. :love:

Without further ado, I give to you……Christmas in my new hood.

Note : The explainations are in my flickr account – sorry I didnt add any in here. Forgot. :whistling:

Decorated Townhall – the Mayor of Parramatta’s office.

I couldn’t find a waving Santa for Ash but I found one which was large enough, on the balcony.

And the winner is………..

This takes the cake and my personal favourite!! A standing ovation to the owners of this home. A job well done!! :applause:

O this is just an addition, a somewhat bored looking Santa waiting for kids to come sit pn his lap. :hehe:

Here’s wishing you all a very blessed and merry Christmas! May you spend it amongst loved ones and that the good Lord bless you in everyway possible and keep you in His love always. :love:

Yup, it’s official, at least for now, I’m jobless. I’ve written to my big boss asking if I could return after new year to the call centre. Although it’s certainly not my dream job, I’m just not one to go on without a job. I’ve always had this need to feel financially independant thus, I really hope my lady boss says ok.

With that said, Christmas is just 2 days away taking today into consideration and yet, I don’t feel all Christmassy at all. I know many of you may be thinking that over here it would be decorated rather extensively but suprisingly, I haven’t really noticed much. Sydney itself wasn’t that decorated. Then again, it could be perhaps I’m not in the area which they had focused the decorations. I keep comparing this and to Singapore when I was there 2 Christmases ago and the difference is vast! All along Orchard Road, I felt like as if the feeling of Christmas was truly in the air. What with their huge and tall Christmas trees, holly wreaths hanging on pillars, lights everywhere and even life size statues of Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus in a crib. It was REALLY nice.

One thing though, some people here take Christmas really seriously! They really put in a lot of effort in decorating their homes with many, many things. Decorations come in many shapes, sizes and colors. Among the many include reindeers on roofs, a life size Santa standing out on the balcony waving, decorative lights all over the house, to a tiny ‘winter wonderland’ recreation in the garden. You name it, they got it. I really love driving pass these houses at night coz that’s when you can really see the lights all lit up and this really creates a warm, fuzzy feeling in me. To me, that’s very Christmas. But I have to remind myself that Christmas isn’t about the lights and decorations nor about food.

It’s a reminder of the birth of Christ and how He came into the world surrounded by animals in a manger. And yet, He is my Saviour & King. The Prince of Peace. :love:

Today was supposed to be my last day at work at the call centre. But I changed my mind. I decided to stay on until end of the week, after all, it’s only another 2 more days. But I have not made up my mind about returning to work after Boxing Day. I could have walked out if I wanted to but somehow, I guess I have a soft spot for my supervisor that when I told him that I was leaving he really did look upset. And today, he wanted to confirm if I really was leaving and out of the blue I just said that if he wanted me to stay, I would but only up to Friday. He pretty much jumped on the offer and that is how I’ll be around till Friday. I must admit that I would not have been so ‘kind’ if I didn’t like my boss. It was because he is such a nice guy and a blessing to work with that I’ve decided to stick around. He’s the type of boss every employee would want and should get. He even offered to be my referee if I needed any reference – now how often do you get an offer like that?

I have to admit that the first week for me was torture. I didn’t like it one bit and wanted to walk out then but I decided to give myself some time to adapt myself to this new role. Otherwise, I would be depriving myself of an opportunity to experience something that was outside my comfort zone because I would never ever apply for a position in a call centre. It’s just not me despite having many years of experience in the service industry – customer service sucks!

Ever since I’ve been dealing directly with customers on the phone, I’ve come to the conclusion that the people working in call centres deserve our utmost respect – they certain have the patience to put up with crap from customers. They [meaning me as well] have to put up with every whine, whinge and nag, and are hardly ever complimented. It’s a miracle some of them actually realise that we are humans too. Despite all the bad eggs that come my way, some of them are really nice and easy to deal with. They compliment you and appreciate whatever help you have to offer. And it’s people like these who are worth the extra help, in my humble opinion. I would not turn down their request if they needed extra help but if I were to get someone who’s been walking with their panties up their arse the whole day, then I wouldn’t hesitate to just accidentally release the call. Not that I have done it but I have been tempted far too many times to do just that. And yet, I still put on my thick skin and listen to their crap coz I’m paid to do just that – be their punching bag for a few very precious seconds of my life. I’ve had so much of this that I’ve pretty much programmed my mind and ears to just accept everything through one ear and spit it out through the other – in through the left, out through the right. No halting anywhere.

And it was because of this, I personally felt that it was affecting me. I felt pressured and stressed coz this was not what I had asked for when I first joined. In fact, I did not expect to experience stress OR pressure from a temp job. And I was not willing to go through it anymore, hence the decision to walk out. But then…..you know what happen lar. :tongue:

O well, life goes on, eh?