Holy Family

Today my church celebrates Holy Family. And what I found the priest said during the sermon was really meaningful even though halfway through I accidentally fell asleep. Surprisingly though, I slept for more than 8 hours already and still feeling sleepy.

Back to the topic, Holy Family. And the priest reminded everyone that your family is the closest neighbour that you can have and that God has given. "Love your neighbours as I have loved you.." Sometimes amidst the darkest moments of our lives, families are the ones who'll stick with you and pull you through.

So, never miss a chance whenever you can be with your family. Family is the greatest treasure on earth. Treasure them well...=)

Experiences

So caught with a lot of things that I didn't realise the sky got a little darker until I looked out of the window. Pretty dark and so I thought it was 4pm already when it was only 2.30 pm.

This phenomenon I heard of when I was studying Geography in secondary school. During winter, nights are longer than days, for the areas in the northern hemisphere of the earth. But I used to imagine how it would be like when I was still in high school. Only that now I get to experience it myself. And it was pretty far from my imagination. Experience.

Experience. An important element in life. So far, I've experienced two different climates, I've seen and touched snow. There are more to come. I'm going to visit the renowned Niagara Falls, make a snowman (wait till the snow is thick enough), celebrating Christmas in an ang-moh country. These are all the good ones.

Bad experiences. They are nevertheless, important in our lives, for they are the ones that will shape our future and probably motivate us. Tons of bad experiences in my life as well.
I've suffered betrayal, heartbreaks and sarcasm from people surrounding me. But they are the ones that make me realise that life is not as easy as it seems to be. And most importantly, never judge someone until you really know them.

Experiences. They give me the power to move on with life and no matter how much I would like to turn back time, experiences tell me to keep moving forward. More are to come. Well somehow, if I don't stop now, I'll have a bad experience during Physics test tomorrow...

Tata...

For no reason, I just can't log into Facebook..

HMM...

maybe it's time to get back to Physics (? ?)

Wintertime

It's winter already. Snow everywhere and it's pretty hard to walk around. Nearly slipped a few times on my way to church today. =D

At the centre of McLuhan court

My first shoe print on the snow =)

Snow is nice (I hope I will still say this after this winter). But when it gets too cold, all you want to do is snuggle up in bed and drink Tim Horton's hot chocolate!!

It was after all the quizzes..somemore it's FRIDAY

As a result of stress accumulated over the weekdays and frustration to the 'all-the-time-proving' Calculus teacher (really blur!!!), a few of us skipped his class. I can be counted as one of them

I skipped halfway, not up to halfway even, a quarter (waseh..so proud to say eh??). Anyway, I had a 'lesson' in Square One today instead.



Christmas season is filling the air...yippie...can't wait for christmas!! And which was the reason I came here. To stock up and get prepared for the coming winter...BRrr...

Had some more things to buy. Winter hats...


Before the shopping began, we (Grace and I) had something to eat first...wohoho...KFC..yummy chicken..And found these cute reindeer and a toy soldier at the centre of the food court...




I hope it's Christmas time soon!! Weeee....

"... that no one can make you feel inferior without your consent. You have to agree that you are less and that someone else is more to feel inferior. If you don't agree, you can not possibly feel inferior. You might know something less, or you might be able to do something less, but you ARE unique and hence simply incomparable. Do not buy into being reduced to an object of comparison."


Got this from the facebook application and found it really true so i want to share it with everyone who happen to stumble by.


Seems to me that everyone gets affected by others somehow and I am no exception. But just a reminder to everyone as well as to myself that no one can affect you if you don't allow them to.


Everyone is indeed unique and there's a reason why, biologically and theologically. Even if you don't feel that you are super talented or you keep thinking like "why is that guy so much better?" or "owh..how i wish i could be like that..."


Well, whenever you feel that way, it's better that you look at what you have rather than what you don't have. And there's no point of comparing in life. Life's fair even if you don't see it that way but it is.


So, shrug that thought off your mind and hey look you have a hidden spot of talent that you've never realised before when all the time you are spending your time envying what others have that you don't.

I wish

I wish time would slow down a little. Lately when things overwhelm you, time just keeps going faster and faster and it is really hard to catch time.

I wish that I can once again become as young as 6 years old, before everything in my life started, when life is just about playing Barbie dolls and playing 'doctors' or maybe a little hopscotch.

I wish that I am back at home, a place where I can call heaven on earth. A sanctuary, comforting and warm even though it lacked lustre physically, but it's the greatest place where I would want to be.

I can't bear the truth that I am already nineteen. Recently my cousin has just got married. A cousin of my age. And I thought a lot...the responsibility she has to take...oh gosh.. that's definitely too much. Someone of my age, yet very different lives. Studies are enough pain to me already but being a wife at 19? Really big responsibility!

And so I see how different our lives can be and I think...will I be able to cope with everything? With the blur mind of mine..?

When will I be....but right now I just want to be a toddler again

What you don't know won't hurt you

I've stopped asking because I don't want to feel intimidated.

The thing about giving

From last week's sermon:

The thing about giving is not on how much you can give, but how much you are willing to give.

Let's say, a rich woman and a poor widow giving donations to the church. The rich woman gives an abundance and a big sum of money while the poor widow, hardly has anything to eat after losing her husband, gives her last coin to the church.

Now which one is the most noble?

Of course, the poor widow.

The thing about giving is not about giving what you have in abundance but what you can give even though it might hurt you.

Sometimes, we tend to give people what we don't want anymore and keep the things we want to ourselves even though some people might need it more than we do. And this, we don't realise.

But if you should try one day, to give someone something that you might want it for yourself, trust me, you'll gain more than what that person gained.

I know I have sinned

There must be some time for God, it doesn't matter how busy we are with our lives.

Even if we have not enough time for everything, God is always on top of everything else. This is what I want to have in myself.

So, despite the unfinished overbearing work load, and despite being new to this new piece of land, I went to attend mass, all alone today.

The temperature was 0 degrees and steam coming out of my face as I puffed my way to the church. The first bus was 9.11am and the mass started at 9am. Once again, despite being late...it's still better late than never, I told myself. I only knew there was a 9am mass.

And so I went into the small but comfy church. People standing up in the pew as I quietly slide into one of them, and at the same time, mumbling the Apostles Creed. Gosh...so late!!
Anyway better late than never...hehe..

Things were almost the same I guess. Felt a little different from the way people exchanged peace with one another. I just followed what they did. Apparently I can't escape from being a newbie and I guessed the person next to me noticed that.

Well, even though I was half an hour late, I'm really glad I made it there and at the same time took note of the times for masses. I shall go to the 10.30am one next time.

As I kneeled down before Him today, I gave all my burdens in my heart and a water welled in my eyes for a while..I know I have sinned...

Caught red handed?

As stated in the ResNet terms and conditions, no downloading of songs or movies or anything copyrighted allowed.

And I just did....few minutes ago...

Suddenly when I was browsing facebook, this browser popped up..."Toronto Criminal Lawyer"...

My heart skipped a beat...I was wondering a few songs won't kill..hrm..

And so...after skimming through the article....

CHEH!!!

It was for criminal offences like sexual assault...

And....PHEW!!!

What hurts the most?

"You may stand a chance of being marked"....

BANG...right there in my face as everyone shuffled out through the door of KN 137.

Alongside was Mathew and Grace, both equally trying their best to swallow her words and at the same time, trying not to accept what had just shot into our delicate ears.

My eyes dazzled for a while..ok..I spent quite an extensive amount of time on the whole thing of evolution and now due to this stupid mistake...I'm going to get a 50/50 percent chance of my scantron sheet being marked...right...that sounds fair..NOT!!!

Tat was the end of biology mid term exam....and I was left speechless...

Anyway, after that stressing moment, I went out to South Common to find my church. It has been more than a month and I finally took the initiative to find one..Nevermind, I shall tell myself it's never too late..

Have been seeing this church when I passed by Burnhamthrope Rd several times already and so after several days of investigation, I took the time to try my luck.

And there it is...The St Ignatius of Loyola Catholic Church..Pretty small...

But nice...it's just beside a Loyola Catholic Secondary School..5-minute-walk from the bus stop...

For now this will be my church...Finally...

Took a trip to Golden Square and had some Chinese food yesterday. Super nice...it was quite some time already since i last had Chinese food.

Got a little sick of the food here. The on-campus food leaves me not much choice and it was after the stressing, suffocating chemistry quiz...so a little chinese food relieves me of everything before facing my first mid term test...


A little Chinese tea makes you feel nice and warm, physically after strong blows of wind from the outside....sip....aaah...






And so...pictures say a thousand words...See how happy Grace and Wei Wei are with the Chinese tea? Filled to our hearts content...

Mid term

Mid term tests start tomorrow...with Calculus...phew..

I still can't grip hold of it well..still slippery...

I hope everything will be fine tomorrow..

Good luck to everyone sitting for exams.....

A long sunday

A long Sunday, not so well spent though. Made a trip to the library but was not as fruitful as I expected it to be. I still don't understand Calculus. =(

The temperature today was as low as 9 degrees. Guess that contributed to my sleepiness. I just felt like slipping into my comforter and snoozed.

But lately, I preferred the library as a place of solitary. Feels like heaven to me, a place where I can be myself...

Stayed only for a few hours, before I ended my day with a cup of soothing, hot chocolate from Starbucks.

My cuppa hot chocolate amidst my pile of files

Things I don't usually say

The whole idea of 'life is unpredictable' popped into my head once again as I spotted a dead deer across the road behind Mc Luhan court.

A few moments ago, I was taking pictures of them, grazing happily at the backyard of Mc Luhan court and in the next few moments, one of them was dead, knocked down by a car.

How unpredictable life can be sometimes, this I would like to imply. And life lies in God's hands. If it's time it's time. Same goes to other things and this is why we don't need to fret or worry too much about what will happen in our lives but just by focusing on the present, we are doing ourselves a favour, and a big one indeed.

And so..sometimes I don't get to say the things I wanted to say and I really don't want to lose any chances that I have..

I just wanna say....

I Love and Miss my family very much!!

Cycling to Erindale Park

After a tiring Friday, I went to rent a bike together with Mathew and Philip. It has been a long time since I cycled. So I gave it a shot...

I fell once...into the bushes...It didn't really hurt but there were a lot of people passing by...not to mention the embarassment. But everything subsided when someone asked me how I was....lovely canadians...=)

We left our bikes on the grass at Erindale Park...and lay on the grass with some white-striped clovers underneath us

Our shadows at 4pm

Once again, I went to Erindale Park...cycled there...lots of cars that time but it didn't really matter..there's a path for bicycles.

Sweet, relaxing time...

Nice clouds hovering above me as I took this picture...Another weekend has come and another week has gone by as I stepped into my third week of university life...

Anticipating more to come...

Perfecto...

After a really suffocating and stressing time in Chemistry tutorial, I decided to go out and just explore the surroundings of my university. Take some fresh air and another purpose: to find a church.

I was joined by Mathew. He popped out of nowhere in front of my house. Anyway, if it wasn't for him, maybe i'd have freaked out when i see the cemetery. It's my first time in one..

St Peter's Anglican Church

Then we walked on since it's a nice weather and I seriously need some destressing after that chemistry report that kept me up until 3am and the freaking hard chemistry diagnostic test. And so we walked on...until we finally reached Erindale Park...

It is a really nice park...very green and soothing...and there's a playground too...sweet~



Somemore, it has a river known as 'The Credit River". The water was cooling, fresh and clear. People were fishing there too.

The Credit River

Mathew...beside the river

The whole time, I had been trying to figure out how to throw the stones so that it would just skid above the water.

A maple leaf on a rock in the river

It was a lovely evening, which ended perfectly on a smooth note...

Rushing for chemistry report but I have no idea...absolutely nothing to write about in the discussion. What my results mean...a vague question which I've answered in my calculations.

Due date...tomorrow...and it's half an hour's time to midnight. Lately it's past midnight sleep and midnight snacks. Gah...unhealthy style of living. Grace might disagree...XD

Anyway, it has been a crazy day today.

Chemistry report awaiting...chemistry quiz awaiting...how come there's not many holidays here...

I've been ranting too much lately...Uni life is supposed to be more relaxed according to ajay..but..

Maybe I should just chill...

Life is bittersweet

Life is bittersweet

One moment you're on top of the world and the next...you're in the deepest valley in the planet

It's just a mixture of feelings I get these few days

It's only the third day of school and I already find myself swimming and drifting along in the sea of homework and reviews

Gasping terribly for air...let me out...I'm still stuck

Forever maybe, in a world of my own.

There's that time...

Time flies fast...and tomorrow, I'll be starting my classes which, marks the beginning of my first year in university.

Anticipating, worried, excited, scared, lost...mixed feelings..

Biology...I love biology. Bought this bio book that is freaking thick and heavy. Evolution, I hate you. I remember falling asleep in Ms Fikar's class. Natural selection, bottleneck situation and founder's effect. Charles Darwin...why?




And then there's physics...


Spin brain spin...it's already so rusty...haizz

Still have to grab Chemistry and Calculus books...and CRA to be done...

Life will at times be difficult, often it is painful, and for now it is imperfect. But still it is good, for in all these things nothing can separate us from God’s lavish expressions of love (Rom. 8:39). — Julie Ackerman Link




Yes..most of the time it's true. And it all goes back to the proverb "The grass is always greener on the other side".

Somehow, people are never satisfied and most of the time, we hurt ourselves by comparing what we don't have with what others have.

This, definitely hurts. But at the same time, you do not realise and truly treasure what you have right in front of you.

We make things complicated in life by doing so. Labelling and materialism...all human's greatest flaws..

Sometimes I don't realise I make that mistake myself and so, I now truly love UTM very much.
Everything happens for a reason and it's God's gift to us. Everything we have, everything we do.

Food tour...continued

I really miss Malaysia's food..I miss my mummy's home cooked food.

Today was the last day of the new students orientation and the last event was a trip to the Sheridan Centre (a shopping mall nearby the campus) and there was a food court there. What I found was....a chinese hawker stall...so mesmerized by the menu...and so i ordered a bowl of wanton noodle soup which costs CAD 3.29. No converting allowed..thanks.

But, it was really tasteless..not like the food back in Malaysia.

All I eat here for the past few days are bread, muffins and more bread...stuffs that are full of carbohydrate...and I'm getting sick of it! Don't even tell me about muffins anymore =(

Remember the food tour I took? This is an update of the food list.

2. Kolo Mee



3. Satay (FAILED!!)

4. Doughnut (Malay-style) (Didn't manage to grab a snap of it)

5. Curry Puff (Same case as the doughnuts)

6. Popiah


7. Mee Lin



8. Chendol + Rojak + Prawn chips (Photos not available)

9. Teh Tarik (FAILED!!)

10. Char Kuey Tiaw (FAILED!!)

11. Fried Noodles (wet)



12. Laksa Sarawak...ooohh yummy



13. Kokoberry's Pearl Milk Tea

Notice that the plastic on the cup~ it's VIRGO!!

14. Tau-fu-hua and soya tang yuen



I'm hungry now after posting all those pictures...saliva dripping..gotta wait for another 8 months before I can taste these foods again...sobs...

McLuhan

It's August 31, Toronto time...and it's moving-in time...Mc Luhan court is nice..not bad..but I still prefer Oscar Peterson Hall =(

Anyway, I got a lot of cards today ( U-pass, T-card, access card, laundry card...) and it's orientation time after moving in...spent lots of time figuring out what those people are trying to say.

Met a few Malaysians here...(not bad) and had a crazy night at "the underground"...hmm...

Finally done with the unpacking and tidying up of my room...loving it every moment..especially the door sign!

A cute whale...not so whaley-like though

My bed before
and..
..
..

after cleaning up

Hehe...my study desk...

Gotta stay here for another 8 more months...yippie~

Toronto...OMG!

I can't believe I'm in Toronto

Toronto...I like this place really much...nice weather. Even the end of summer's colder than the weather you get in Malaysia.



I like the bricky or woody buildings..not much cars around here..lots of pretty flowers. Canadians are friendly too..they greet you whenever you enter the shop...

Sandalwood hotel

Only one shocking thing...there's a law here saying that you shouldn't stand beside the road. I was like "Huh? Is he joking?"...Apparently there's a fine of CAD 150 for standing beside the road when me and Mathew wanted to take a snap of the scenery while waiting for the bus to arrive.

And yeah..the policeman wasn't kidding when I saw this lamp post. Oh yea..normal lamp post..but look again..closer this time...



It says "Automatic Video Surveillance" and right above there's a camera over me..hmm...okay..hmm

I just can't wait to move into the residence..

I can't believe it...I'm in Dubai already!!

Going Toronto soon...woohoo!!

Almost there..

Once again..tick tock tick tock..time is ticking really fast that I can't quite catch up with it.

Packing? Not quite done..yet it's just a few days away..Mixed feelings..I don't quite understand myself now..

Yesterday bought quite a lot of things for Canada including these two tags for my bags..woohoo!

My 10-day food tour

See how much I can achieve within 10 days. Made a list of food that I must eat before leaving Miri and Malaysia.

1. Nasi Lemak (I ate this for breakfast this morning at Kaya and Toast, Jln Post Miri..not so bad but it is recommended to eat when u are really hungry)


2. Kolo Mee

3. Satay

4. Doughnut (Malay-style)

5. Curry Puff

6. Popiah

7. Mee Lin

8. Chendol + Rojak + Prawn chips

9. Teh Tarik

10. Char Kuey Tiaw

11. Fried Noodles (wet)

12. Laksa Sarawak...ooohh yummy

13. Kokoberry's Pearl Milk Tea

14. Tau-fu-hua and soya tang yuen

I hope I can manage to finish everything on my list!