Darryn and Han Sheng are always buying and collecting BB badges over eBay. It's quite a nice practise having vintage and rare items from all parts of the world.. anticipating their arrival through the mail.. and finally holding up that rare item in the palm of your hands.

 

I've decided to try a little hobby resurrecting myself. Stamp collecting.

 

Yea, I used to collect stamps and first day covers when I was in secondary school. In BB, I was one of the rare ones who made it all the way to Hobbies stage 3 using only stamp collecting. Though not as exquisite as badge collecting, it has the same hype.. and stamp collection own charm. 

Stamps are not simply pretty pictures to decorate your envelope for the purpose of paying a postage fee. Every month, there are new designs featuring various themes. It could be an event they're trying to promote (Olympics, F1, APEC Summit, etc), historical reminders (anniversaries, Independence Day, etc), tourist destinations (Visit Malaysia 2008), things (fruits, cars), people (Queen E, etc), environmental awareness and everything else deemed appropriate. 

So far I've got some from the Solomon Islands and Samoa. All of them to celebrate BB's 100 years, then from 1883-1983. This year BB's celebrating it's 125th Anniversary. I've got more stamps on the way. Will blog about them as they arrive =)

When do you know it is time to get an anti-spyware application?

When THIS happens.

Hope someone's telling him that he's sending out random spyware filled links.. cause I'm not gonna.

There are a few ways to remove spyware/adware. Downloading an antivirus with built in spyware removal is one. Avast offers it for free.

By the way... I'm not doing something like this to all of you... am I...?..... err.

One of the resolutions of the year was to find a casual job and earn some extra cash to take off the load from my parents. Thanks to Nic who referred me to this place, I had my prayers answered. 

Since the beginning of the year I've been working in a company called Unicorp - better known as Monash Meeting Point. It is the contracted food and beverage provider of Monash University with outlets in Clayton, Berwick and Peninsula campuses. I was initially stationed only at the Berwick branch, as it was more convinient for me to get attend classes. Now I work between the two.

My work encompasses two parts - working in the kitchen (or kitchen hand) and curry puff delivery.

Me posing behind the counter of MMP Berwick

So what exactly do I do? Basically chops vegetables (mainly onions), replenish food supplies, serve the food once its cooked, restock, fry finger food, sweeping & mopping the floor and occasionally serving behind the counter. It's not that hard and is relatively relaxed compared to the Clayton branch which according to some of OCF friends working there is extremely stressful.

So what's the total workforce in Berwick Meeting Point? FIVE.

Uncle Bobby is the chef (picture to the right). He's actually from Ipoh.. and cooks everything we have, ranging from Nasi Goreng to Curry Laksa.. mainly oriental cuisine. My personal favourite from him are the sweet chilli beef noodles and the satay chicken rice - which are to die for!

Apart from Bob, in the cafe we have our manager - Eric, also a Malaysian, our sandwich and coffee maker Jennifer from India.. and Riony from Indonesia (sorry, no pictures. Always find myself too busy during work). So yes, quite a international bunch, with Malaysian dominance.

Once a week, usually on a Tuesday, I'll be headed off around Melbourne delivering curry puffs. Yes, authentic Malaysian handmade curry puffs. I have to confess I'm quite a fan of them. Before working in Meeting Point, it's usually the only thing I buy from them. They're enough to fill your tummy for a price of $2.30 a piece, which by Melbourne standards is pretty reasonable.

The process begins the day before where I'll ring up customers, around 12 of them on a normal week, request if they'd like to place orders. So essentially, I'm a supplier. There are 3 types of curry puffs - beef, chicken and vegetable. Quantities per customer range from a minimum of 2 to an average maximum of 7. One box contains 48 pieces of curry puffs.

After orders are taken, I'll transport the new stock of curry puffs, which are made in Berwick to Clayton, where a large fridge the size of a room stores all the curry puffs we have.

The next day in the early morning (like 9am) I'll take around 30 minutes to load up the van. On a good week, we'll deliver over 30 boxes. On a bad week.. maybe 24? It all depends on how well our customers clear their stock.

Being on site with customers can be quite stressful, especially those who are hard to deal with as some can be quite demanding and whiny, though most are pretty easy going. Sometimes, they'll try a bluff by saying there's less than 48 puffs in the box.. all hoax to earn a buck. Gee. I usually don't give in, often demanding proof.. if not provided = no go! Of course these represent only 2-3 customers. The others are quite honest.

Honestly, I like this job. I'm pretty much my own boss with no one to nag me around when I'm out delivering. By the way, I like driving.. and the petrol is all paid for! I get to travel around the surrounding suburbs around Clayton (Glen Waverly and Forrest Hill), a handful of stops in the city (which includes Lonsdale Street, Melbourne Central, Little Collin Street and Southern Cross DFO), Essondon DFO and finally ending up with my last stops in Chadstone shopping center.

Once a month, I'll get orders from a shop in Geelong and another in Torquay. Each shop orders a minimum of 15 boxes - which is darn alot. That journey takes about 1 and a half hours - one way. But the drive is beautiful, getting to see other towns and beaches.

I'm not allowed to disclose my wage. All I can say is that they pay me enough to cover my rent if I work about 8.5 hours a week. I work for a total of 14.5 hours a week during a normal uni week, comprised of 5.5 hours in the kitchen and 9 hours total stocking up and delivering curry puffs. During the holidays I only deliver curry puffs, so that's 9 hours - enough to break even my rent. Not bad ei? 

Right at the moment I'm on a 2 month leave (well 7 weeks left) to take time off to study for my exam, go on holidays and graduate. In my remaining couple of months in Australia I'll try to double up on sales and make new customers, which will mean more money for me. I need it to sustain my stay in Australia anyway and to provide a financial base for me to start my new life post-graduation. I'd say that my working experience is one to treasure as it opened me to the world of commerce, as well as expanded my perspectives in business. Perhaps it'll be of good use some day. Not that I'd wanna be a delivery boy for the rest of my life.

The Samsung Melbourne Marathon was held on the 12th October 2008. Marc, Richard, Elisa, Yasmeen, Sue Ann, Isabella and I joined as a group just for the pure fun of it.

I've attempted longer runs before.. with the furthers being a 11km stretch from Dataran Merdeka through the Parliament and back to Dataran.

I didn't quite fancy the run and really did it only for the t-shirt. Was lazy and short of cash. Came the day, it regret my decision.. wished I signed up for the longer 11km run. The t-shirt (side picture) is the official Team Monash t-shirt in yellow to represent Monash's golden jubilee.

It wasn't that great a run for me cause I was always held back by the crowds. Trying to run and stop.. run and stop.. is way tiring than running all the way. The result was stiff muscles and difficulty going all the way. Therefore.. I didn't place very well.

It was pretty cool running in the Melbourne Cricket Grounds aka MCG. It was one of those opportunities few would get while in Australia. Too bad there's no picture for me to show.

Anyway, here are the placings for the day for the people I know of. I heard Adam, the new president for the Berwick Internation Student's Association placed around 300. Wow.

Quite degarding loosing out to "some" of them. But it's ok... ego dented. To be repaired or reclaimed another day.

Regardless, we all got "medals" for completing the marathon. Despite the ego dent, I really enjoyed the day hanging out with my cellies and friends.

Got ourselves some good breakfast to make up the fat we lost at DeGraves Lane.

Till the next run.

Just a week back from the Spring Camp at the Grampians (9th October 2008), OCF Berwick started getting busy planning for their first evangelistic event. The theme of the event was called "Makan Makan!" (or Eat Eat in Malay). It featured authentic Singaporean and Malaysian cuisine. I say authentic cause actually Malaysian and Singaporeans, like myself, cooked the meal. 

The objective of the night wasn't quite to bring in a mass amount of salvations, but simply to bless the university, and letting the world know that Christians care.

I would like to thank the E-Night committee, residence of the halls, Pastor Ken and OCF Clayton for their contributions in making OCF Berwicks first E-Night such a great success.

The committee gave themselve a target of 50 guest, which seems optimistic at first, but by the grace of God we saw approximately 60 students fill up the Pavillion that night. Glory to God.

I know OCF Berwick will continue to reach greater heights with this committee next year. I just pray that their hearts will continue burning for Jesus name.

Eunice handmade door gifts for the event

Monash Residential students pouring in for the treat!

Singapore Day. It wasn't something I was passionate on attending. But the hype and free food got to me.. and I found myself signing up online to attend it. On that odd 4th October (which is a significant day for BB btw) we were first at Chee Kai's place in the morning to bless him for all his contributions being OCF Clayton's advisor throughout the years. It reminded me of gotong-royong back in school. Was pretty fun.

The Gerizmo's were tasked with mowing the lawn and painting one of the windows. I stuck with the windows.

Inside, some prepared a "wall" listed with encouraging bible verses for Chee kai and family.

Left: Jinghui at work! Right: Yasmeen pretending to be at work (jk!)

What's up Bryan Lee!

Bernard Tee! He was formerly from 2nd Kuching BB.

 
Elisa Mak being hyper as usual

We left Chee Kai's place around 12pm. A quick wash up before heading off to the city at 2pm via train from Caulfield.

Singapore Day was a major event, held once a year at a selected city by the Singaporean government. Last year it was held in New York and this time around in Melbourne. Surfice to say, it's a rare opportunity. The aim of this event was basically to encourage Singaporeans to go home. So it's full of propaganda.. depicting how good Singapore is and why Singaporeans should go back.

I was told that we needed a confirmation number to get in. I only had a reference number. Apparently this event was purely for Singaporeans. Some of my Malaysian friends signed up as Singaporean and got the confirmation almost immediately. I didn't wanna play cheat nor lie. When I got there I tried talking to security, which went something like this:

Me: Sorry, I don't actually have a confirmation number, but is there any way I can get in?

Security: Are you Singaporean?

Me: No, I'm Malaysian.

Security: No. Sorry, you can't get in.

My Singapore Day was smashed into a million pieces. So much for honesty.

A tip for the organisers - instead of making it so exclusive, they should also be trying to brainwash non-Singaporeans to apply for PR, since the main aim is population growth. Argh. So mad. I hate being rejected!!! Malaysia should quickly reannex Singapore for this!

I ended up going to the nearby park, close to the Royal Botanical Gardens. Great time to test out my camera.

I met up with Elisa, Marc and Sue Ann at the Southern Cross DFO. Although Singapore Day didn't turn out the way I pictured initially, it was great just being able to hang out with friends.

Went to Brighton beach with a friend at night just to chill and talk about stuff. It was a pretty long day.. but that's my Singapore Day.

Made this video for our cell group leaders.

The other cells fixed up awesome presentations as well. Man. What an emofying last OCF meet.

Till next year.

Wait. There isn't a next year for me.

Sigh.

The Grampians! I've seen so many picture of this place - all suggesting that it's one of the places depicting Australia's true beauty. Time to make some plans!

Initially, I wanted to make this an outing for OCF Berwick. Like a short getaway kinda thing. Then God poked this idea at me - why not make it a camp? Hence OCF Berwick's first camp and probably OCF Australia's first ever Spring Camp.

We were away from Berwick (or in my case Clayton) from the 1-3rd October, just 3 weeks before exam. It was a 4 hour drive from Berwick and wasn't really hard to get to. Made a stop a few petrol stations and winery after Ararat. We stayed at a town called Hall Gap, which is right in the middle of the Grampians National Park. 

I wanted this to be my relaxing getaway. I only got half of it - only a getaway, but it sure wasn't relaxing! There was so much for me to plan and coordinate prior to camp. I'm glad it all worked out.. thank God for friends!

The idea was to make it a half camp, half outing. That's with worship, sermons, sessions, games and other camp related stuff into a synthesis with full outings, exploring a holiday destination and tons of picture taking. It was different I guess. Usually in OCF we head off to a far away campsite and only stay there without exploring the surrondings. Makes you wonder why can't we just lock ourselves up in a lecture theatre .. it's not much different.

The theme of the camp is called "Stand Up!" with the camp verse from Luke 10:2 (The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few). My vision for the camp was the stir people to start standing up for God than just be followers.

Pastor Ken leading the sessions

Team building session lead by Jon Raj

Left: Our camp booklets were all personalised by Jinghui. So cool right! Right: Our chief cook - Di No!

Happy campers

Earlier I mentioned of the beauty of the Grampians. My expectations were well met. The pictures will do the talking.

Love birds.. literally

Left: Standing tall at the Pinnacles. Right: Natural rock climbing

My trademark pose

Marc's Death

So there you have a successful camp at the Grampians. I'd like to dedicate my special thanks to Jinghui who really roughed it out with me during the hardest times.

Also like to thank my committee members, both old and new, Pastor Ken, the OCFers from Clayton and of course all the participatants of camp who made it just a memorable time for me.

As much as I enjoyed and wanted the fun, I hope everyone brought something home from this camp apart from the pictures and memories - the passion to serve.

During the sessions we learnt about not letting our past failures and dissappointment hinder God's plans for us. Hopefully that encouraged some of us to go even further for His glory.

I really thank God for bringing OCF Berwick so far. I wanted to leave a footprint behind in Australia.. never did I imagine it'd be this big. All glory to God!

And once again, thanks Yasmeen for all the classy pictures!

The Campers of OCF Berwick Spring Camp 2008

(Not in order) Nicolas Lee, Tara Ong Vi Ling, Daniel Wong, Marc Chow, Ann Jill, Stephanie Lee, Can Dee, Jimmy Law, Di No, Ken Teo, Carol Teo, Claire Teo, Gail Roche, Faith Luo, Jonathan Raj, Ivie Tan, Yasmeen Tan, Glenda Ng and Joel Gn (Eugene Ting, Bryan Lee, Jeff, Dennis Ong and Melvin Lim joined us during parts of the camp)

 Grampians.

 God's beautiful gift to the State of
 Victoria.

 I hope I'll be here again some day.

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

BUT,

If you plan to fail, you fail to fail.

The Royal Melbourne Show is a week long festival with rides, shows, animals and food. Held annually at the Flemington Race Grounds, it's one of the events that makes Melbourne the great city that it is. The cultural experience is one of those one needs to have if they happen to be around.

I missed this event last year for whatever reason, therefore had no intention of missing it this time around. I so happened to be in city to collect our OCF's Hell Kitchen booklets for the event the next day. I supposed to rush back for prayer.. but it was the only day I had to enjoy the festival. So the decision was obvious.

Me and my partner in crime (we intended to go for OCF late that Friday) took quite awhile to get to the showgrounds due to traffic. Ended up having to travel there by train and foot. After 5.30pm the ticket prices reduced from $17 to $10 bucks, so we waited for about 15 minutes before entering. 

It was quite a festive atmosphere, with crowds of people lining up for rides and games, walking around with goodie bags full of decorative costumes from spiderman to spongebob. I wouldn't mind playing them all, but I was short of cash and didn't really have time to enjoy any rides. And I think I was a little too old for costumes.. no offence to the people who bought.

Indoors, there were carnivals of food, wine and other delicacies .. which were not free by the way, apart from some samples. We tried this baked potatoe (which I ate again during the Tulip Festival).. not bad. I wanna feature this strawberry shop which offers dipped chocolate strawberries and ice cream for a reasonable price. A must try! I dunno where they're from, but it's a safe bet you can find them every year at the show.

I guess what got my interested with the show was the animals. Last year, Dee Jun told me off flying pigs.. so I imagined there would be something like a pig getting shot out from a cannon or something. Unfortunately, after 5pm most of the performances like the flying pig and pig race has already ended. Even the pet exhibition ended. All that was left was the livestock and farm pets. Still, it was quite interesting.

You can feel the softness just by looking at it


I dunno whether to feel sorry or awed. Someone might get in trouble with PETA though.

Moo ~ 

We were allowed to mix around with farm animals roaming free at one of the buildings. They had small baby pigs, sheeps, goats (de-horned) and other animals. Quite an interesting way to promote the rural life. Has a distinctive western/Aussie culture to it too. I used to play with animals back home.. but this was way cleaner.

You'll never get these scenes in Malaysia cause (1) we're a Muslim country, such festivals with pigs running around is a dreams dream and (2) animals roaming around freely usually ended up on the dinner table as fast as your eyes can see.

Took some videos of what's been going on.

 Overall, I was pretty satisfied with the Royal Melbourne Show. Too bad there wont be a next time for me. I had fun hanging out with Yasmeen too. Super funny character to be around with.