I just got off the phone with my parents just now. I always enjoy talking with my parents. I know many people who find it difficult to relate to their parents as friends – this concept is very foreign to them, they can’t imagine joking and chatting their parents in such a candid manner. So I count it one of my many blessings that I have this kind of relationship with my mom and dad. It’s interesting how the relationship between parents and children change over time. It begins with children as dependants on their parents. And as they grow older, the relationship evolves into mutual respect and even interdependence. The pastor conducting our Marriage Enrichment Course says that interdependence between parents and children can only come when children gain their own independence first. I am grateful that my parents have the grace and openness to release us children to gain our own independence… I realise this is actually not an easy thing for parents to do. Many parents try to hold on to t...

I was looking through some of the 'guest cards' from our wedding. The many warm and funny messages made me smile. When the world looks bleak and you think "Life can't get any more 'sian' than this". It's things like this that help you see the world through rose-tinted glasses once again.

Sunday night... *SIGH* Another busy weekend is coming to an end and tomorrow it's back to the office again. Although my life seems to be all about work and our new cafe, I shall resist the urge to talk about the cafe (again!) and try and be more reflective about other matters... Let's see... hmmm.... okay here goes... Earlier this week, one of my closest friends broke up (sort of) with her BF. I considered it a break up because one of the phrases he used during a really SERIOUS conversation they had was something like "we should try to spend time together to continue to build the FRIENDSHIP". But I really cannot say for sure that he was trying to end the relationship at all, so don't take my word for it. Although they discovered vast differences in their expectations (e.g. different ambitions, ideals, values) but my friend still wants to fight to make the relationship work and not give up so easily... otherwise what was the point of the whole getting together? I r...

It's almost 1.00am on Saturday morning - 5th March. MH and I just returned from a tiring but fruitful evening at the cafe an hour ago. I thought I'd better squeeze in a word or two before I retire... in case I don't have time to write tomorrow, at least you'll have some idea of what has been happening here. All 6 tables on the 1st level of the cafe was packed with customers all evening... and we had some turnover for about 3 of the tables from 6.00pm all the way until 11.00pm. Although I am a wee bit tired, but I'm feeling excited about the cafe and I can't wait for tomorrow to be there again. My colleagues will be dropping by at 1.00pm tomorrow... it will be fun to have them around - they're really a nice jolly bunch. Things are still a little bit messy at the cafe as we do not have 100% of the systems fully in place yet such as the credit card machine and the cashier... but so far things are going pretty well. We had a couple of power trips today but we...

Currently my office workload is in a sort of lull period. I am currently in between projects… finishing off one project and about to start another one. We sent out our draft final report last night and today I spent the day preparing for a new project that will start next Monday. It’s nice to have a breather in between projects to brace yourself, sort out numerous emails that have been piling up for the past few weeks… and it’s nice to have a nice new clean project to start afresh. My parents and my youngest brother – Paul, will be participating in a survey conducted by a colleague from our HK office. It’s a very interesting survey to find out the spending patterns of Malaysian students studying in Australia. This is the time Paul will need to ‘fess up and be truthful about his spending… but I’m sure Paul will not have any deep dark secrets about his spending… he has always been quite thrifty. Our café will have its soft launch starting from tomorrow, Friday 04-Mar. Reservations have a...

Update on major happenings in our lives: 1. Moving to Australia MH has decided (together with me) to accept the offer at Sydney. This does not 100% confirm that we are going yet because he still needs to go through an internal interview etc. The exact date is not confirmed yet. One person told MH that they need this position filled in 2-3 months time. But another person MH spoke to said that it could extend up to end of the year. So hopefully, perhaps we will actually need to go through a major rush after all. Our partner, Mabel is quite ok with the situation. She says she was prepared for it and knew it would happen sooner or later anyway because we told her about our PR. Our other partner is not so happy… maybe he didn’t truly realise the implications until now (although we did make it known to both of them about our Australian PR) But the conclusion is that both MH and I still want to carry on this business and we are prepared to work it out with our partners so that one feels short...

Yesterday, I mentioned to a friend, "If I could collect all the two cents worth I've been giving for all these years, what a collection of cents I would have by now" She replied "I couldn't put a price to your thoughts... they're priceless..." How profound! So I thought of starting my personal collection of two cents worth for myself and for the people who matter to me in life, especially my family and friends overseas or back in my hometown whom I do not see and cannot talk with all the time.So perhaps my sharing my thoughts and reflections every now and then, it wil bridge the distance and bring us closer together even though we may be far apart. So here is where I start...