20 kg

Hello, people.


Much apologies for being away! Exams have just ended for me. So thankful that my exams ended on the second week of December and it did not clash with the best time of the year, Christmas.


So yes, I've been away from home.


I've always been a lightpacker. You know, like how there's that 1 person in the group that will only carry one backpack for a 3D2N getaway, yep, that's me.

Not this time round, guys... Not this time round...

Clothes for 5 days & 4 nights

Camera + 2 flashes + 4 lenses + laptop

Never have I EVER packed this much in my life.


But with His grace & strength, I pulled it through. *victory song plays.


I definitely am excited to share with you guys on some things I  have been working on. Do remain patient with me alright?


See you soonnnnn!

Success

Many people have different definitions of what success is to them.

To some, success is the strings of As or the CGPA figure printed on certificates.

To me, success is doing what you love and doing it with excellence.

Now I know that some of you reading this are laughing to yourself as you may think "What does this 19 year old have to say about success when she has barely experienced the real world yet?"

Well, you're right :) I know that I have not fully experienced the real world compared to the older generations who have way more experience than me.

But I do also know that everyone has the right to share what's on their mind.


Hence, this post.

I was a student in a secondary school which was labelled as one of the elite schools in Penang. Not bragging about anything, the only reason why my parents, especially mom made me go to this school is because it was really near from home. (No need to wake up super early in the morning. Yay!)

Was never the top student in school, but rather an average student. So when we received our PMR results, it was then time for us to decide which stream we wanted to take for form 4 & 5.

Science or Arts stream?

I knew that science wouldn't be my interest but then again, I wasn't too sure about it. But what made me think twice about it was how the art stream class was placed.

There are 6 classes in total, and arts stream class would be the last.

For some reason, it wouldn't look cool if a straight As PMR student went for the last class in form 4 & 5. Like, wouldn't that be like a downgrade? Because the art stream class was the last class and that.

Did that affect my decision? Yes it did.

Everyone is created differently and uniquely. Everyone. 

A doctor cannot cook like how a Char Koay Teow chef can.
Neither can an engineer paint like an artist.

We live in a society that tells you to be of something that the world can accept and approve as a "successful" job.

I find it very rare when a young person shares his/her dreams of becoming a painter or a dancer and the crowd responds in a positive way.
Why? Because becoming any of that is not successful?


But at the same time, many people miss the mark.


Like how people would say things of Bill Gates & Mark Zuckerberg who were uni dropouts. Yes, they were uni dropouts (HARVARD dropouts in fact), but there was something which they were good at, something of which they were excellent in.


So what am I saying?
Don't give your best in studies and do whatever you want?
Absolutely not.


Giving your best in everything is important.
Education is important.
Everyone needs to be educated to grow in life.
But education is not the only way of measuring success. It isn't.


If someone is not the top student in his/her school but cooks good food at home.
Don't give up on that person. Don't ever give up on that person.
Use education as a pathway for him/her to grow and nurture that passion of culinary.


Writing this post was rather a challenge for me personally because it is definitely a big & heavy reminder for myself.


A reminder to stop viewing the cleaners cleaning the street or those who drive buses & vans to pick kids up from school as "less successful" people because hey, if they love what they're doing and they are doing it well, what's not successful about that?


Wouldn't the world be a boring place if everyone were engineers? There'd be no good chefs to cook good food!

I'm not implying that being an engineer is a bad thing, but not everyone is meant to be an engineer.




Alright, back to studying. Till next time :)



P.S// Yes, there will be another blog post coming soon. You might want to come back on Friday ;) Thanks for being patient, peeps!

A Man's Best Friend.

Hey, guys!

Well, I decided to break the normal routine of blog updates only on Friday & want to give all of you a short update on a simple photoshoot which happened about two weeks ago.  So, a good friend of mine, Sara whom I've been friends with since I was 13, asked if I could help her take some pictures of something she treasures a lot . They're kind, patient and above everything else, they are loyal :) 

Who am I talking about? Dogs!

For one who loves but has never owned a dog at home, I could not say no to that! I am also quite very very very very scared of  dog bites which may appear as though I don't really like dogs because I seem to keep some distance away from them because of my little phobia, but I actually do :) I'm not fond of cats though (Sorry to all cat lovers out there!)

So, Sara has six dogs altogether at home. Yes, six :) Here are some pictures taken during the "photoshoot" with our 6 models.

This is our beautiful golden retriever, a mother of 3 adorable little puppies.

The fourth is a Pomeranian, Teddy.

Teddy is a natural poser/model. I'm sure you would agree with me from this picture.

This is my favourite shot :) I love how strong his eyes are.

"A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.” - Josh Billings. 

Little Things (Part 2)

Hello people!

This post is slightly delayed as both boys fell sick & also generously passed some virus to me.Nonetheless, as promised, here's a continuation of Little Things featuring the Ch'ng brothers just for you! :)

For those who may have not read part 1, click HERE 

Reason #4 : I love how food excites Evan.

Ohmy. I could take one blog post alone just to talk about this but for those who have not met this little guy, yes, Evan really loves food. Grandma, who takes good care of the boys during the day always makes sure that both of them always pray before they eat. Evan is all down to serious business when it comes to praying before he eats. He knows that no prayer, no food. 

So that's why he prays in tongue - Ah peh peh, ah peh peh peh peh, ah peh. Amen!

I'm just kidding, he can't talk much at his age now, that's why. Haha

Reason #5 : I love how simple things makes them happy

Reason #6 : I love how compassionate Nate is.

When he has an apple with him, he wants to make sure that Evan has some of it too. When he has a box of nuggets, he will leave the last piece for Kong Kong (grandpa) and wait for him to come back from work at night to eat that piece of nugget :)

And last, but certainly not the least...

Reason #7 : I love how they bring so much life into the family.

The joy inside of them warms up the whole house. These boys brings so much life into the family and I see that when I watch my parents spend time with the boys.


How dad would start playing paper planes and car racing because Nate wants someone to play with.


There's just something about grandchildren that keeps grandparents young & alive again :)

That's a wrap, people! Hope you enjoyed the pictures just as much as I did taking them :) Have a great weekend ahead.

Little Things

Fact about me : I love kids

Another fact about me : I really really love my nephews.

I know I have blogged about these two special boys before & I apologize in advance if this post bores you. (teehee).They have given me so many hair pulling moments. From peeing on me, peeing on my bed, giving me stress with home works to them just being.... Boys. But of course, there are also the many moments where they put a smile on my face. Sometimes when I come home, feeling so tired and unmotivated to do anything, Evan laughs at something I do unintentionally. His smile & laughter just makes everything better and despite the tiredness, I want to repeat those actions just to hear that sweet laughter again.

So, here's a post on the 7 little things  I love about my little nephews ;

Why 7, you asked?

Because Nate is officially turning 5 soon while Evan turns 2 :)

Reason #1 : I love how Nate looks after Evan.

Well, they have their fighting-over-something moments and the "but-he-hit-me-first" moment.

Nonetheless, Nate is still a good brother :)

When Nate saw me taking pictures of them while they were playing, he ran to me to look at the pictures.He knew that I was still trying to adjust a few things here & there to get the right shot. After maaaannnnyyyy trials & errors, I was still shooting & adjusting before I could get the right shot. And here was Nate, who was so sporting & made sure that he played with Evan again & again in front of the camera so that their aunt can take more pictures :)

After everything, he said "Ee ee, you like the pictures?"

Such a sweetheart :)

Reason #2 : I love how Evan repeats things after Nate.

When Nate jumps, Evan jumps.

When Nate screams "AHHHHH!", Evan does the same.

When Nate prays before he eats, Evan says "Ah peh peh, ah peh, ah peeeeh... Ay-mannnnn!"

When Nate is playing with his cars, Evan follows him too.



....... Unless Evan is doing something he loves of course, eating.

Because when he is, he won't have any time for other less important activities. Eating comes first in his priority list (yes, I'm not kidding).

Reason #3 : I love how they make each other smile

 I find this even more true when I look at how Nate makes his little brother laugh, without even trying sometimes.

Due to time constraint and with many other things on my plate, I will continue the next 4 things on my next post, yes I will!  However, allow me to to end this post with my favourite shot of the boys :)

Till next time!

Click HERE if you'd like to see the Little Things (Part 2)! 

Hello, Mr Sun.

Hello, hello!

Well, it's Friday and everybody loves Friday :) Anyways, I am backkkk to update you on the latest photoshoot. So, I discovered this place about a year ago and it's funny because the moment I saw this place..... I just knew that I had to come back to this place again. Never really had the time for it until recently where I decided to call a few friends to make a short trip over but some couldn't make it, so plans changed from there. A little sad at first because I knew how much I wanted to come to this place, but Roy said "Why not we go ourselves since they cannot make it?"

So we decided to head to this place together despite the 4-5 hours of sleep on the night before, and left eeaaaaarrrllyyy in the morning! This is really just a random and simple photoshoot but I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I do :)

It was cloudy & rain started falling down when we were on our way to this place,

but thank God because He not only cleared the clouds, He also gave an amazing weather where the Sun wasn't too hot :)

The Sun changed a little from minute to minute so there were some moments which weren't so suitable for shooting.

So.... we sat down and had salsa!

I decided to make some salsa and brought hot coffee along cause I knew that we both needed it. Lol

Also decided to bring along the ukulele which is a Christmas gift from him and asked him to play it while we wait for a nicer Sun. 

Me : Okay! It's brighter now. Stop playing, stop eating, we're taking pictures now.

Him : Oh? Okay okay.

Haha. Such co-orperation from him *thumbs up

This is my favourite shot from the photoshoot :)

It was past 9 am and we decided to call it a day from there because it was getting real hot. Andddddd, that's a wrap! :) Have a great weekend, people.

// Psst, if you noticed, most of my posts are on Fridays, will there be another one next week? I don't know, maybe? Maybe not? ;)

Of Fire Extinguishers and Ladders.

I'm really excited to share this with all of you, despite the fact that this post is VERY much long over-due but I hope you guys are still as excited as I am :)

So I had the opportunity to facilitate a photo shoot for fireBRANDS, a youth group from my church.

For the past 18 years, FireBRANDS will have its very own annual youth camp in December. It's a 5D4N camp of fun, excitement, and an experience that you just won't regret (speaking from experience).

So Leroy was asked to design the promotional flyers & camp form and he asked if I could help out by taking some photos for the youth to which I said yes immediately :) Okay back to business, so here are some pictures taken during the photo shoot! 

It was definitely an experience and I can say that through photo shoots - you will find 2 types of people ; those who know exactly of what they're gonna do in front of the camera and those are completely clueless.

It's nice to to have those who know exactly what to do in front of the camera cause they'd working it but I also enjoy taking for those who may feel "awkward" in front of the camera, just like how Jenny Sun would say  "they're like an empty canvas ready to be painted by you" :)

My favorite shots are always those which are  unplanned, candid and beautiful in its own way :)

Just like this one picture here, both did not know what to do in front of the camera, all I said was to put their arms around each other, look at each other... and smile

Then of course, the girls had a little "awkward" moment looking into each other's eyes and immediately, laughter broke into the air.

That's when I snap away :)

This is one of my personal favorites :)

The color combination and how natural these beauties are in front of the camera

The photo shoot lasted for about 3 hours and my legs were like jelly after everything ended. But that's just something about passion, even when you are so tired from doing it, you would still do it no matter what, over and over again. I wish I could show you guys all of the photos taken but unfortunately I can't because they will be used for future promotional purposes such as the flyers and promo video.


What promo video, you asked? click HERE to find out more because the videographer, Mr Indy Toh did an amazing job! I encourage you to search fireBRANDS on Facebook & like their page because they have some cool stuff going on ;)


Hope all of you are doing well! Till next time

100 plus.

Anndddddd it's September already.

Just wanna say THANK YOU to all of you who wished on the 11th of September :) For one who is really bad when it comes to remembering birthdays, I appreciate every wish from all of you.

This year's birthday was pretty sick. Haha, literally. 

Caught some viral infection which led to some unpleasant vomiting which was quite bad.

Was feeling uncomfortable when I went out with him for a simple birthday dinner & made quite a number of trips to the washroom.

I think he spent more time eating alone than eating together :S

We barely finished the food & decided to pack the food home.

While he was paying the bill, I asked for a plastic bag cause I somehow knew that something was gonna happen....

Well yeah, you should know the rest :)

Not once, not twice, but thrice.

And for some reason, vomiting has this way of making you feel very sad & emotional. But then again, nobody is happy when they're sick...

Of course, there are those who wished me & found out that I wasn't feeling well, saying "oh man, on your birthday?? That sucks!"

-______________________________________-

It's cool, it's cool....

BUT anyways, it was still a good birthday nonetheless. 

I think as you grow older, your birthday won't seem as big as it was when you were a young kid, some might forget, some might not care, but that's when you know those who really care & take the initiative to make your day a special one :)

And if you're wondering why this post is titled 100 plus, that's because I'm starting to like this drink. I never knew how good this isotonic drink was until I needed it. Haha no kidding. 

Stay tuned for the next post!

The Airport

She waits patiently for him, her eyes moves through the crowd

With so many different faces, her eyes only wish to find one.

They are standing together,hand in hand.

They long to hug their son once again, it has been so long

All the phone calls, messages and postcards sent and received comes to this very moment.

With the arguments and disagreements fused in deciding to send their son off for studies

They soon realized how precious a minute is spent together

The boisterous noise around fades away as their hands grip on each other even tighter

He puts his arm around her shoulder as her eyes begin to reflect anxiousness and fear

They only wish to see that face, that boy, that son.... walking out 

She stands at the corner waiting for him, with her hands rubbing her stomach

"Daddy is coming home soon", she says with a smile on her face

She only hopes to find the one in his white uniform

Hearts beat faster by seconds and suddenly, it stops.

What happens when the person you love, the person whom you have not seen for so long, the person whom you miss so very much, does not land back home?

This was something I wrote, many months ago.

When the MH 370 incident happened.

 My heart goes out to the families & loved ones of victims from MH 370 & MH 17.

Stay strong & know that you're not alone in this journey.

Part III : Mari-Mari & Sunset

Hello all :)

Yup, that's right. Will be sharing with all of you on part 3 of my Borneo Getaway :)

On the second day, we visited the Mari-Mari cultural village.

FYI ; Mari-Mari means come-come in Bahasa Malaysia :)

Basically this cultural village shows you the different ethnic groups in Sabah such as the Bajaus, the Muruts, the Lundayehs, the Dusuns and the Rungus. 

It's definitely an experience because you not only see it with your eyes, you also get a taste of their food.

Parents with kids who are studying Sabah & Sarawak for their Sejarah Form 1 lesson, send them for this  and be rest assured that they will ace their sejarah paper!

For example, the Dusuns are famous for their rice wine which contains 15% alcohol.

It's actually quite good if you ask me.

Isn't she pretty? :)

So before the tour started, our tour guide, Tina gathered us together & explained some rules.

After that, she said "Okay, so for Tina's group, we need a leader. Who wants to be the leader?"

A group of ladies from the Philippines stared at the three of us and Tina looked at me.

Oh no.... Don't look at me.

This is when you start noticing everything else except the person staring at you.

The trees, the pimple on the person next to you, the ants...

Okay, how about you?, Tina said with a smile on her face.

Which explains......

this.

As for the Muruts, this is how you say hello when you visit the village :)

The leader of the village (shirtless man in the picture) will greet you. He will then ask you a few questions like your name, where you come from and your reason for visiting the villlage.

As opposed to usual handshake we give, the Muruts place their hands on each other's shoulder.

After 2 hours of touring & discovering, they served us iced lime before we settle down to watch a few performances by them :)

By the time we reached our hotel, it was 3-4 pm and we were thinking of things to do on our last night in KK.

Xher Rael messaged her friend who is from Sabah himself and he suggested for us to watch the sun set at Tanjung Aru. (Thanks, Calvin!)

Tanjung Aru was pretty far from the hotel and we were thinking twice if it was gonna be worth the taxi fare but thank God for super friendly and nice taxi drivers! :)

Saw this father taking pictures of his daughter earlier on.

A few minutes after that, the family (wife joined) were taking selfies in front of the sunset using the DSLR.

They looked like they needed a little help as both were carrying the daughter who was in the middle of both of them while holding the DSLR, hence I decided to offer to help taking the family picture for them :)

Found out that this family is from China. Even though it was merely a simple act, I was glad that I could help :)

The water at Tanjung Aru isn't as clean as the islands like Sapi but the sunset is definitely something worth staying for.

There are a few bars just along the beach so you can actually order a drink and watch the sun beautifully setting before your eyes. 

Our last night in KK could not have ended anymore beautifully :)

Before I end this post, I would like to thank a few people.. (Get your tissues ready, people)

To my amazing mom & dad, thank you :) For allowing me to go for this trip and trusting me. I am tremendously blessed to have the both of you  in life. 

To Xher Rael, thank you for planning some parts of this trip which has brought so many memories

To Annie, thank you for driving us around in Sarawak & constantly feeding us with good food. You really know how to take good care of the people around you

Last but not least, thank You Jesus for giving us good weather, keeping us girls safe throughout the whole trip and opening up my eyes to things which I have not expected. This trip wouldn't have happened without You. 

Aaaaaand that's a wrap, people! The borneo getaway update is finished! *does the victory dance.