Reflections of my 23rd Year of journey...

Thr33 more days to go!

Since tonight is my ONLY night @home, I thought I'd take sometime to listen to my Stephanie Sun CD (Wan Mei De 1 Tian) my cous bought for me in Singapore (track no.2 > Yan Lei Chen Shi), some very nice 'chinesey' intro which reminds me of my childhood back in Kahang) perfect for my moment of reflection upon the year that was.. my 23rd year of this journey so called LiFe...So here it is... a snapshot the year Nov 2004 - Nov 2005 (with the help of my e-journal from last year =)

Nov 04 -
*The beautiful sparrow finally decided to fly the world alongside another partner after 3yrs of flying solo
*Receives a present I couldn't say no to... 'A voucher to get my belly button pierced' boy did that go down well with my parents! hehehe
*Received the most expensive birthday present of my life... my Canon ixus 4.0 and from there birthed my entire collection of catching a thousand words on picture....
*Meets a beautiful soul named Aunty Florence (whom I now look after at church), who was diagnosed with Motorneuron disease 10yrs ago which meant that she will be wheelchair-bound for the rest of her life. Despite knowing the fact that every year, every birthday candle will mean another nerve will deteriorate while the ability to communicate to the outside world will worsen...yet aunty Florence continues to perseveres, continues to seize each moment with a new song.. I feel truely blessed to meet her and learn from her amazing strength...


Dec 04 -
*The world mourned as we turned our TV to see the massive devastation left by the Tsunami across Asia..
*Sitting with Chien at the Shrine of Rememberance just reminiscing on the year on Christmas Eve and wondered to ourselves how 2005 will be like... look at how time flies now!

Jan 05 -
*A life is lost - The tragic death of my close colleague and friend Faheem in Thailand and seeing his freak accident published on The Age local newspaper and national news before I heard it from my boss..
*Catches my first fish ever!! the size? well sadly, it's the distance btw my index and thumb fingers.. but still I caught a fish! and then catching Crabs too the size of my palm! improving olright!
*seeing dolphins in the bay at Lakes Entramce while we were fishing at the pier.. what a close encounter!

Feb 05 -
*Sparrow flies back to Malaysia for Chinese New Year and (taking back with her for the first time ever) a boy to her hometown Sitiawan to introduce to the entire Pang family..
*A new life is born named bb Jayden =)

March 05 -
*Sparrow decides to fly to Japan last minute to meet her partner who will then fly around with her in Japan together..
*Sees Mount Fuji finally, dips in Volcanic hotsprings, Dances with Goofy @Disney Sea, Meets a Geisha, Play Charades with locals to get by & of course, loses passport & having to call the Australian embassy.. this is what you call the 'first time' in ones life..

April 05 -
*Finally moved role from sales rep to Project manager - Shopper marketing looking after competitions and big promotional events for Coles Myer Group
*Changed car from big arse Holden commodore wagon to Ford Futura sedan
*Sees a shooting star for the first time in my life.. finally , on my 23rd year I see it! ( I used to back in Kahang, stare in the sky for about 30mins trying so hard not to blink just so I could see one cos mum said the star will fall if u stare at it long enough.. it never did until 17 years later...)
*Meets the founder of Gloria Jeans, Joel Houston & Nigel Hendroff (Hillsong) & finally Miss Brooke Fraser one of my favourite singer..

May 05 -
*Changes role again to become the Kmart Account Manager
*Finally bought a baby of my own.. named BLCKP short for Black Peugeot 307
*Brother Allen decides to leave home for good and moves to Perth
*Cousin Ang Ang and girlfriend arrives in Melb from M'sia to visit
*Cousin Stephanie, Danny, KL Aunty & bb Emily arrives in Melb to visit from M'sia

June 05 -
*Rides on a Camel, ate camel meat, climbed Ayers Rock, sees another shooting star & milky way in the middle of no where, centre of Australia & sat on Business Class > another lists of my 'first times'
*Witnessed the beautiful union of my close brother in Christ Nigel & his wife Janelle.. finally, after a long battle of cultural disapproval from his mother..

July 05 -
*Sparrow flies with her partner from the start of Great Ocean Rd to the end all the way to South Australia, Mt Gambier
*Seeing for the first time ever, Whales swim in the ocean..
*Witnessed my collegue's very traditional Indian wedding..
*Tragic Loss of another life - friend from high school who didn't die cos he was diagnosed with Cancer but b/c he fell off his wheelchair by accident and knocked his head and fell into a coma and a life was loss so suddenly.....
*Met up with my girlfriend from Syd after 1yr of not seeing her and she informs me she is getting a divorce from her husband of 5yrs...

Aug 05 -
*Loses a friendship I thought would be forever > with my best friend since Grade 5 all because she fell in love with a man that I told her to be cautious about.. Finally realised the true meaning of 'friends come and go'... even the ones you think will be there for a lifetime..
*My senior boss resigns (whom is very loyal to P&G for 12yrs) and announces the shocking news that he's going to L'Oreal , our direct competitor..
*Grace's little boy turns 1y.o.. can't believe she's been a mother for 1 whole year!
*Gives advice to my close girlfriend who faces a real-life decision of whether or not to continue her 4yr r/ship with her boy knowing that he has a genetic disease that could mean he will become a vegetable in the next 10yrs..

September 05 -
*Flies to Sydney for the 3rd time in the year and learns to be tough the hard way
*Goes to HunterValley and finally touching down at Lindemans, probably the 18th winery I've visited!

Oct 05 -
*Sparrow finally decides to fly to Singapore and Malaysia again...
*Sits on international business flight for the first time ever
*Gets a manicure, pedicure & facial for the first time ever too!
*Reunited in Singapore with my best friend from primary school after 16yrs of separation and then yet again reunited with my childhood play mate Wei Kang, primary school friend Kah Ting, thanx to a very nice friend I met on Friendster! thanx Chow SenG!!! Kahang ppl are the BeST and NicesT ppl on earth!
*Learns to talk to strangers and then making friendships out of it ..from sitting on the plane to sitting on a bus.
*Learned from aunty Angie that you can in deed be close friends with your maid.. to treat every individual with respect irrespective of what class they come from.. they are still a human after all..
*Prayed for favour in my work and God answered it beyond my imagination:
It began with just writing an email to the sales director to request 2 days of work experience in Malaysia and the next day, it was all arranged b/c he wrote an email to the CEO of Malaysia office and it all happened with a click of a finger..
*Prayed for favour in the Malaysian office and after only 1 day with the senior boss there, he offered me a job in Malaysia office... the door was opened for me to take...but I realised deep down, it wasn't the right door for me to open...
*Gets rated no.1 in my performance review out of all of my 15 Team members on Coles Myer...
*Moves onto a bigger and better role managing the 3rd largest account in P&G - Olay @Coles/Bilo (700 stores nationally) . My 4th role in less than 2yrs..
*Goes to Dancing With the Stars and meeting the Stars/Celeb themselves as well as being on TV =)

Nov 05
*Sparrow finally decides that flying solo is the best thing to do for the sake of two lives being happy in the longer term.....
*P&G Hawthorn office moves into Gillett HQ Scoresby office. From 40mins drive to 5mins from home to work.. A whole new lifestyle change! On top of that, there are 15 team members, but only 4 offices (and the rest open space cubicles), 3 are offered to senior managers and the other one? Well the Sparrow is given the permission to nest in it.. the youngest in Gillette/P&G to get an office =) Really praise God for it. I think He is trying to teach me humility.. ..
*Wong (our circle of high school friends) announces she is engaged and getting married next year!!
*Gets to drive for the first time ever in a sportscar (CrossFire) where heads turn everytime you step onto the accelerator =)
*Sees a stripper for the first time in my life!

So as my 23yrd year approaches to an end.. I think the biggest lesson that I've learnt this year is that where your life ends up has everything to do with the decisions you make... The secret of your future lies within your daily routines... the choices you make, the things you sew will determine the quality and size of each harvest you reap... If you say I can, then make the effort to make your dream become a reality, not to sit on your butt and wait for it to happen or to ask God why it hasn't happened yet? and whinge to him saying 'haven't u heard my prayers?' or even doubt that there is a God etc. If He knows your heart and you've totally surrendered everything to Him, then as a team, He and yourself will make it happen..... and when you say you want it, be courageous, step out of your comfort zone, alter your daily routine and Change ...and that is to challenge the status quo... life is too short and I've seen it, time and time again...

Net, a whole new year, a whole new life's perspective, a whole new lifestyle here I come!

"Let me embrace each day, each moment with sincere gratitude, humility & perseverance...... "
**flY spaRRoW fLY!**