PonyTales

The conversation this morning in the LRT with my colleague spark me to write this post. We relate quite well to each other as both of us have the privilege to stay with our in-laws. She is staying with her PIL (Parents-in-law) and SIL (Sister-in-law), while I am staying with my SIL. The common thing about both of us is not only just the above, we found out that we studied in the same college. Both of us likes to cook, keep our home clean and cherish our privacy/freedom according to our own standard. We talked about our experiences with in-laws sometimes, and at times I really think that she goes through much more for the sake of staying together. She faces situations both from the elder and younger in-laws, while I only have to deal with a younger in-law.

It is not easy. Yet, she tolerated and always try to see things from her in-laws point of view. She goes to her mom’s place every weekend, I guess it is a form of weekend escapes for her.

I really run out of words to express our similar experiences staying with out in-laws. If only I know how to compose a song, I want to write a song…

Living under the same roof

The fridge is stuffed full
The washing machine is over-used
Ohh…i wanna get rid of this monday blues
But we r living under the same roof…

Please, please…keep your books
Your stuff in your own room
Ohh…why am I unusually bothered with your every look
Cause we r living under the same roof?…

Dun tell me I dunno how to use the broom
I can clean and sweep my own room
Ohh…don’t blame me if stray hairs on the loose
We r living under the same roof…

When you hear the thunder boom!
Please take in the clothes cause rain gonna loom
Ohh…close all windows, our house are not waterproof!
Help! We r living under the same roof…

Petty case! All this not gonna cause world doom
But I whine like a fool and loose my cool
All…Because…
We r living under the same roof…

All…Because…
We r living under the same roof…

Phuket is a beautiful place. If you love sun, sea and sand, you wil love Phuket. This post mainly show some of the photos I have taken in Phuket during my honeymoon there in September 2004 - few months before the deadly tsunami hit this beautiful place.

Resort swimming pool 

Our honeymoon room - clean white bedsheet, pink roses everywhere and a very spacious room

Very thoughtful staff, they gave us a honeymoon cake free!

Candlelight dinner at our room balcony

Candlelight dinner overlooking the beach

Sea water sparkling like silver at the beach

Central - The only high end shopping in Phuket

Just open when we were there

Colorful Patong at night

A short briefing on what we can expect to see & do in Phang Nga

Dark and spooky in the cave of Phang Nga - on a canoe

Canoe going into the cave - Phang Nga

Look how narrow is the opening - gotta lie down while the canoe cruise in

The water is green and beautiful - Phang Nga

Lie down quick before u hit your head and close your mouth please - You do not want anything to drop into your mouth thou it look magnificent

Jetty to James Bond island

The famous James Bond island shot

The Sea Gypsies market at James Bond island

Snorkeling near to Phi Phi island - look at the clear sea water - you just wanna jump in

Temporary shelter on the way to Phi Phi island because of bad weather - this small lagoon can shelter almost 50 speedboats

Snorkeling at the clear water near Phi Phi island

Wild dolphin swimming beside our speedboat - very rare and a lucky sign according to our guide

Phi Phi island - boat parking

To sit on these colorful beach chairs, you gotta pay 150 Baht for each chair - and there will be people serving you drink - which will cost you another few hundred Baht

Phi Phi island town - happening with lots of shopping

On the way to Phi Phi island - this is a sea cave where they harvest bird’s nest

Phi Phi island sea monkeys!!

Phuket Fantasea

Fantasea colorful walkway

Fantasea mythical elephant palace where you will watch an international quality show telling you the tale of Prince Kamala and his faithful elephant - It is spectacular!

Fantasea international buffet hall - a very beautiful building

Fantasea buffet - thousand of seats and variety of foods - YummY!

Anymore Air Asia cheap flight ticket to Phuket? I wanna go again….

"Have you deposited into your spouse’s emotional bank lately?"

Emotional Bank, is this a new bank in town? Nope.
It is a term used during our pre-marital counseling (PMC) not long ago. This was an eye opener topic for me when I attended the PMC with my hubby (then fiance) before our marriage. I thank God and my Pastor for this very very informative and useful facts thought to us.

Every person has an emotional bank that needs to be filled from time to time with love languages. In order to fill the emotional bank of a person, we must first know what are the love languages of the person because every person is unique and have different needs.

The love languages can be categorised into 5 areas:

1. Physical touch  e.g. hugs & kisses
2. Words of encouragement/affirmation  e.g. "Waa…you look so good!!" - little compliments from your spouse
3. Quality time  e.g. spending time doing something together
4. Act of service  e.g. help your spouse out like wash the toilet
5. Gifts/presents  e.g. occasional gifts and presents to your spouse as appreciation

If you ask me, all the five categories above will add to my emotional bank. But every person has a different pattern of priority on the 5 love languages above, and that is the key to "big deposit" into our spouse’s emotional bank. If we constantly recognise and make deposits to our spouse’s emotional bank, we can be sure that our marriage will not go bankrupt

For example hugs and kisses might mean a lot to a person and make the person feel loved all the time. Act of service like helping your spouse with his/her chores when he/she is feeling down the weather will make him/her feel good and contented.

The contents in our emotional bank can wear off sometimes because of circumstances in our life and even other people’s life. Therefore, it is very important that we recognise each other’s love languages and built up each other’s emotional bank by making deposits. That way, we will stay happy and ready for the everyday challenges that come our way.

Feel free to try out the suggestions below and make deposit into your spouse’s emotional bank :)

Cook your hubby’s favourite meal this weekend and turn on light music as both of you dine together

Give a big bear hug to your wife right after she reach home from work/finishes her work

Eat some strawberry ice cream/yogurt and give your hubby/wife a strawberry flavoured smooch

Set a reminder on your wife’s handphone with a message "Hug <your_name> please…"

Pop a little surprise gift to your hubby/wife when he/she least expect it

Maybe we might felt a little silly doing all these sometimes, but remember nothing is too silly if we did it out of genuine love for each other

We are the reason that He gave His life
We are the reason that He suffered and died
To a world that was lost
He gave all He could give
To show us a reason to live
(the above taken from We are the reason song by Avalon)

Jesus, He is the reason to live. He is the reason that this journey is worthwhile. He gave me the desire of my heart even when I am not worthy, full of sin and fallen. He were there all the time and He did not leave me when I face my darkest hour until I finally called out to Him. He answered me, almost immediately. He knows I am impatience and He gave so that I can hang on a little longer through the dark period. His mercy and grace help me through. Thank you Lord! My Saviour…My comforter…My Abba Father…

I have been busy this week at work. Why?

Because I am doing something that I have very little idea about. I am volunteered to do quality testing in my company. I thank God I did not apply for a QA job earlier

I prefer my existing job. Anyway. it is a good escape from the daily routine and get to feel how my other QA colleagues job is like. Plus the management and some individual managers are giving prizes to various categories of bugs buster, from being able to find the most bugs to the person that has the lowest bug count. I think I might win the lowest bug count prize…
Hey!! not easy you know, gotta sit there do nothing for 8 hours a day - 5 days.

Actually, first thought is I dun hope to win any prize…I can’t live up to other people’s expectations or the Fame…cough! cough!

You must be wondering..busy!!??…  but got time to post!!

Heh Heh…yea, because I am not doing a good job at looking for bugs…even when I simply click and do this and that but still…no bugs…so I decided to do something more useful…blog about it

Maybe one or two bugs will appear in front of me..out of pity