Birthday Bowling

I've finally turned 24!

I've grown to dislike birthdays, as it just serves as a reminder that I'm only getting old. Besides, nothing fun usually happens on birthdays anyway! This year though I had quite a good birthday.

It started off with two of my best high school friends, Hyun and Joon having a video chat with me just before and carrying on past midnight. It was about 5am over there in New York, so they were up just to chat to me. It was really cool, as I haven't talked to them in a long time, and I haven't actually video chatted to them since they left NZ over six years ago!

What was just as cool was that they told me they had received the Christmas presents I had posted them several weeks ago - All Blacks ties (as a reminder of NZ)! I was starting to worry a little bit as no one had received anything I had posted overseas to them!

I was also given a birthday card by Eva on Sunday that I had been saving till my birthday to open, so I decided to open and read it just after midnight (apparently I was meant to read it the day before though!). It was really nice of her! She had made it herself, and inside she wrote quite a long and heartfelt message! Thank you so much Eva!

It was finally time to open the present Grace had given me on Saturday too. It turned out to be a shoulder bag! That was something I've been meaning to buy myself for a while, since the one I currently have is starting to fall apart after two years of use! Thank you so much Grace!

It really put me in a good mood for the rest of the day. Later that afternoon I went with my brothers and Grace to the city to go bowling at the new Metro Lanes (in the Metro building), using some one-day vouchers. The place just opened recently, so it was worth a try!

It was quite different to the older bowling alleys we're used to. The lanes are split, with a few here and there. I guess that's due to a lack of space.

It looked as though Aonghas was going to run away with the highest score, with Grace coming a close second. That was impressive too, considering how Grace has played very little bowling! I was languishing in third, but after getting a spare in the last bowl, I was given an extra bowl and was unlucky to come second just by ONE pin!

The game only lasted about 40 minutes which was not too bad!

We were originally going to check out that Japanese pop art exhibition but after finally getting mobile internet to work, we realised the gallery is closed on Mondays! I guess it was straight onto lunch then!

We were about to go to Burger King, but at the last minute decided to go to Wendy's instead. That continues a tradition we have of going to Wendy's on birthdays.

We all ordered one of those $5 combos, and got a free frosty shake through the Wendy's app! (If you have an iPhone or Android, download the app and use it!).

With a drink, ice-cream AND a frosty, we were all quite full after that! 

It was time to walk back to the car though, as we only had paid for parking for two hours. Along the way we discovered a nice little Christian bookstore, and some really good lady just drumming on the footpath!

I actually enjoyed my birthday this time! Thanks Aonghas for paying too! :P

What I have come to realise is that rather than dread becoming another year older, I should be thankful I've been able to live another year, and I am truly grateful for that!

I've come to realise that I have many awesome and loving friends. I am truly grateful to have them in my lives, and I hope I've done my best to be there for them and be the best friend I can be!

I also love my family and would have no other family, despite our numerous flaws and quirks!

So once again, thanks everyone for the birthday wishes!

More specifically, thanks Grace, Joe, Wei, Kaytee, Bettina, James, Phillip, Andrew, Eva, Andy, Cham, Suzy, Sue, Julie H, Julie K, Jacky, Uncle John, Ian, Stella, Mimi, Amelia, Jane, Jennifer W, Diane, Megan, Aunty Grace, Elizabeth, Antonio, Nami, Evelyn, Ashleigh, Kacey, Jonathan S, Korina, Ivy, Ray, Arina, Nadine, Anateira, Anthony, Irene, Tina, Joon, Hyun, Janice, Angel, Neha, Szelin, Dillon, Kunsala, Julie, Emily, Michael T, Mary, Lindsey, James Z, Sonja, Xin-Yan, Mitali, Alex W, Evan, Sera, Ben, Joshua, Calvin, Daniel W, George, Monica, Mandy V, Bobby, Zippo, Sheena, Miji, Ada, Aula, Tyler, Cleo, Peter, Scholastica, Ben V, Fiona, Shirley K, Toni, Tim, Alex, Chen, Steven P, Kimberley, Emily, Caylee, Harris, Martyn, Eujin, Hannah, Shameela, Banthoon, Jon, Kylie-Marie, Peter H, Belinda, Natalie, Winston, Dianne, Andrew B, Ting Ting, Sheridan, Cathie, Joy, Yerin, Zahir, Sebastian, Lunshen, Johnny, Aone, Megan J, Carmen, Anisha, Yan Yan, Graeme, Konny, Ellyce, Karen, Vanessa, Joylynn, Angie, Jenny, Rebecca, Amy and Cookie Bear for your birthday wishes!

(Let me know if I've missed you!)

(http://youtu.be/t-PFZ6_UZDo)

Bloated Birthday Meal

This afternoon our family went to our favourite (cheap) buffet restaurant in the city, Imperial Garden. It's all-you-can-eat dim sum in the weekends! My dad and Aonghas will be working on Monday night (my birthday..shhhhh) so we decided to have an early birthday lunch. All that really means is I don't have to pay my mum back. Woohoo!

When we got to the pay machine to pay for our car park, there was already a ticket sitting there, and it hadn't expired! We were originally just going to use that and save $8, but my dad was worried since there were security cameras around, so we did the honest thing. There happened to be two Australian 5c coins lying around too. What a test!

We had one-and-a-half hours to eat, so it was time to get started! I tried to restrain from eating the deep-fried food, as that fills me up fast. My strategy: dim sum, dim sum, DIM SUM. Oh, and then dessert.

Half way through, and I was pretty full! It was time for dessert! I could only manage a bowl of fruit salad and a few snacks. I had to smuggle the rest of the biscuits in a tissue and sneaked them to my mum under the table to look after for later!

We were pretty bloated after that lunch! Now we just had to make sure we didn't fall asleep during the Experiencing God programme we had to attend at church!

A Good Deal

Today my family and I went to Sky City to take advantage of a deal they were offering - $3.90 for a plate of fish and chips or fish balls and prawn laksa. The deal expires at the end of the week!

We parked in the correct area, and kept our ticket in a safe place this time! We followed the signs to 'The Deli' which eventually led us to the casino. The food place actually turned out to be inside the casino!

Where we were eating was right next to the slot machines, so it was an interesting experience to be surrounded by all these machines going off with their beeping sounds, and coins falling into cups!

I was initially skeptical about how big the meal would be, considering it is at Sky City and there must be some catch to something that cheap! However, it was actually quite good! The plate came with fries, some salad, sauce and three pieces of fish! It was quite filling! Apparently it usually costs just under $10!

We got our parking validated, so we had cheap parking for the next three hours. After we wandered around the casino floor, having a look and trying to find the toilet, we left Sky City, looking for a drink. I originally recommended we go to Burger King for a $1 small drink, and just refill it, but my mum didn't want us drinking too much sweet stuff. We took the cheap route and went to the ground floor of the Aotea Centre and had a free drink of water!

Lunch at Church

This morning I had extra responsibility at church as I had to lead children's worship. It's the first time I've led in a couple months, since I only just started going back to church in the past couple weeks (due to work), so I was a little bit rusty!

I was wearing my I <3 SG t-shirt (and before any of you ask, SG does not mean Selena Gomez! It means Singapore!) for the first time, and it's a grey colour. I discovered this is not such a great idea, especially if you end up sweating! What I also discovered was just why the t-shirt was so cheap. The heart printed on the t-shirt started peeling off already, and there was already a hole under my armpit!

Anyway, I was a little rusty leading the children, and one of my helpers didn't show up which also didn't help! Fortunately I had Amelia, who probably knows all the children's songs (and their actions) the best. She ended up leading two songs and did very well!

I was sitting with the young(er) people during the service and the combined Sunday School (the last as part of the Go4Mission series), and I was surprised at just how many of them were using their phones or i-devices! I guess that's the younger generation for you. We need to find a better way of connecting with them!

We had a shared lunch after to celebrate the end of the shared Sunday School programme. 

I really didn't feel like eating much at the time! An hour later I was starving though!

Wei, the really good artist and tai-chi master of our youth group brought along his 8-metre-long painting (EIGHT METRES!) for Aonghas to film and it was amazing! I wonder how long it took him to paint that!

After teaching violin and recorder to some of the kids at church, it was time to leave church, but my mum had gone out with some other aunties to visit someone! Tim, our youth group leader ended up staying with Hamish, Grace, Andrew and me (they were originally going to get a ride with us!), and kindly gave us a ride home!

It was sooo boring when I got home though. It's the first day of my weekend! I don't really want to go home too early because I have nothing to do! I ended up just hanging outside on my laptop with Mao Mao.

Hanging out with Kids

Today I spent the whole day at the youth pastor's house hanging out with his (and a few other) children. It has been a couple of weeks since I started work at my new job, and the kids miss me! Awwww.

I got there this morning with my mum, who had spent the morning baking. It was the first time I've been to his new house. Glenna, the eldest daughter got me to teach her a bit on the violin. I used to teach her violin and recorder, as well as teaching her younger brother Enoch and his friend Tommy the recorder.

After a while, Harris and Tommy, two brothers from church, came over with their mum to join us. We had some lunch that the mums had made. There was some really nice food there - mini doughnuts, chicken nuggets..mmm.....

I was surprised at how eager the kids were to play Scrabble! Of course there were a few changes to the rules, but I could live with that!

We had to keep Ebenezer (the youngest) away from the board just in case he kicked all the pieces away though! He seemed to really like women's shoes for some reason!

 The next game was Monopoly! Oh no...Monopoly is never a short game! These guys though were ruthless, buying up all the property and building hotels on them! Tommy was kind enough to lend me some money though! 

The kids eventually got bored and it was time for Hide and Seek. We all took turns hiding. I have to say the good hiding spots were limited, especially when you're confined to upstairs rooms and are too big to fit in all those little holes that the kids can get into! Let's just say the toilet is a bad place to hide!

I was still there in the evening, and so they kindly fed me dinner! It was some Chinese food but it tasted pretty good!

It was getting late and I had to go off to youth group soon. It was fun haging out with the kids today though! I definitely didn't feel 23 today!

Putt Putt

My brothers and I finally caught up with our good friends Chen and his cousin Diane. He came over to pick us up, which I think must've been the first time he's driven us in his car! We went to pick Diane up before heading to a new Malaysian restaurant nearby where we had lunch.

The Malaysian restaurant we went to had just opened recently so we got a bit of a discount there. I ordered some sort of noodles that weren't too spicy, while Chen ordered the same thing but requested that it be made extra spicy!

Diane also ordered these deep-fried buns for us as well which tasted really good! 

Once we were all done with lunch, we jumped back in the car and made our way to Treasure Island Adventure Mini Golf which was literally just down the road from the airport. I have to say it is one impressive mini-golf course with waterfalls, rivers and a pirate ship!

There were two courses of 18 holes so we decided to do all 36 holes since we had all day and it was such good weather!

The first course was a lot easier. Most holes were Par 2, which means you should be able to get the ball in the hole in two putts. The rule was that you are only allowed a maximum of six putts if you are having trouble! There were a couple of holes I just couldn't get and ended up giving in!

While the holes were small, what made them trickier were the slopes and obstacles. Some had grave stones in the way, others had a crate. One hole had a gap in the middle with a river running underneath!

There were a couple of interesting holes which had a hole at the top leading to a hole down the bottom, while another had a tunnel with water running through it. You had to putt the ball into the tunnel and it would run down to the bottom near the hole. Another hole was inside a cave!

Aonghas and Chen came first equal in the first game, with Diane and me tied with each other. That meant it was ALL ON in the next game!

The second course was a bit more tricky but more interesting, and in the end Aonghas and Chen tied for first once again, while the competition got tight between Diane and me. In the last few holes she was leading by 7 shots, but as we got to the final hole, I was leading by so much that I couldn't lose to her! I had the chance to overtake Aonghas but I blew it!

Chen somehow got three holes-in-one while Diane got two (although I didn't manage to film hers!) and the rest of us maybe got one! 

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jG3ut3mKIc)

Once we putted our last putt, we took a few photos around the area before we left for this strawberry farm to try some natural strawberry ice-cream that Diane highly recommended. It did really taste good!

I even caught up with an old friend from Health Science who was working there. I thought he had left New Zealand! It turns out he made it into medicine in Sydney and is back in New Zealand on holiday! 

It was time to go home as Aonghas had to work in the evening, so we dropped Diane off and picked Rose up from work. 

It was a good catch-up with Diane and Chen, and I'm going to have to finish and actually give Diane the handmade 21st birthday present I still owe her!!  

Calum and Amy's Lunch

Amy was in the city today and she had been pestering me to buy her Starbucks, so I met up with her during my lunch break (had to power-walk all the way from work to meet her!)

It was my shout since well...I'm a nice guy (fo sho!) so SHE CHOSE (just saying Amy, just saying) a Cranberry White Frappucino or something like that. I just decided to get the same thing.

We then went over to check out Occupy Auckland in Aotea Square and....stare at them...

Half an hour went by really fast so we walked back to my work so I could show her where the magic happened, and that's Calum and Amy's lunch for you!

Hacked!

This morning I had to lead children's worship, so I stayed up late last night till 3am practising a couple Chinese songs (looks like I'm not very good at dancing and singing at the same time, especially when I'm singing in Chinese!).

I also tried to come with something meaningful to link all the songs together instead of just singing one song after another:

In the Bible Jesus told his followers about two men. One was a wise man – he listened to Jesus and built his house on rocks. Another man was foolish – he didn’t listen to Jesus and he built his house on the sand. Who knows why he did, maybe he wanted to get a nice view of the ocean!
When the rain and the storm came along, the house that the wise man built on the rock stood firm and didn’t crumble. As for the foolish man’s house on the sand…well the rain came down and as the flood came up it washed his house away!
Jesus is the wise man who knows how to build good houses. More importantly, He knows the right way for us to live our lives, so if we listen to Him, we won't get into trouble like the wise man. If we ignore Jesus' wise instructions and try to live by our own rules, we may have a disaster and no one else will be able to help us. 

SING WISE MAN BUILT HIS HOUSE UPON THE ROCKS 

Hands up if you’ve ever felt saaaaad, like when when someone at school was being mean to you. You know, sometimes these kinds of things happen and you don’t know what to do, but one thing you can always rely on is Jesus being there for you, as long as you let him into your heart.
With Jesus in your heart, you can stay strong and overcome anything!
So the song we’re about to sing is about a time when Jesus got on a boat with some of his disciples. Now a storm came along and as Jesus slept in the boat, the disciples started to freak out! Jesus reassured them everything would be OK and Jesus being Jesus, he calmed the storm and everything was OK! 

SING WITH CHRIST IN THE VESSEL 

So when you don’t know what to do and you’re having a tough time, there will always be someone who can help you. He’s so great he created everything around you, the Earth, the stars, your mum, dad and even your cat!
Can anyone tell me who he is? 

SING AH LORD GOD 

God loves us so much and if we truly love him we should praise him. Make sure you let him into your heart, and love him with all you’ve got – pray to him and listen to what he wants you to do, as he knows what is best for you. 

SING PRAISE HIM  

Let me know what you think! The feedback I got from a couple of kids was they had learnt all this years ago! Well thank. You. Very. Much! Apparently my Chinese eeerrrrrmmm....I admit I forgot some of the Chinese words and mumbled through those songs. I told the kids to sing as loud as they could to cover me up!

Today was a special day, as it was Ada's farewell party after the service. Ada has been at our church for a long time, and was in fact Hamish and my first Sunday School teacher when we joined the church way back in 2002.

We sang a few songs to start off, then watched a photo slideshow which was quite touching (I was in one of the photos boo-yah!), before a few people came up to share their stories. (I'll post some photos as they become available)

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zgmSTl_CEI)

Us Oddfellows had to leave slightly early to help set up tables and food for afterwards. This is where it all started...I let someone play with my phone and they got into my Facebook account and posted stuff on my wall:

People were still commenting on it even after I posted that it was a hoax when I got home! I don't think someone's messed with any of my social networking accounts since a few years ago when SHE changed my Bebo page!

As for the food, it was very nice! It didn't last too long once everyone came out!

We all had a mass group photo with Ada, before smaller groups had photos with her. Our youth group and our family managed to get photos taken together with her.

She's not leaving immediately so there's still a little time to say our goodbyes to Ada but hopefully she will do well in Hong Kong. We'll miss her!

After teaching the kids music, a few of us went to a nearby Vietnamese restaurant for an early dinner (and when I say early I mean 4pm EARLY!). I had a big bowl of meat noodle soup and felt full after it, but right now I'm starving!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLZ13oG7iCM)

Singing Birthday

 It was Shrikkanth's birthday today and he was having a 22nd birthday party to make up for not having a 21st birthday party last year. By golly he's young! Most of us have already turned 22 and he's only turning 22 now!

Anyway, I had to teach music in the morning so I couldn't make it till the afternoon. When I got there, his friends were all in the lounge playing Singstar. It's been a long time since I last went to his house. I think the last time was way back in year nine in 2002, when a group of us had to create a short film about something to do with Ancient China. I wish we still had a copy of that!

While I recognised a few people's faces, I only really knew Grainam (intermediate school friend) and Sarena (intermediate-high school friend). Apparently the other high school friends had been and gone already!

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoQMiXLWqp0)

There was still some food left so I had a bit to eat while catching up with Grainam and watching the singing going on.

As it got later, people started to leave until there were just a few of us left. We went into Shrikkanth's room to watch a few funny Youtube videos before it was time for me to go too.

Happy Birthday Shrikkanth!

Walking it Off

Today my family and I went to Imperial Garden Restaurant for another round of yum cha buffet which made us all feel bloated afterwards! We had an hour and a half to eat though, so we all tried different tactics of not being full for longer by pacing ourselves!

Afterwards we had a stroll along Queen Street to walk off the meal, and opposite us was a small but loud protest for 'Democracy in Syria'. There was a policeman on a motorbike following them, as well as a couple policemen keeping an eye on them and helping them cross intersections as they always took longer than the timer that counts down how long you've got left!

(http://youtu.be/Nf4AHPkn5V8)

Boys Day Out

Today some of us guys from our youth group got together for a bit of a guys' day out just to hang out and have some fun.

Hamish and I met up with them at Westgate Shopping Centre after I finished music classes and we decided to go to buffet lunch at this nearby Chinese restaurant

There was a lot of really yummy but fatty food there! They had wontons, prawn crackers, fries, deep-fried fish, sweet-and-sour pork and of course rice and vegetables!

We all had several plates before we started slowing down as we got full. We finished with a couple bowls of ice-cream before we couldn't eat anymore! Andrew and Ben were lucky to each get a free bottle of Coke as they knew the owner of the restaurant.

It was time to go bowling next door!

We took up two aisles. I started off not too badly, getting 8's and 9's, before steadily going downhill!

On the other hand, Hamish started off with a strike and surprised everyone by getting the highest score!

 

We only played one game and so after we finished we just had a little walk through JB Hifi before Ben and Andre were taken home and Tim took the rest of us to his house for a meeting (and dinner!) of the older members of our youth group to discuss how well the youth group was going so far this year.

(http://youtu.be/Q7lRTPamGcs)

We stopped by Countdown to buy some drinks and met Shameela, an old high school friend working at the checkout before heading back to Tim's house where some of the girls and Gabrielle were already there.

Angie was the last to arrive as she got late, but once she got there we got the meeting going and discussed how we thought the Oddfellows was going this year. There were some good things mentioned and some things that could be improved, and we agreed on an action plan to support each other.

As the meeting wrapped up, we headed over to the living room for dinner! For a change the guys were eating less than the girls, as we were still quite bloated from lunch! There was a lot of chicken and an interesting potato/fruit salad, along with pasta. I just ate the past and salad as I was too full!

As we ate dinner we just talked about our lives, how things were going and it was just good talking to the older people!

We finished dinner with some Indonesian soup/dessert that's green! 

After a surprisingly deep conversation it was time to go home. I didn't want to leave, as it was so warm and I was too full to move!

(http://youtu.be/2awK8dZaU1A)